So, huskies are special. We all know that lol

Ava is enrolled in an obedience/agility class that is actually a lot of fun. We did one two years ago and it was great, but Ava definitely wasn’t the star pupil. Then I get sick last year and had to stop doing classes (swine flu essentially kicked my ass and I was down for the count the entire year last year). Now we’re going back this year and Ava is still, well, Ava. She does great and excels at almost all the commands and everything, but she is so excited and wants to play with the other dogs so bad that sometimes its hard to get her to focus. The only things that she’s not good at are heeling on a leash (I don’t even wanna try it off leash…) and ignoring other dogs. I want to train her to not be so dog reactive and try to dart and play with everyone, but I really don’t think she’ll ever do the heeling on leash, or even most of the off leash activities that we’ll probably start doing eventually. Is it wrong of me to not even expect her to do well at heels and off-leash commands, especially when she’s so excited? I don’t really want to be setting her up to fail by having low expectations – and I don’t want my trainer to think that’s what I’m doing – but, I mean, she’s a husky. They’re wired a lot differently than other breeds, yanno? My trainer breeds and shows golden retrievers , so I’m certain there’s a huge difference in temperaments between those two breeds alone.

When you guys are working with your huskies, or doing classes with them, are there some things that you excuse them from not doing “because she’s a husky,” or am I just looking at it the wrong way?

I thought it was funny when I went to a clicker training seminar and every time the trainer noticed Elara doing something right she kept saying, "That's great! Even the 'when pigs fly' dog is getting it!" lol!

I am talking with a breeder right now who is going to help me with conformation, agility and obedience. One of her Siberians (he passed last year ) holds 28 different titles and holds the AKC record for the most titled Siberian Husky in the history of the breed - to put some of this in perspective.

A LOT of things come down to the individual dog itself. Some things you can attribute to breed traits, other things to breeding and pedigree and other things to training (obviously). A lot of things come down to individual dogs and the type of dog that you chose.

Other things you can work out through rigorous training. Some things you'll never be able to iron out due to a number of factors.

Just work on it and know your dog and what she is capable of. If you work and work and work and you still don't feel after all of the effort and time put in that she isn't improving or improving very little - don't push it.

I agree, it has SO much to do with the individual Husky and what makes them tick. Odin? If I have food he will do ANYTHING I ask. ANYTHING. If I don't he turns more deaf than he already is and basically gives me 1 big screw you. lol

Mishka would probably do very well in obedience. She just gets it. Mickey too.

But if we're working on something (such as in a class) I expect them to at least be on the same "level" as the other dogs. If they aren't either i'm not motivating them right or there has been some flaw in the training.

We did get cut just a little bit of slack on our CGC test because she was a Husky and at the time only 9.5 months. We've never really used that as an excuse, and we just work at the issues. She's got the same issues as Ava, and with consistency we've been able work both of those out at least to manageable levels. Keep with it and you will be able to handle those issue. Consistency and praise!

My breeder friend with that Siberian has drilled into my head to always look for a type of dog that excels in the things I'm looking to do. If I want a Siberian that is good at Obedience find a line/pedigree and a breeder that does obedience and excels with their Siberians at obedience. Because you'll know that there is something within that pedigree that makes them more willing to learn/train and do it.

If you want a dog that excels in agility - find a breeder who does agility with their dogs. They'll know what traits to look for that make their dogs excel in it. etc etc.

I hope I didn't make Ava sound like she's horrible or something She's really really great. Its just a few things that we're having issues with. She isn't food or toy motivated at all when she sees someone she wants to play with and that makes it difficult to get her to focus. I'd expect a little bit of ADD because that's just, well, that's Ava. And with each class she does get better, but last year she backtracked a lot because no one really worked with her. Even now when we go to class, my Mom usually goes too because I can't physically do most of the class with her, so I'm sure thats part of my frustration because Ava doesn't listen well to my mom at all (which is totally not Ava's fault - mom just isn't the type of person who does well with training). Lately we've been compromising some where I do the training, but mom is the official leash holder, but the things that Ava has issues with, like heeling and reacting to other dogs, I have to sit out because I can't do it. Maybe that's causing her to grasp the concept slower? I dunno.

She's not bad by any means - its just those few things. Everything else, she got on the first try (except for sitting/waiting at a door, but mom kept forgetting the signals that I use for it) and I love working with her. She really has fun during the classes too, otherwise I wouldn't do it.

Now, Snickers? He's stubborn and kinda slow, compared to Ava. But if you have a bit of food, he'll literally trip over himself trying to please you to get a bite of food. But he also doesn't really care if he has to walk past other dogs or anything.

Yup - it's definitely up to the individual dog! It takes time too, though. Our two are completely different, but both made great progress in class. It made a HUGE difference that Chili is naturally incredibly obedient (I take no credit for this, other than being consistent. He was the best trained stray I've EVER seen!).

Frosti is finally getting some stuff more than six months after we started training her - it was definitely Husky Attention Deficit Syndrome (HADS), though! She wanted so badly to play with the OTHER dogs - omg, other dogs, my favorite THING! I can't FOCUS! Mom, did you see the other dog over there? OMG!

Chili will do anything for food, and excelled at Agility. Star pupil until he got cranky 45 min into class, irritated that the other dogs were taking so DARN LONG to get it and dammit, I want my turn now so I can get my TREAT! Why is that WHITE DOG so stupid??GROWL! GROWL! Agility 2 was off leash, so we decided not to continue.

That does have to be tough if she is not toy or food motivated. Elara is EXTREMELY food motivated! Like will take off your fingers if you don't remind her right before giving her a treat "gentle!." Siku is food and toy motivated, but not as extreme, so it's a little harder to keep her attention during classes.

blueeyedghost wrote:

We did get cut just a little bit of slack on our CGC test because she was a Husky and at the time only 9.5 months...

Our CGC tester didn't give us ANY slack! Ginger passed EVERYTHING except for one test - lay down and stay while I walked away. She sat up. And that made her fail. She didn't move, she just sat up when my command was to lay down and stay.

this is awesome, i just signed rocky up for training classes today (they're the basic training classes at petsmart, but the trainer i guess has a really good reputation as they saw rocky was a husky and right away recommended him as opposed to the other trainers) but i'm nervous as well because when he sees other dogs he just gets soooo excited and wants to play lol

cmanding wrote:

blueeyedghost wrote:

We did get cut just a little bit of slack on our CGC test because she was a Husky and at the time only 9.5 months...

Our CGC tester didn't give us ANY slack! Ginger passed EVERYTHING except for one test - lay down and stay while I walked away. She sat up. And that made her fail. She didn't move, she just sat up when my command was to lay down and stay.

Dang! Ghost was a little off the day of the test (probably picking up on my text anxiety) and was just a little wound up. Our big problem was the lay down and stay as well, but it was more about getting Ghost to lay down. It took a few tries before she went down. Again, probably because I was freaking out a little. As our tester put it, Ghost was still a work in progress but was doing amazingly well for a 9.5 month old Husky.