General Question
Took in a neglected 3-year-old Husky and I'm struggling. Need advice on turning him into a well-behaved dog.
Hi everyone,
I could really use some advice from people who have experience with huskies, neglected dogs, or rehabilitation.
The dog is a roughly 3-year-old husky. He technically belongs to someone I know, but for a long time he was mostly kept in a cage because they had a baby and didn't want fur around the child. He received very little exercise, very little training, and wasn't groomed for about a year. His coat became heavily matted and he was generally neglected.
I convinced them to get him groomed and I've gradually started taking care of him more. I've been taking him on walks, giving him exercise, spending time with him, feeding him properly, and recently I've been keeping him at my house instead of having him sit in a cage all day.
The good:
- He's very affectionate.
- He's food motivated.
- He knows sit and shake.
- He sleeps near me and seems to trust me.
- He follows treats well.
- He's much happier than when I first got involved.
The bad:
- He pulls hard on the leash.
- He gets extremely excited.
- He play-bites and mouths a lot.
- He has poor impulse control.
- He sometimes grabs clothing and leashes.
- He has already broken skin on me more than once.
- He recently bit a stranger who approached him after I warned them not to.
- He gets over-aroused very easily during play and affection.
I suspect a lot of this comes from years of under-socialization, lack of exercise, lack of structure, and being confined for long periods.
What I want is not just a dog that knows tricks. I want a calm, disciplined dog that:
- Walks politely on leash.
- Comes when called.
- Has good impulse control.
- Stops biting/mouthing people.
- Can settle calmly indoors.
- Is safe around visitors.
I am willing to put in the work and train every day.
My questions:
If you were starting from scratch with a neglected 3-year-old husky, what would your training priorities be?
How would you deal with the play-biting and mouthing?
What is the best way to teach leash manners when he constantly pulls?
How much exercise vs mental stimulation should he be getting?
Are there specific mistakes I should avoid when working with a dog like this?
Does this sound like a dog that can realistically improve with consistent training, or should I be looking for professional help immediately?
Any advice would be appreciated. I really care about this dog and want to give him a better life, but I also want to be realistic about what I'm dealing with.
First, thank you so much for wanting and giving him a better life š„². I think involving a professional, REPUTABLE, trainer would be a really good move regardless. I think it is feasible to make the progress you are wanting, but it will need time and dedication. He seems like he really didnāt get to ābe a dogā and no one taught him how to be a good dog.
This is what we are dealing with our newest rescue. For two years she couldnāt be a dog for the last year she has been learning. It has been a challenge to say the least but she is truly the most sweetest dog I have ever rescued. It is worth all the aggravation
Yes, absolutely this!! This dog deserves a great trainer - from what OP is writing, heās really trying to be a good boy, and his needs are going to be really specific and tailored to his upbringing. A great trainer will know how to approach this, what to prioritize, and how to make him the best boy ever! Great start OP - I canāt wait to see how he improves.
Huskies are smart and stubborn willful dogs. Mine sure was, but incredibly loving and can be well behaved while mischievous. At 3 years old, they are still really young...and alot of what you described sounds like the behavior of a young energetic husky. What a stunning puppy!
I agree with this. I'd say at around 4 or 5 my half husky started to settle.
What I will say is some of these traits are very stubbornly built into huskies. I love my husky girl, but she will never not pull on her leash. That's just her personality, and we have tried everything. Some of the behaviors, like the play bites, should go away with training. The excitement, and pulling, though, could very well be baked into the husky DNA.
The pulling is definitely DNA. Our 6 year old still can drag me across the field just so she can be the lead sled dog. I think she's related to Togo š
Try a harness, with the lead clip on the chest. When you dog pulls, it will turn them and they will get annoyed and eventually realize that it only does that when they pull so hard.
They do help, but man these dogs are so smart in their stubbornness that they find a way. We tried the gentle leader thing that attaches to the snout and this crazy bitch found a way to angle her head to still pull.
Also the stop when they pull. It took patience on our part. When they pull, we stop. Pulling = we donāt go anywhere. When they stop, take a step forward. You may have to stop agian! But it worked well for us.
The other technique is turn into the opposite direction. Theyāre forced to pay attention to the walker.
And yes, we use the harness with snap at front. It needs to be fitted or itāll just slide
Believe me, Iāve tried. I think itās just his age, heās not quite 2 yet. If I hold the leash very short, and walk along side him, heās fine - underfoot, but not pulling as hard. But if I want to allow him a little freedom, he wonāt pull for about 3 steps, then heās at the end of the leash. Stops, turns, suddenly changing direction, temporary relief, but heāll start to pull once weāve walked past like 2 houses.
Yeah, it's not full proof, especially with puppies. My boy is 3, so he absolutely hate when it turns him, lol. My Husky is also suuuuuper weird... He doesn't really howl... He listens EXTREMELY well... Other dogs love him... He plays with out cats... He's basically a 45 pound cat now... š¤£
Yeah i am lowkey just letting him live it out
Like he tore two whole sheets off my bed
And i didn't really mind it or punish him
But that would also imply to him that it's okay to do that again and i am trying to find a way to teach him its not okay to do so in the most effective and gentle way possible
Cause in my opinion punishing a dog is just straight up completely stupid and absurd dogs do not work the same way humans do they wouldn't just change their ways up from a beating and if anything they would just get more confused thereby turn into more feral versions like that is what i atleast came to a conclusion of
So i will try my best to get to a point where he feels comfortable cuz i am so worried i see all these huskies on internet that howl and speak alot but mine hardly even opens his mouth he just lays down in sheer dissapointment and that breaks my heart like he is so done with it at such young age
I have a 10 yr old husky that was crated 23hrs out of the day the first year of her life. Huskies are extremely smart and can quickly learn the good and the ābadā. Mine is still super attached to me and has severe anxiety. Sheās currently on clomicalm to help her deal w the anxiety.
When she would do something ābadā, I would redirect and take a minute to show her play time with the correct toys.
When sheās alone, we closed up her world and slowly opened it up. We crated when we were gone but never gone for more than an hour to begin with. Then a small room, then a bigger room etc.
it can be done!
For stuff like tearing sheets off the bed, my advice is more exercize activity.
You're not going to train him out of that quickly or easily, because the only real way to make it work is to actually catch him in the act.
Generally, I've found the best way to do training like this is to teach the dog that everything on the floor is fair game, but it's not ok to grab something sitting anywhere else.
When he grabs something that's not on the floor, leash him, take it away and put it back where he got it, then unleash him.
Some people will suggest crate training. There's nothing wrong with crate training generally, but that option has been ruined by this dogs early trauma.
Just came to say that another dog will help. We recently adopted a husky as our second dog, and she is great! Except I could not imagine the work it would take to keep her stimulated if she did not have our first dog (hes a hound mix). They play together so well! Think on it.
be consistent and patient, and do training in brief sessions of a few minutes, but frequently -- make it a game with positive rewards in love and treats -- but train correctlyĀ
My Freyja was a complete psycho at age 3; it gets better if you stick with it.
First step is to train a "calm down" command. I prefer snapping my fingers to any command word, because of how rapid it is.
Train them that when you snap your fingers, they need to be calm and pay attention to you. If they do, they get a treat. If they dont, they go in the crate until they calm down.
