Hi I am an owner of a 4 year old Siberian Husky I have had her since she was 2 and I noticed she shows no sign of dominance over me atall., when it comes to these chewy sticks she likes she will not let me near her I took her harness of her before as she was eating one but she turned really aggressive and it scared me a little so I left her to it like I usually do. Any ideas on what I should do, feel like she’s too old for me to just dive in and take it?????

With my older ones I start by offering a trade. Something smelly like liver treats that will take her attention off the chew and lure her away so I can take it. Once I have the chew I give the treat then usually give the chew back. I don't want my dogs thinking I only take things away. That can make them guard worse. No dog, dominant or submissive, wants something they love taken from them. Gotta establish better things happen if they give you what you ask for. No age is too old to build trust and work on resource guarding.

Thanks will defiantly give this a try I don’t feed her raw meat so would just have to be a treat or something see if that works, i know I would never want to just take something away I only noticed before when she picked a big bone up off our walk today and I didn’t reallt want her to have it but wanted to keep my hand at same time

I think what TwisterII was referring to is something like this Freeze Dried Liver Treat

Along with the trading, I would also teach drop it and leave it if your dog doesn't know those 2 commands. It could save you pups life if she ever picked something up that is potentially dangerous.

Thankyou for all your advice going to give Then a try. Do you think it is a dominant thing?

I do not think it is a dominance thing. I find it is more often brought on by fear or lack of trust when it comes to high value items. It's a little like lending your favorite shirt to your friend for the first time. You like them and know them but you haven't really experienced how well they do at taking care of other people's stuff yet and worry you will never get the shirt back or they will ruin it.

Haha thanks pal couldn’t of explained it any better, I did try the treat thing before when she was eating a meal don’t think the treat was good enough as I put it near her nose she had a little growl I gave her the faintest tap to the side and she kinda looked at me like wtf hahaha anyway this is my first dog nevermind first Husky so all ur advice will be took on and thanks once again

As she gains more confidence, and trust; start holding on to the chew sticks while she is chewing on them.

I have always hand fed my dogs, held onto their toys, to made sure that they know that they can trust me and feel safe. It makes it much easier when they do get a hold of something that I need to take away.

Our American Bully can clamp down her jaw on a toy and be lifted off the ground, and yet, I can put my fingers into her mouth and open up her powerful jaws without fear of her biting me. Trust is a two way street, that you and your pet must establish over time, so that when they do get a hold of something bad you can take it away without a struggle.

Rocky makes a couple of good comments.  I have a female who was *very* food possessive when I got her.  After getting bitten a few times I started hand feeding her and over time that's made all the difference in the world.  

The easiest way, I found, to start hand feeding is - at meal time - take some of her food and hold it in your flat hand.  Let her take the food (the flat hand is so she doesn't think your going to either hit her or take the food back.)  When you start, keep the food bowl out of sight (on a counter or some such) eventually you can bring it into view so it's easier to get her food in hand for her.

I'll emphasize Rocky's other comment - trust is a two way street.  She has to know that you're not going to hit her or take her food away without a reason.  

I'll also strongly emphasize one other point ... you do NOT want to teach her not to growl.  Her growl is her way of telling you that she's uncomfortable with something.  Her growl is a warning to you - if she can't growl then she'll simply attack.  It's your responsibility to figure out what the growl's about and work with her to overcome that problem.

Thanks I hand fed her most of her tea and a treat after it she seemed fine so I will just try keep up with the hand feeding and see how it goes. Also is it true husky are suppose to eat and drink raised and not from the floor? I used to have a stand but got rid as I got told it was no use now I’m getting told it is any help

I have three dogs here, two eat standing up and one is as apt to be laying down as standing. I've also used stands (but not with my Huskies) and most dogs seem to be adaptable ...

I wanted to go looking and Google leads to sites that declare that dogs should eat from the floor while standing others say they should have raised feeders some say it doesn't matter some say either form may cause digestive problems ... It looks like it's a case of "whatever works."

The Daily Puppy does have a caveat that suggest that "heightened bowls help protect dogs from bloat or gastric dilatation" and later in the same paragraph say that "raised bowls may contribute to gastric dilation in dogs."

There have been two studies on this. Only two. Here is a link to a breakdown of the studies. At the end of the breakdown there are links to both studies and their abstracts.

https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/index.php/ve/article/view/57/126

I personally, based on the studies and general dog knowledge, lean away from raised feeder bowls. As dogs were evolving into what they are today I don't believe at any point people were raising their bowls for them to specifically stop bloat issues until fairly recently. In my mind if dogs needed their bowl to be raised then there would be a lot fewer examples of certain breeds left in the world as they all would have died of bloat before the raised bowl came into use.

Aye, I saw those Jenn but discarded both of them since they're aimed very specifically at large and giant breed dogs.

