Togo was an escape artist though! And he would run away, but "away" being following the dogs out on the sled!

Fenrir wrote:

However, I am quite certain that huskies weren't always kept leashed when they were being bred back in their tribal days, and I'm even more certain that they wouldn't have persisted as a breed as much as they have should they not have the capacity to be trained to exist off-leash. If modern technology has trouble containing these monsters, I can't imagine the Chuchkis(sp?) weren't faced with the Houdini acts constantly.

When the dogs weren't pulling sleds for the Chukchi people (summer months) the dogs were let loose to fend for themselves. This is also one reason why they have such a high prey drive because they had to feed themselves. This is also another reason why they do not typically make great off leash dogs.

In the 60s and 70s MANY people used Siberians for packing. Back then though many more people were more active in hiking and the likes. In today's day and age - most people don't have the means or the know-how to properly train ANY breed of dog let alone a stubborn Siberian Husky. MOST people get Siberian Huskies not knowing anything about them only that they are beautiful.

I've said it before - TYPICALLY a Siberian should not be let off leash in an unenclosed area unless you do extensive work with recall. That is for the average owner. That isn't to say that they absolutely cannot be trained to be off-leash. I know several Obedience and Agility Siberians who are fine off-leash. I also know that those same dogs have had at least one incident where their handler couldn't call them off of a chase.

Jennifer,

I truly hope that some day I can live somewhere like that. That looks like the kind of environment where it would make sense to have huskies off-leash. And being in a big group like that is also great for obvious reason.

The people I really get pissed at are the people who live where I do, in a densely populated urban area with speeding cars everywhere, and they insist on keeping their dogs off-leash to show off. Seen so many dogs hit that way. And the owner NEVER gets hit by a car of course.

I know someone who got hit by a car that way. Her dogs (not huskies) ran out and she ran after them. The dogs were fine but she needed months of physio.

We have lots of forest round here but there are black bears and other wildlife. We have good recall, but not good enough to call a dog away from a bear.

I think, for the most part, I agree with 99% of this last page of the thread. Yes it always depends on the dog. YES, the trainer must be extremely strong and consistent. YES, the areas that we are letting dogs off-leash should be extremely controlled and free from distractions (ie- not a neighborhood).

I think most of us agree on that.

The part that pisses me off is other pompous owners who think we have no idea what we are doing because we ARE willing to let our huskies off leash at very specific times. There is after all, a time and a place for everything. If an owner is dumb enough to set his dog free right in front of a busy intersection, i'd probably push him into traffic and take his dog home with me. But if we have been on a 2 mile hike, my pup is clearly a little tuckered out, and we are in the middle of a big open area with very very few distractions, I see that as a very valuable time to do a little off leash practice. You can't just unhook a dog one day that has never ever been off leash before, and expect him to sit next to you. Training to be off leash (to a dog) is just like training any other command. It takes patience, consistency, it has to be taught when the dog is in the proper mindset, and has to be taught in a way the dog can understand.

Yesterday at work, someone came back to the kitchen to tell ME, hey there is a husky walking around loose in the parking lot. I work bordering an extremely busy street, so I went straight outside, to my car, grabbed a handful of treats and lured big boy in. He had tags that said he was microchipped, so we went online looked up the number and found his owner's phone number. When she came to pick him up with tears of joy coming down her face, she thanked us, and told us it was the first time he'd ever been lost. It was the first time ever that he had ever been off leash when he took off, and he was almost a year and a half old, right in the heart of a husky's strongest urge to wander. What 's more, she tried to walk him, off leash, bordering another busy street a few miles away. he had seen some kind of animal and took off. I almost didn't want to hand him over to her if she thought this was even a remotely good idea. it was a miracle the guy hadn't been hit already.