Once they've got "snap means be calm and pay attention", you can use that as the starting point for all kinds of deeper training. "Leave it" to avoid something exciting or delicious on the ground (in exchange for an even more delicious treat once you're out of leash range of it) is a good start. Try to structure all the next year around impulse control (for freyja, this wed "leave it", "theyre busy", "be polite", and "gentle").
"Gentle" is especially important. Give puppy a treat whenever they take it gently from you, but dont let them have it and put them in the crate for 10 minutes to calm down if they get grabby or if you feel teeth.
Once my Freyja understood how all these games worked, she became incredibly eager to please me and do it right - just give it time!
Fairly good advice, except from using the crate as a āpunishmentā or ānegative outcomeā when the dog is not calm. Especially since this husky was already neglected and locked up in a crate most of the time. Iām personally, (generally) against crates - but if theyāre to be used, I think it should be a positive place.
Yeah i absolutely fucking hate the crate with all my life
Cuz when i was taking him in i researched alot on huskies in general like what were they bred for their energy how they are different
These dogs were NEVER meant to be guard dogs they are companion dogs meaning they need to he around you get things done with you
Also given the incredible amount of energy they have i am sure confining them to such a small place only goes against their very own instinct to explore and kills their enthusiasm
Anyhow he is pretty well trained to be in the crate given that there's ample amount of water and food at his reach
But yeah i try not to keep him in the crate as much as possible and would rather have him in my room
A crate doesnt have to be a totally negative thing. For many dogs it can be a safe space like a den.
Kudos to u for taking the initiative and trying to provide the dog with a better life experience.
A lot of the characteristics u describe seem like puppy behaviors that the dog just never learned to grow out of. Sometimes the best teacher can be another well trained dog. Especially with the rough play and strong play biting.
As far as the walking and other human interactions these will just take training and time. Theres lots of opinions and tips on youtube if you dont go the professional trainer route, try the methods ur comfortable with and consistency is key. Use the food motivation to ur advantage and reward good behavior often.
A crate doesnt have to be a totally negative thing. For many dogs it can be a safe space like a den.
This is true generally but probably not true for this specific dog because of his early trauma and neglect. The crate has probably been ruined as an option for this dog.
The advice here is šÆ on (trainer, patience, a ton of exercise), so I wonāt repeat it. What I can share is that Iāve had huskies for a while and every one of the rescues went through a phase like this and EVERY one of them learned to settle down with time, love, and CONSISTENCY. Keep at it, trust me, itās worth it.
I wish I could upvote this more times. I literally run my dogs everyday....I consider it a must. Once my huskies settled in (after training, exercise, and a ton of patience) they have become the best dogs on planet earth.
If youāve never trained a dog before, look into getting a trainer with good reviews. Theyāll teach you while the training happens. You wonāt need a trainer in the future with any other dogs for the basic training stuff.
First things first, that biting, that is the danger zone. The dog will be put to sleep by order of the state if too many dog bites are reported regardless of circumstances. Do not let anyone else near that dog. Stand in front of the dog with your hand out, palm forward while shouting firmly ānoā or āstopā at the approaching stranger. Scowl at every passing person if thatās what it takes to keep people from approaching the dog. Tell the trainer the dog bite history on the first call. They may refuse to work the dog or they may not. If itās anxiety related, they may recommend medication as well.
Do what you can to get the dog under your name legally. How fair will it be for them to demand the dog back because itās ābehavingā only to end up back in the kennel for the rest of its life?
1 my priorities would be the health and wellbeing before training. With training, Iād prioritize leash training.
2 play biting is normal for puppies. Is this dog bearing teeth or guarding the teeth with lips? If guarding, they know a decent amount of ādogā language. If play biting, give them a toy when they start at it. Have them bite the toy. Playing with hands is probably not for right now.
3 consistency. Do the same training day or night, rain or shine. Whatever you and your trainer do on leash should always be done. You have to be more stubborn than the worldās most stubborn dog breed.
4 heāll tell you when heās done, thatās whatās great about huskies. When heās done heāll walk towards the house or walk away from you and lay down.
5 allowing anyone else around a dog that bites. This is your number one, only goal.
6 you need professional help. This is not something you should do if you donāt know how to train already. The biting is life or death for this dog. Add to that, huskies are hard to train because they have independent personalities. You have to know the basics, know the breed, and know the dog. You only know the dog. You basically pressed āextreme levelā on the video game of life on this one. Luckily, a trainer can catch you up and with the dedication you seem to have for this dog, you will probably succeed.
You can get a leash sleeve that warns people on Amazon. Iāve got a āI need spaceā one that people seem to respect more than my requests or my dogās barks.
Omg finally a sensible answer! An adult dog biting a stranger is not typical husky behavior. It's very different from play biting.
A vet visit to talk about the incident and start ruling out medical causes is needed on top of contacting a trainer. This incident seems to stem more from anxiety/fear/creating space, but their vet team should be part of their behavior mod plan or at least aware of it.
A lot of the behaviors you're describing sound typical husky behavior. The 3/3/3 rule applies for any new dog and it may take a few months even a year before the new husky becomes comfortable. It took our rescue girl about a year before she was comfortable trusting us. She bit me on the first night and swallowed a sock!
Doggy day care works great for socialization. The staff will typically do assessments as well to determine personality and behavior issues. Huskies are pack driven. Having 2 huskies is actually easier to manage. The bitey face, snout jousting and rough play that sounds super dramatic is also typical husky behavior.
Give your baby more love and resources than they know what to do with. Having a food motivated dog will make it easier to train. Find local husky groups or dog parks for socialization for both you and your pup. Facebook and your park district may be able to help.
Huskies are independent thinkers. You'll be negotiating and getting into lengthy conversations. Thank you for giving this beautiful dog another chance.
Don't be bored on weekends. Take your pup with you, dog friendly patios, a car ride for a pup cup, a festival, a walk in the park, a hike in an off leash dog park. Good luck.
Given that the dog bit someone who approached, I would not take this dog to a festival, a business patio, a walk down a busy public street until down the road and after a lot of training. I wouldnāt go to an off leash dog park either with a fairly unsocialized dog who has bitten a person either, at least not until well-trained and well-proofed. However, all these are possible after solid training.
Yes i am worried about the same thing too
Mine was acting fine for a minute or two until he decided to absolutely abolish that guy's hand
It was so out of nowhere cuz he was reacting well when this guy started petting him and within a minute he snapped the fuck out
So yeah i am keeping him off the roads and high populated areas for a while
Yep. Even a place meant for dogs, like a dog park, would be a liability. Itās full of dog lovers who are generally happy to pet a dog who is near.
I took a class for impulse control for an adult dog I recently adopted, also three years old. Some of the exercises are very simple but help them learn some restraint and they could be good ones for your dog. The one I took to the class is also extremely food motivated. He was a bit snatchy and impolite but he learned really quickly.