Most of what I've read targets the "bloat" condition as opposed to the consideration whether a raised bowl increases or decreases the incidence of bloat.

In your cited article, Buckley states that she consider both the 2002 study by Blickman and the 2012 study by Pipan flawed by the method of the study.  Peteducation has an article that discusses the discrepencies of the two studies - almost in agonizing detail.

I'm not being argumentative with you here ... I just don't see enough direct cause and effect to make any kind of suggestion.

Rocky_Rhodes wrote:

As she gains more confidence, and trust; start holding on to the chew sticks while she is chewing on them.

I have always hand fed my dogs, held onto their toys, to made sure that they know that they can trust me and feel safe.  It makes it much easier when they do get a hold of something that I need to take away.  

Our American Bully can clamp down her jaw on a toy and be lifted off the ground, and yet, I can put my fingers into her mouth and open up her powerful jaws without fear of her biting me.  Trust is a two way street, that you and your pet must establish over time, so that when they do get a hold of something bad you can take it away without a struggle.  



 

My boy, Kohdi, developed this issue after I got Mishka. I did both things that TwisterII and Rocky_Rhodes recommended. I would trade Kohdi things for whatever bone he was being possessive over, and with him it was difficult because he is not food/treat driven at all. I'd also do the holding of the bone when giving it to Kohdi. I'd give it to him, still holding it, let him chew a bit, then pull it back away and scratch his head, tell him he's a good boy, and give it back to him, eventually I'd release it and just let him have at it. What I'd also do, is just sit right next to him as he's chewing the bone, usually doing my own thing like being on the iPad, pet him every once in awhile, tell him he's a good boy, etc. but I'd basically just be near him/next to him. It didn't happen overnight, but he now let's me take his bone, lets Mishka near him/right next to him/right on him, lol, when he has the bone AND he will actually walk away from the bone now when he's had enough of it for the night. Basically he's back at the point he was before I got Mishka.

Good luck to you!

Can’t thank everyone for there input enough use all helped me so much I seen it as a dominance thing and prob would of took different actions but thanks to use I’m doing the right thing by Everest (my Husky) she seems to be learning quite quick if anyone would like to share anymore advice on this breed of dog would be much appreciated as I would love to breed Everest and I’m only going to do it if I know she and me can handle it so thank use much in helping ‘Ev’ become a better dog much love people for you and your dogs

And if anyone lives around Manchester be sure to get intouch nothing better than meeting new people and new dogs

I'm not near either one but is that Manchester, New Hampshire or Manchester, UK or maybe Manchester by the Sea, Mass???

M94C wrote:

Can’t thank everyone for there input enough use all helped me so much I seen it as a dominance thing and prob would of took different actions but thanks to use I’m doing the right thing by Everest (my Husky) she seems to be learning quite quick if anyone would like to share anymore advice on this breed of dog would be much appreciated as I would love to breed Everest and I’m only going to do it if I know she and me can handle it so thank use much in helping ‘Ev’ become a better dog much love people for you and your dogs

On the topic of breeding we have a few threads that are useful reads.

This one gives you information on all the things you will need to prepare yourself for just in case any or many of them should occur before, during, or after pregnancy.

So you think you want to be a breeder

This one goes over what we recommend people look for when buying a puppy to insure they are getting from a reputable breeder. I would suggest you see if you and your dog and the dog you would potentially be pairing your dog with meet the standard for reputable and quality. We urge people here to look for a reputable breeder or adopt. There are so many huskies who need homes and many that come from backyard breeders who have health issues that could have been avoided.

Finding (or being) a reputable breeder

I defiantly wouldn’t be performing a ‘back garden job’ I ldon’t be my dog to peices and would only want the best health for both the pups and my baby. I am breeding simply to produce better pups I have a lovely female who has recently met a male stud but he’s abit young to hen breeding yet so when he reaches his full maturity that’s when we will try so it’s defiantly not something I’ve rushed into doing a lot of thought is going with it ...... MANCHESTER UNITED haha north west of England it is mate home to biggest football club in the worldn

If you plan on breeding, do you plan on getting eye and hip certifications to show clear of common genetic diseases in huskies? And...you have indications that she has resource guarding. Is that a trait that you think should be passed on to a next generation of pups?

well thats a clear indication of dominance, normally if the alpha wants the bone or whatever she has she would give it to him, that being said one tip for everyone, if you do do grab something they have in their mouth its important that you do not try drag it out of her, the dog needs to let go of the bone, the key in being the alpha is that that you have control without forcing anything, they have to do it, this is common with a tennis ball, they would catch it but not release it or give it to you and you try snatch it out of her mouth which is conditioning her to protect her ball physically, while if you just hold the ball when its in her mouth you just wait for her to release it and she will, thus making her do something without forcing it #teamalpha