Bottom line is. Don't assume that because I work with my husky at becoming reliable off leash IN THE PROPER CONDITIONS, that I am some kind of uninformed dumbass who doesn't care about my dog. I read for 4 months before even starting to look for a husky, and knew full well she would be leashed at least 80% of the time. Maybe my dog is a one in 10 exception, but what I do know is that she is responding extremely well to the training I am doing with her.

nicely said MyKeeonah, i am entering my 4th season hiking with Eddy, the first 2 yrs hiking with him and his pack S&J stayed leashed THE whole time, after all they had never been hiking before and needed to learn what it was all about. i remember the first time i unleashed them. it was going down the mountain and they were still pulling hard and i was on loose rock and could not risk them taking me down so i crossed my heart and prayed to god they would not run and they just ran up to eddys pack and stayed with them. they seem to know what hiking means and how to behave now, i would still NEVER trust them in any wooded area while hiking because of the pray drive. but when were on a solid mountain with no animals running around they are good off leash. and as far as urban goes they are leashed, even if its leaving the car to go in the house or leaving the house to go to the car. there are so many lose cats they no longer even hear me when i say car, their first response is to look for cats, sucks, but again people just need to understand that leashed is always the safest no matter what breed, we need to to everything we can to keep our furry friends safe. Like Tori said they do have a mind of their own no matter what training is involved.

I just want to point out that the few times Appa has been off leash in a neighborhood are at really weird hours (super early or super late) when most people are asleep ... and he has a light on him flashing away. There's no way I'd let him off leash in our neighborhood during a normal waking hour.

Cars = scary.

rileyflorence wrote:

I just want to point out that the few times Appa has been off leash in a neighborhood are at really weird hours (super early or super late) when most people are asleep ... and he has a light on him flashing away. There's no way I'd let him off leash in our neighborhood during a normal waking hour.

Cars = scary.

same with me, Riley. We recently had a big snow storm, and we were both up at about 1Am when it was lifeless outside so we went out and played in the snow under the street lights, lettin' her chase snowballs up and down our quiet street. She loved it and never got more then about 20 yards from me, and came back every time I called. Normal daytime hours change everything tho

I used to allow off leash hikes with Maggie. After 3 chasing sessions done with that. I really think it depends of the dog and recalls of it. Normally if you hike with a group of dogs, they all stick together. I never do off leash in a residential city areas.

This is carlos, We used to hike with him and his wife, in our old husky/mal group maggie was 5 months I want to say. She had a very good recall then.

The main point is not to judge or go to extremes.

I don't want people to think that because I'm such a strong advocate for huskies to be leashed that it means that I look down on people who do allow their dogs off-leash in "controlled" situations. I very much understand how and why Eddy and Jenn allow their dogs off-leash on the mountains after hikes. There were times when I let Hailey off-leash before she settled in. There is a time and a place for everything.

But I agree-- it's the people on BOTH ends of the spectrum that anger me. Newbs coming on here and claiming that they don't understand why huskies are advertised as "not good off-leash" because their 5 month old husky or new rescue is great off-leash. Or those coming on here berating others for training recall and practicing off-leash behavior in controlled situations. Both sets of people bother the crap out of me.

There is a time and a place for everything. However, I still say that huskies aren't labs... they aren't shepherds... they aren't the type of dog to stick around just because their owner said so. It's imperative when doing ANY training (off-leash/recall or sit/lie-down) that the owner recognize the base instincts of each breed and how those characteristics will affect training. Can a husky safely be let off-leash? Of course... but the owners who are able to do so and the situation where that is a safe practice are few and far between. I'd say THOSE are your 1 in 10 owners/dogs. But for the other 90%, it's just not a safe practice almost ever.

Remember as Eddy said... it's not something that should EVER be attempted by just a random googler or a first-time owner without EXTENSIVE training, reading, and control.

You are, as always, the voice of wisdom, Tori.

jalepeno wrote:

You are, as always, the voice of wisdom, Tori.

Thanks, Michael That's really sweet!

+1 for Michael. Hopefully everybody who re-visits this thread takes the time to read that post.

Koda wrote:

"Newbs coming on here and claiming that they don't understand why huskies are advertised as "not good off-leash" because their 5 month old husky or new rescue is great off-leash. Or those coming on here berating others for training recall and practicing off-leash behavior in controlled situations. Both sets of people bother the crap out of me.

I can relate to this post and thread. I had Addie on a leash for the first week while roaming around the apartment complex, letting her get her bearings. The next week we changed to about a 30 foot lead and I walked her around the apartment complex and around the park. I would reward her with a treat when she would come back and "check in" on her own and when I called her I'd lavish her with praise and a treat. A week or two later we went to a baseball field that was fenced in and I let her off the lead. She finally realized she was free and went ballistic but constantly came back to check in. She would also come immediately when called.


Addie is now good off leash almost anywhere including the airport and while I do trail riding on horses. We have had to go back to do re-current training however. And I can tell her mood when she is going to be good or when I know when a chase is going to ensue.

