Hey All!

I have a few questions and I was wondering wether or not this is normal husky puppy behavior. Korra is my first mid/big dog and she's been doing things that strike me as aggressive.

Those being:

1- when playing with her (full energy) if someone tries to pick her up she'll growl and try and bite.
2- she has a teething ring (9 weeks going to 10 weeks on friday) and if you try and take it away from her she'll growl and bite hard I might add. But there is no sign of food aggression with regular feeding.
3- she yanks at my pant leg and nips at my leg and I tell her "no" and she looks at me like i'm crazy and do it again. (this seems more playful than anything)

I ask because the breeder said whenever she's growling or biting thats her form of play. But unfortunately she has drew blood from me on my fingers, not so serious but enough to make me bleed. She's quiet, hardly barks or howls compared to her brothers. And I don't necessarily know how to correct these behaviors. Another suggestion the breeder keeps telling me is to bite her ear. However, I've tried that once, it didn't correct the issue and it pained me to do so (and I was also uncomfortable).

Things that i've tried to correct the issue is redirecting her bites with her toys. saying no, high pitched ouch... and the ear biting.

I'm just asking because the only other person I know with a husky bought hers from the same liter and he doesn't growl.


Thanks for any feedback
-Luis

Luis, Your breeder is right about your pup wanting to play, but the ear thing, ummmm, has been looked down upon here, and I personally don't think that is a deterrent. They communicate with their mouths. So Korra is telling you something, like hey play with me. Yes their bites can hurt, and somethings that can help is to turn away and ignore, or just try playing. If a husky puppy is tired they will not chew on you. This will probably be the norm from now thru teething at around 8 months and around a year old they understand bite inhibition. My best suggestion and what did work for me is to ignore and walk away keeping my girl in her area until she was calm, especially if I didn't have the time for step 2 which is to play/exercise/train at the same time. An effective game is having 2 squeaky balls and start training drop it, leave it and basic stuff like sit, lay down. The reward to the commands is the game of fetch or chasing the ball, or you can use a tug toy and only use light pressure from you since she has baby teeth and don't want to harm them, and when she drops the tug have her do a command, when she does resume the game of tugs. Tiring the mind and body will squash the desire to chew on you. Also keep in mind that in the next month or so she will be teething, so be prepared and have some chewy's and chew toys available.

MiyasMomma wrote:

ummmm, has been looked down upon here, and I personally don't think that is a deterrent.

I don't think so either. I don't think she is an aggressive dog either. I trust putting my face near hers and giving her kisses and all. The only thing that throws me back is her growling. When she growls, I'm just "Korra is in a mood guys... let her be." She's excellent other than that growling and nipping afterward which sets me back a little.

We've had the same issues with Harlow who is now 5 and a half months old. She's normally ok when we take her out twice a day and let her have a play with other dogs and run around lots. Currently she's injured her back leg so we've had a week off from running and have been lead walking her which means she isn't burning up a lot of energy so at night she can become very playful and bite our hands still. She has gotten better but still reverts back to biting and will nip at our legs when we first come home to try get our attention. I'd say from my experience the more exercise they have and more play time you can have with them then the less likely they are to do this behaviour. I've also found training as Renee has mentioned is a great way for her to use her energy and bonding with you. Intercepting the biting with a toy has worked quite well or distracting her to something else like her kong or a rolling ball etc.

Petertmartin wrote:

else like her kong or a rolling ball etc.

Thank you, she's been much better since this morning. I go to class and I have a 2 hour break in between so I always come home and tak her out and play. She has no issue with going in her crate when I leave but regarding a kong. Any suggestions on what to put in there. I've put peanut butter in it and she could care less about the taste. I think she hates it. We've put treats in there but she wants nothing to do with it.

Any kong insert suggestions?

That's strange, we normally put peanut butter in the kong and freeze it so it lasts longer and she goes nuts for peanut butter. You could try wedging in other long chewable treats. I know kong does a range of treats that fit but I've never tried these before. We also use carrots as treats and freeze them, or freeze her kibble in ice cube trays. You could try putting a bit of water in the kong laying on it's side and put some of her kibble in their so it makes it a bit more of a challenge for her to get out?
The downside to using frozen treats is the mess it makes We have hardwood floors so it's not that bad.

Petertmartin wrote:

That's strange, we normally put peanut butter in the kong and freeze it so it lasts longer and she goes nuts for peanut butter. You could try wedging in other long chewable treats. I know kong does a range of treats that fit but I've never tried these before. We also use carrots as treats and freeze them, or freeze her kibble in ice cube trays. You could try putting a bit of water in the kong laying on it's side and put some of her kibble in their so it makes it a bit more of a challenge for her to get out?
The downside to using frozen treats is the mess it makes We have hardwood floors so it's not that bad.

HAHA She literally wants nothing to do with peanut butter. She ran all over the house and would run to it and paw the kong so it can roll and then she'll repeat. I put long treats in there as well and maybe she's too lazy but would rather a chewing ring in her crate then the kong. It's quite funny actually.

Korra wrote:

Petertmartin wrote:

That's strange, we normally put peanut butter in the kong and freeze it so it lasts longer and she goes nuts for peanut butter. You could try wedging in other long chewable treats. I know kong does a range of treats that fit but I've never tried these before. We also use carrots as treats and freeze them, or freeze her kibble in ice cube trays. You could try putting a bit of water in the kong laying on it's side and put some of her kibble in their so it makes it a bit more of a challenge for her to get out?
The downside to using frozen treats is the mess it makes We have hardwood floors so it's not that bad.

HAHA She literally wants nothing to do with peanut butter. She ran all over the house and would run to it and paw the kong so it can roll and then she'll repeat. I put long treats in there as well and maybe she's too lazy but would rather a chewing ring in her crate then the kong. It's quite funny actually.

That's good though ours will follow food around and is more interested in food than she is in toys so we find that works for us. If she's got a favourite toy then that's a win! sometimes it's easier than using food
We have a chuckit ball that she has not stopped playing with in 2 days except now it's gone missing somewhere in our backyard lol.

You can also try plain greek yogurt (make sure there is no artificial sweetners in it) or pure can pumpkin(not pie filling) instead of peanut butter, that may help with the frozen kong