So recently someone mentioned that they may have trouble renting because huskies are on some lists as being dangerous. Of course this piqued my curiosity and I found this Forbes top list of risky breeds. Husky was number 10 and the article has a picture of a husky or mal puppy.can anyone please tell me why huskies come up on these lists? Is it because they can have a wolffish appearance? I mean, if you could die from excessive husky kisses then I could see it but right now I just don't get it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cateyhill/2012/05/30/11-riskiest-dog-breeds-for-homeowners-and-renters/

The list just seems ill informed.

It's based on the list of bite reports from the CDC, based on the bitten person identifying the dog. Most are probably not huskies, we had a long thread about this a year or so ago. Many of the dogs are probably misidentified.
http://www.dogsbite.org/pdf/1979-1998-breeds-dogs-involved-in-fatal-human-attacks-us.pdf

Off topic, THIS line in the article is ridiculous, offensive and why people are afraid to rescue "Furthermore, “if it’s a rescue dog, find out if it has a biting history or was abused,” McCarthy says — once a dog injures someone in your home, you risk getting your coverage dropped." Most rescues are abandoned due to people moving.

Interesting review of the various studies these lists are based on:
http://lassiegethelp.blogspot.com/2007/08/dangerous-breeds-dog-bite-statistics.html

I tried key word searching to see I fits come up here didn't see it specifically addressed. Sorry if this has been beaten to death. It's got me annoyed and I really couldn't see how the conclusion was being made that they are risky.

Having it based on a bite report makes sense but then how many people who are bitten by a wiener dog would bother to report it vs by a GSD. And yes I think the rescue line was ignorant. Heck three of my coworkers dumped their dogs at the local shelter for various reasons (no time, not house trained ,ect ) but none because of aggression. I will have to look at the link you posted. Is just a shame that the breed is misrepresented.

As a vet tech, I see the dark side of many breeds. Most northern breeds can be "weird". I love them to death, but I won't trust one when we're at work. This includes Murphy, who has tried to bite my coworker before (this was a one time occurrence and I let her know, under no uncertain terms, that was NOT ok). Super sweet breed as a whole, but many are willing to "defend" themselves.

I know a lot of Huskies are banned from rental properties because they are destructive and loud...

I don't consider them dangerous though, they give LOTS of warning. Cattle dogs, now those little f-ers will bite as soon as look at you!

Sam- I'm really enjoying that article!

Yeah the " dangerous breeds dog bites stats" article is pretty good so far. About sums up what I've been thinking lately.

I can see the destructive loud thing for sure. If kibas bored she can be both.

I have limited pure breed experience with northern breeds other than huskies and my neighbors American Eskimo dog. I've just not seen a snappy husky. They generally seem goofy or (like my friends's husky) reserved

As a groomer, I must interject - Where the heck are the Lhasas on that list? O_o lol, but seriously, chalk them up with those cattle dogs and even westies or wheatons.

We get people all the time asking us if we groom Pitties.. we say yeah - its the Lhasa Apsos you have to watch out for!

I haven't seen too many huskies come for grooming, the handful that I have groomed were sweet or cautious / hesitant.
I only met one (poor quality too) Husky that was crazy. Only one of maybe 3 total dogs we've ever sent home. Owners can be a pain too, dog was 8 months old and a little nervous - i thought ok nervous puppy no big deal. Well... I almost lost my nose just trying to get his collar off. He would wag his tail - not the nervous wag, normal - and even gave paw.. but if you went to touch him he lashed out big time. Couldn't get a muzzle on him or do anything with him really, so called the owner and they say ' oh, yeah he doesn't like his collar touched, oh he nips cuz hes a puppy, oh and he has food aggression problems, and bit their 5 yr old daughter in the face the day before for no reason... *sigh*.
Well.. if someone met that particular husky, I wouldn't blame them for being wary of the breed - even if its terrible to make generalizations.
I mean, I've known a solid good 3 nice Lhasas, out of about 2 dozen or more.

Sorry to ramble on.. ^_^

I would be SOL with that list anyways, I love GSDs and want one again badly, sometime in the next few years.

I have had experience with a number of different types of dogs through my work, often under less than ideal conditions. All breeds, regardless of size, shape or training have the capacity to bite under the right circumstances. Just like any other animal, including us, they get scared, nervous or whatever. Most people react poorly to this, and dogs, being dogs, feed off the person's anxiety or fear, or sometimes bad decisions, and it causes things to go sideways.

GingerDog wrote:

Cattle dogs, now those little f-ers will bite as soon as look at you!

