Like you, some people are intimidated by the dogs and some love their look. One guy at our obedience class told me "He MUST have wolf in him".

The only way to be sure there won't be problems is to never let anyone near your dog. I am usually very good about keeping my distance from other people and, especially, other dogs. I let people pet the dogs if they ask and if everything seems ok. Our dogs are very friendly but also like to jump up on people so I need to prepare by, usually, stepping on the leash so they can't jump.

A month or so ago, we were hiking and a family with small children came walking by. I still don't know exactly why (and it bugs me to this day) but Max was at the end of his leash and I was too s.l.o.w.l.y pulling him out of their path and he ended up nose to nose with their smallest child- maybe 4 or 5 y/o. To her credit, the mom was not hysterical but was "no, no...".

Max bumped his nose on this little kid, gave him a little lick and I finally pulled my head out of my *** and pulled him away.

No amount of remorse would have been enough of he decided to nip at that kid's face or jump on him.

When it comes to kids, I have never not trusted any of my Huskies around them. I've had quite a few Huskies, every single one of them has/had a special place in their hearts for kids. Every single one, just hears a kids voice and they stop whatever they are doing, and listen. With a particular 3 of my huskies, I thought it was maybe because the breeder had grandchildren who would help out with litters before going to their forever homes, but no, it's been ALL of my Huskies, it's like their affection for children is engrained in them. I had one that would walk between my niece and my pool, guiding her away from the pool as he walked next to her. Just last year I even saw my Kohdi doing it with my brothers little one...everyone stopped what they were doing at a bbq at my house, to watch Kohdi nudge the little one back over and over, when she kept going towards the pool where her brother was, it was pretty cute to watch.

I realize all dogs are different, even within the same breed, but in general, I think huskies are extremely good with kids, that goes down deep inside their souls. Most dogs are uneasy around kids, kids are unpredictable and quick and random with their movements, but huskies seem to relate to that (maybe cuz huskies are the same way, haha) and yet they seem to "trust" a kid in ways that I don't see the same level of trust when it comes to adults sometimes.

I have this picture, it's one of my past Huskies, Blitz, who was only about 2 here, and he's giving my niece a kiss while she's in the pool...that pool chair is on water, obviously, lol...and Blitz doesnt have any fear that she will allow him to fall in the water, even as the chair rocks with each movement he makes on it as he goes in to lick her face.

My guys love kids, too, Jimmy, but Ami in particular is way too bouncy for small kids. He thinks Evelyn is his personal squeaky toy! With disastrous results. So I keep him close hauled children are in the vicinity. And if kids want to pet him, he has to be in sit position. I also have to watch for his pawing. He likes say hello with a rake of his paw. But it's a big powerful paw, routinely rips my skin and can knock a small child over!

I tend to play it by ear. Kenzi doesn't like kids or men mostly so I keep an eye on her. But she also doesn't like dogs or small critters so there's some correlation. My other two are fine. I don't worry about them. A bit overzealous at times but more vocally than physically. Most kids are scared of mine so I don't tend to have an issue with them rushing up to my dogs. If you let yourself get nervous about handling meeting situations you could in time make your dogs not good meeting kids and you don't want that. Just monitor. Each kid is different. You know your dogs and if they are having an off reaction to someone.

Two of my three are, without doubt, people people.  

Avalanche has never met a human who isn't immediately a new-found friend; dogs, on the other hand, are definitely a case-by-case basis.  Some are new playmates and some are questionable - of course since he's happy, bouncy, wanting to play he puts off some dogs. The semi-rescue who was here for a couple of hours Saturday was uncomfortable and willing to make her impression known if Avalanche got his "let's play" butt too close.

Sasha completely surprised me!  Shortly after the last time she bit me, we were over at the Crisis Center (a community gathering spot) in the back area which is restricted access when this fellow comes in with his 4(??) year old daughter in tow.  She immediately does "Wolf!" and grabs Sasha around the neck and I haven't had time to respond at all.  Sasha just turns her head and gives the little girl the biggest slurp I've seen her give anyone!
The other time we were there for any length of time at all, she crawled under the (turned off) oven and just chilled. I had her leash on her, which prompted a few "What's on the other end?" looks / questions but she was quite comfortable just waiting.

