I've noticed something about Koda round about 4months old or so. He has this habit of trying to destroy anything soft and plushee like, no matter what it is. The worst case was when I had gone out to purchase a dog bed for him to alternate between the one he had since he was a pup. More than likely that VERY same night, he ripped a hole in one of the sides of the bed, and pulled out the stuffing (I guess cotton inside a pretty durable sac). I've recently purchased this HUGE fluffy dog bed for him in the living room and he CONSTANTLY goes after the edges. When I try to correct him, he redirects that energy to my hand after being told off (sassy chump -___-) or starts jumping. When he jumps, I say "off!" and may back up but he thinks it's a game. Any suggestions? We also have suede couches in the apartment and I am NOT going to be paying for damages, so he & I have got to come up with a system. When he starts with his little attitude, I grab him by the collar and put him in the bathroom for a few minutes till he settles down. Are there any other methods or changes I need to make to mine for better results?

Isolating him to the bathroom is a great idea. I would keep up with that.

And welcome to owning a husky Soft toys don't last more than a few minutes in this house. You just need to keep him busy with things he is allowed to chew and destroy and keep him exercised so that he doesn't have the time or energy to think about it

Plush toys = 3min to destruction! Ours knows the diff. To a toy and the sofa and dog beds, not so much for blankets... we got them older so not sure how they were trained out of it. Maybe stop with the plush toys and try rope or kongs. Maybe that will stop him thinking everyting stuffed is a toy? Keep up the training as well

I think a good portion of huskies find stuffed, fluffy beds unnecessary and like to destuff them. Koda had one dog bed when he was a pup, destroyed it, and I never got him one again until he was about 2 years old- and he never used it due to getting hot on it. I have a kuranda bed for him now and he loves that and so does Rogue. He use to tear most plush toys to smithereens up until about 2 years old too so for the longest time I tried to refrain from wasting money on cheap plush toys(thankfully now he usually just throws them around and then puts them all in the pile, he will sometimes squeak a toy to death and then get mad it stopped squeaking and pull the squeaker out, but it's a "clean" death, lol). I wouldn't waste money on dog beds and would get durable rubber toys (and they also have those super tough "plush" toys that are made of really good material).

And I agree with Tori, keep him busy and get him tired and you shouldn't have to worry about the couch being torn up. A destructive husky is almost always the result of a understimulated dog, so if he isn't given the opportunity to think about the couch, then you should be gold! Koda never cared for couches, thank god, but he also had 4929429359 different things that were HIS that he would go in the backyard and traumatize

I have 100% given up on plush toys! All they get are really though toys (Kongs, kong wubbas, anything like that). The only time they get a plush toy is for a special occasion (Christmas or birthdays) because I know that they truly enjoy ripping them apart to get the squeaker. Takes them a whole 5min..lol.

As far as the beds go. Yep, gave up on those also! Well, sorta. There's one in my room that has somehow survived and there's another one in the living room that Kody just recently starting de-stuffing. When i say that I've bought more than 10 beds since Mya was a puppy I'm not even kidding. I'm done with buying beds! LOL

Alrighty thanks for the advice! I don't know exactly how large this complex is but I do try to exercise him twice a day, and walk midday (too hot to run; i don't consider simply walking an exercise for a husky his age). I'd say we walk, run (around all 12+ buildings nonstop), and walk again-but is that enough? We clear that in about 30-40 minutes depending on his difficulty when walking. Some days he walks flawlessly, others we have problems & I'm yanking every which direction

When Koda was 7 months I probably walked Koda a total of 2 hours a day and we also played fetch, chase around the yard, and had a big exercise ball we would play around with him with for like 30 mins each day because it was amusing. I think it all depends on the dog though what tires them out so you can't really compare 'what is enough." I don't think couch destruction normally takes place when the owners are home though- from what I've seen with others, it's usually from leaving them out alone while gone.

Frosti did the same thing when we got her (she's 1 1/2 and still has that puppy stuff goin' on). We would catch her in the act and put a chewy bone in her mouth (nylabone type) to redirect her chewing. No reprimanding, no yelling no time out. Within a week, she got the point and hasn't chewed on anything since. It was recommended somewhere before we got the first dog, can't remember where.

When do husky pups teeth? Is that part of it? We got ours at 1 1/2 and 4 years old, so no idea. If teething, the local pet store said the Chilly Bone is good (wet it and then freeze it).

Some toys that work for us: rope toys from Target (only $1!!), the black heavy duty kongs, and the higher quality toys that go on sale at Home Goods (the ones from West Paw design, etc), Honestly, they don't need a ton - we have one rope chew, one green bone chew and one stuffie with squeaker and rope for Miss Frosti. Chili only has one stuffie, he doesn't chew on anything not edible.

The bone we have is something like thishttp://www.wag.com/dog/p/Planet-Dog-Orbee-Tuff-Orbee-Bone-111585


BTW - wag.com has a sale - 20% off for your first order! code WAG20. I bought all the dog food for the next month, free shipping!

Eurith wrote:

(too hot to run; i don't consider simply walking an exercise for a husky his age). I'd say we walk, run (around all 12+ buildings nonstop), and walk again-but is that enough? We clear that in about 30-40 minutes depending on his difficulty when walking. Some days he walks flawlessly, others we have problems & I'm yanking every which direction

how old is he now? are you just taking him out once a day for 30-40 min? if so you might be good doing some shorter walks between the longer one. just getting out and sniffing and leash training will wear him out just as much as a long walk/run will. and if he is still under 1yr you want to maybe make sure you are not running to hard as he is still young and you don't want to mess with the still growing joints and bones.

