Hi all, I'm new and while I have read through some topics to look for answers, I have specific questions I am seeking advice about.

1) We are currently house breaking our 12 week old husky who is used to being outside all day. We are crate training her and so far she does great in the crate. Unfortunately, right now our only option is to crate her during the day at work and at night while we sleep because we are still training her. Is this setting us up for having a bad relationship with our dog? (We have looked into doggie daycare but the ones around here will not take her until she is 6 months old. We have 3 months to go. Also, we are new to town and have no friends or family near us and don't know anyone enough to trust them to come into our house and let her out. She has gone 2 days with no mess which is great, I just don't want the end result to be a dog that hates us).

2) We are crate training her (see #1) but we are walking her twice a day for about a total of 4 miles a day. At the moment, we have to leash her in the yard because the underground fence can't be installed until later in the week so she is not getting great exercise in the yard. Is this enough? (She's 12 weeks old).

3) For some reason, she has some aversion towards going into our garage. She makes up her mind and holds her ground that she will not enter our garage from the outside in or from the house to the garage. Any ideas as to what the issue could be?

4) She is doing okay for never having been on a leash before but I keep reading about how important it is to lead while walking. What is the best way to do this? At best, she walks next to us but we are not CLEARLY in the lead.

I think that is it for now. Any insight you can provide would be great.

1) I wouldn't worry about crating her too much, especially as a puppy. They don't have memories like we do. As long as you work towards positive crate association, it won't have any adverse effects.

2) I think Val gave the useful guideline that a puppy should only be walked for 5 mins for each month of age. At 12 weeks, she should only be getting 15 min walks. 4 miles is actually too MUCH. Puppies should only get free-play on grassy areas or training. They don't have the consciousness to be able to say "I'm tired, I should stop," so many can end up injuring themselves and pavement is too harsh on their growing bones and joints.
---- Side note to this... scrap the underground fence. Once your puppy gets older, it will never hold her in. I think you should look into getting some real fencing. Invisible fencing alone will not be enough or safe for a husky as a general rule of thumb. Not with their high pain tolerance and prey drive.

3) The garage issue could be anything, and not something to be overly concerned about, but if it's a safe space for her to be in, then I would start coaxing her with treats. Make the garage a positive place to be. Give her lots of toys and praise when she's in there. Make her realize that good things happen when she goes there and she'll get the hang of it.

4) As long as she's not pulling, I wouldn't worry about her being in the "lead". These dogs are bred to be in the lead, so leash manners should focus on not pulling and paying attention to you. If you want her to pay more attention to you on walks, try putting some bacon bits in your pocket and redirect her attention to you at random moments on your walk or when she gets "too far ahead."

Great questions! Good luck

Thanks for your insight. I really appreciate it.

You made feel better about the crate training for sure.

Yikes! Does it make a difference that the 4 miles (and it is usually around 2-3 actually total but if it is four, it is spread out over two separate walks? Because she is in the crate a lot, we wanted to make sure she was getting enough outside the crate time and exercise but we certainly do not want to hurt her.

As for the underground fence, the fence is already installed, we just have to wait for the collar and transmitter since the previous owners took that with them. We spoke with the breeder of this pup who stated that their original breeder had invisible fencing for their huskies and it worked. I've heard mixed "reviews" if you will on this. We also have someone in our neighborhood who has an adult husky and they have an invisible fence. I'd like to hear input from more people on this issue because we certainly do not want to waste our money on the collar and transmitter but it will be a long while before we can afford to put in a "real fence" if this will not work when she gets older.

As for the garage issue, we don't want her to spend a lot of time in the garage but she won't go in there at ALL. I'm talking about just walking through the garage to get outside or inside in the house. It's very strange! We will certainly work on using treats. Not sure why I didn't think of it before. D'oh. Thanks!

As for the walking, I've read that having them lead you is very bad because it teaches them they are in control and this is turn leads to disobedience. Again, insight from others would be helpful.

Thanks so much for your helpful and quick responses, Koda. I am already impressed with this forum.

I think there is a lot of hype over the idea of "dominance" and "walking in front." In general, these are guidelines for all breeds and each breed is distinct. Huskies are bred to run and bred to be in the lead, to pull ahead of humans. It's almost instinctive. I know several people on this forum (I'm channeling Eddy, one of our admins) who regularly allows his huskies/malamutes to walk in front of him (daily actually) and I'd like to see anyone TRY to claim that his dogs disobey him or think they are boss! So, I think you'll find that most of us will not agree with that claim.