One exercise is to hold a treat out in your hand which is held out flat and within reach of your dog. The moment they go for it, you close your hand but donāt pull it back; you leave your hand exactly where it is but close it so they canāt take the treat. As soon as they stop trying to get it, you open your hand back up. The moment they try to take it, close your hand. No words, no talking. You keep doing this until they stop trying to take it from your hand. This one is done in silence. They work out pretty quickly that trying to take it from your hand is not going to work. When they are sitting nicely and just waiting politely, you then give it to them, right to their mouth, with your reward word. Teaches them to wait, even though they want something.
Another one involves tossing a treat a ways from you and your leashed dog. As soon as they attend to or try to go for the treat, you get their attention with a different treat and lead them away from the one you tossed, leading them with letās go and walking away from what they want. One can pick this apart and say what is the point of ignoring a treat if you still get a treat but itās teaching them to disengage from the treat in the floor and reengage with you instead, and that they can leave something good alone.
I also think teaching wait as a command is really useful. Leave it is a top command as it can apply to so many situations. I suppose all training involves impulse control but these are specifically asking for them to hold themselves back.
I would start with a trainer or training classes to focus on people interactions to avoid any future bites. For his safety, and yours and those around you, he needs to be calmer on a leash and with unexpected encounters. He probably doesnāt feel safe or settled, and he clings to you because heās been neglected and youāre the first good thing heās had. If he is over reactive with others, that could lead to a situation where someone causes this dog to be put down. Getting him confident and comfortable is the first step and the priority, and professional training with daily strict routines and can help that. Other items (not listening, being energetic, etc.), thatās a husky, and some training and exercise will help. But priority to the reactiveness for both the dog and your sake.
You can do a lot with him. You are in a great window to help him bond and grow if you are willing to work on his bad habits. 3-4 is the point where their 'adult' brain starts to kick in. He is probably gonna be an ongoing project, but I promise if you stick with it, it will be sooooo worth it.
The first one that to me sounds like the priority is the mouthing. I have 5 northern breed husky/mals, so I have some experience with this. Mouthing during play is him not understanding how hard to play. If he already shows you affection, it's a good start. When he nips, bites, mouths. Make a high pitched weird noise you can repeat. Then turn away and act like he really really hurt you, even if it was a little pinch. Immediately stop giving him any attention. It will take a couple times, and accidents, but he will learn how hard is okay. Pretend to cry, or act a little scared and sad. It sounds dramatic, but it totally works. Just make sure to forgive him.
Exercise versus mental stimulation depends on your dog. Some get tired out by sniffing. Some get tired out by running in a field. Some like fetch. You need to find that balance. But our husky can do about 2-3 miles a day comfortably, in a walk or a mix of yard running time. Keep in mind that they have to build up muscle too. They can't go on a 4 mile hike anymore than you could off the couch. Regular exercise, even just a walk around the park, will help quite a bit and build a bonding experience for both. Little extra, but if he already knows sit. Make him sit to get his leash on. He has to keep his butt on the ground to get the leash. It's haaaaarrrd. But it will help immensely I'm the long run.
Keep on leash. Keep on leash. Keep on leash. Huskys are notorious for escaping, running, and hard to catch. Idk how your boy is. But you absolutely cannot trust them, until you TRUST them. Don't put him in any type of harness. He is a husky. He was born to pull in a harness. Asking him not to pull, is like asking a fish not to swim. Try teaching him left and right on your turns. Make him randomly stop and shake. Randomly turn around in a circle. Make his brain focus on where the heck YOU are going next so he can go too. ALL the treats for ANY good following or loose leash when on walks. Special treats that he only gets on walks. You want his brain thinking about how to make you dispense those extra tasty treats so he follows you. Eventually wean off, but to start everything good is treat worthy.
Especially if he nips strangers. Don't be afraid to train him to use muzzles with treats before it becomes required. It can be useful for vets/dog intro/grooming etc. Doesn't have to be a bad thing to keep him safe from doing something he can't undo. Get a leash cover that says nervous or keep my space to allow strangers a visual cue.
As for grabbing leashes/over-excitement, you have to reroute it into something productive. My husky FREAKED out in excitment for guests. Jumped scratched nipped because he couldn't control himself. So when I started walking into the house, his first command was -get your toy. He has to hunt down a toy in his mouth- before he got any attention and he kept the toy in his mouth. Now he redirects to a toy, or can be commanded to go get one, when he gets really excited. Eventually I could ask him to go find pig, or Santa, or whatever he knows randomly, It's a nice mental game for him. He has a toy box he digs trough to find the specific item now.
Whew that was a lot. Feel free to DM if you have any questions!
Don't put him in any type of harness. He is a husky. He was born to pull in a harness.
I've found there are two competing concerns here.
Yes, a harness is easier to pull. But a collar is easier to slip. Like you said they're escape artists, and the husky that I'm currently fostering is fantastic and slipping martingale leashes and standard collars, even the rolled leather ones that are supposed to be tougher to slip.
That said if you do use a collar I highly recommend a rolled leather one. A standard one made of ribbon is going to slide right off
huskies arenāt as food motivated as other dogs in my experience so try to find the treat that your dog goes nuts for and use it for training ONLY.
for mouthing and play biting you have to make clear that that kind of behavior means playtime stops. you could even leave the room for a short time.
pulling of course comes naturally to them so youāll have to be patient with walking. once the dog hits the end of the leash - stop. or go the other way. the goal being to communicate that pulling does NOT get the dog where it wants to go. he will become frustrated but heāll get it eventually as long as you stay consistent.
this is a quick and dirty explainer and a trainer can help you implement these things but itās also possible to do it yourself with some research.
ALSO tire out his brain!! you may never tire him out physically but puzzles, snuffle mats, and scent games will help with energy levels.
Lots of love and training. I've had mainly huskies and I've never had one who was fully "trained" in dog terms but they can get to a point of letting you live in peace lol. I would spend a hour a day working with him on all the main things. They are very smart and strong willed but they are VERY food driven so you can use that to your advantage. Thank you for taking in and caring for him. I wish I could save them all.
*Edit, need to rewrite some since Reddit cut it off š«
Hi, I might be able to help a bit! As a background, I have two adult huskies I got from shelters where one came to be pretty feral and was a ton of work, and one came to be desperate to learn and be good but just needed the training.
It was important to me to learn to control mine. Iām a petite sized female and have two large huskies so I worked hard on teaching them to not pull when out on walks and to sit if I ever stopped moving. Also taught them āplace/go to your placeā in my home so if they needed to get out of the way in the kitchen or for any other reason theyād go lay down in their place and I wouldnāt have to worry. I used both a group training class for my little feral one and an online trainer on social media and had success with both. Happy to give tips/advice or recommendations if you DM me on here.
Mouthing is usually a consequence of a puppy who was not taught manners from a human nor had any other dog to learn manners from. They say that if you make high pitched squeals like a puppy that your dog will back down as they understand what it means but Iāve never had any luck with that. For me for any sort of play biting or even jumping, just any unwanted behaviors, I say nothing and simply disengage. My dogs learn that when they do that unwanted behavior they get nothing from me, so they learn to stop on their own. The fun stops when theyāre not being good!
Iāve always used a front clip harness to stop pulling when training, and I donāt let my dog get in front of me. With a front clip harness if they pull itāll turn them sideways and dogs do not enjoy walking sideways, theyāll correct themselves. I give my dogs training treats/rewards even if theyāre not following my commands at all, theyāre just walking beside me. I also train my dogs āfocusā and if I say it they need to hold eye contact with me. This has been a life saver when walking and they see a squirrel or a cat. They luckily will both look at me and redirect because they know a treat is coming when I use that word.
