I have a Husky that just turned three. I am trying to find a great new home for him because I just do not know if his aggression can stop =(. Thunder is his name and he was abused when he was a puppy. He was left on a leash outside with a huge thing of water and food. He was saved by animal rescue thankfully. Sadly his new owners got him and never took him for walks nor did they even socialize him with other dogs or people =( He was in his kennel for about 12 hours a day =(

We just recently had an incident with him. My boyfriend's dad was in the basement, Thunder out of no where, came up to him, bit his arm and went alittle through his skin =(. This is only with the dad and I am scared that he could do it to someone else randomly as well. Whenever the dad comes downstairs Thunder bares teeth and the hair on the back of his neck sticks up and he growls as if he is going to attack him.

CAN THIS BE CHANGED? PLEASE HELP US =( if we can get this under control we can keep him, but I am soooo scared we will go on a walk and out of no where he bites a child and has to be put down =( He is SUCH a great dog and has bonded so much with me =). Can all of his trauma from when he was a puppy be changed??????

You already made a post and people have replied to that. No need for a second post.

People, please be kind. I know she hasn't been offering a lot of explanation, but the OP and I have been communicating via PM. I encouraged her to post here so that we might be able to offer some help.

I'm so sorry your going through this! I have not had experience withthis issue before. I'm. Sure people on here will have some advice. What did you do when he bit the dad? Is there some sort of trainer in your area who deals with aggressive dog? Can the dad be around him at all or is the dog trying to protect his environment? Sorry not much help.

thunder99 wrote:

We just recently had an incident with him. My boyfriend's dad was in the basement, Thunder out of no where, came up to him, bit his arm and went alittle through his skin =(. This is only with the dad and I am scared that he could do it to someone else randomly as well. Whenever the dad comes downstairs Thunder bares teeth and the hair on the back of his neck sticks up and he growls as if he is going to attack him.

I have a few questions just to help clarify. Do you keep Thunder in the basement? Is this the first time Thunder meet your boyfriends dad or has it been escalating from growling to bared teeth to bite? Or since the bite? What were you all doing when he bit him? I think a bit more info might help in offering some advice.

Katie has some great questions and those answers might adjust my advice slightly, but here's a start:

It sounds like Thunder has a lot of trust issues. What I would do is set him up to be more confident in your house.

1. Google Nothing in Life is Free and start practicing this simple training. EVERYONE that enters your home should and it should be fairly easy to do. The basic gist of it is that Thunder must work for everything of value. He needs to work to get food. Work to get treats. Work to get attention. If he comes up for affection, make him sit. If you want to give him a treat, make him do a trick, etc.

2. For a while, ALL PEOPLE entering your home should be armed with treats. Perhaps buy some small bags or samples and leave them at the door. Or make your own. Put 5-10 treats in each little baggy. Make it a game and tell your guests that it's their job to randomly give Thunder treats throughout their visit. However, for visitors, I am going to contradict what I said above a little. This should truly be random and you don't want him to work for these treats. Visitors shouldn't make eye contact or make a big deal out of treating Thunder. They should just put their hand down as they walk by him and let him take the treat. If he won't take it from their hands casually, as they walk by, have them toss the treat in his direction. Hopefully, Thunder will eventually approach them on his own and it should be easier. Most guests will likely love it and be happy to help. You need to teach Thunder that ALL people are good and the bearer of good things. This sounds like it should be ESPECIALLY important with older men as that's whom he shows the most fear (aggression isn't violence, it's fear manifested).

3. Start working on his bite inhibition. Thunder's teeth should NEVER touch human skin, even in play. If he does (even by accident) YELP very loudly, turn your back to him and walk away, ignoring him for a few minutes. If he continues to try and play, go into the bathroom or another room and shut the door behind you for a minute or two. Wait until he's calm, and then come back. This can be difficult to stick to, but if you can do this consistently, you should see results rather quickly. Koda was difficult with this. It took us a while and we had to walk into another room EVERY TIME, but he eventually understood: biting or teeth on people means I don't get to be near my people.

