We have a dozen threads like this, so sorry for starting a new one, but I got so frustrated walking Pippa today and needed to vent.

I'm staying with my parent's dog this week while they're out of town, which means I commute to school, which means Pippa's crated longer than normal, which means she's extra crazy when I get home.

I went to walk her as soon as I got home and almost immediately ran into some neighbors. Of course Pippa gets super excited when she realizes she gets to talk to them, and of course the woman starts squeal-talking to her and Pippa loses it, licking, spazzing, the works. (It's a work in progress. Things like this tend to set us back a little. Anyway.)

The husband starts talking to her and says she needs to be a "good girl" when she starts licking him when he tries to pet her. Yes, her licking is excessive. She's been that way since I adopted her. She didn't have a lot of exposure to people and when she gets excited she has a hard time just letting people pet her. I digress.

Then he starts asking about letting her off-leash (they have a 15 year old Golden who runs slower than I do) and I tell him how most huskies can't be trusted off leash and how I'm not sure I'll ever trust Pippa enough to let her off-leash. He tells me I should really invest in some training classes to work on that. Ugh.

Why can't people just shut up? This drives me crazy. Unless someone says something that seems drastically unsafe for a dog, I generally keep my mouth shut. I guess that's too much to ask for some people.

Oh my goodness...this exact thing has happened to me like 5 times in the last week...by one person. By my moms boyfriend. How cool right?

So they live out on a farm type thing. So that means no fences. They have corn fields on one side, and a very, very steep hill on the other side. I don't trust my girls, at all. Like...at all lol. But Mike seems to think that I am just being overprotective and freaking out because they are my babies. He also said that obviously I am not spending enough time training them and obviously I am doing something wrong.

THANK YOU FOR THAT!

Couldn't agree more. Would I love to let them loose and let them run free...but I can't and I won't. He also gets on me because I am too "strict". At my house, they are not allowed around the stove when I am cooking for obvious reasons. I tell them 'NO!' and he just goes "oh they are fine". Uhm NO THEY AREN'T! I don't just free fed my girls, they work for treats. I also am VERY strict about what I feed them. They eat healthier then I do and I have worked very hard to make it that way. What does he do? Feed them. Feed them CRAP food. Like steak fat. Seriously? I tell him stop..he laughs.

People bother me.. a lot.

People just don't understand the reality about huskies.
They just don't get it.

Shake your head and walk on.
With your husky on a leash!

People are dumb haha. Huskies are very different than other breeds of dogs and not everyone understands even if you explain it ten times, just how it is owning one lol

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Then he starts asking about letting her off-leash (they have a 15 year old Golden who runs slower than I do) and I tell him how most huskies can't be trusted off leash and how I'm not sure I'll ever trust Pippa enough to let her off-leash. He tells me I should really invest in some training classes to work on that. Ugh.

I might be the odd duck here but I don't think his intentions were all bad, just miscommunicated (granted I wasn't there to see it in person so I may be off). I can understand your frustration based on the way things were said and I agree with you. But at the same time I can see that maybe he meant to say something along the lines of " Well if it's something you are interested in achieving you can probably invest in classes to help you along" instead of the other way he said it which makes him sound like a dick. Meh these things happen I suppose.

xredrainx wrote:

Quote :

Then he starts asking about letting her off-leash (they have a 15 year old Golden who runs slower than I do) and I tell him how most huskies can't be trusted off leash and how I'm not sure I'll ever trust Pippa enough to let her off-leash. He tells me I should really invest in some training classes to work on that. Ugh.

I might be the odd duck here but I don't think his intentions were all bad, just miscommunicated (granted I wasn't there to see it in person so I may be off). I can understand your frustration based on the way things were said and I agree with you. But at the same time I can see that maybe he meant to say something along the lines of " Well if it's something you are interested in achieving you can probably invest in classes to help you along" instead of the other way he said it which makes him sound like a dick. Meh these things happen I suppose.

This is true. I just find it generally annoying when people try and act like they know what's better for me and my dog than I do. But he definitely might have just been suggesting something in case I hadn't considered it.

One time I was walking both Kato and Karma, (they were both way young and not trained very well to walk with eachother) and this car pulls up next to me....