The invisible fence is a very well-debated topic on the husky forums. Personally, I would NEVER trust my two with one. I've seen Koda in action. Pain means nothing to him, especially when he is in full-prey-drive mode. And he was trained as a puppy with an invisible fence, but IN the house without the temptation of small prey. However, huskies hit their teenage rebellion years hard. They will test every boundary. Your pup is probably a well-behaved, maybe slightly headstrong, energetic pup right now. In a couple of months... watch out. You'll start to see a whole different dog.

Again, I speak from the experience of many discussions and invisible fences are generally only used to reinforce an existing barrier, NOT as the sole barrier. Because an invisible fence will also only "protect" your dog from getting OUT. It does NOT protect other dogs from getting in. And with the high prey drive of huskies, I fear for other animals, small-napoleon-complex dogs who might wander in and get injured... then it's YOUR dog who is liable...It's just not a risk I would EVER take.

If the walks are 15 mins at a time or less, I would say it's okay, but you'd be better off getting her exercise with free play like fetch or training rather than walking on pavement. It's generally not good on their little bodies and free-play is more stop and start, which allows them the pause to think "Hey, I'm tired, I'm stopping." Personally, I would do one, maybe two 15-min walks a day max, and spend the rest of my exercise time playing in the yard.

I'm glad that you like it here Please feel free to keep asking questions!

Crating isn't cruel. My dogs love their crates. When we stopped using them my girls seriously got upset and would mope around the house around bed time looking for them. Don't worry

As for the invisible fence... As Tori said there is a lot of debate about them especially with Husky owners. I would never trust that, ever. My girls run through pain all the time when they take a hard spill or something like that, I can't imagine what they'd run through to chase some stupid dog/cat/squirrel down the road. There was a person on another Husky forum who swore up and down it would work and blah blah blah. A few months later they popped back in stating the dog ran away through the fence. Can't remember if they got the pup back or not but that doesn't matter to me. I've chased down my dogs way too many times to remember... There's no way in heck i'd make it easier for them to do! lol

As for the walking... I walk all my dogs together. And they all walk in front of me. They don't pull. They don't go 10 billion different directions. They just walk on loose leashes. I've tried the whole "i'm going to walk in front" crap and it was too much effort for nothing. My dogs still behaved the same they just seemed mopey on walks. I feel that if I can own this many dogs and not have dog fights or aggression problems (human or canine) I really doubt it's because of the position my dogs walk in.

The walking may be a bit too much for their age. You also don't want to create a dog who needs a ton of exercise because that is easily created. You are conditioning the dog to be used to having that much activity during the day and at such a young age... they will build up a tolerance fast. I'd try to break up the walks into shorter walks throughout the day. Maybe when you first get up, before you leave, right when you get home, and before bed time. Keep them short and easy, 5 mins per age is a good guideline. Use the other time you've been spending on walks teaching her stuff in the house or playing with her. They love interaction, wherever it comes from.

Good advice given so far about crates and fences.

I would like to say that I would never try teaching the dog to walk behind you. Walking a husky on a loose lead will soon become a huge battle for you, if your pup is like mine. You will celebrate the few times when she is not pulling like a crazy dog! Just like with raising children, I have chosen to "choose my battles". I am not allowing the "crazy dog pull" but anything else is fine when we are on a walk. I allow some stopping to smell the roses... or fire hydrants, as the case may be....

Enjoy your new puppy and WELCOME!

As for the electric fence. I can speak from our experience, we got one for our older husky and she HATED it, it was a waste of money. once she got shocked the very first time she would not go outside at all even days later after the shock. she would fight us and would not move if we got her outside she would just sit by the door waiting to go in. LOL

Chiming in on the electric fence, I would not trust it to keep a husky in. Of course there will be mixed reviews but knowing my own sibe it would not be enough to keep him in the yard if another dog or prey item came along. And then there is the issue that if they do get past the electric fence barrier, now you've given them a reason NOT to come back home because why on earth would they want to get shocked again for coming back home.

A dog walking in front of you does not mean they feel in control or dominant. I hate that theory spouted by so many people, especially Cesar Milan since so many people blindly follow his "teachings". All my dogs walk on a loose leash in front of me and all of them see me as their "leader" and they all listen to and respect me. As Tori mentioned, I'd focus more on leash manners like not pulling and keeping her focus on you when necessary.

4 miles is a lot for a pup that young even if it is split up into multiple walks. 5 minutes for each month of age is the commonly accepted general rule for walking puppies. At 12 weeks that's 15 minutes of walking and I'd only do at most 2 walks a day at that age. I noticed you mentioned she's not getting good exercise in the yard because she has to be on a lead. What kind of lead are you using? Using a long training lead should allow her to roam and play in the yard to a good extent. You can buy training leads that range from 25 ft to 100 ft. For the first 3 yrs that we had our husky we did not have a fence and our sibe did just fine on a 76 ft training lead. It gave him enough "freedom" to really run and burn off his excess energy. Granted it doesn't compare to a fenced yard but it works.