I hope this gives you a place to start from. As always, we are here to see you through this and we'd love updates (positive or negative) on Thunder's progress

Koda wrote:

People, please be kind. I know she hasn't been offering a lot of explanation, but the OP and I have been communicating via PM. I encouraged her to post here so that we might be able to offer some help.

Why not just move the original post though? Also, if he is indeed aggressive, even if it's just with the dad or a certin "type" of person, she should really be consulting a trainer who can properly access the situation and meet the dog. Even being a trainer myself, I almost always stir away from giving advice about human aggression online as who knows what our advise could result in without actually evaluating the situation completely. I definitely want the poster to get help and see if she can correct the behavior, but I think in these situations, getting advice from a trainer in person and having the dog evaluated is best.

Though if this is the first time he has ever displayed aggressive behavior, I would not say he is officially aggressive. Explaining if he has ever acted this way before may help as well as just describing his overall usual disposition.
How much is a little through the skin? Like the top layer being grazed, or was there blood?
As the above poster mentioned, explaining the whole ordeal more thoroughly may help people understand why Thunder did what he did.

Heather! wrote:

Koda wrote:

People, please be kind. I know she hasn't been offering a lot of explanation, but the OP and I have been communicating via PM. I encouraged her to post here so that we might be able to offer some help.

Why not just move the original post though?

Cause she beat me to it. We can't expect all newbs to be forum savvy the minute they join

The OP definitely needs to explain more, but it sounds like the behavior is exhibited only with the father so far. She has sought the advice of a trainer, and the trainer is trying to help rehome if possible, but the trainer himself also led her here.

Bottom line is a home isn't going to be found overnight. So in the meantime, some helpful advice on how to work with Thunder until he gets better or a home can be found might be worthwhile.

Definitely work with him on it for now - Koda gave great suggestions. Perhaps someone in your area can suggest a good trainer as a second opinion - to evaluate him. Not all trainers are good and understand huskies, so it's imperative to find one that is. I don't think it's necessary to rehome a dog over an isolated incident but I also don't know all the details and am interested in hearing them.

A full explanation would help - but I have one more question - what were the abusers like and what did they look like? I know that dogs who have been abused have some aversion to those who are similar to their abusers. If this is the case, I wouldn't label the dog aggresive, I would label him fearful But it will be easier to help if you describe the issue fully

Thank you guys so very much! You have given me wonderful feedback! I am not going to respond to negative feedback because that will not help my dog nor I. I am new on here, so I am sorry if I do not know everything...I am doing the best that I can. I am sorry.

Okay I will start from the beginning. It is hard to tell you everything about this dog because we are his first home where there is consitency and stability, so we too are trying to understand him and his triggers.
When Thunder was a pup, he was abused, I do not know what they did to him nor did I know them. All I know about his first home is that he was staked outside to basically die.I am not sure when he was rescued or at what age. The next owners got him at the animal rescue..not sure where. They said they had him for 1 year, but everytime we talked to them the time always changed from 1 year to 9 months. When I say they did not take care of him, I mean they never gave him walks nor did they socialize him with other dogs or people besides their family. The owners decided to find THunder a new home because they did not have the time for him and were expecting a baby. Patrick and I were ready for a dog and we have always wanted a Husky. We met several times with the family and Thunder at their home. When I first went up to Thunder he did bare his teeth at me and growled, but then he let me pet him after he new I was not a threat I am guessing. He was also hyper, jumping, play biting with us after that. I figured that this dog was just being protective when he growled at me so it showed me no concern. When we tried to take him on a walk he would decide to play tug of war with his leash. His owners wrestled with him and would let him play tug of war with his leash and we knew we could train him to not do those things. Later we talked and decided to take Thunder home with us after a few visits. all of the other visits remained fine..showed no aggression. We took thunder home and let him walk around the yard and get to know everything. He met my boyfriends parents and he was totally fine with them. Just jumped and play biting, but once again it was him being a dog. A couple days later we took thunder for a walk in town...my boyfriend lives in the country...we realized that thunder was not used to cement and would freak out and go to the grass to walk. After getting him used to new experiences we was fine and we could walk him with no problem. In June we went on vacation and Thunder stayed at my house. Thunder was used to both my place and my boyfriends because introduced him regularly to our families and homes. Thunder was fine towards my mom in the beginning. When we were on vacation, my mom said that he got so out of control when she played with him that he would take it too far and he would try to bite her, not playfully and growl and show teeth. She tried to show him who was Alpha by giving him eye contact without looking away. He refused to look away. She would keep trying to play with him for 2 minutes, then 4 minutes, but he could never get past 5 minutes of play without growling, baring teeth, trying to bite. This happened for about the rest of the week. We were informed of what happened and just figured well shes not his owner and he sees patrick and I more like Alphas not my mom because she is not with him everyday. And after that everytime we brought him over he was fine. So something is triggering him to be like this, we just do not know what it is. HE has never done this with Patrick and I..only with other people. As of now Thunder is in the basement, in the country but it is a huge basement and he stays in pats room which is big. We give him 2 hour walks everyday, play with him all day! The next incident was with my boyfriends dad and that happend twice that he was very aggressive towards him. But there should not be a reason for him to be aggressive with him because he is used to him. It is literally at random when he freaks out. We just do not know when he will...that is the hard part.

