Hi,

has anyone managed to train their husky to walk on a treadmill?
What age were they and how long did it take?

Kaya is only 4 months old so I'm just working on desensitizing her to the treadmill at this point.

I would rather physically walk my dogs than to put them on a treadmill. But that's just my personal opinion. I don't know anyone that has trained to walk on one of those.

I had considered it last winter when the weather was bad.. But Blaze would have nothing to do with the treadmill so we stuck with walking twice a day.

Thanks, Kaya does get walked at least twice a day but I was more thinking of the winter time or when it is raining, or any time when it is not always possible to go for a long walk. I would love her to be familiar with the treadmill so she can at least get her exercise, and it gives us options.

I've fantasized about trying to train Adobo & Biko for treadmill usage. Adobo would be a good candidate to try but Biko fur get about it.

The treadmill lessons are going well - I have been desensitizing her for about 12 days now. Been giving her high value treats, lots of toy play as well as getting her to eat some of her meals on it

Overall, she's now pretty comfortable with being around it and on it, without the belt moving, so I would say we are about 80% of the way. However, she still does get a fright when it gets started up and certainly doesn't like the sensation.

We have tried a few ideas at home to get her past that final "hurdle" and actually relax enough to walk on the moving belt but she continues to be a bit scared, so we have found a dog trainer whose own dogs walk on the treadmill and who is familiar with treadmill training so she will help Kaya during a session later this week.

On a day like today when it is POURING with rain, it would be ideal to get her to burn some energy as she can get a bit crazy otherwise!

How did the treadmill training go? I'm currently desensitizing my 7 month old and I'd love some advice!

I actually have gotten Okami willing to go on the treadmill.

It took FOREVER.

Obviously I got it for me. But with the small intention of using it in the winter for her.

I always always will only ever use it for exercise with her if it is the only way to run out her energy. I will do bike runs, walks, jogs... I don't have a sled or anything I can use in the winter time yet (I have used a kid sled and used my mushers belt and had her pull me around on the snow... lol that was amusing.) so in the wintertime (I live in Michigan, it is unpredictable whether I can walk her in the winter, last year we had a solid 5 foot snow for a week) I will use the treadmill.

To continue my story. I got my Treadmill last summer. I *tried* to see what Okami thought of it. Put her on it while it was off... then turned it on. Nope. Nope. Nope. She was terrified needless to say. So from that point on any attempt I made getting her anywhere near it was futile and feeble.

Then one day, this was like 4 months ago. I just put her on it, regardless of her fear. And I turned it on a little speedy. Not like omg fast, but power walk fast. Mind you I have her tethered and I am holding the leash in front of her. It clicked with her, and she was like, "OMG this is awesome!" And now she will happily walk up on it and look at me like, "Hey, this thing. Come on ... this thing!" As I stated, I only ever put her on it in times of dire need of her to be exercised, it is just another tool I have in my arsenal. But it is more of a last resort. I don't think I condone my way of how I got her to do it, because I pretty much just said, "Screw your fear! Just do it!" So I don't know if that is the way you should go about it.... I tried other ways, I tried treats while she was on it with it off (Never give treats while it is on and your dog walking on it, that can be a choking hazard) But she would just take the treat and run with her tail between her legs... so that was never going to work.