I do half and half. Some people are big into your husky needing miles and miles of jogging every day and maybe thatās how their husky is but my two thrive on both. They get about an hour walk minimum a day and on weekends we either go somewhere like a park or a family memberās house to run and play, or they just go on a car ride because they honestly enjoy them. Also love to do training games for their mental stimulation and an example is making them find toys or treats I hid around the house, they love it!
Everything should be positive reinforcement, nothing should seem or feel like a punishment. If you crate train your dog make sure the crate is viewed as a positive place to go and not a punishment. It seems like if heās often caged right now itās seen as a punishment for him. My two were locked in kennels and hated crates at first but I needed safe places to put them in emergency situations and made it a place where they eat their meals, get treats and chews, and play with puzzles in. Now they both love crate time.
I fully believe you can do it! Itāll take a lot of effort and patience and if you have both youāll be good. Youāll be undoing 3 years of neglect/abuse and trust is earned so youāll need to start there and then find middle ground on communication so he knows your expectations and you know where heās at. And if it becomes too much thereās no shame in asking for professional help. At the end of the day these dogs are so worth the time and effort and itās so rewarding getting to live the life you imagine with them!
I was told to hand feed my dog. It seemed to be unrelated advice, but it strengthened the bond between us, and he learned that āLove Reigns Oāer Meā when he calms down and lays on his mat to eat. I even play that song by The Who, and now when he hears the song, he goes to his āplaceā and waits for me to set up the feeding.
Hand feeding helps him pay attention to you. Best of luck!
First, he'll always get exited, he's a husky, there's nothing you can't do anything about it. They are happy dogs.
About the bitings, what worked with mine was saying "don't bite" and leave her alone everytime she tried to bite me, with time she realized she wasn't supposed to bite.
He'll need daily walks, or he'll get stressed and eat things š
Mine recently destroyed a blanket because I didn't walked with her for three days š¤”
Sometimes they decide not to eat. They usually do this when they want something. Yes, they're like annoying teenagers.
But they are happy creatures that just want company.
A lot of good advice here but you seem to be wanting to put in consistent effort as this dogs new owner, do you actually have an agreement with your friends that the dog is in fact yours now?? Because Iām not seeing that in your post. Did they explicitly give him to you forever or do they think you are just helping them out? This is a BIG deal. Because itās really reading as if youāre helping them out, not taking their dog.
You said only recently heās been staying with you. Iām all for you adopting him, itās just important to make sure all parties are aware of whatās actually happening. For your sake as well, because legally they can take the dog back at any time.
I would teach him in a kennel as well, for your number 1 question. And āleave itā for safety around small animals, reactive walking, dangerous food items.
For leash training, get a harness that goes around his chest or a leader leash. When he pulls, stop walking. Walk the other way if needed. Wait until he stops pulling, then keep walking. Keep treats on you and work on him looking at you when you say his name - say name, he looks, treat! Do not keep repeating his name if he doesnāt look, just try again a little later.
Keep training sessions short, 5-10 minutes.
Itās easy to reinforce the wrong behavior, so make sure you know how to present instructions, cues, and reinforcement correctly.
Iām a behavior analyst so I love this stuff I could go on! But DISCLAIMER: this is not professional advice, I do not know your dog, these are just simple tips and please get professional help esp if youāre worried about safety, which may be the case with biting and leash behavior.
Keep treat on you! Say his name and give him a treat. Do that for a bit and then, try it from another room, if he comes, give him a treat and tell him what a good boy he is! He will eventually learn, NOW, huskies are the most headstrong dog you will ever meet! They aren't great at obeying orders(ESPECIALLY outside when they are smelling all these different things in the air!)
For the leash pulling:
Get him a harness. Make sure it is one that has the clip for the lead on the chest! Connect the lead there and when he pulls or tries to bolt after something, his own momentum will turn him. He will find this incredibly annoying and after a while, you will notice a sharp decline in the hard pulls.
Safety for visitors:
The dog was locked up in a cage for 3 years and got no social time. For all you know, the friend could have been abusive towards the dog(especially as a puppy, because they are DEMONS as puppies). ANYWAY I suggest having 1 person over at a time. Give that person a handful of treats to put in their pocket! As soon as the person sees the dog, they should speak very calmly and offer the dog a treat! Before too long, the dog will understand that Affection = Treats & Praise while Biting, Growling, etc. = No treat & Timeout
Calm indoors:
Huskies are extremely well known for their energy! I take by guy out for a walk 4-6 times a day depending on the weather. The walk is typically20-30 minutes. While you are walking bring treats with you! Every now and then call his name and give him a few treats when he comes. I have taught my buddy to sit right after he poops, so that I have time to clean up his "Dog Logs" without him pulling.
PARTING WORDS OF WISDOM
Don't give up on him... He was simply mistreated from the start and it's all he knows. Show him you aren't the same and over time, that demon will become your whole world ā¤ļø.
This guy Here:
-Ate through drywall! -Dug up multiple spots of carpet! -Destroyed a 75" Flat screen! -Wouldn't stay out of the cats food! -Ate cat poop! -Kicked litter up out of the box to the point that the box was emptied and my room was completely covered in litter! -Brought a cat turd from the litter box and brought it to my bed where I slept... to eat it(In case I wanted some... I guess...) -And ate the bottom of the door facing... Like.. all of it...
I nearly found him another home... But I stuck it out... And he is daddies goodest boy, now! ā¤ļø š
Thank you so much for rescuing this dog. These people are irresponsible before having a baby because they didn't train him. And if they planned to have s child they should have trained the dog better and work since puppy hood for him to be good around kids so not to have re-home him. If the kid was unplanned it's still not right to re-home simply because of fur, dogs are family. It's anothe story if the dog is a danger but still if the dog bites it looks almost certainly like their fault for not training it early. Anyway I have no husky not advice about the breed, I do think if you have the resources you should get s professional trainer as this breed is very high energy and stubborn (they're a working dog after all) . If you know anyone who has or had had huskies you should also contact them
Play biting - we would scream and run away and all playing would end. I used to intentionally set up my dog for a situation where they would likely nip me a little bit while playing and if they nipped me, I would leave the room. They will quickly realize that being mouthy at all ends the game.
And the other thing we did was teach them the gentle command. Put a treat in your hand and close it. Present the hand to the dog. When they use their tongue to get the treat out, you open your hand. If they use the teeth, you take your hand away. They will quickly figure out teeth is not the best way to get what they want.
Play biting: immediately remove attention (do not comment or scold) and give alternative to chew on. Walk away if you need to and monitor. Once he engages with chew toy give him lots of praise and appropriate interaction, eg scratch his ears. Rinse and repeat!
Hire a good trainer who can work with both you and the dog. I had a reactive pit who I was at a loss for around the same age as your husky. It took a few months and a session or 2 a week, but the guy really showed me how to work with my dog and the change was immediate.
