I have had my husky for about two weeks now. He is now about 72 days old. I will list some things that I have been trying with him but nothing seems to work. I have scoured the internet and youtube and those people that I watch or read about seem to be dog whisperers because I try the same thing that they do and it yields disaster.

When I first got him, I took him outside and he went potty very well. Then I would bring him inside and everything was fine. Whenever he'd sniff the floor and start walking around and seeming to look for a hiding place, I jumped up and grabbed his harness and leash.

Let me get the bad part out of the way first. My wife and I both work and leave and come home around the same time. There is no one who can come by to take him outside to do his business. We also cannot come home let him out. Sometimes we come home to one pee and maybe two poops. Sometimes two pees and one poop. Sometimes multiple of both.

When I do see him sniffing or walking around or trying to be stealthy, I jump up and get him in his harness and leash and take him out. I have him on a short leash, per a friend's recommendation, keeping him on one side of me at all times. He sniffs around and keeps on going. He sniffs all over the place, leading me in all directions. I am outside for quite a while and he doesn't go potty.

Sometimes he will just sit or lie down in the grass and just start relaxing I guess. So, I lead him back to the condo and moments later, he will do his business then. It's frustrating to say the least. I know it is because he has gotten accustomed to going inside because we are gone for a long time as the wife and I are working, but how do you train him to go potty outside when #1, we are not here, and #2, he just won't go outside when we are here.

I was going to ask a few more training questions but don't want to make this post too long to where no one reads it. I am going out of my mind. I have ALWAYS wanted a husky and after about 35 years, I finally got one and I am ecstatic to have one as a member of the family. I love him dearly, but, sadly, I have been having thoughts of giving him up. It's that frustrating. I don't want to give him up, though. I want to keep him.

Just a few notes. I do NOT yell at him. I do NOT rub his nose in his business. I do NOT hit him. I do NOT scold him except for a firm NO when he nips or when he chews things he shouldn't. I talk to him all the time and pick him up and love him. I brush him. I pet him all the time. I play with him, and so does the son and wife.

I just don't know what to do. I am at my wits end. The wife said everything will be ok. She had a dog before. This is my second, although I was a young kid the first time and I didn't have her very long. So this, technically, is my first dog.

Thank you for your responses. Please be gentle as I am learning as I go.

Hi Kinu and welcome to the crazy world of Huskies!

My first comment - a Husky is NOT a dog - at least not in the terms that most people think of dogs.  As he grows up you'll find that his thought process (and they do think!) is "What's in this for me?"  Even as a puppy (10 weeks or so?) you'll find that he's training you if you're not careful. Also remember that with only two weeks under his belt he's still learning what it is you expect from him and consistency with ALL of you is going to go a long way.

Okay let's attack one problem first.  When you leave the house put this little dear in a kennel. (ok, call it a crate, same thing)  and since most of them have partitions so you can make it smaller, you want it just big enough that he can go in, turn around and lay down.  Any bigger and he'll use one part of it as a pottie ... that's not what you want. You'll probably want a 36" crate with a partition (the 36" is how tall it is) that way he'll grow into it.

Oh, I hear it all the time, "crates are cruel"  If you take him and lock him in there 20 hours a day, yep, that's cruel.  Take him out to pottie and make that the last thing you do before you crate him and leave; then make sure that the first thing you do when you get home is to take him out.  I'd put a treat in there and maybe a chew toy so he's got something to "take the edge off" while he's waiting for you to come home, but if you have an in house camera, you'll find that he spends 75% of his time sleeping.  (( I have one that I trust loose when I'm not here or when I'm asleep;  I have one who's crated because if she's loose overnight or when I'm out I'll have at least a wet spot ... she's been crated overnight and then for 4-5 hours during the day when I have to go to town but she'll still willingly go into it when I say "Sky, crate"  As a matter of fact, it's her 'safe place' and she's probably in it now ... with the door open ))

Typical pottie time for most dogs is shortly after they've eaten (say 15 minutes to 1/2 hour) and if you want to help that along get a longer leash 15 - 30 ft (5-10m) and let him run and play, it won't be long before he'll 'drop and go'   That's good play time for both of you if you aren't too tired after a day at work.  If the young one's old enough to take a walk with him, that's good training for both of them.

One thing I noted is that you pick him up ... that won't last long but it is a good thing.  You want him to allow you to pick him up - let's say he gets hurt and you have to pick him up, you want an agreeable dog, not a squirmy mess.  On the other hand, you'll find that a 50+ dog is uncomfortable for both of you when eh's off the ground.  

"NO!"  is a good thing, use it often as appropriate, but expect that he'll reach a point of "Yes!"

Since you comment that there are three of you trainers, you want to make sure that ALL of you are on the same page.  One person saying that it's okay to be on the couch, for example, will cause havoc if that's not an approved place to be (couches and huskies don't get along unless you like dog hair!)

