We are a family of four with two teenage kids and bunch of younger nieces and nephews. My son really wants a Siberian Husky and has a female picked out from a reputable breeder.

We would be crate and e-collar training. We have trained multiple dogs with the crate and e-collar.

We live on a family farm with Cows, horses, sheep, pigs, parrots, and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. We would want the husky to be able to roam free with us when we are out on the farm and not tethered to leash. But many of our friends and what i have read on the internet say the Husky will kill our chickens and parrots. I was looking for some advice from Husky owners, because of our environment should we stay away from the Husky Breed or would we be able to train her to be part of our farm?

Thanks,
Michael

I have always believed that training can solve most issues with a dog. Whether or not the owners have the time, patience, expertise etc is the question.

From my limited experience with our two, and from what I've read, huskies have a lot of prey drive. I would assume some more than others. With ours, no small animal wandering into our yard would stand a chance. That may be because we have two and they team up and feed off of each other.

Hopefully there is someone here on the forum who can offer more advice.

The main thing when it comes to training a husky is you have to stick to your guns because if they can get away with it they will keep doing it because they know they will get away with it. Regarding your farm animals maybe it won't be the same because the puppy will be growing up with them instead of having a grown dog and putting them in to that situation. I think it is possible for your husky to be with you with out being on the leash all the time I'm in the process of training mine to be off the leash and some days she does really well and others not so much so it's all based on there mood as well. I have learned that they are very opinionated dogs and they love to talk.

Sent from Topic'it App

If its a young puppy you can get them used to the animals before they are too big to hurt another animal the off leash thing with a husky is tricky both of mine are ok off leash squirt cuz she behaves and spider wont leave splinter and splinter wont go anywhere. On a side note spider participants in driving cows shes good at it and loves it. A trick to teaching the dog to stay off leash if both dogs get along leash the husky to the trusty retriever

If you are ecollar experienced, I do believe you can train to leave the critters alone.  BUT - you must be vigilant and consistent.  I assume you have fenced pastures?  Are the parrots loose?  Since you are getting a puppy, once she is 6 months old and you begin ecollar training, use the ecollar to correct whenever she is within, I dunno, maybe 10 ft of an animal?

EDIT: Mine can be off leash with ecollar.

The larger animals, yes, they can learn to leave them alone. Especially if your larger animals are used to dogs. The parrots in the house, probably as long as they are able to get away easily and perch out of reach. The chickens. More than likely not. Chickens will be a large challenge. they are delicate and even a young puppy can do damage to them just trying to play. Chickens don't have the escape ability of the parrots either. You will have to take extra care to break the dog of chasing and killing chickens. Huskies aren't like labs and collies. They aren't eager to please most of the time and are extremely stubborn, even when being hit with a shock if you get a pup with a super high prey drive they may not listen in time to stop the kill. Really evaluate the pup closely before committing to it. Check its excitement levels, find out what the breeder has already exposed the pups to and how it reacted. Starting with a calm puppy will go a long way to setting you and your army of animals up for success. If you get a high intensity dog that is excitable and reactive from the get-go it will be an uphill battle. There's a difference between a puppy who is being a puppy and a puppy that is showing instinctual behavior.

Thanks for all the advice. We have decided to move forward and get a Husky. We are going to work hard in training her to live on our farm. The breeder we are getting her from has 11 Huskies and has turkey and chickens and so far she has not lost one. I will create a new post and put some pictures up when we get her on Saturday.