This really made me laugh, before we decided on a Husky a friend of mine wanted to give me a cattle dog puppy. My husband works for the power co and he sees/deals with dogs in a daily basis. He said that he would have to put cattle dogs at the top of his "hate" list and there was no way we were getting one. lol

KibaHope wrote:

Having it based on a bite report makes sense but then how many people who are bitten by a wiener dog would bother to report it vs by a GSD.

Along the lines of this, people might not even be "reporting" bites. When a person or child comes into the hospital or doctors office due to a dog inflicted injury the health organization has to report it. My uncle's Akita grabbed food from his young daughter. It was the sweetest Akita you could meet, never intended to bite her but accidentally drew blood when taking the food from the child on 2 separate occasions. The hospital was required to report it as a "bite" each time. After the second report, the dog was labeled as aggressive and they had to choose between the dog or having their children taken from them by child services. Of course the dog had to go and no shelter, rescue, or individual would take the dog with a history of 2 bites on record so the only thing they could do was put the poor dog to sleep. Something tells me this plays out more than we know. In the same circumstances, a small dog grabbing food from a young child might only leave a scratch which wouldn't necessitate a trip to the doctor. Just a personal example of how that would be the case whether a "bite" was intentional or not.

Huskyluv wrote:

Along the lines of this, people might not even be "reporting" bites. When a person or child comes into the hospital or doctors office due to a dog inflicted injury the health organization has to report it.

This is a really good point. A few months ago Nanook's mouth connected with my hand the wrong way while we were playing, and a bone in my hand broke. (It was completely unintentional and he wasn't even biting). I wound up telling the doc that I slammed it onto the kitchen counter because I know we would have had to report it as a "bite" if I had told him it happened while playing with the dog.

Are huskies "dangerous"?? Mostly NO - at least not intentionally. But many pups tend to be mouthier than a lot of breeds and those sharp teeth break skin during play. Just look at all the posts here about puppy biting!! As an aside, we have my sister-in-law's pup here right now, and my hands and legs are full of lacerations. I wouldn't call this pup 'dangerous'; she's just another husky pup that was probably taken from her litter too soon in need of some manners.

Edited to add: I really question the sources used for data about dog bites. One of the ones cited earlier uses the HSUS and newspapers for their data. Neither are what I would call reliable, especially considered that it is all self-report from the dog bite victim (or witness). Plus is just lists huskies as "husky type". Quite frankly, while it was published in a peer reviewed journal, I am surprised that manuscript made it past the reviewers in the first place. Another more recent one cites someone from the CDC saying that

Quote :

Breed "is no longer considered to be of discernible value" when addressing dog bite prevention, according to a CDC spokesperson.

So I find it interesting that "wolf-hybrids" are lower on the list than husky's. I know there are less of them so that they get reported for biting less but seriously. I would be more afraid of a wolf-hybrid than any of the other breeds listed. Just saying.

Thankfully my insurance company is more open minded and doesn't even have a restricted list! (Yeah for Farmers Insurance Group)

I agree about the wolf hybrids . If any breed is unpredictable it seems like they would be it since their temperament is a role of the dice. But a hybrid with husky in it could get mistaken for a full husky. Another reason (the least of them) why I think crossing the two is a bad idea.

Bottom line is any dog can be dangerous....especially in the wrong hands. Now most of us are responsible owners that took the time and effort to socialize and train our dogs, now think of a high energy dog like a Siberian with no socialization and no training and excessive pent up energy, you are looking at a recipe for disaster.

I will speak on the 'wolf hybrid' issue though as I have had many in my life, and currently still do. Honestly they are more mild mannered than most Siberians. Reserved and shy, it does require the right person with correct information, dedication to socialization, dedication to training to make the relationship successful. I honestly believe the only reason this mix should not exist is for the misinformed getting their hands on them for the 'macho' factor. There are too many myths and not enough facts out there on the mix, which is more dangerous to any breed than any list-

I have researched this a lot, because I found it baffling. I suppose ANY dog can be aggressive, but every husky I have known has been all about the lovin, not the fighting. It seems like most never met a stranger they didn't think was there to play with them!

What I have discovered is that insurance companies, for instance, classify dangerous dogs not by the number of bites, but by the number of fatalities. Every husky fatality I could find in recent years involved babies. Given the strong prey drive of huskies, I am assuming they are attacking a squealing little thing that they aren't associating as a person. I don't really thinkit has anything to do with aggression.

The fault is with the dumb people who leave infants alone with their dogs. I trust my dogs with my life, but I never, ever left the kids unattended with the dog nearby when they were babies.

As smart and loving and wonderful as a dog can be, at the end of the day, they are still an animal. While many dogs would lay down their own life to protect a child, just as many will see it as a squeaky toy.