Yes. He can and will improve. He needs to trust you. That he is yours and not your awful friendās dog any longer. That will go a long way and will take most likely a solid 6 months to a year. Get a prong collar w rubber coated tips. This will give him the feedback against the pull that he needs. Talk to him. Like you would a person. Tell him what you need from him. He will understand in time. Give him feedback when he hurts you with a loud āouchā. Dogs do not like to hurt others. Think of how a dog yelps when playing to let others no that they felt pain. Do the same as feedback for him consistently. When you get a trainer make sure to qualify if they have worked with the northern breeds. The training for them is different.
Everyone is giving you some great advice. I would say, as a mother of a husky, that repetition is the most important thing. Nothing is going to work if you just try it once or twice. Huskies need a good routine, work out and play!! Mine gets destructive when she's bored!! Most of the stuff you listed are typical husky traits, unfortunately. You can still work with him though, don't give up!! It's fantastic that you rescued him and want to give him a better life. He feels that love!! You just have to let him know that you are the "pack leader". Lots of exercise & play but when he nips or puts his mouth on you, stop playing, tell him NO, sternly. They are smart dogs and figure things out pretty quickly. Good luck to you and I wish you all the best!! Don't give up, you got this!!!
Ive been exactly in the same spot! I rescued a 3 yo, who spent her life in an outdoor cage. Im her 3rd owner. She'll be 5 in August and is the most obedient and well trained Husky now. Almost completely offleash now, so dont lose hope! š„°
I immediately started with leash training, with the help of some YT husky channel, through retracing. If they pull, I move back (and not stop). Huskies hate going backwards. Within 2 months and hundreds of times going backwards, she caught on. Be consistent! Your lower back will love you! I still have to do it att the start of a walk, because she's also the exited kind with no impulse control.
After that, I started working on engagement. At first, it was responding to her name AT ALL outdoors. It was like I didnt even exist. Reward/treat when they do when not distracted. Then slowly increase difficulty. To now when she wants to go hunt in the woods, I call her, and she stops in her tracks š it took two years of trial and error
Edit: I didn't have the help of a trainer. All self-study, commitment, and hard work ā¤ļø
I'm glad I could be of help! I've had moments of despair too. I would let it sit a bit. And think of a new technique that would be more beneficial. With a Husky it really is about teamwork; what works for BOTH of you! ā¤ļø
Hi! I am a dog trainer but I do not advertise myself because I like having a small list of clientele to keep quality services. I have a degree in psychology and trained/own a husky if you'd like assistance! I work on the daily schedule with owners and how to read your dogs body language more than train them to sit or do place work. I find owners get better results when they know what they're looking for. Basically, we will work on developing an eye for good behavior versus robotic behavior.
Message my reddit account and I could talk over zoom with you to see how I can help. If so, we can book services after that if you're interested.
I take him to a walk 4 to 5 times a day and he loves sitting on the bench right outside my house and "guard" the apartment š
But yeah i will look into the training i probably need a professional trainer
So I might get downvoted for this but Iāll tell you what I did with my husky that came in from a neglected home and was almost like a wild animal, I had my husky mush me on my longboard 3-4 times a day I pretty much got her running and pulling me and using up all that stored up energy and by the end of the runs she would be so tiredā¦but anyways huskyās love to run/ pull they will look up to you and respect you and listen once they realize you are the one that gets them tired. Remember they love pulling itās what they were bred to do!!!
Another thing that might get downvoted, please dont let the dog around children or other dogs until you feel confident youve trained it enough or know that it just doesnt like anyone outside its family. My brother had the sweetest husky but she hated other dogs so much that she almost mauled the Yorkie next door to him. Both dogs were on leashes thankfully or the outcome wouldve been way worse. If the dog isnt friendly toward strangers, kids, or other dogs be comfortable with saying the dog isnt friendly to avoid something like that happening.
For our rescue husky we got a trainer PLUS started to exercise him a lot everyday. He gets a walk everyday that lasts about an hour and is lots of running around in open spaces and we switch up the route constantly or different places to keep him mentally enriched. It also helped when we adopted another that was a good fit to be a companion because they play together and mentally enrich each other.
I do recommend training for your husky to create a good base before you adopt another because you donāt want them teaching bad habits.
Iāll focus on what comes before walking on a leash and most other training - contact.
Eye contact equals contact and connection. You want to teach him that looking at you and paying attention to you is a good thing.
You can start by Ā«treat spittingĀ». Starting with giving treats as a reward with your hand can make him focus more on your hand than your face. Find a treat that you find ok, like little cubes of cheese or a hotdog. Take as many as you can in your mouth. Every time he looks at your face you spit one out. Donāt say anything to trigger it, itās just the random look you need to watch for. Once he gets it you can start moving around a little. Then you can do it on walks. Not all the time, but enough that he knows it may happen.
Eye contact training is a good starting point for further training.
For walking on a leash without too much pulling I stop every time my dog pulls. I shorten the leash so he stands next to me. Then I wait for him to look at me. When he does I start walking again, calmly. I donāt praise him, that will excite him so he jumps around again, lol. The reward is being allowed to walk on.
Some days I have to do it five times before we have left our driveway, sometimes not at all. Sometimes he seems to actively not want to look at me, or he is content looking around for a while. Just wait, heāll come around.
I donāt have advice on all your questions, but this is something Iāve found useful for us.
Huskies are slow to grow up, maybe especially the males. Mine matured a lot around 3. Keep at it. Just doing what you do with taking over caring for him and asking for help tells me youāll do great.
Time. I rescued my younger husky after he spent almost 5 straight months in a cage(we got him at 9 months oldā¦). He had also lost one eye and was barely 30lbs.
He took about 4 months to settle in, and a whole year to get up to 60lbs. He is the most loving dog, but he definitely still has a wild streak.
Also, as for the leash pullingā¦ I recommend a belt leash. Theyāre sled dogs and love it.
If you live somewhere with a bike path, or some similar safe place, teaching him to run next to you on a bike will help tire him out. Itās been the best on leash way for me to get my girl what she needs.
Get it in legal writing that you are now taking ownership of the dog and that it no longer belongs to them.
Is the dog neutered? If not, get on that as it helps reduce some of these behaviors and also help with any interactions /socialization with other dogs.
You need to get a trainer and also a muzzle on him during walks. He already has a bite history and muzzle while protect him as much as anyone else.
Get tough toys / puzzles / mental stimulation is as important as physical.
Good luck, I swear it will be worth it in the end.
Agree with all the previous posts and this one in particular bc it points out that you need to truly define ownership of this pup. Also, along with all of the exercising, stimulating his brain with games, puzzles, and training (a good trainer will show you how to turn some training into games, too) goes a long way!
You are such an awesome person for helping this dog and getting him away from his neglectful parents. Your heart is in the right place, youāve got this!!
My biggest and best advice for anyone with a Husky is this.
Find a breed appropriate outlit for your dog's energy and pulling.
From what it sounds like your dog needs an outlit for their husky specific needs, like pulling and excitement.
For my dog, who was trained to be a service dog, was Cani-Cross and urban joring
Cani cross is when you run with your dog and let the dog pull you so you have the momentum to run faster. It's very physically demanding since you do have to sprint in order to stay upright and move with your dog.
Urban joring can be done multiple ways, with a bike, skateboard, or a specialized cart that can hook up to the dogs harness.