A woman gets outs of her car and tells me that she is a trainer and grabs my dog's leashes from my hand and starts yanking them to the side of her....she tells me..."this is how you're supposed to walk your dogs"...."don't walk behind them, walk infront of them...they need to know when you're going for walks, your'e the leader not them"....

I was so shocked at the moment I didn't say anything but "ok"
Now that I think back about it, it irritates me...

I tried the whole letting my pup out without a leash. It lasted for about a week. Within a week he tried running off so now it's nothing but potty breaks and walks on the leash. Every now and then when we go to my boyfriend's aunt's house we let him run free in her backyard. She lives on 15 acres of land and has three dogs. He loves the freedom but we don't let him off the leash until we are far away from the road and in an open space. The worst he could do is jump in the pond when he's back there. (:

Iluvmyhuskies wrote:

One time I was walking both Kato and Karma, (they were both way young and not trained very well to walk with eachother) and this car pulls up next to me....

A woman gets outs of her car and tells me that she is a trainer and grabs my dog's leashes from my hand and starts yanking them to the side of her....she tells me..."this is how you're supposed to walk your dogs"...."don't walk behind them, walk infront of them...they need to know when you're going for walks, your'e the leader not them"....

I was so shocked at the moment I didn't say anything but "ok"
Now that I think back about it, it irritates me...

Whoa, that is horrible! So invasive. This should be punishable by law.

Despite the fact that I agree with her, to do that is just awful.

It's really annoying! The worst is when you try to explain to people that huskies are different, they give you "the look", like they are suspicious of what you are saying. I also heard thing like "that's because he doesn't respect you!". I get so upset...

That is irritating. I usually shut people up with "Huskies are not like other dogs. People that think they are have never owned one."

It is a polite way of saying "don't yammer on about something you know nothing about."

I despise it when people assume that just because you don't trust your dog off leash, its due to not enough training. Most people are surprised by the number of walks, hikes, dog park days, training sessions, and overall time I actually commit to my dogs, and that the reason I walk Yuki on a leash isn't because she isn't trained, it's because I want to keep her safe. It's actually nice though at the dog park because people compliment me on how well she listens and its nice to see my efforts aren't wasted.

Wow Smh sounds like a lot of 'open mouth insert foot' cases. I do really enjoy people who want to educate you on something you must know nothing about (I had this happen constantly with my BRB constructors, beautiful snakes btw) and it would just irritate me to no end. People would tell me oh their tank is too hot, it's too humid, they need a black light ect. I just laughed and told people they were from the rainforest, and their habitat was perfectly simulated tyvm. You really think I would have a pet, exotic or otherwise without actually doing a ton of research before hand!?

My advice, take it with a smile, maybe a laugh, it gets under their skin and they'll leave you alone. Or just bring out the encyclopedia worth of knowledge you've researched and learned and bombard them with facts until their eyes glaze over.
:-)

I usually shut up about this, because I understand your concerns, but I have met and trained a ton of huskies that can be off-leash, and have been, time and time again. Including a 6mo.old puppy in the middle of a giant nature preserve, for 5 days in a row, camping. Yes, your dog has high prey drive. You can teach them perfect impulse control. It is not impossible. Soshanna has the most insane prey drive of any of my dogs. She kills everything. So we trained her to an emergency word, and started practicing until she could perform while chasing real live prey. Panzer, as skiddish as she is, will turn and at least come in my direction the moment I use her word. There is a fine line you have to ride that most trainers.dont like to talk about, and thats that just because a dog learns faster/retains better from his positive interactions does not mean he doesnt learn from his negative interactions. Its just knowing when and how to correct for what that is tricky. Honestly, Ive worked in a strictly positive training program, and one that balances the two, and theres a reason the balanced one is doing better as a business. It produces a better end result.

I understand that it can be done, but I don't appreciate hearing what I should do for me and my dog from a man who doesn't know much about dogs and knows nothing about huskies.

I firmly believe that some huskies can be trained to be off-leash and I believe having a good emergency recall is important (and we're working on that). But from what I've seen in Pippa, I don't think that she'll ever be a great candidate for off-leash training, at least not for some time. She's skittish, has a very strong prey drive, and only listens to me about half the time right now. A lot of her problems are probably my fault, but I don't see a reason to risk her safety or risk losing her. That's not to say that I'm not constantly working on her recall and attempting to work on her impulse control, but we've got a long way to go .