Koda wrote:

The garage issue could be anything, and not something to be overly concerned about, but if it's a safe space for her to be in, then I would start coaxing her with treats. Make the garage a positive place to be. Give her lots of toys and praise when she's in there. Make her realize that good things happen when she goes there and she'll get the hang of it.

I just want to add onto this just a little bit. When you give her praise, treats, and toys to reward her and make positive associations with the garage just be sure that you don't do it if she's clearly in a very nervous, scared or panicked state as you don't want to inadvertently encourage her fear of that place. And take your time with the garage training. Be patient and don't get frustrated as she will pick up on it which could set you back.

Thank you all everyone. Seems like actually paying for the collar and transmitter for the invisible fence might be a complete waste of money ($720, yikes). I would feel much more comfortable with a real fence anyway so we will have to look into this. Thanks all for your advice. I certainly do not want to lose her because she ran through the fence. We'd be devastated. You guys are great

I took your (collectively all of you) advice today and we only walked 15 minutes and we will do another one before bedtime. We played in the yard a lot last night with fetch and she seemed to really enjoy it. Plus, I could tell when she was tired of it. We got a large retractable leash that is only 16 feet. So I do run with her to allow her to get more exercise in the yard.

Also thank you all on the tips on walking her. That makes me feel much better about her tendency to lead and especially right now, explore!

I can tell you guys are going to be life savers.

jassy wrote:

I can tell you guys are going to be life savers.

We do try

And Val made a great clarification on the garage training. Thanks, Val

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1823747353026&oid=206132659406153&comments

and this is something someone posted on FB about how even bar fencing will not keep in a determined husky!

Weighing in on the fence. I do husky rescue and have personally had to pull surrendered dogs from the pound because of this issue. Invisible fence doesn't work, chain link doesn't work without something at the top, even stockade fence with the rails on the inside of the yard are suspect. If you want to see proof visit my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HeartlandHuskies , I posted 3 different videos there just today on huskies escaping. Sorry, if this sounded abrupt but I'm very passionate about education on huskies escaping one of the top reasons they end up in the pound.

Okay I'll get in on the fencing talk,

Before I got the new kennel last October 2010, I had a feeble attempt at chain link. All to often when I'd get home from work Adobo would be sitting on the other side after she dug her way out.

So I took a gamble and order the K9 fencing (expanded metal) from:

http://www.k9kennelstore.com/

Attached it to the garage and house so Adobo & Biko have about 600 sq ft to reside in during the work day.

Whats different about it is that the fencing isn't comfortable for them to try climbing as it is a bit sharp but not enough to cut them or myself. Plus with the anti-digging bars not once has Adobo been on the wrong side of the fence when I came home. Easily anchored into the ground and best of all if I was to move to a different address I can take it with me. I'd have to say this is probably one of my best investments for dogs.

Before:




After:












(Oh yeah and it cost less then installed chain link)

Yikes! Thanks for the tips on the fencing. That Kennel stuff would be great but we have to get all fencing approved by the city so I'm not sure about it. Plus, to do it in the whole yard would be incredibly expensive.

...and when you think the fence is high enough...

I didn't read everything.. I have a small attention span, haha, but I saw where you said you can't find a doggy daycare that'll take her under 6 months. What state and city are you in? I have never seen one that doesn't take them at 16 weeks, most daycares get a good chunk of business from new puppy owners. They just need to be spayed/neutered at 6 months.

I too am in the hunt for the right fence for Evie. Since we're in a newly built home, with no yard yet we're walking her evertime she needs to go out. What a pain! We argued a bit about the invisible fence, but I know that once one of these dogs break the plane and take the shock, NO WAY is she coming back. So i won that battle! Our neighbor has a husky that tried invisible fencing and his dog quickly realized if he rubbed his neck on something and turned the collar to where his fur was thick, he could not feel the shock and was escaping constantly. I want something secure and am having trouble finding something tall enough that they can't climb. I know something will have to be done too to prevent her from digging under it. I watched the facebook vids and it's amazing what escape artists sibes are!

Len, yours looks great. Where did you purchase it or do you maybe have a link so I can scope it out? If I'm going to spend a ton of money, I want it done right. The thought of losing her scares me to death!

Len provided a link in his post.

oops! Missed it, thanks