Hello everyone, my family and I own an 11 month old male Husky named Maverick. He will be a year old on the 20th of February. I'm having an absolute heck of a time trying to get him to stop biting and tugging on clothing as well as his leash while out for walks! He's becoming a nightmare and it's very frustrating, the problem started when my parents and two sisters started teasing him with food as a pup, now he's food aggressive and nips whenever he doesn't get "people food"! I try to tell them that letting him become alpha of the pack is making his behaviour out of control, but I just get into an argument with my family every time I suggest ways to train him! They are constantly rewarding him for bad behaviour and now we can't have anyone over because he can't behave. I don't want him to nip someone! Does anyone have suggestions about how to fix this, I want so badly to have a well behaved dog!

Hi AllieMichelle1212!

First and foremost, I think you already know cause you've mentioned this before, but you need to make sure your entire family is on board before even trying anything. Like you said, if even one person slips up and feeds him human food, he'll continue to beg and be annoying. Consistency is key.

Re: Biting/Tugging on Clothing
-I've always used the "OUCH" and ignore method, but i don't know how effective it is on older huskies
-Redirect with a toy or a chew toy like an antler/rope toy

Re: Leash Pulling
-This isn't a bad behavior thing really specific to your husky. We all experience it
-EasyWalk Harness? Pronged Collar? E-Collar? All viable options that are debated extensively here in this forum
-Teaching the heel command and treating when done well
-Changing directions whenever he starts pulling and treating when heeling well
-Stop and sit when he gets excited with pulling, reward accordingly
-Teaching the look command and have him focus and check in with you while walking, reward accordingly
-Using a shorter lead is helpful in these situations so you can easily re-direct his attention with a tug

RE: Food Aggressive
-Spoon feed
-Hand feed
-Add treats into bowl while eating so he associates your coming near as a positive thing
-I don't let Echo eat without him doing every trick I've ever taught him. Really make him work for his food

RE: Bad behavior with guests
-for bad behavior like jumping, begging for food at dining table etc..., I usually give him timeouts by tying him to the steel beam that holds my stairs in the corner of my house.
-He ends up being segregated from everybody and doesn't get to play
-Repeat and he will learn that his bad behavior means he gets a time out

Hope some of these suggestions help. But like I said, none of this will work unless everybody in your family is on board. Rules must be followed to a T. Repetition and consistency will teach your pooch in no time what is acceptable and what isn't.

Good Luck!

>>-I've always used the "OUCH" and ignore method, but i don't know how effective it is on older huskies<<

It does work on at least some older Huskies, because we used it on Misty. She was pretty mouthy when we first got her, like she never learned to not "puppy-bite." She can still be a bit of a jerk about it sometimes, especially when someone is wearing a flappy piece of clothing, but she has gotten MUCH, MUCH better. We also used it for her jumping, and now she doesn't jump on people at all. But, yeah, everyone in the family needs to be on board in order for the training to work. Visiting guests need to be on board, too.

Biting/Nipping: We've made progress with Lachlan using a couple techniques. Reach out with a treat in your fist. Dog can lick your hand and even gently mouth with teeth, but if he bites within 5-10 seconds you pull away and ignore for a bit, no treat, then try again. If he does "appropriate mouthing" for 5-10 seconds he gets the treat.

When he bites, even better than OUCH is an ear piercing dog-like yelp. Then put the part of your body he just bit right up to his snout. A loud yelp is the sound dogs give each other to say "too rough, stop or I won't play with you."

Pulling: Prong collar when used correctly worked magic for us. Like results on the first walk.

Jumping up: Gentle but firm knee to the chest and a firm consistent "OFF" or "DOWN"