Any dog can be aggressive. Just depends on how it was raised. That being said, I think there are those dogs that are just aggressive without any help from humans. As it's been said, dogs ARE still animals and some people tend to forget that. People are also pretty ignorant. There are certain situations that you don't put a child in with a dog present. People also tend to want to complain more when it has to do with a breed that's been labeled "aggressive". For instance, if a person has a golden retriever and gets bit, he's less likely to seek outside help than if the dog was say, a pit bull. Anyway, I'm probably way off when it comes to the technicalities of things, but this is how I've always seen things.

For us, the insurance company explained it's because of their destructive behavior.... As a puppy, Alo would eat the furniture, the banister, drywall, the trestle on the back deck, dig holes in the yard and so on. He grew out of it but our home owners insurance is a bit higher because we own a husky. His pet insurance is higher too.

My sister wants to get a house next year but we know she cant afford to buy so we're thinking rent and i'll be moving in with her. This topic really has us wondering if thats gonna happen cause I have the two huskies and she has a little pit mix!

If it wouldn't happen over the huskies, sadly it would because of your pity - which is a SHAME as well because they are the most misunderstood breed alive. Best of luck!

It's not impossible, you'll just have to work to find a place who will let you rent. Being active duty I've played the renting game several times now, and it's a lot easier to rent a house than it is an apartment. I've had good luck offering extra on pet deposits as well. Good luck, and just go scour rental ads until you find one. And most importantly, be honest. They find out when you're not, and it's really bad.

I saw a discussion on this topic here not long ago and I wanted to pass along what I discovered on this topic. We have a home in Texas but my husband travels for work so I am often looking for short term apartment/house rentals all over the Country. Given this I started asking why they had Huskys on their restricted list and suprisingly, more than 80% of them stated that they did not allow Huskys not because of bite risk but because they are extremely vocal and prompt constant noise complaints from other tenants/neighbors about howling whenever owners were away. This actually makes much more sense as I hate to admit it but my baby vocalizes constantly and has an opinion about pretty much everything which I think is adorable but I suppose others may not. So just wanted to let everyone know that before we become defensive towards our landlords for being completely wrong about our babies, we should find out why they are on the “banned” list ????

I know this is an old thread, but we're smack in the midst of it!

My Father-in-Law is moving in with us and can't do stairs - like the ones to our duplex. So we're moving soon.

Of course we instantly became familiar with the "Dangerous Breed" list. Here's what we noted:

1 - Both Huskies and Mals are on all the lists of dangerous breeds that we found (yep, listS)

2 - More weight is placed on fatalities than bites (15 for Huskies, 12 for Mals)

There is no mention of some (IMHO) VERY important details such as who, when, where, why.

We found out that we could have Kona registered as an Emotional Support Animal (ESA), so we did here:

https://www.esaregistration.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2rm43KvQ4AIVjh-tBh2KJw6AEAAYAyAAEgI1sfD_BwE

This removes the legal ban, now we just have to overcome lessor's fears of our individual dog rather than a breed as a whole.


**
BOTTOM LINE - Kona is MY dog. That makes him MY RESPONSIBILITY. Full stop - end here.

Our dogs are magnificent animals with distinct markings and unusually colored, highly intelligent eyes. Some people want to approach and pet the big fuzzy doggy and don't see the predator (that ALL dogs are), others see Kona's piercing amber eyes openly sizing them up and they turn and walk the other way and never hear him whining because he wanted to say hi so bad. It's up to ME to make the decision that Kona is either OK to make introductions or not, even move him to another area if people are making him nervous or vice versa.

ESA Certification - yes, I'm happy that I could remove the legal blight from Kona's name with a few clicks; but how do they know that I don't have a blood thirsty killer??? It seems that there should be a standardized document that we could have our vets sign in evaluating ANY pet's demeanor.

The members here obviously care deeply for our furry family members. We wouldn't be on a dog forum posting pics and swapping stories like the proud parents we are if we didn't love them! Unfortunately, not all owners understand just how much effort is involved in adopting a Husky / Mal , and do not understand what is meant by the phrase, "Not for everyone".

Registration as an emotional support animal means nothing   you need a note from a doctor that an emotional support animal is needed by the individual.

More meaningful might be getting AKC canine good citizen certification.

https://www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good-citizen/

Thank you!

I figured that some online registration page wouldn't cut it - I do live in SoCal though lol
although the mere fact that we mention that we've looked into the matter is enough to help them decide.
The AKC looks much more promising, Thanks!

We've just been completely upfront with prospective homes. It saves so much time to get that out of the way and move forward or move on. We just spoke with a lessor that didn't know that Huskies were on any list. Turns out they've owned huskies and are completely OK with Kona!

I only resurrected this thread because it was something the local shelter left out of the "New Dog" kit. I wouldn't have changed our decision, but it might affect others who are considering a black listed breed.