Hey so I am new to this thread and new to husky ownership. Recently I brought in a 7 month old Siberian from a really bad owner who neglected him. I decided to do it because even though my girlfriend tried to turn me into a cat person, I will always be a dog lover at heart. Only thing is I do have a couple of cats. So far it has been a few days and nothing bad has happened. I understand that huskies always will have a high predatory drive and there is always that chance he may go after them but so far I have not seen any of it. I know he was bred on a farm for 4 months with other small animals, and I have done research on the breeders and they seemed to be good people with good training practices. My cats on the other hand have been interesting. They have been unbothered by him (which is good) and all three can hold their ground against him and have done so and shown him whos boss. My parents have had dogs all their life and I have seen them kill other small animals, and I dont see my husky exhibiting the same behavior as my parents pups did. He doesnt bark or jaw at the cats and he doesnt pounce on them or try to pin them down. If he does chase after them they fight him back and go under my bed or on a cat tree or the countertop. It seems like he just wants to play with them or ignore them. I guess my question is is 7 months old pushing it for training?

Since he seems receptive to leaving the cats alone then I think you have a very good chance of making it work. I would just always be aware that things can happen in the blink of an eye so trust must be earned over a long period of time. It takes a couple months for a dog to settle in and show their true colors and become comfortable in a new home (not sure how long you've had him at this point). Just keep on him, work on staying calm around the cats, not staring at them, and no chasing. Your cats being willing to hold their ground does a lot to train him. I think you will be fine.

I can’t necessarily speak for all cat/dog cohabitators, as I no longer own a cat-but we do have small pets (guinea pigs). They have a 9.5 sq ft cage that we keep them in on the living room floor. When we first looked into huskies we were REALLY concerned about the prey drive, and were very careful with looking for a rescue who vetted their dogs with cats. Luckily the rescue we got Mia (our first and oldest) from was run by a woman who had cats, so when we told her our guinea pig situation she was careful to test her with the cats. She did okay with them, but since she’s come out of her shell we’ve decided she CANNOT be around cats. She barks when she sees them at PetSmart and she NEVER barks or pulls like that otherwise. With the pigs, though, we’ve become comfortable with her 99% (as long as they’re in the cage she’s a perfect angel). She initially showed interest, but we worked very hard to train her to “be gentle” and to redirect her attention elsewhere. She was somewhere between 2-4 years old at that time. She’s also aware of the difference between our pigs and squirrels.

Our second was 8 weeks when we brought him home and we did the same training with him. We’ve never had any problems with either dog. The only time we had a scare was when he was a puppy he broke open the pig cage while we were at work, LEFT THE PIGS ALONE, but decided to eat a full yard of the fleece we bed the pigs on. Pigs didn’t even care.

Long story short (in my experience ONLY) huskies are wicked smart and can be trained to ignore (to an extent) their prey drive, but just because they are good one day doesn’t mean they won’t be triggered (ie- Mia used to be good with cats but now they’re too exciting for her to ignore). Age isn’t going to be the be all end all for training him. I would definitely keep an eye out and train your dog to obey “leave it” (we use the “on by” command but it’s the same premise) and to learn how to redirect his attention if he’s too interested in the cats. Also, make sure there are plenty of verticle escape routes your cats can use if they need to! Shelving, counters, cat trees, etc, just in case they feel threatened.

I think, if you'll allow, that this demonstrates the "pack mentality" of most of our dogs. Given the right training they'll accept that these cats are part of our "pack," - that they're just odd family members.

The same dog, with a neighbors cat - one who isn't part of the "pack" - will be in imminent danger as soon as it comes into the yard.

(( the quotes around the "pack" are that there is a discussion going on how effective pack based behavior and training are. Attempting to physically become "pack leader" often results in a "beaten down" dog and no pack hierarchy. Pack hierarchy seems to develop naturally - regardless of the people / dogs / other animals involved. ))

I have had him for a couple days and each day it seems to be getting a little better. Of course, it also matters on how my cats feel towards him. 2 out of my 3 cats are starting to feel more receptive towards him and in return he doesn't bother them as much. One of them is letting him come closer than he was 3 days ago, and the other one is starting to meow at him instead of hissing and clawing. The third cat which is my most fussy cat, who doesn't like to get picked up and took almost 2 weeks to adapt to my new place when we moved in, is taking a little more time to get adjusted, but the dog likes to leave him alone. In terms of the dog, I wouldn't necessarily call it "chasing." If he sees a cat walking, he walks over to the cat and just attempts to sniff their butts, and then he will usually walk away. Anything he does is in reaction to the cat hissing or pawing him. He interprets that as the cat trying to play with him and so he gets into the prone playing position on the ground, however, he keeps his distance from the cat and doesn't lift his paw or pounce on them or try to pin them down. I have been working on the "leave it" command and hes starting to get used to just ignoring the cats. I'm still not comfortable leaving them alone (even though I know he won't do anything bad to them) so I do separate them when I have to leave for long hours cause of work. However, this morning I forgot to separate them when I went to the gym for an hour and I came back and still had 4 pets so I guess that's a good start.