One final comment or this is going to be the book you weren't going to write ... he's still just a puppy but puppies learn quick ... one of my lines is "Train him now to become the dog you want him to be."  Don't hold him on the couch as a puppy if you don't want the dog on the couch (he'll take as much as you're willing to let him have!)  Make him set and wait (stay) for his meal and I presume you're feeding twice a day since you're working.  Take a look at the Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF or NILF) threads here or look it up on the web ... make him work for what he get's he'll be better for it and you'll be a happier husky owner.

Go have fun!! //al

Depending on how long you are gone you may need to hire a dog walker. And get a longer leash. Mine run around and then go to the bathroom. And even on a walk my girls will not potty if i am standing right next to them.

At 72 days old - only 10 weeks, your pup is not going to be able to "hold it" while you drive to work, work all day (assuming a full 8 hour day) and the drive directly back home. While kenneling/crating while you are gone is an excellent suggestion, you really need to figure out how to get him out to potty at least mid-day and maybe twice while you are gone. Perhaps hire a dog walker to come in?

"Leaving Home and Last Call
When you have to leave home for several hours and your puppy needs to stay in a crate during the day, remember to plan ahead. If you’re unsure about how long your puppy can hold it, use the month-plus-one rule. Take the age of your puppy in months and add one, and that is the maximum number of hours that your puppy should be able to comfortably hold it between potty breaks. A 3-month-old puppy plus one equals 4 hours that they should be able to stay in the crate without a mess."

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/potty-training-your-puppy-timeline-and-tips/

I hope things go well - huskies are wonderful dogs.

Thanks @Amymeme I haven't had to do puppies in a long time! and had forgotten that ... I should know better but ... old age, etc.

aljones wrote:

Hi Kinu and welcome to the crazy world of Huskies!

My first comment - a Husky is NOT a dog - at least not in the terms that most people think of dogs.  As he grows up you'll find that his thought process (and they do think!) is "What's in this for me?"  Even as a puppy (10 weeks or so?) you'll find that he's training you if you're not careful.  Also remember that with only two weeks under his belt he's still learning what it is you expect from him and consistency with ALL of you is going to go a long way.

Okay let's attack one problem first.  When you leave the house put this little dear in a kennel. (ok, call it a crate, same thing)  and since most of them have partitions so you can make it smaller, you want it just big enough that he can go in, turn around and lay down.  Any bigger and he'll use one part of it as a pottie ... that's not what you want.  You'll probably want a 36" crate with a partition (the 36" is how tall it is) that way he'll grow into it.

Oh, I hear it all the time, "crates are cruel"  If you take him and lock him in there 20 hours a day, yep, that's cruel.  Take him out to pottie and make that the last thing you do before you crate him and leave; then make sure that the first thing you do when you get home is to take him out.  I'd put a treat in there and maybe a chew toy so he's got something to "take the edge off" while he's waiting for you to come home, but if you have an in house camera, you'll find that he spends 75% of his time sleeping.  (( I have one that I trust loose when I'm not here or when I'm asleep;  I have one who's crated because if she's loose overnight or when I'm out I'll have at least a wet spot ... she's been crated overnight and then for 4-5 hours during the day when I have to go to town but she'll still willingly go into it when I say "Sky, crate"  As a matter of fact, it's her 'safe place' and she's probably in it now ... with the door open ))

Typical pottie time for most dogs is shortly after they've eaten (say 15 minutes to 1/2 hour) and if you want to help that along get a longer leash 15 - 30 ft (5-10m) and let him run and play, it won't be long before he'll 'drop and go'   That's good play time for both of you if you aren't too tired after a day at work.  If the young one's old enough to take a walk with him, that's good training for both of them.

One thing I noted is that you pick him up ... that won't last long but it is a good thing.  You want him to allow you to pick him up - let's say he gets hurt and you have to pick him up, you want an agreeable dog, not a squirmy mess.  On the other hand, you'll find that a 50+ dog is uncomfortable for both of you when eh's off the ground.  

"NO!"  is a good thing, use it often as appropriate, but expect that he'll reach a point of "Yes!"

Since you comment that there are three of you trainers, you want to make sure that ALL of you are on the same page.  One person saying that it's okay to be on the couch, for example, will cause havoc if that's not an approved place to be (couches and huskies don't get along unless you like dog hair!)

One final comment or this is going to be the book you weren't going to write ... he's still just a puppy but puppies learn quick ... one of my lines is "Train him now to become the dog you want him to be."  Don't hold him on the couch as a puppy if you don't want the dog on the couch (he'll take as much as you're willing to let him have!)  Make him set and wait (stay) for his meal and I presume you're feeding twice a day since you're working.  Take a look at the Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF or NILF) threads here or look it up on the web ... make him work for what he get's he'll be better for it and you'll be a happier husky owner.

Go have fun!! //al

Thank you so much for your help with this issue. The problem we have with crates is that when he is in there he will bark and yip and won't stop. Granted, we are there and he sees us when he is barking, so I don't know how he will be when we are away from home.

The second issue with being inside the crate is that we live in a connected condo, so the barking will disturb the neighbors and they may complain. We just moved in this new place at the beginning of May so we haven't been there very long. We are afraid we will "get the boot," so-to-speak.