Back when I lived in an apartment in Houston, my job location had changed significantly and I was looking for someplace closer to work.  One black Lab was an impossible dog with whom to find a place, even with glowing references from my previous landlord.  She was too big, she looked mean (oh, c'mon, she's a Lab!) I think I heard every excuse going for why they couldn't / wouldn't rent to me.  Final solution was to buy a small trailer - she was happy just chilling while I was at work and since it was a small trailer, we spent more time out and about than at home.  Before I pulled into the trailer park I'd asked about pets, they wanted to meet Lady (the lab) who very happily set right next to me until they asked if they could pet her.  

I think it's been said before that the management people are basing their "lists" on the best information they have available to them.  The problem that I see is that they're looking at all the possible negatives rather than generally looking at the particular dog.  I've seen damage caused by a Dachshund that was way beyond that caused by most big dogs - but the big dog is "frowned up" while the Dachshund and Chihuahua are generally accepted - and believe me I'd rather confront a big dog than a Dachshund with an attitude any day!!

A bit of an update - looks like we're staying at our current house for a while. The catch is that my father in law is moving in with us and can't walk stairs --- like the ones to our upstairs duplex. We've figured out a rig to help him; not a solution, but a bandaid for now.

aljones wrote:

... I've seen damage caused by a Dachshund that was way beyond that caused by most big dogs - but the big dog is "frowned up" while the Dachshund and Chihuahua are generally accepted - and believe me I'd rather confront a big dog than a Dachshund with an attitude any day!!

I think that perception is 90% - many people (including owners) don't understand and train to their dog's behaviors:

Macie (our dog before Kona) was a Dachsund / sneaky neighbor dog mix that weighed 8 pounds.
Kona is far more "mouthy" than Macie was, BUT

Macie - 8 pounds - nervous and defensive but protective of her family - distrusted new people and animals. She felt that she was the most vulnerable in the room and acted accordingly.
The first time I met Macie (while my Wife and I were dating), she wouldn't get near me - sat under a table and barked - she was SCARED. She nipped me a couple times, drew blood once, but eventually I became "Daddy" and she would let me do anything (she loved me cradling her like a baby and rubbing her belly!) Bottom line though - she was willing to bite with intent to harm when she felt threatened - but at 8 pounds, the insurance companies figure injury / death is less likely.

Kona - 89 pounds (just ran and weighed him) - very confident, very alpha, very protective - eager to meet new people and animals - but will let people that he doesn't trust know that he doesn't trust them with a deep growl). Kona knows he's big, and that confidence lets him be more relaxed overall.
When we got Kona, he was friendly, but a bit too rough and mouthy at first. We're pretty sure that he wasn't socialized much (or at all), so A LOT of training has been happening. I doubt that Kona would bite a stranger outside of the house with any intent other than saying "Hi - pay attention to me!"*** Inside the house though - he's fine as long as he knows the person, or we make formal introductions - I have no doubt that an intruder would find themselves in a bad situation.

Our Huskies are truly a different breed - they talk to us, play rough in comparison to other breeds, have a "wolfy" appearance that includes intelligent, piercing eyes that will hold a person's gaze longer than most dogs - Kona once frightened an elderly man with his wife on a corner simply by staring at him from our car. I know that Kona just wanted to MEET him (he LOVES the elderly); but Kona's intense amber eyes and large, "predator" appearance were enough to make this poor pedestrian think Kona wanted to jump out of the car and EAT him. Combine that perception with poor training from some owners, statistics and a litigation happy society and suddenly we all own furry murder suspects. Kona is MY responsibility, therefore, it's up to me and my family to train Kona to be the great dog that he is.

*** Kona has steadily improved in this aspect. An interesting twist now is that he's begun to discern which people don't mind mouthiness - a couple other husky owners in our area have been helpful by giving him a model of how to approach people.

Sorry for the length of this post - hopefully other members or visitors here can glean some useful info.