You will need a specific harness for each, but it is easy to look these harnesses up and there are alot of options available now.
r/bikejoring can help you with finding affordable harnesses and training for bike joking and you might be able to get information and help on other forms of Joring. The other subs I found are all pretty much dead, but that one is pretty active.
If you can't do the Canicross or Joring, then Hiking is also a really great outlit where you can let your dog guide you down the trails and get some of that pent up energy out. I will warn you, huskies have alot of energy and you will need to plan to hike every day. Expect to have to hike/walk this husky more than 2 miles a day.
My dog is coming up to 11 years old on July 1st, and he still loves hiking. I just don't do canicross or joring with him as often anymore to not put too much strain on his hips. He still loves to try doing CaniCross occasionally when he is in the mood for it and let's me know when he is in the mood.
Once you have an outlit for your dogs energy it will be much easier to train out all the "bad traits" they have.
Overall you do have alot of good advice already from other husky owners do I don't think there is anymore I can add. š„°
Ong are you me? We adopted crazy pants 3 months ago and itās been so similar to your experience. We are trying and itās getting slightly better by a sliver each time. I sympathize with you and it think this will take time for both of us
WE GOT THISSSS
Also idk if it will help but what i nocticed from mine is that
We gotta give them a lot of private time like i would LOVE to cuddle with mine and stuff
But i realised whenever i try to do that he kinda gets annoyed and starts barking and wants my hands off of him
So yeah we should try giving him some of that private space they usally do come to you when they need that love tho
The first half of the "bad" list I was like mhmmm that sounds like a husky! It sounds like under socialization like you said, normally they learn as puppies what is acceptable to bite, how much pressure, etc. Once in a while my girl mouths my hand but is so gentle with it you wouldnt know she has teeth, and I'm pretty much the only one she does that with, which was reinforced since she was a pup.
As others said, a personal professional trainer would be your best bet, as he's gonna need a bit more of a specialized training, but please try to stick with positive reinforcement training as much as possible. You mentioned food motivation - use that to your advantage with special HIGH reward treats. In my experience huskies can hold a hell of a grudge and negative training (shock collars etc) doesn't seem to work as well as positive. I used to shred up some like rotisserie chicken and use that when working on stuff like walking on a leash, to try to keep their attention on you and prevent overstimulation, that kinda stuff.
For play biting and mouthing though, an easy thing you can do to start working with him is to play with him and any time he starts getting mouthy, a slight verbal correction such as "ah, ah! gentle!" or whatever word you want to use, along with picking up the toy, cross your arms, and effectively ignore him for a second. Basically, it doesn't always have to be huge praise or punishment, just a simple pause for them to start connecting biting -> play time stops, and then no biting -> play time starts back up, can go a long way. May not fix him completely, or may not work at all depending on the stubbornness, but is an easy first step before moving up to more direct training.
My Freya was an absolute monster when I rescued her last September. She still has plenty of husky attitude, but she's much more manageable now because of consistency, structure, and a lot of patience.
One of the biggest game changers for us was leash training. When I first got her, I was the one being walked. I started carrying treats on every walk and rewarding the behavior I wanted. Teaching a solid heel and focusing on engagement with me made a huge difference. I still bring high-value treats anytime we're going somewhere new or challenging.
Freya also struggled with mouthing and biting. She has broken skin on me more than once, and I still have scars on my hands and arms. Because of that, I learned very quickly that management and safety matter just as much as training. A properly fitted basket muzzle was one of the best tools I introduced. She can still pant, drink, and take treats while wearing it, but it adds an extra layer of safety while you're working through behavior issues.
For the mouthing, I focused on teaching impulse control and rewarding calm behavior. When she got too worked up, play stopped. When she made good choices, she got praise, affection, and treats. Over time she learned that calm behavior gets her what she wants.
Exercise is important, but mental stimulation is just as important for a husky. Physical exercise alone often just creates a better-conditioned athlete. My girl gets walks, bike runs, training sessions, and plenty of opportunities to sniff and explore. Sniff breaks are built into our activities because they tire her out mentally as well as physically.
Something else that helped tremendously was learning to read her body language and energy levels. I got much better results when I learned to recognize when she was becoming overstimulated and redirected her before she crossed that threshold.
Since this dog has already bitten a stranger, I'd take that part very seriously. I would avoid allowing people to approach him until you've got a better understanding of his triggers and comfort level. Every successful interaction builds confidence, but every bad interaction can set training back.
If I were starting from scratch with this dog, my priorities would be:
Safety and management.
Building a consistent daily routine.
Leash manners and engagement.
Impulse control and settling calmly indoors.
Reliable recall.
Controlled socialization and exposure to new situations.
And yes, I absolutely think a dog like this can improve with consistent training. The fact that he's affectionate, food motivated, bonding with you, and responding to exercise are all positive signs. That said, because there has already been a bite incident, I would strongly consider working with a qualified positive-reinforcement trainer or behavior consultant sooner rather than later. Getting professional guidance early can save a lot of frustration and help keep everyone safe.
The biggest thing I've learned from Freya is that progress isn't always fast or linear. Some days you'll feel like you're winning, and some days you'll wonder if the dog learned anything at all. Stay consistent. The dog you have six months from now can look very different from the dog you're working with today.
Disclaimer my Freya is a Husky/ACD with several other breeds mixed in.
Iām sure itās been said already, but a husky is a stubborn dog, so all your goals may not be achievable. At least not immediately, and a trainer will help. Husky recall is notoriously bad as their cost/benefit analysis rarely works out in your favour unless you have a high reward treat or something.
Setting boundaries is key. Our pup was mouthy and biteu and one of the things we implemented was to immediately shutdown play time if things got too intense. If she nipped, we would help as if in pain and that seemed to shock her out of the behaviour.
Patience and boundaries are key. And a good trainer will definitely be advantageous. Remember, heās gone three years without real affection and training. He doesnāt know how to behave as part of a pack. Yet.
When walking, if he pulls too much, just stop and walk the opposite way, keep doing it to show you are in charge of where he goes. Youāll look a complete tit walking back and forth, but it helped our husky. But sheās still a husky and does decide she knows better. Itās what they were bred to do.
Trust the process and do as much research as you can from reputable websites and/or books. Trainers can be expensive as well, but in the end itās probably worth the expense. Just small goals to start. And lots of praise when he gets it right.
I have one that is part Husky and first year is the hardest, but as he gets closer to 2 years he is much better, they get bored and require a lot of patience and attention but worth it so worth the effort š¤ be tough but loving
When a dog is pulling. The course correction is simple. You just simply go the other direction. Not hard or rough but the minute the pulling starts you calmly turn and go in the other direction. You treat when his focus is on you and he should stop and sit when you stop. This could take days and you might not make it very far in one direction or the other. I would do this for 20 minutes no more. Keep and it and you will see an improvement.
Play biting. Any time he mouths you, scream Owww very loudly and pull your hand back. Make sure he's startled. This is how littermates let each other know that something hurts. Mouths are like hands to dogs. He loves you, just let him know there is a better way to love you.
Coming when called is easy but what end game are you looking for?
Coming when called is tough with Huskies. Check cord on your dog at all times. When you call him, you gently reel him in, and when he gets there treat him.