The airport was the biggest step as I never let her go from leash to lead. But remained on leash to show her that she needed to stay close. Certain places I don't even walk her on-leash and she knows her boundaries fairly well and seems to know when to stay close and when to "let it rip".

Recurrent training is definitely key and associating her with a lab or shepherd has improved her off leash skills immediately. I would like to say working with the horses has also improved her skills since the horses automatically sense me as the "pack master", if that makes sense.

I completely agree that there is a time and a place. Before Dalton hit adolescence, we would practice off -leash training with a 50 foot lead. Some woman who lived by the hiking trail would always nag us about how we were doing it wrong, and how if the dog had a good recall, it would be fine. Granted, this woman had (sorry in advance!) what I like to call cat toys (any dog under 15lbs) that were so old that they couldn't have run away if they wanted to. I understand that she didn't know a thing about huskies, but I wanted to slap her for her audacity all the same.

Anyway, back to the point, I would rather do my best to work on off leash training in a safe environment, and realize that he'll always be an on-leash dog, then never try at all. And if Dalton had to be on a leash the rest of his life, that wouldn't bother me. I would rather him be safe, than try to "look cool" because my husky can be off leash.

I have a 15 month old Husky Titus and a 14 weeks old Malamute Lycan.
Even if I want to, I can never trust him off leash. His prey drive is really high and whenever there's a bird, cat or dog around he goes ballistic. There's one time when he ran into the forest behind my old house and I have to chase him bare-footed. He was a 6 month old pup going after a 5 feet tall kangaroo. I screamed and shouted for him to come back but he didn't hear anything. His focus is on the Roo. Finally something in my direction attracted him and he ran towards my direction. I have to jump him as he was already a pretty big boy. The next time he got loose he went after a cat. I got slightly injured chasing him and finally found him in the corner of a neighbor's house. He even seldom come back in a 30 feet leash. He gets too distracted really easily.
For Lycan, he is a wonder. I started letting him run around when he was 8 weeks old. And now at 14 weeks he can run pretty fast as he is 35lbs but he never stray away from me. He is always off leash and he comes immediately when call. He have no interest in other animals. If he sees another cat or dog he will go "Ooh there's a cat/dog. Hi.". When I call him, "Bye, Mum's calling" he comes back. When I sit on a bench in the park, he will sit by my side, not wandering over to where the dogs, cats, birds or Roos are.

Of course it could be that Lycan is one of those Huskeis that ar enot interested in other animals, but you got to be careful, he is still a puppy. Prey drive mostly sets in in their teenage years.

I agree that it is not impossible to let a Husky off leash but unless it is a 1 out of 10 Husky he will not stay by your side automatically like a Lab or Shepherd does. You always have to keep an eye on the area and notice distractions before your dog notices them.
The Breeder I got Anubis from told me that with proper training right form the start off leash with a Husky is the same like with any other dog. Well today I know that this is complete nonsense.

SiberianAnubis wrote:

Of course it could be that Lycan is one of those Huskeis that ar enot interested in other animals

Lycan is a Malamute..

Titus&Lycan wrote:

I have a 15 month old Husky Titus and a 14 weeks old Malamute Lycan.

For Lycan, he is a wonder. I started letting him run around when he was 8 weeks old. And now at 14 weeks he can run pretty fast as he is 35lbs but he never stray away from me. He is always off leash and he comes immediately when call. He have no interest in other animals. If he sees another cat or dog he will go "Ooh there's a cat/dog. Hi.". When I call him, "Bye, Mum's calling" he comes back. When I sit on a bench in the park, he will sit by my side, not wandering over to where the dogs, cats, birds or Roos are.

This is incredibly typical of a 14 week old puppy. Any puppy. Please be careful trusting that when he gets older. I would venture to say that all husky puppies (I know Lycan is a Mal, this is for argument's sake) are that good off leash as 14 week old pups. As SiberianAnubis said, it's when they get older into the teenage years that everything kicks in. I'd hate to see something happen to Lycan because he lured you into a false sense of security, even if he is a Malamute.