SO our first plan is to find this amazing dog a new home that can give him more attention and who are not afraid of his behavior. I am just scared we will have someone over and out of no where bites them. This is why we cannot have him =(

IF we cannot find him a home, my boyfriend and I will do what we can to keep him and give him a trainer to help him. It is just we do not have the time to do this, but will somehow need to make it work.

You are probably wondering well why not just get a trainer first. This is because we cannot give Thunder the attention he so dearly needs and it is hard to have a dog we did not think was going to be aggressive like this. He is aggressive, it is not play. If he would have done this to outside family he would be dead right now because he bit my boyfriends dad and he was bleeding and there are still teeth marks.

As of right now, until we can hopefully find him a home, I desperatley need tricks or tools to help him. Do I not take him on walks anymore because I am scared he will bite someone randomly, should I keep doing what I am doing with him or should I try to bring PAtricks dad downstairs and risk him getting even more hurt? I do not know what this dog triggers are!

I just want to find him a forever home that HE DESERVES! I want that for him.

Also, I do not know why Thunder did what he did with Patricks dad. He was standing by his toolbox fidning something and Thunder walked up to him and bit his harm hard enough to make it bleed and the dad still has teeth marks in his skin.

So what has come from only growling, baring teeth and hair standing up has turned into him attacking..I do not want this to happen again..and it maybe will or it maybe wont I do not know. But we cannot have him stick around to find out =(

First of all, Alpha dominance doesn't work with huskies. Well, most huskies. I don't advocate it and the majority of this forum only rely on positive reinforcement.

Second, I feel like something is being left out - are you sue dad didn't antagonize him or try to "alpha" him? Because I find it unlikely that this dog just randomly decided to bit him.

Just my two cents.

Does Thunder act like this? I understand you're saying it's not all the time, but I want to show you this to maybe impress on you that it might not be aggression:

Fantastic video, Tori.

It's one of my favorites

Okay, having read through this thread I understand that at this point there is some question about whether or not Thunder's behavior is true agression or fear based. I also understand that the OP is looking for help to deal with this situation while attempting to find a new home for Thunder.

That said, in my opinion it is not a good idea to re-home a dog, any dog, who has exhibited agressive behavior to the point of biting a human so hard they drew blood, regardless of the cause of that agressive behavior (i.e. true agression, fear, etc.), without first having that agressive behavior assessed and corrected. Re-homing a dog, any dog, without first addressing this kind of behavior could have CATASTROPHIC RESULTS.

If you are unable to provide this assessment and the training necessary to correct the behavior, Then my suggesstion would be to start contacting local husky rescues in your area to find one that has the ability to take Thunder in, assess his behavior to determine the cause and if it can be fixed (unfortunately in some cases once blood is drawn there is no going back), and provide the appropriate training to correct the behavior if possible.

dbingham12 wrote:

, assess his behavior to determine the cause and if it can be fixed (unfortunately in some cases once blood is drawn there is no going back),

I really disagree with this. Just because a dog draws blood doesn't mean he can't be rehabilitated.

mheath0429 wrote:

dbingham12 wrote:

, assess his behavior to determine the cause and if it can be fixed (unfortunately in some cases once blood is drawn there is no going back),

I really disagree with this. Just because a dog draws blood doesn't mean he can't be rehabilitated.