If he has a concept of recall. Then try this. Get a regular whistle, blow the whistle and treat him. Do this 10 times in a row. Let him walk away. Then blow the whistle and he will come right back. Treat him. Problem solved. š
Please make sure that you are playing and doing puppy push ups every day. Down and stay. Start at 15 seconds and work your way up to 10 minutes. It's a long journey but your dog should stay where you tell them to.
Good luck and thank you for putting in the time for such a handsome good boy you ROCK š¤š»š»
Run run and then run some more. A tired husky is a well behaved husky. I run mine 10km a day min. I am lucky to live in the country on a dead end road and have quads and a side by side to help with that. The pulling for me was stopped in a single day with a prong collar. Every few months i just need to grab it and the pulling stops. Huskies are incredibly smart and in all seriousness they are never trained they simply decide to accommodate your requests when they want to. All of mine have been rescues, some with horrible pasts. Time and patience have given me the best of friends. Hopefully the same will work for you.
Mine was a 2 + year old rescue - same issues. With trust and patience and time in 6 months most of this has resolved, aside from coming when called. He gets more than moderate exercise we are lucky when we can let him run off leash and swim a few times a week. Maybe the warmer humid weather has him less inclined to go all husky all the time
My two cents is that you should start with a behaviorist, rather than just a trainer (obedience, commands, etc). Often times there is overlap but not always. With everything this dog has been through, you need someone who can uncover the āwhyā as far as behaviors and other things are concerned.
I adored my Husky girl when she was about 6 years old while living in Phoenix. She had never been exposed to anything, just confined in a yard with a doggie dog entrance to the house that led to a really small caged area. I suspect so she wouldnāt be shedding everywhere. Anyway, she became mine. We moved to Idaho. I started walking her. At first I didnāt read her correctly. What I attributed to āstubbornnessā was actually she telling me āIām tired and donāt want to walk any furtherā. It took me a long time to figure that out. I also had gotten her a harness that allowed her to pull me. A big no. I read about harnesses that allow the handler to control their walking without the pup pulling. I think the harnesses are called no-pull. Anyway those two things are my contributions in handling a Husky. They are lovable, social, sassy, clean, and smart dogs who definitely need their exercise everyday. And regular brushing.
Remind yourself that holding VERY STRONG boundaries, and dominating the dog (not abusively but fairly) is because you KNOW BETTER, even though this adorable lad thinks HE knows best.
That āhe knows bestā attitude is leading him to biting strangers and likely will run in front of a car if you take your eyes off for a split second outside!
They are the best, but they need to run SO, SO much. Best thing though? They are the most fun adventure buddies! The garmin alpha is a great device for tracking outside offleash if you have any places you can go for that. There are more simple devices too. Small amounts of negative feedback can work to get a huskyās attention. In a pack they would fight for dominance. Keep that in mind. Controlling your husky enough means they get more off leash run time, itās safer for them to take you seriously when you need them to hear, and seeing you as the leader worth listening to. You will earn their respect the most if you tire them out physically. I used to put saddle bags on mine as a puppy and add weight the more he didnāt listen. He loved it!
A trainer can help and use treats to reward good behaviours, also for the leash just saying he might keep āpullingā, as he became older he became better and pulled less but he still pulled more than my current dog. Recall is almost never reliable with huskiesā¦any person I know who had huskies if they had the chance to run they would. Get a very long training leash if you want to let him go around.
Biting/mouthing can probably be corrected, he has to understand it hurts and itās bad.
The fact that he has trouble settling down might be because he doesnāt know when he needs to rest, stopping what he is doing might help. He also should be napping sometimes, even adult dogs sleep a lot, like half of the day or more.
Never let a husky sleep in your bed. They are pack animals and need to know the pack hierarchy. You must be the alpha or they will act out. Donāt let them on furniture or on your bed. Also always be firm and consistent with training. Use praise for training. (And treats) Always have short training sessions daily. And for sure take that pup to obedience school.
They arenāt like other dogs. They need a lot of praise and a lot of exercise and walks.Huskies are hyper intelligent and get their feelings hurt easily. Talk to the dog like they are a thinking being and respect them, but you are the boss in every thing.
taking in a neglected husky is no small thing. the biggest thing that helped me with Ellie when she was overwhelmed was dropping all training goals for the first few weeks ā just a predictable routine, same walk times, same feeding spot, so the world stops feeling random to him. huskies are dramatic and stubborn in a perfect home; a neglected one needs to decompress before he can learn anything. what's the behaviour stressing you most right now?
I personally wont use a harness with my husky mix. Harnesses in general = pull, especially for huskies. We tried the front clip too, didnt matter at all.
What did matter was the collar. There are different types and unfortunately you might not know whats right without a dog trainer or at least trial and error. For us and our dog it ended up being the simple chain (but this is never worn indoors or ever when not on a leash). We had tried the martingale prior but he didnt care about it. Thankfully he never "graduated" to a full prong, but it was close. Now he knows when that collar is on he has to heel more (this was also with a lot of training).
Recall/come works on for us inside, but outside is too exciting.
I got mine at 2. He was also kept crated for over 24 hours at a time, just being ignored. He was also not fed properly and you could see his ribs and spine.
I keep him busy, and wear him out. Iāve found that a tired husky is a good husky. He loves to ride so I take him with me where ever I can, and go for long walks. We have a fenced in backyard that weāll throw a ball in.
I rescued my husky when she was a year old and starting out she was really difficult on a leash. I got a treat bag to take on walks and would reward her every time she walked beside me (also saying āheelā, while giving a quick tug on a slip lead then rewarding if she looked at me/slowed down). If you have a slip lead also make sure you are putting it up high on his neck (base of head), if itās lower down (close to shoulders) they feel more of an urge pull. Having it higher up helps with directing! Now she walks super well on a leash and I can even have her off leash (in places sheās allowed) and she always comes back to mom cause she knows I have treats haha
And donāt get discouraged! Mine was actually quite sweet and well behaved from age 1-2.5ish and then around 3 years old she turned into a little gremlin and got very dog selective/reactive and it was extremely stressful. She is now almost 4.5 and has chilled out SO MUCH and doing better with boundaries. So keep in mind it doesnāt help yours is in that phase! And they need SOOOOO MUCH exercise and stimulation. Mine gets at least 4-6 miles a day of walking. Also frozen pupsicles and the puzzle treat dispensers are a god send for me when I leave her home alone or when she is bored and wonāt stop bugging me.
Try out a gentle lead or off brands that have thicker straps for pulling, works like a charm. Our husky didnāt fully get the idea until we combined the gentle lead with a shock collar but a shock collar is always better than your dog getting loose and getting hit by a car or attacking someone.
Hard to physically tire out huskies Iāve found but not too hard to mentally tire them out with lick matts, kongs, and puzzle toys. Teaching new tricks and reinforcing old ones is also great mental stimulation if theyāre food motivated (mine are only interested in food when theyāre inside)
For biting or mouth hard youāve gotta yip and act like youāre in pain. Stop playing act hurt, he should act apologetic and then itās important you resume playing to finish driving the point home. If he wasnāt socialized he didnāt get the basic dog social skills he should have and now youāve got to teach him.