He's 7 months & 2 days old (for exactness) & no I'm taking him out twice a day for extended walking purposes about 30+min each time for a total of 1hr exercise a day. He gets out midday or at odd intervals when i know he hasn't eliminated any wastes after drinking huge amounts of water or eating 1 3/4 cup of food each feeding (that's twice a day also, should I increase?). Should I change his regiment to walk 3x instead of walk 2x run 1x? and he gets to play in my room with the tennis ball & pink kong toy (no treaty goodness inside yet). He had this plushie squirrel squeak toy but it died yesterday

Oh! Real tennis ball or fake dog one? The real ones are abrasive on their teeth! There were some posts about that a while ago on here...

Oh! Another good toy - they have empty stuffies that you put empty water bottles in. The doggies love the krinkly noise!

Wooh! Thanks for that tip! Could you possibly point me to the direction of some good doggy ones? I know I had purchased some dog ones and he destroyed it day 1 and was about to start eating the rubber. Empty stuffies?

Ours used to destroy all soft toys within a few minutes or less. He also used to destroy soft dog beds when he was younger. We always corrected him for the dog bed destroying and he learned pretty quickly that his teeth were absolutely not to touch the dog bed. Soft toys we never gave up on, we just always stocked up on soft toys when they were on sale or on clearance. It wasn't until he got older, probably around 4 yrs of age I'd say, that he calmed down with the soft toys and no longer felt the need to destroy them immediately anymore. I think it was just an age thing and him growing out of it, when he was younger soft toys were lucky to survive 10 minutes. Now he's got soft toys that are still perfectly intact WITH functional squeakers that he's been playing with for 1-2 YEARS! In fact, I have a big pile of brand new soft squeaky toys that I haven't given to him because he has soooo many soft toys out already that are still in excellent condition after 2 yrs of use. I don't think I ever need to buy another soft toy for him again at the rate he's going!

Val, I wish!!! Mya is 5 1/2 years old and has not grown out of it!!! Give her a soft toy and she'll tear that thing up within 5min

Does Mya always have soft toys available to her? I always had several soft toys out at all times for him so after a while (and by a while, I mean YEARS) he wasn't so hell bent on total annihilation immediately. When I made my age and growing out of it comment, I meant for my boy in particular btw, I didn't mean that would be the case for others. Dakota's almost 6 yrs old and he does still destroy certain soft toys...I really don't know what determines which he will destroy and which he will keep intact.

Sabaka can rip a stuffed toy to shreads in record time, I'm sure. Nylabone makes a fabric-covered tennis ball made in the shape of an animal (we got a fish). Not only did he have the cover removed and the ball out in about 10 minutes, he proceeded to tear the ball to pieces! Within 30 minutes, nothing was left.

The dog bed is in the attic...

He loves my son's bean bag and, with correction and Bitter Apple spray, he now leaves it alone. He used to use it for a bed until the hot weather makes him too hot in it.

He has ripped a hole in my couch, but when I caught him (I was pouring morning coffee in the kitchen, he was 20 steps away in the living room) and removed the "fluff" from his mouth, I could see loose and falling out baby teeth. I think he was just nibbling to make his teeth feel better. That happened when he was about 4 months old.

He's now 9 months old and would only mess with furniture if we were not home (I hope...).

Eurith wrote:

Wooh! Thanks for that tip! Could you possibly point me to the direction of some good doggy ones? I know I had purchased some dog ones and he destroyed it day 1 and was about to start eating the rubber. Empty stuffies?

Here's a "tennis ball" for dogs:
http://www.wag.com/dog/p/Planet-Dog-Orbee-Tuff-Sports-Ball-111651

I found our ball at Home Goods - it was a hard rubber ball, like Kong material. Make sure it's big enough that puppins can't swallow it.

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Here's a "stuffie" for water bottles:
http://www.wag.com/dog/p/Kyjen-Plush-Puppies-Water-Bottle-Buddies-102212

Also got our at Home Goods (TJ Maxx). Stuffies are stuffed animals - but since huskies love to "unstuff" them, this isa great alternative!

We have always used a regular tennis ball with our dogs. But ours are used for playing, chasing, etc outside and never for chewing on.

Wooh! Pretty expensive lol. When my funds increase after books and such I'll try to invest in that. I'll have to see where the nearest TJ Maxx is, and try to find a Home Goods as well. Thanks for the tips you guys! I never really had a problem with him attacking furniture since he grew up in a relatively cool garage. I'm a pretty stern owner and prefer to set boundaries & limitations before giving freedoms or rewards outside of training. Basically just to see if I can trust him. He knows not to enter my roommates rooms when their doors are ajar, the fridge, or my closet. I'm working on the bed thing as well.

Huskyluv wrote:

Does Mya always have soft toys available to her? I always had several soft toys out at all times for him so after a while (and by a while, I mean YEARS) he wasn't so hell bent on total annihilation immediately. When I made my age and growing out of it comment, I meant for my boy in particular btw, I didn't mean that would be the case for others. Dakota's almost 6 yrs old and he does still destroy certain soft toys...I really don't know what determines which he will destroy and which he will keep intact.

Nope, Mya doesn't always have soft toys available anymore. First because she would just destroy them all even if she had 10 out (lol). Plus, now with Kody around they'll fight over them. Well, I should say that Mya will attack Kody over them. They only get tough toys in the yard now.

These are the tennis balls that I get for them:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3201180

They love them because they have a squeaker and they're not too easy to destroy. I usually get a bag of 3 for like $7