I am a new husky owner, but not a new dog owner. I have had 3 German Shepard Dogs, that I have raised from pups with much success but Kota is my first husky, and she is a different story. She isn't a bad dog by any means, if anything she is just to smart for her own good. We have successfully completed the crates, and potty training which took a lot of time and patients just as I figured it would, but now that she is getting bigger, and is just as hyper the jumping is getting to be a bit bothersome.

If she gets excited she wants to jump all over me and my fiance. She doesnt nip or anything but she just jumps all the time. Ive tried a firm "NO" and even popping her on the nose. Not hard, but just to get her attention since she has a very short attention span. "No jump" is the command we've been trying to use, as well as "Kota Down" but she just doesnt seem to even pay any attention. She knows not to, and I know she does because if I get really frustrated at her and scowled her she listens but I do not want to have to get angry with her to get her to stop something. I was hoping that the older she got the better it would get, but shes now almost 8 months and its hard to even have guests over because she gets so hyper that she just wants to jump all over them. Its hard to socialize her with people because of it as well. I am kind of at a lose how to correct the behavior because with my other dogs in the past they've just stopped after a few good weeks of not letting them jump.

Another big problem we have with her is her wanting to be "Alpha". She knows all the simple commands such as Sit, Lay Down, Shake, and talk but she will only do them if she wants to and if we have a treat. I have tried to make her think I have a treat and get her to do these things but then not give them to her but now she is getting to the point that if she doesnt see me get one from the bag she just barks and tried to jump on me. Maybe this is typical behavior for a young husky, im not sure because like I said she is my very first one but I know that my past dogs have been well trained by her age.

Lastly, I have been having a very hard time getting her to come when I call her. We have a large fenced in back yard so we let her out to run and play but then when we want her to come inside its a fight to get her to come. Same behavior we have with her at the dog park. We basically have to chase her down to get her leased. She knows that I am calling for her because she will stop and look at me, then turn away and go about her business. Now, if I have a bag of treats and she hears me shake them, or open the bag she is at my side in no time, but then again I know I should no have to bribe her to get her to listen to me.

I knew it was going to be different with her, as I did a lot of research before getting her. I knew that they were not the easiest dogs to train but I never imagined she could be this hard. I know she knows how to behave because at times she does, but its like she only does it when she wants to and I have a feeling if we dont break these habits early that they are not going to get better, but worse. Any advise will help!!

. You are now a husky owner and it can be very rough. These dogs have a mind of their own. They are VERY smart and I truly believe this where the problem lies. Unlike a lab - they know they can defy you. And they will, if you let them. That being said, I DO NOT recommend training with an alpha mentality. It would be in your interest to researh Nothing In Life Is Free Training and use it for training. Typically, huskies do not do well with Negative reinforcement. It can cause fear in my experience and then that same fear can be mistaken as aggression. If you really enforce NILIF you will see a lot of change.

And yes, you may have to bribe her to get her to listen to you. You may have to bribe her for a long time. Huskies are very different than other dogs.

Please do not flick your dogs nose or tap it. This may cause her to become hand shy. I am guilty of doing it once and this forum helped me see how negative it can be. With Cato, I simply ignore him until he stops then, when he calms down I give him a treat. He is getting VERY good and refraining from jumping.

They are unlike any dog in the world. they are stubborn, independent and escape artists. You have to constantly keep them busy, or something can get destroyed. I am not trying to scrutinize you, but I want you to be realistic. These dogs are a handful, but once you embrace their quirks they are a fantastic breed.

Perhaps you should invest in Siberian Huskies for Dummies?

There is really no reason to be snippy. An if that wasn't how you intended that to sound, I apologize but that it how I took it. I don't believe I need a "reality check".

I am well aware of what a difficult bred they are && to say that I maybe should have done more research is pretty inaccurate. I am pretty sure I did all the research I could have done without actually owning the dog. Over a years worth actually. I do not believe I could have been more prepared without actually owning the dog. I don't think another year worth of reading about them would fix the few problems I am since I wouldnt know about the problem without owning her. I have, and have read Huskies for Dummies twice, but a book is not going to train a dog.