I adopted a reactive dog from the shelter. She had special needs. On walks she had to have a muzzle. When guests would stop by she was kept in the bedroom with a small television and toys. She attached to only me. I had to be careful during thunderstorms because she would become reactive to anything near her. She was seven years old. Owning a reactive dog can be very challenging. Grooming was tough. She had to have a puppy cut because the Texas burs would get stuck in her fur. Anytime we answered the door we trained her to go into the bedroom and we would close the door. Why? She was very quick, and could bite in an instant. When we first got her I had to take her to therapy sessions. She wasn't terrible, she was a neglect case. I loved that dog and I miss her. What breed was she? A Lhasa Apsos Shih Tzu mix she weighed less than twenty pounds but she could cause someone harm so we had to be careful. I had her for five amazing years.

I don't think it's ever a breed issue. I think its the owners. I think it's pretty silly to see a wolf in a husky unless it is an actual wolf/dog mix. There are far too many studies that disprove wolf heritage. Dogs come from a cousin of wolves. Every breed seems to have had a bad name at some point in time. When I was a child it was rotties and GSDs. There's a massive issue with pits lately and the term "pit," isn't even a particular single breed. It's a type of physical characteristics a dog has.

Rental places generalize. They can't go by the individual and make predictions so they blanket certain breeds. All dogs have the potential to chew, bark, whine, destroy stuff, have accidents, cause mayhem if they aren't properly trained. However, a Pomeranian seems like it has less potential of chewing up the carpet than say a Great Dane. What they don't understand is that a little Pom can do just as much damage if they aren't trained properly.

Just my opinion though...

Ironically of my 4, my husky mixes are not the ones i worry about tho spider HATES kids. Shadow my gsd actually got an award for biting someone and then pinning them till the police came when he stopped a meth head from kidnapping my neighbors 11 yr old daughter (6th person he bit). But by far my most dangerous dog is splinter an 18 lb terrier that is nervous with a napoleon complex. Squirt likes to talk to people and for some reason people think its agression when all she is saying is i didnt say you could stop petting me. And most wolf dogs would much rather run then bite but when not treated properly and without an exit or with an owner that is oblivious to the animals stress all sorts of bad things happen. And seriously as breeds go chihuahuas terrify me and i dont get why people think because the dog is small that it doesnt need training. As far as "pit breeds" they are a terrier and like most terriers they were bred to a type. like most terriers and hounds that are thought of as a breed but really are bred for a task and are bred based off performance in that task not looks or size or color. And i seriously crack up laughing at people thinking huskys are wolves they look nothing alike if you know what you are looking at and my experience with spider is that no one thinks you have a wolf in the truck even when you do have a wolf in the truck. It helps spider has 1 blue eye but if you know what a wolf looks like its hard to mistake a husky for a wolf or a wolfdog. And malamutes look wolfier then Huskies. The sad thing is that alot of northern breeds are miskaken as wolfdogs at shelters and are then put to sleep for looking wolfy. But anyone that knows wolves and wolfdogs can immediately tell a husky from a wolfdog . And ill admit i had my vet put husky mix on spiders vet records because of rabies and its not really a lie as much as a partial truth she is a Siberian husky wolf mix.
The dangerous dog list has to do with serious bites and fatalities which discriminates against big powerful dogs because really how many people have been mauled to death by small dogs. And with huskies on the list ive got to think some were wolfdogs being paraded around as huskies and some just had idiots as owners.

When I took a dog training class years ago, we talked about dog bites. According to them, at that time, the Daschund (or however you spell it) was at the top of the list.

Sure enough, a lady in the class, who brought one, had a huge welt on her calf from her dog biting her. Obviously not as much damage as if a larger breed dog would have bit her, but a bite nonetheless.

And then you have things like this https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2019/03/05/dog-rips-boys-arm-hand-attack/ 2 huskys bit off and ate a kids hand.

I read that story yesterday. Fence is vinyl, which means the dog can't see through it, and then a tiny sock covered hand comes from underneath the fence.

My Kohdi with kids...

Actually what i got from that story is the parents knowing there was a dog on the other side of the fence should not have let thier kid harass a dog with a sock. Its something i worry about with spider. We had a similar situation where spider bit my neighbors 6yr old when he climbed the fence to get hus soccer ball. Luckily his mom was a friend and she blamed her kid not spider.