As for the pottie break outside. He appears to be fascinated with our neighbors yard and he wants to go there when he is walking and sniffing around. There seems to be a small koi pond with koi in it that fascinates him, but I think he just wants to go there for other reasons. When I tell him no, he turns to me and barks and tries to get himself free of the leash by biting it. I quickly stop that and take the leash away then lead him away from there. He pulls me back to the area as I am pulling him away. It ends up being a frustrating struggle for me and I think for him as well. He ends up not going pottie outside and I take him indoors when he begins to lead me back to the condo as he knows where to go. He climbs the stairs and heads in the door leading to our door.

The only problem we have with all three of us training him is that my 7 year old, no matter how often I tell him NOT to do it that way, often scolds the dog for doing what dogs do, like chewing on his own doggy toy. He hits him gently, but I told him not to hit him at all. He yanks his hand away and runs away from him and I told him not to do those things. It will upset Kinu and confuse him. I have to train two people, it seems, and it is exhausting.

I think Kinu is teething more because he will just be sitting there and then he will bark and nip at me for seemingly no reason, lunging at me sometimes and biting my clothing or my skin. Not hard, but enough for it to smart a little and surprise me and my 7 year old son. I tell him no, but he continues to do it. I replace whatever, or whoever, he is biting at with one of his toys and he calms down a bit attacking the toy and not us.

We want him to stop biting, but all the trainers on youtube and online have not given us a remedy about the biting. They all say the same thing, give him a toy in replacement. Tell him no. Both these things don't work. He is still biting and seemingly getting more and more aggressive. We do NOT treat him bad at all. We love him and talk to him and play with him, but we never spank or hit him or yell at him or throw him around, etc. I don't know why he is aggressive at times. We don't want an angry husky. We want a calm, relaxed husky like you see on Sixty Formula youtube channel. I love those two huskies. They are so chill! LOL

Lostmaniac wrote:

Depending on how long you are gone you may need to hire a dog walker. And get a longer leash. Mine run around and then go to the bathroom.  And even on a walk my girls will not potty if i am standing right next to them.

I know this sounds like a copout, but it is so difficult to find someone we can trust, entering our home and taking our husky (and hopefully not our things lol) for a walk. We don't know anyone around us and the people we do know are at work the same time as us. I have called an animal hospital and they charge a decent amount to take him up to 24 hours at a time (we are gone only about 11 hours, with travel time added), but it gets really pricey, especially on my salary (We live in Thailand so we don't make very much to begin with) if we have them take care of him for a week at a time.

You may need to look into a doggy daycare that will be acceptable for puppies if some day barking could really get you kicked out. Or it could be a good get-to-know-your-neighbors exercise reaching out to the folks who live around you who would potentially be disturbed by a puppy barking during the day letting them know that you are working on crate training a new puppy and they may hear some barking at certain times of the day. If someone works nights and is trying to sleep during the day then that is your chance to find out if anyone really would be disturbed by a barking dog. Most folks work during the day same as you in a lot of places and no one is going to be around to hear him. Once trained the barking will stop.

On wanting to pee after being out and then coming back in, puppies have the urge to pee basically after they have played or eaten, so making sure you take him out right after those things gives you a higher probability of going in the right space. If you've taken him out and doesn't go bring him mostly inside then immediately go right back out and see if he goes then. Praise going where he should. I'm not against a firm no when doing wrong. Boundaries have to be set. 11 hours is a long time for a dog of any age to be home alone with no breaks. Adults can do it but this is a challenging length of time for a puppy out to about a year old this could be a struggle and when he gets old you will be back to the struggle.

TwisterII wrote:

You may need to look into a doggy daycare that will be acceptable for puppies if some day barking could really get you kicked out. Or it could be a good get-to-know-your-neighbors exercise reaching out to the folks who live around you who would potentially be disturbed by a puppy barking during the day letting them know that you are working on crate training a new puppy and they may hear some barking at certain times of the day. If someone works nights and is trying to sleep during the day then that is your chance to find out if anyone really would be disturbed by a barking dog. Most folks work during the day same as you in a lot of places and no one is going to be around to hear him. Once trained the barking will stop.

On wanting to pee after being out and then coming back in, puppies have the urge to pee basically after they have played or eaten, so making sure you take him out right after those things gives you a higher probability of going in the right space. If you've taken him out and doesn't go bring him mostly inside then immediately go right back out and see if he goes then. Praise going where he should. I'm not against a firm no when doing wrong. Boundaries have to be set. 11 hours is a long time for a dog of any age to be home alone with no breaks. Adults can do it but this is a challenging length of time for a puppy out to about a year old this could be a struggle and when he gets old you will be back to the struggle.

Thank you for your insight and your help. I will definitely work on those things. As for crate training, he seems to like going in and just chilling with a chew toy or biting his metal food dish (we bought another one we use for his food, this one is mainly just a play thing for him) and he does go potty in there from time to time.

I am going to definitely work on this harder and hope that everything will turn out well. I would hate to give him up. Not because we don't want him, but because we want better for him.