I am always careful with that when we go for a walk. Titus is always on leash and Lycan beside us, without leash. The way I think is if I keep walking and not calling him, he'll come because his curiosity to why I don't call him will make him come to "check in". Then I will praise him. As long as Titus is not loose, Lycan won't go away. Titus is his total opposite even when he was young. It doesn't bother me if they are on or off leash. I just want to make sure their recall is fine if they accidentally got loose. Titus recall only works when there are no other animals around. I will usually park my car in front of my house when we come home and train Titus to walk that 25m from the car to the front door without a leash or dragging a leash. I just want him to go home if he got loose. Usually he'll just go home. Sometimes he linger a minute or two then go home. If the neighborhood cat is around, he will go check that out first.

We worked on Recall and perimeter training from day one. everyday that was all we worked on.

It had nothing to do with training Tika to being on off leash dog... We understood the breed and accepted the fact that we would never be letting Tika off leash. It was more to hopefully get her to come back come the day she did in fact manage to get away from us.

However when we started Socializing her the best place we found was an off leash dog park that was not fenced in. We could have gone to others inclosed parks however no one went to these places.

We began slow but from 6 month to now 15 months Tika has been off leash there. She always stayed around the other dogs and would always return when given a recall command. That being said we still didn't trust her free without other dogs around. You see she tended to just stay close to other dogs and that was our safety net.

Come last winter we found a really nice Snow mobile track behind the back of a couple of houses. There we (Kelly first) really started working in her off leash training and her acceptable perimeter from us.

Now while hiking, country walks, or close to our house (She lays on my front lawn while I do yard work without a tie out) she is off leash. Tori and I have actually talked about it fast before.

Now I do indeed believe it has A LOT to do with training and training correctly. However I also understand there is so much that depends on the dog.... Tika is a really really good dog, she has great recall, but I've seen her go Sledhead (If you don't know Sledhead is a term used to describe when a northern breed starts to run and just doesn't stop. Head down, Ears back, Flat out run) 2 or 3 times. She saw a snowmobile drive across a frozen over lake and took off like a bat out of hell to chase it. She was no where close to it and was never in danger but it took her a bit to come back to reality.

At the same time we understand our limitations. Ripley is NOT an off leash dog. I don't know that she will ever be. While training her the limitations of our yard she took off across the street (I don't live by a busy street and I only do this during low traffic hours) and made me chase her down.

Ripley however is amazing with leash Cues and we have been using that to our advantage. We tether the two pups together and let Tika lead Ripley around while shouting Tika's off leash commands. Ripley has been learning SOOOOOOOO much from Tika we are hoping Tika can help us a bit in her training with everything.

We understand our limitations with Ripley and will not be rushing anything with her.

Anyways. Wall of text for basically saying this... A Husky can be trained to be an off leash dog. It takes a lot of time and a lot of commitment. You need a bright dog and a very strong level of respect both ways in my humble opinion. However it is not something I would ever suggest to most people. I could have a Lab, or a retriever, or even a chow heeling beside be off leash like a pro by now and make Tika look like a wild dog.

I'm not saying I'm the best trainer in the world, I'm just saying I'm beyond stubborn (More so then a Husky) and we have taken A LOT of time in reinforcing this. We are also Lucky to have an extremely good dog.

~Chris~

I understand the prey drive of huskies thanks to the cat XD and other critters that come around the house. So I can clearly see why it's best to play it safe and not walk a husky off leash unless you are faffing about on a hiking trail. But at the same time it is entirely possible to train a husky to walk off leash because I've seen it. It seems in order to get to that point it takes the right pup, a lot of time, conditioning and training on not only the dog's part but also the owner's. I'm taking courses with a wonderful trainer to make Thane the best Husky he can be and at the same time I am working on being the best owner I can be. I know with a lot of time and dedication he'll be able to walk off leash, but it sure as hell won't be today lol.

That's my two cents

I think the bottom line with this topic is that no one should get a husky with the hope of being able to train it off-leash. If you HAVE to have an off-leash dog, this breed is not for you. Not because no husky can ever do it, but because it's a crap shoot. And even IF you do luck out and get a husky that has the temperament to train it, it STILL takes a lot of time and dedication to get to a "comfort level." And as with every breed, sometimes something just clicks and the training goes out the window because of an animal or high-value situation.

So... if you want an off-leash dog: don't get a husky. If you have a husky and think that your dog might have the temperament for it: be prepared for a LOT of training and hard work.

Either way, just make sure the decision is always with the best interests of your dog at heart.

That´s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth