Hi, I am new to owning a husky. I just got mine Friday night, she is 7 weeks old and came from a litter of 6. When we got her she was with her siblings but not her mom or dad. The first night and day we had her was great! There was whining and accidents which comes with puppies and I know that. But, now she is getting really aggressive. When I go to pick her up she will growl... and now she will attack. She has attacked my hands three times now, and two of those times she ripped the skin on it. I don't know what to do. We can't scold her because when we do she only barks, growls, and yelps more! What do we do?!

Seven weeks is young to take them away from their mum, Milla was only 7 weeks when we got her aswell so I know you could be in for a rough ride.

Have you ever had a husky before? Definitely start reading all the training section there's some great advice.

She could just want a bit of attention/play time. You can try swapping her fixation on your hands to a toy and spend time playing with her while she's playing with the toy. The other thing to do is to stand up and either cross your arms and not look at her, or turn away without touching her after saying no. The important thing if you're correcting her for something you don't want her doing is to pick her up and play with her - otherwise she will get it in her head bad behaviour = playtime/pets.

My advice is just read as much as you can (there's a wealth of experience on here), stick with it. Good luck!

You have some good advice right there!!! She's in it to get it. She behaves when she wants something. Let her know that you're in charge. If she wasn't with her parents, she may have been the 'leader' of the pack, or one of the pups who set dominance over the others. Set her down and walk away when she growls. If its just playful nipping, I'd try setting her down and encouraging her to chew on a toy, putting it up to her mouth, and standing up over her.

I agree with the reading. I am a new husky owner as well, but after reading and reading, and even purchasing some books at the local pet store, I feel like I am prepared for what is to come. Read read read! And I've read that you should avoid all scolding like tapping with a newspaper or hand, or any sort of physical punishment, as they're just puppies and don't get it.

Best of luck to you and your new pup!

I think it's like having a toddler where one needs to remove the focus of the unwanted behavior (in this case your hands) and redirect the behavior with something else (in this case a toy). over and over and over and over.

I really dont believe puppies that young show true agression. Perhaps she just needs more time to get familiar with you. Or as Stacey adn Sam have said, perhaps she wants to initiate play.

Thank you for the advice! This is the first husky I have had and she can be an absolute sweetheart but then she can get really mean to the point where my hands are bleeding If i replace my hands with a toy won't that be saying something like "oh if you act like this you can play"? I really just want to get her out of this aggressive mean habit, its not good if she is going to be around kids.

good thing she's still young. read up on some behaviour training techniques and if you follow through im sure she'll change for the better. Mine used to nip pretty hard but as he got older he learnt that it was not ok to nip too hard. he still clamped down his mouth over my hand but he knew how hard and to control his bite strength. try tiring her out. a tired pup is a well behaved one. haha

Teaching bite inhibition is one of the toughest things to do with puppies, especially when they are taken from their mother too young. And 7 weeks, in my opinion, is too young, so you are going to have a lot of work ahead of you. I know, I got Kale when he was 5 weeks. Its a tough road, but well-worth it.

At this point, replacing your hands with toys is excellent. In a few more weeks, if she is still acting up and biting hands, I usually recommend ending play altogether (punishment) and leaving the room (consequence). With Kale, he was more ornery, so I used a more physical punishment with him. Held his muzzle closed firmly but gently, looked him straight in the eyes, and said "No" is a low growly voice, then left the room for about 10 mins. Within about one week he's puppy biting decreased tremendously; then I could teach bite inhibition (soft mouth). There are quite a few threads floating around about puppy biting and bite inhibition. You can go to the search on the left hand side and look for anything you have questions about.

She will get the idea soon that chomping hard on toys is allowed but flesh is a no-no. I would advise you to keep her away from tiny kids at this stage or have them together very highly supervised. They learn very quickly. They are incredibly smart dogs. Eventually she will want to play roughly all the while KNOWING that it is not allowed but she will try anyway. I would always say "No biting!" when she hits flesh, then offer the toy. We found a rope tug toy is a good substitute item. You can also remove yourself from the playtime or remove her by putting her in "time-out" for only a couple minutes. The bad thing about this is that she is playing wildly and is all wound up because she needs to play and "get the wiggles out" (as I say about human toddlers), so you can't expect her to be ignored forever. You will have to find a way to play with her. She will learn your way, it may just take a few frustrating weeks of training!

Good luck!

(Just noticed Brooke and I were typing some similar stuff at the same time )

JennSaucedo wrote:

If i replace my hands with a toy won't that be saying something like "oh if you act like this you can play"?

No, it's showing her what she's aloud to bite and play rough with.

There are whole threads dedicatred to bite inhibition.
I got my little girl at 6 weeks, I've got 2 human boys aswell. It was difficult, but nothing unmanagable. Just be persistant.
Also if she's biting you or even just mouthing your hands make a yelp noise so it's in a language she understands that she's hurt you, even if she hasnt.

Thats what we did with Fre and it really workes. Also if you just get up and walk away from her when she does something undesirable. Or if she just follows you put her in time out - a room or space (not her crate) where she is away from everyone and can be alone until she calms down. This doesnt work for everyone, but it can be a helpful tool.

7 weeks is very young to take them away from their mother and you said the mother was not with the puppies when you got her, so the question is when did the breeder seperate them. It could be that she did not learn many important things puppie snormally learn in the first weeks.

Thank you for all the suggestions I will have to try them out. If anyone else has any then please let me know. I am not sure when they were separated from their mother. I wish I knew that I got her too young.

You can't change the past only influence her future- so read everything you can and utilize everyone here! Every dog is different and has a different personality. As the others have said, at 7 weeks she probably is just trying to play (with REALLY sharp puppy teeth.) It may seem like aggression to you, but really she has no idea that you don't have fur like her litter mates did. Try yelping when she bites and see how she reacts, if she stops and lets go to figure out what the noise was, tell her good girl and stuff an nice toy in her mouth good luck!

All good advice. Remember it's not aggression, it's play. 7 weeks is too young for aggression. Change your mindset and you'll see improvement faster. Label it as being mean and you'll get frustrated faster, and she'll learn slower.

My pup is 9 weeks now and I've started cracking down on discipline. I prioritize teaching him the word 'no' coupled with the dreaded 'no' finger. It's just play now, but I don't want him to think it's ok to chew on me or others. I say 'no' loudly and firmly and tap him on the snout (not too hard but enough to startle him) with one or two fingers then replace my hand with a toy to show him what he can have. I pet him and tell him 'good boy' when he chews the right thing and play with him with the toy to give him a positive association with it. I do the same when he starts going after furniture. I always found this method to be very effective with my dogs, but only you can find what works for you and your pup. Just stay consistent when you teach him.