There might come a day where I feel like she's at a point where I feel like I can trust her, but I'm not sure when that will be. I haven't found a trainer in my area that I like and understands huskies at all, and I think that matters.

Hey, dont get me wrong, im not going to argue that you and your dog have or havent made it to that point yet. Its just every time this post comes up, it is a trail of people saying "oh people just dont understand the breed. Its not possible, etc etc etc". The reality is that the average pet owner is probably only average at best at being a good leader and trainer. That isnt their fault. They have jobs and lives, and most dogs will fall into place for an average leader. Our dogsa are different there. They need a much stronger leader than most dogs. They walk all over people who cant keep their cool, strong posture and attitude. Watch a husky in a daycare setting, they walk over most the handlers, except those with experience. Im not going to tell individual owners their dog is ready for off-leash work, but if Panzer can get there, at least to where she is, then I have faith your dog can get there through patience, and consistency.

This is true. And I probably should have clarified when I was talking to him that Pippa isn't there yet, and that while most huskies shouldn't be off-leash, some can.

A lot of this discussion and generalization, I think, stems from the fact that, for the general population who can't/don't/won't/don't know how to spend the time to train them, it's much, MUCH safer to say they shouldn't be off-leash. I think it's better to generalize and say, "Huskies should be off-leash" than is is to try and educate every person that wants one, because chances are, the average Joe isn't going to put the time and effort into training their dog, not to mention fully understanding the consequences that can come with letting any dog off leash. But that's just me.

And I still think there are some dogs, not just huskies, that don't need to be off-leash ever, whether that's because of the nature of the dog, or a lack of training.

I absolutely agree. I dont bring Dayzee places, because she is a giant liability. It is pointless to criticize Heathers training because it will make her justify her decisions and criticize mine. Ive tried to influence her to work on her dog, whom just lacks training. She isnt interested, and im not going to use intimidation or ridicule to make her want to.

I think it is very important to remember to be kind and patient toward those who criticize our decisions, and to try to realize our natural reaction will be to justify ourselves and condemn the criticizer. Instead we should take a moment to understand, and to explain that we are working on things as quickly as is comfortable for ourselves and our dogs, and that we feel it is worth not rushing.

I know this seems against my nature, but Im learning more and more that you dont collect honey by kicking over the beehive.

Thanks for the post. I just had a similar situation last night. Some friends of mine have 5 german Shorthair pointers that they let off leash quite a bit. And I'm cool with what they want to do with their dogs. I do have one dog, a 10 year old chow/border collie that I trust off leash because she is totally a momma's girl and will not venture far and completely listens t me. But my Adelaide is just nearing 1 and I've only had her 3 weeks. We have a long way to go with training and I will probably never be comfortable with her off leash. My friends invited me to come up to the lake with them and let the girls run around. They go to this island I guess and let everyone run. Sounds great. But I told her I wouldn't let Adelaide go off leash and she kept trying to convince me. I finally said that we could come, but I would not be letting her loose. She seemed offended. Grrr.

karmaann wrote:

Thanks for the post. I just had a similar situation last night. Some friends of mine have 5 german Shorthair pointers that they let off leash quite a bit. And I'm cool with what they want to do with their dogs. I do have one dog, a 10 year old chow/border collie that I trust off leash because she is totally a momma's girl and will not venture far and completely listens t me. But my Adelaide is just nearing 1 and I've only had her 3 weeks. We have a long way to go with training and I will probably never be comfortable with her off leash. My friends invited me to come up to the lake with them and let the girls run around. They go to this island I guess and let everyone run. Sounds great. But I told her I wouldn't let Adelaide go off leash and she kept trying to convince me. I finally said that we could come, but I would not be letting her loose. She seemed offended. Grrr.

This is a perfect example of where instead of feeling a bit condemned about the interaction, and her feeling a little criticized, you can say that Adelaide is still working on recall and impulse control, and needs to be on a line to reinforce her training, so that if she ignores a recall, you can address it easily. Theyre still in training is the greatest line to diffuse a case of owners getting offended.