We are considering sending 7 month old Blaise for a 2 week training session just to solidify her obedience, hopefully.
My question is: we just got her not even a week ago. Will this undo any of the bonding/routine that we have done? Should we wait a little bit or maybe just get it done and so she can get back to us sooner?

Why not work with a trainer and her yourselves? The problem I see with sending her away is that unless you are involved and learn how to work with her yourselves (and that means EVERYONE in the family is involved and on the same page) then even if she's perfect with the trainer, she may lose it all when she gets back home. Successful training involves the whole family, not some other person working with the dog separately. And I would not expect all problems to be magically "fixed" over a couple weeks with some stranger.

Oh and when I say work with her and a trainer yourselves, I mean hiring a trainer to come work with you and the dog in your home so that they can address the issues presented in her normal environment. How a dog behaves in one environment will be different from another and same with how she behaves with different people.

Edited to add: And a trainer will be able to pick up on more subtle body language going on that you may be missing.

I second what Val said. Most people need as much training as their dogs do and by you working with a trainer it will actually deepen the bond you will have with this dog. Board and train situations aren't advised unless you have an extreme case such as redline aggression. The rest of the time it's better for everyone if you co-train with your animal.

I appreciate the advice and that does make good sense. I'm curious then, why do I hear of so many trainers that offer this service? (taking your dog for weeks at a time...)

Also, the trainer does work with the owners as well. Obviously not like they would if they were coming to our house and working with us every time, but he did talk about ensuring that we were all on the same page and could be successful with our dog.

Oh and the last thing... it's not that there are any actual problems that we're trying to fix. She's actually a really good dog. I guess I would hope that she'd come home just a little more attentive and obey a little quicker. Do you think that that's just asking too much of a husky? And as I'm typing about her being attentive, I imagine that you guys might say that nothing will make her more attentive than us actually working with her ourselves? Which again... makes good sense!

Thanks again - I really do appreciate the advice. We've read a ton about huskies but this is our first time owning one!

A good board and train program also trains the family to train the dog...some of the ones I've looked into actually have a home visit at the end of training to give the family instructions on working with the dog. Also, follow up, both phone calls and home visits if necessary.

I considered it for Z'ev but it is cost prohibitive living on retirement income.

Blaise is only 7 months old - and just entering the teenage phase. He will be testing, testing, testing for at least 6 months. And, really, in my opinion, takes at least 2 months for a new dog to adapt to a new household.

So, entering the teenage phase, you will need patience, consistency, a sense of humour, discipline...did I say consistency? Keep in mind that whatever you do is training your dog. If you have a training session and teach/reinforce commands, you are training. If you are sitting, reading the newspaper, you are training your dog. With what you do and what you don't do.

Unless you have some significant behavior problems, I wouldn't go the board and train route, unless you have high demand jobs that keep you away from home for long periods of time or other personal constraints.

If you aren't trying to fix anything major then I would just go the normal obedience route or in-home training. It will save you money and be less stress. Something to consider since this dog is new to your household is adding stress to a dog that hasn't really shown its true colors yet. It can take a couple months before a dog settles in enough for you to know what they are really like. It is possible that once she settles in and really knows you guys that the eagerness could form on its own. Huskies are not really a breed that is usually eager to please or one to hover on your every move. Some will, but most won't. It's not in their personality. A board and train can teach them to obey but you can't really change a dog's personality. Well, you can but turning a dog into a robot really detracts from what they deserve. It's like breaking their spirit for the sake of obedience.

Ya, good points!!
I think you guys have convinced me We will keep working with her here. She's doing great so far!!

I think my main issues are just that I don't know how to train certain things. She's not a HUGE leash puller but I do wish she'd walk with a slightly looser leash. I don't know how to train that.

And I really am curious if I just shouldn't expect a FAST sit when I say sit. Should I be happy if she sits, even if it's 5 seconds later?

Blaise, I don't know where you are - maybe in the back end of nowhere, like me - but you might want to look into something like the classes at Pet-Smart. I don't particularly like what I hear of them for long term training with a Husky, but for a newish puppy they often help the owner get a handle on how to train some of the more basic things - and as you note, what to expect.