Just take it slowly and carefully. I would also do your best to keep them separated at this early stage if no supervision. My Husky puppy was very wild and crazy and we did not let them in the same room until we had him for 18 months and that happened because we sold our home and had to stay at a Holiday Inn for 18 days. He was a bit annoying to her at first but soon he accepted her. She loved him from day one. Then when we finally got into our new home they were not separated at night and I was worried many times about what may happen but the times I got up to check, he was sleeping on the couch and her right about him. The only times I ever had to be careful was when he was full of energy in the morning and he would go up to her like a nut but he never opened his mouth to her and had any mean motions but she is dainty so we had to be sure to tell him a strong no. I think they accept each other as part of the pack. We had to put our cat down today and I can really tell that he knows something is off around here. Take it slow and you should be fine.

So i have had him for a little over a week and weve had some good times and some frustrating times. He wants to play with the cats but doesnt understand the hissing and pawing at him means they dont want to play back. I keep them separated while I am gone for long hours of the day due to work and school. What are your guys tips for keeping him occupied? There are some days I need to leave him home for like 6-8 hours because of work or school. When I come home, he hasnt gone to the bathroom inside but he has torn up some minor things, like an old sandal that I dont wear and an old notebook, but he hasnt dove into my more valuable stuff. When I come home he definitely wants to play with the cats because he has all that pent up energy. I am also curious in the role that neutering plays in. He's 7 months old and not neutered and I noticed that everytime he plays with the cats he always ends up humping me lol. I think the last problem is just me being paranoid, like the above reply said, I just need to give it time, however I am not a patient person lol

Many here have to crate their dogs to protect them from eating stuff they shouldn't around the house. While it seems like 6-8 hours is a long time to lay in a crate as long as you are properly exercising him before putting him in he will be fine. We also husky-proof our homes. Nothing gets left laying around. Pick up anything that he might chew on and put it away. Assume if it's out that it will get chewed up. I like antlers (moose or elk) and himalayan chews for mine to work on while I'm away. They seem to like the himalayans the most. When I was still crating my boys that or a bully stick was what they got to work on while in the crate. When done they just slept.

Neutering will help with the humping up to a point. He's at the age where the hormones are getting amped up, but a lot of excitement can cause humping as well. I would go ahead and get him fixed so that you can get out ahead of the marking and tame some of the humping. The longer they go unfixed into adulthood the harder it is to break the marking if the dog has a propensity toward it and the humping could get him into big trouble with other dogs so anytime he does it to you I would put him in a time out. Make him sit and wait and calm down.

At 7 months there's just a lot of energy in general and exercise is key in making anything work.

Definitely crate him-we had to crate Luka until he was around 2. If the idea of crating doesn’t appeal to you (like it didn’t to my husband) think of it this way-it’s for his own safety. He might have only chewed an old sandal today, but he could get curious and chew an electrical cord tomorrow. Our boy chewed through a webcam cord that my husband swore up and down he’s puppy proofed, but he still managed to find it. Pretty sure huskies are born innately knowing how to ignore the DONT CHEW THIS idea haha. If you do know something is out that you can’t really husky proof though, like a new piece of furniture, bitter apple spray can sometimes help. Obviously don’t coat everything in your house with it to avoid having to put things away, but it can help in a pinch! Most pet stores carry it-I think Walmart does now, too?

I dont like crating the dog simply because the crate I was given is way too small for him to sit in comfortably for 6-8 hours. Second of all he barks when hes in the crate and I live in a townhouse style complex and my neighbor absolutely hates dogs. I just have been dog proofing my place everytime I leave. I keep all my valuables in the room which I separate my cats in or put them in a closed closet shelf. Luckily my place has used craigslist furniture so if he happens to chew up my $20 couch, im not too worried about it. I am moving cross country to live with my girlfriend in a month and a half so hopefully when I move in well have opposing work schedules so he wont be left home alone for more than like 2-3 hours.