Diagnosing these things over the internet is nearly impossible. Nothing is going to replace having a certified trainer who is skilled in these cases handle something, but I think there's also a difference between puncturing the skin and just drawing blood. A scratch can draw blood and that's just not the same.

Again- a qualified professional in PERSON is the only one who can answer that, though. What we provide here are merely tips and tricks to hold the OP over until a solution can be found in person.

mheath0429 wrote:

dbingham12 wrote:

, assess his behavior to determine the cause and if it can be fixed (unfortunately in some cases once blood is drawn there is no going back),

I really disagree with this. Just because a dog draws blood doesn't mean he can't be rehabilitated.

I didnt say it always means the dog cant be rehabilitated but in SOME cases that is the case. In this case Thunder needs a professional to determine his rehabilitation potential BEFORE he is turned loose with a new family for everyone's safety.

mheath0429 wrote:

dbingham12 wrote:

, assess his behavior to determine the cause and if it can be fixed (unfortunately in some cases once blood is drawn there is no going back),

I really disagree with this. Just because a dog draws blood doesn't mean he can't be rehabilitated.

Absolutely. I have been bit by Koda years back much worse than it sounds like Thunder bit,, and he would never lay a tooth aggressively on anyone and hasn't for four years (this was also an isolated incident- he use to have food aggression). Unless you have evaluated this dog and are a trainer specializing in aggression, and have witnessed that happening with several dogs you have personally dealt with, I would refrain from ever making such statements. It's not like once dogs get a taste of blood they become blood hungry. Aggression is a very touchy and complicate subject and should be left to those who are highly educated in that behavior. Like Tori said, suggestions on how to manage the situation and make it potentially a little less stressful while things are being figured out is all that should be provided on here.

Heather! wrote:

and have witnessed that happening with several dogs you have personally dealt with, I would refrain from ever making such statements.

I have seen it happen. My best friends dog bit her son and drew blood. She spent thousands of dollars on highly qualified, highly recommended professional trainers (three of them to be exact) and after recommendations by all three trainers to have the dog put down, 10 additional less serious bites, a dead family cat, and an almost catastrophic attack on her toddler, she finally had to put the dog down.

I am in NO WAY suggesting that this is the case here NOR am I suggesting that it is breed specific NOR am I suggesting that this is the case with EVERY dog who bites and draws blood. I am simply stating that encouraging the OP to attempt to handle this on their own until they can re-home Thunder is IRRESPONSIBLE AT BEST.

And if you had read the rest of my post, you would know that because of this I encouraged her to either hire a professional or find a Husky rescue that could provide the proper rehabilitation to Thunder!

Who is encouraging her to handle this on her own?

He sounds like a very boisterous rude insecure dog. Aggressive- not so much.

If you are afraid of the dog and his behavior this isn't going to work. Point blank. He needs direction and leadership not dominance and an Alpha. Dogs like this are the way they are because they don't know they SHOULD be doing. I was going to link to the video Tori posted, so please reference that.

Understand that you have a dog who has bitten and drawn blood. You are obligated to explain and divulge this information to new adopters. That being said... Finding a home to take a bite dog will be difficult to say the least. Have you consulted a breed specific rescue?

If he's being pushy and rough he needs to go away. Either in the other room, a crate, a bathroom, the basement... Whatever, he needs to be out of you vicinity and alone. Give him a few and reset. Please don't stop walking him. If anything that's going to make it worse. He needs to get energy out in a productive structured manner. If you're worried about him biting someone don't approach others. You can work him mentally on walks and help him see his place by showing him and leading him with positive direction. SHOW him what you want. Without direction, what is he to go by?

If he reacts negatively with certain family members, keep him on leash when they are around. Reward him for appropriate interaction with them such as just looking, smelling, or walking by. SHOW him what you want. If he begins to fixate on them or beging to get out of hand redirect and if that doesn't work he needs to be put up and away. Reset.

If you are fearful and scared of what his next move will be he will be uptight and anxious... Something you don't want!