Huskies have a different mentality than almost any other dog - "You want me to set? Well what's in it for me?" I have one dog, my Alaskan who will set when I tell him to ( or when I tell the other two to set ) My Sibes, have to think about it.

Oh goodness, my girl is so pokey about sitting. She knows it but is so slow. I think I would just be happy with the sit. I'm pretty sure she's hoping that if she goes slow I will change my mind. It's like those people who slowly roll up to a stop light in hopes it will turn green before they have to come to a full stop. That is what I liken her to.

My boy will sit if there's something in it for him (food reward). Like most huskies he isn't interested in making me happy, he's only interested in serving his own purposes. And that's just fine by me, I just make sure I have treats on hand when I really want him to do something. Hasn't changed a bit in the 10 years he's been with us and believe me we have done a LOT of training (loose leash walking, recall and a variety of tricks).

For loose leash walking we used a standard harness and as soon as he started pulling I'd say "Ah!" and we stopped walking. When the leash went slack we continued walking, if he pulled then we'd stop again. And repeat over and over and over. Oh my gosh, in the beginning a simple walk around the block took FOREVER. But as time went on he got the message. But let me give your realistic expectations, it took MONTHS for him to walk consistently with a loose leash but in the long run it was worth it. A few months of training paid off with YEARS of good leash manners. However I did not use the stop and wait strategy with other dogs around usually as that tended to rile him up too much and set us back so I often powered through the pulling then (and still do)...but I think that's an individual thing. For Dakota it was either power through the pulling for a few seconds when passing another dog or have him go completely mental and go into zoomies on leash for a good 5 minutes...I chose the lesser of two evils.

Since you are home and homeschooling, your schedule is probably more adaptable and you can slip in multiple "short" training walks throughout your day when you take breaks...assuming you take breaks during your school day. With 3 boys I'd assume you take breaks!

Haha, yep we do take breaks! And now that we have Blaise, our breaks are either letting her get her zoomies out in our big (fenced) backyard, or a walk around the 'hood. And yes, we do this many times a day

Thanks for the walking tips. We will give that a shot. Should we get a harness?

That is entirely up to you. I personally don't like to walk dogs on a collar, but there's nothing wrong with it. All my dogs are exclusively walked in harness but it's your choice, whatever you feel most comfortable with.

My experience with harness was it increased the pulling with Ami. I tried the stop, wait and go with regular flat collar but that was a no go - Ami is a very large husky and very strong. I am a 65 yr old small, arthritic woman. The shelter we got him from gave me the prong collar they had fitted for him and it was a life changer for me. And him - apparently, he had the collar on him when we looked at him...the big question was, could I manage him. I took him for a walk, tried teaching a few commands and he was very easy to work with, so we committed to him then and there. Then I got him home...flat collar only....whoa Called the shelter and they said...come get his prong...

TwisterII wrote:

A board and train can teach them to obey but you can't really change a dog's personality. Well, you can but turning a dog into a robot really detracts from what they deserve. It's like breaking their spirit for the sake of obedience.

Not to distract from the conversation but this is exactly how I feel when someone tells me Gabby is not a good dog because she doesn't respond to my every waking command instantly. I want my dog to have a personality and her own way of doing things.

As for the board and train, the lady that runs the day care we take Gabby to was trying to get us to do hers and she kept insisting we don't need to be there for a dog to be trained. We did not like that because we also needed the training to keep up on our game and it was good to be kept in the loop on certain things. Even commands people use are different to get dogs to do certain things. I personally think group classes are a great way to train especially if they are somewhere exciting. It teaches you and your dog to focus in out of the ordinary situations. Being at home is normally a quiet that is comfortable and a good place to practice but being away gives new challenges.

I would not use a prong collar on a puppy, nor would I put a prong in the hands of kids if the 10 yr olds might be working on training.

The problem I see with prongs is they are meant to be a training tool not the solution. So if the dog is not loose leash trained in a normal collar or harness, they'll just revert to pulling if ever not on a prong. But you can use both for training purposes. I just don't like that the idea that a prong collar is a "solution" to pulling. I can see how in Amy's case it may be special situation and more of a long term solution. But for someone who can physically handle the dog, especially a puppy not full grown, I wouldn't suggest it. Head collars also discourage pulling but again, they are a temporary training tool and I would not advise their use with a puppy.