I posted her for advise, not for someone to come her an bash me for "not doing my research" and what not. I have done perfectly fine with training thus far, and simply just asked for some tips to help my along my way. She is very well behaved for a 7 month old puppy, and if jumping and being stubborn at times is the worst problems I have I think I have done fairly well, and prepared myself well.

I wasn't trying to bash you by any means. Sorry if I came off that way. I am very passionate about this breed and sometimes I get carried away. I was trying to be honest, and o hope you can see that I had the best of intentions.

But I do.see how my post could be taken as me being a butthead.

Second chance?

How is potty training?

I agree NILIF works verry verry well, Trillion must sit before EVERYTHING and we swich it up as well with other basic commands,
and we had a real bad jumper too but the best you can do is do not give her that attention just turn around if shes jumping on you turn around do not make eye contact or aknowledge her until she settles down or has four on the floor.
and if she's realy good with sit then make her sit as soon as you or somebody else come in and go to her level to greet if she will jump,
Trillion knows now if she jumps we will leave the room and just wait a moment then come back in wash rince repete,
she now understands that when myself or my boyfriend come into the room/house she must sit before she gets pets/anything. as well as being on the tie out, the moment we move tword her its woowoowoowooo but she sits because she can not get off the tie out unless she is sitting. she will woo woo while sitting but at least shes not jumping.

I agree with NILIF. We try our best with Freya to get her to sit, paw or laydown before everything to do with her.
She doesnt get petted until she is either sitting or laying calmly at our feet, we demand attention off her, not the other way around. We initiate play, not her.

She has to sit before every meal, nad before getting treats, and toys.

One thing I have to be more persistant on if not letting her walk through a door before me and making her sit at the door to let me walk through it before her. It's something we have to start doing more of.

As for the jumping, as Jasper has said in a previous thread 'Be a tree' It worked a charm for Freya. Every time she jumped up on anyone or was being over active we became a tree. Standing perfectly still, arms either crossed at the chest or placed at the sides of your body. No noise no eye contact. You are a tree. Sghe lost interest almost immediatelly. Anyone who came into the house I explained that they needed to be a tree before the came in. They would follow the instructions and Freya was fione with them. She now knows that she will not get any attention for jumping from anyone in the house. She does try it on guests, but being a tree defuses the situation.

Ironically potty training was one of the easiest things she learned. We bought a couple of those training bells and hung them on both of the outside doors and she seemed to respond to those really well. At first I just didnt let her out of my sight and started picking up the the pattern of when she needed to potty and was able to take her out, before she even realized she had to potty. Now, we only have accidents, which is very rare. We still push her to use the bells just so she doesn't forget about them, and now even though she had other ways of tell us she wants to go out, she rings the bells before going out the back door. Its quite amazing.

We did have a bit of an issue with her going to the bathroom in her crate, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that her crate was way to big for her when we brought her home. She could potty in the back and lay in the crate without coming anywhere near it. Now that she has grown into the crate, we still only have the occasional accident.

I guess we'll start trying the NILIF thing. The 'Be a tree' thing is going to be hard just because she is so big that she almost knocks you over, but I can see that even the few times I have tried it today she really seems to respond well to it. It just blows my mind how she tests us, and pushes the limits. Ive never seen anything like it, and its quite amazing how smart and independent she is. I just hope that we are able to break her of some of the bad habits she has picked up. I know I shouldnt have started letting her get in my bed freely and things like that but I think I was so excited to finally have her that I let her get away with too much as a pup. Partially because she was so sweet and seems so innocent. Well, shes still sweet but too smart for her own good.

I really appreciate all your all's help. She is just wild, but we love her. I can see her learning everyday, slowly but surely. What do you suggest I do to get her attention to stop doing things, like jumping on the couch, bed, ect when I dont want her too. I tell her 'No' and 'Down' but usually she just looks at me like im crazy. Again, I know I should have started that from the beginning but that was my bad.

Dakota give me the same look when he has no intention of following the command. It says " do you really think I'm going to do that? you're nuts if you do" Maybe a dog whistle would help, i got one but it's not adjusted correctly so i'm going to have the trainer look at it, Dakota starts "puppy training" ( basically socialization classes" next week.

