Hello! I am new here. I have had huskies my whole life. As an adult I adopted a husky from Free Spirit Husky rescue in Harvard,IL. She was great. More like a cat than a dog. She had a few escapes, but they were all due to people opening our gate or company not aware that they should not let our dog out. She died suddenly on Father's Day 2011. I was there when she passed. Broke my heart. She had been my best friend for 4 years. The vet believed it was poisoning, but after the already huge bill, I decided not to do an autopsy.
Fast forward to December 2011, we adopted a new husky from Free Spirit. She was barely 3 years old and had been adopted once and returned since her owner was crating her literally 20 hours a day, if not 24. She was great with our then 2 year old and we didn't have any problems. I took her to obedience classes since it was part of our contract and since she pulled reared up on her hind legs if you tried to walk her on a leash. That problem is still not resolved. My main concern for joining this group is that she has started having extreme anxiety when I leave. She will howl incessantly for hours. She will howl at 5am to wake me up. If that wasn't bad enough, she has now started escaping. Under fence, over fence, you name it. It has happened 4 times in a very short time. I am worried next time I won't be so lucky. We lost a husky when I was a child to a meter man leaving the gate open. He ran and got hit by a car.
I guess I need some advice. I hate to crate her all day, but I can't leave her in the yard anymore! I also don't want her to have free reign of the house while we are gone.

Glad you joined up! That's so sad about your other Husky, I don't think I had heard that one! I remember when Kodiak got out though We've had a lot of discussion lately about separation anxiety, so hopefully you can find something that will help. Have you thought about doggy daycare? We're doing that a couple times a week for Ghost, and that way she doesn't have to be crated all day every day. I did a quick Google search, and it looks like there are several in Champaign and even a couple in Savoy. Also, have you taken her to the Urbana dog park? It's really nice, and weekend trips will really help manage the energy.

You and Meredith need to link up with Mindy (26Nikita) and start up a meetup group

There is a new dog park in Champaign, about 2 miles from my house!

Cool! That's good they're putting in so many parks around there

Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to hear about your huskies that have passed. I lost my almost 11 year old less than a year ago. Its not an easy thing to go through.

I've dealt with a mild case of separation anxiety in my sons dog. She had my Willow around to keep her company when I left for work so she had a good example around and lessened her anxiety. I did worry when she moved out with my son but she has done very well. She lived with me long enough to get very comfortable in her crate, which I attribute to her coping with the change. I do think it helps when you give them a high value treat in the crate before you leave everyday. I no longer crate mine but my two get excited when it's time for me to leave cause they get yummies. Lol! A kong filled with frozen yogurt, pumpkin or peanut butter would be a high value treat and it takes them awhile to finish it. Good luck and if you ever want to have a meet up in Champaign, I live close...

Welcome to the forum! I'm a fellow Midwesterner. Let em know fi you need anything and PLEASE join us for husky camp in the spring

What kind of fence do you have? We used weld wire to raise our 4' fence to 6' with a one foot leaner. On the bottom of the fence we attached green plastic chicken wire to help prevent digging. Still unsupervised for any period of time, the dog might find or create a way out. Lola goes to doggie day care too.

My husky that passed away last October - he had extreme separation anxiety. I had to use 2 leashes to walk him. Chronic running stool and tore stuff up in the house. I ended up taking him to board and train for 3 weeks. Then we took obedience lessons. It wasn't cheap. It was priceless. He was awesome on walks, the stool became normal and he would behave in the house while I was at work. Because we learned to work together as a team, we were able to go do things - the dog park, hiking in forest preserves, visit family and friends. I'm not saying that this would work for your situation, it worked really well for us though.

Sounds like she had a rough time before you rescued her, so maybe she is afraid you won’t come back. I had some SA with Nikko when I first brought him home, but it took a few weeks for him to get better. I know you don’t want to crate her because she has spent most of her life in one, but I feel it is the best place for mine to be when no one is home. Maybe if you work with associating her crate to be her personal space that might be better. Another option is daycare if you can afford it. I thought about that, but it is about $100+ per week for that. Another option is to put her in a room that can be closed up with a lot of toys and nothing she can get into if you have the space.