Quote :

What do you suggest I do to get her attention to stop doing things, like jumping on the couch, bed, ect when I dont want her too. I tell her 'No' and 'Down' but usually she just looks at me like im crazy. Again, I know I should have started that from the beginning but that was my bad.

We didn't get to start from the beginning and we had this problem as well. I physically removed Appa to his "time-out" area whenever he did crap like that. Luckily his desire to be with us was greater than his desire to jump on things. We have small half-bathroom right off our main living area that became his time-out zone. If he misbehaved we put him in the bathroom with the door closed. Needless to say, he spent a LOT of time in that bathroom when he first came home.

When it comes to jumping, the best thing I've learned to do (thanks to "It's me or the dog") is to turn your back. Even if you end up turning in a circle for 5 minutes, it shows them you won't pat attention to them when they jump.

Other than that, I agree with Megan.

When I brought home my most recent addition, Sydney, she had a terrible habit of jumping up on people. She was pretty much a dog version of Tigger, always bouncing. lol

I taught her the command "Four Feet" which basically means that four feet have to be on the ground at all times when I or someone else is petting her.
I taught her this by basically ignoring her and walking away whenever she jumped up on me and only petting her when all four feet were on the ground.
Then I started to add the command "Four Feet" when she got the idea that I wasn't going to pay any attention to her when she was jumping and acting like a spaz.

Dogs jump up on you because they want your attention and sometimes even pushing them off or saying "No" will reward them. I've found that completely ignoring them works best for me and I've told people that come to my house the same; "When she jumps on you, just completely ignore her and walk away. Once she calms down, then you cat pet her."

I feel a little better that I'm not the only one dealin with a jumping puppy!! I finally got my fiancé on board with the ignoring her. Which is hard for him I think but I it helps then it'll be worth it.

I've noticed that just in the day or so that we've been trying to ignore her, it seems to work well. She get aggregated, which is kind of funny, but she barks for a minute then just gives up and wall away. I guess as long as she isn't jumping then I can deal with a little barking. Lol. I'll have to try incorporating the "time out" zone thing too.

I think she thinks my fiancé and I are crazy because yesterday we just started putting a firm foot down and needless to say she isn't a fan. We're making her sit/lay down before getting on our couh and bed and before going outside. Like I said earlier the ignoring her when she demands our attention. That's hard for me because I wanna give her the attention but she is turning into an attention seeking lady. Lol. Again though I thank you all so much for the help. It's good getting a view from other husky owners. I do truly believe that unless you've owned one of these amazing babies you dot know why your signing up for and I mean that in a great way.


I will tell you one thing though, as much as I read about them I never read how crazy she would be with her paw. They're just like little arms and hands and she uses them like so. He is all about those paws, I would think he was a boxer. It's too funny!! && also I read that they're not much of barkers but that they howl. Well she barks, quite a bit but she doesn't howl. Se actually talks!! Someone the noises that come out of her mouth just amaze me. Matt is convinced that one day she is going to really start talking the way she makes crazy sounds. I love t.

From personal experience, time out is a blessing. My girl knows she has to go lay on her bed and can't get up until I say when she's in some sort of trouble. Lately she's been pretty good and only getting sent to time out for being too rough with the chihuahua. She loves her bed though so it's probably not the best idea for a time out except when she really wants to go play. Then she's like "ma you're killing me can I go now?"

I have a problem with jumping too. I had ignored it because it was just a little hop for attention but now it's getting out of hand. And she's getting bigger at the same time. So she jumps up to give kisses to my 4 year old brother and it's just too much for him. I know how hard it is to ignore that cute little puppy face greeting you because they missed you sooo much (that's really how I justified ignoring the issue for so long) but you have to ignore them. It's the only thing that'll work.

I know we all read about starting training from the minute you bring the dog home and getting all the don't encourage behavior you won't like once they're bigger talks but it's really tough! It's not too late to correct the behavior, just stay consistent. Don't cut her any slack. If she has to sit before dinner, she has to sit every time, no exceptions.