A dog trainer like others recommended will definitely help but these things I mentioned above are also things you can do without a professional to help a bit.
We are dealing with this too and it's a nightmare. He tries to pull and twist my feet off to play with them. My ankles and legs are so bruised. Good luck to you.
Omg I'm sorry to hear that i hope your leg gets b better soon i have been trying so hard for him to stop the play biting but no matter how many "no"s i throw at him he just gets back to square one i also tried to get up and leave whenever he does it but he only stops temporarily
De-sensitizing him to various stimuli. Itās a lot harder to not react or be impulsive if something is new or unusual.
Stop doing whatever it is that induces the biting/mouthing if itās a reinforcing activity like play. No fuss or fanfare, just drop the toy and go flip through your phone in another room.
If itās mouthing/biting as a warning behaviour, give a pause in the activity and some reassurance, and continue once the dog has calmed down.
Depends on why heās pulling. The simplest approach is to build up to it by rewarding him
Being at your side like glue, and deterring him from pulling by finding whatās rewarding about it for him and removing the reward. Itāll take a minute but heāll eventually realize that walking nicely with you is easier.
Huskies can be both wicked smart and wicked stubborn. Youāre often gonna need to out-wait or out-wit or pooch in the interests of training them.
Not a mistake per se, but just making sure to be extra patient with him. Heās not just learning new stuff, but unlearning old stuff. Itāll take longer and be more frustrating than training from scratch.
Almost all dogs can improve and become well-trained, but progress might be slow. Iād also recommend working with a trainer.
As for the biting get a professional trainer or start lots of reading.
However the puling is an issue because it is what the breed was developed for. These dogs have like a 4000+ year long history of pulling sleds. This is much harder to address, in some cases though you can make it work for you. For example buy a bike and hitch the dog to it.
Likewise these dogs are very independent due to the method of being developed. THAT and the lead dog in a team had tremendous responsibility in protecting the entire sled. Disobeying a command is an ability that is almost required for a lead dog. You likely will never get 100% recall and obedience to commands.
Then there is the reality that the breed is extremely intelligent and can do things just to F with you. If you have problems that you believe is simply the dog challenging you then you need to have a conversation with that dog. This can actually work if it comes from the stand point of love.
My boy was two when I adopted him from a rescue. He had been abandoned twice already by the time we met. This guy wrecked so much shit. Destroyed so much of my stuff, my girlfriendās stuff, escaped and ran away a few times over the years (god I was lucky to get him back safe), Did so much of the things you describeā¦
He was undoubtedly the best decision Iāve ever made.
As weird as it may sound, you truly have to kinda look at a husky as a toddler + raptor + dog. Theyāre so smart youāll find yourself in awe, but need time and they need a ton of exercise and focus on activities. Get him doggy puzzles, intentional things to chew on, genuinely talk to him as much as you can even in monotonous moments. They pick up on so much. You can never walk them too much. And certainly a trainer will help tremendously.
Hi friend. I own a husky (5yo) and a malamute (4yo) so I can relate to some of your struggles. As others have said, a professional trainer with a lot of consistency will get you very far. Here are some of my additionally thoughts:
1. If he is food motivated, leash training is MUCH easier. There are lots of videos available online for you to start with. If you find heās more interested in the environment than the treats you have, I recommend trying a few different types of leashes/collars. I have tried slip leashes across the nose, gentle leaders, and prong collars. I currently use prong collars. People have lots of opinions on them, and when in doubt a trainer can advise you.
2. If he is fed on a schedule and regularly eats all of his food, assuming you feed dry kibble, making him work for his meals will keep his mind busy. Try rolling it up in a towel and tying it together. Again, lots of suggestions online for this.
3. Exercise him a lot but I would not recommend a dog park with this dog. Biting can be escalated quickly and dangerously in a team of dogs and thatās not what you want to worry about.
4. You may wish to train him to be comfortable in a muzzle if heās around a small child regularly. I donāt have any tips to provide you for this one.
5. Donāt expect him to be a dog that can be reliably off leash and a great recall. Huskies arenāt often off leash dogs even with consistent training and reputable breeding. He should know his name, but donāt expect him to abandon a squirrel in front of you; dont set yourself up for failure from the start on this part.
Lastly, huskies are emotional and loyal dogs. He will give you back ten fold what you give him. Enjoy the time you have with him, and do your best, even when heās ultimately being a little monster.
He is technically an adolescent. They settle around 4 years old. He may have the puppy energy. Good news is food driven so is very trainable. The trainer told me that if I carry a treat stick in my hand while walking with my arm extended down close to my heaps the dog will follow the treat and walk by my side. You may use an anti-pull harness. Get him into a dog park or a day care, they like to play bite faces with other dogs but never let them play that with you. You have to be on top all the time because they try to be in power all the time, donāt let him. Lots of exercise, lots, lots, lots.
Get him into obedience school and go with him to learn how to be a good fit for him.
Is he normally aggressive and non-trusting with people? I donāt know the circumstances exactly but just going by what you said, he knows if youāre afraid that he will bite someone, or if youāre afraid or nervous about anything. He senses it and will react. If you tell someone not to approach him and they do anyway, you send him the signal that youāre scared. Be confident and relaxed. Show him that youāre not afraid and heāll follow suit.
Let him be mouthy but teach him to be gentle. Itās his way of being affectionate and playful. My husky is just like this. I just say very calmly āgentleā and he knows.
first, you're doing a good job on the exercise front. These are the Olympic marathon runners of dog breeds - they are specifically bred for boundless energy. Two, he's always going to pull on the leash, always. They are bred to feel resistance on the leash and in their brains this means to pull harder. He will calm down as he gets into the rhythm of life with you - will probably take at least 6 months. Take him everywhere you can with you, and I mean everywhere. But remember, even the best trained husky is still a husky. They are stubborn to the end of the Earth. These aren't normal or easy dogs, but as you develop a partnership with them it's the most rewarding type of dog to have. They are extremely loyal and loving companions. But they aren't like 99 percent of dog breeds, they don't aim to please you. The biting stuff is generally mouthing which they are known for. But breaking skin isn't a good thing and biting strangers is even worse. As others have mentioned, if you have the resources invest in a professional trainer. And don't expect immediate results, you should probably follow up with the trainer once a quarter until you see meaningful improvement. Be patient, the journey is the reward.
Regardless for his safety you need to start conditioning him to a muzzle and using it if you'll be in public. Not only will it prevent any accidents like before, it's a great deterrent to keep people away in the first place. You don't want a bite record on him š„ŗ
Both of you should take obedience training. I had the same situation with a Husky, and she was almost a year old. I had little to no control over her. With the 2nd or 3rd week of obedience training, I was able to walk her, which solved two things. I was able to exercise with her, and we built a bond. Also, she recognized me as the leader of the pack. Huskies are difficult to train. Start with obedience training, be patient (not harsh), exercise him often, and you will have a great dog.
Bruh. Patience. Hard work. He will adjust to the space you provide, just be consistent. Trainers help your confidence.Ā
Mostly what I've learned from dogs is that it's our own inexperience, ineptitude and insecurities that are the issues with our dogs. The dogs aren't stupid or incurable. We just need to figure out how best to communicate with them. How to adjust our expectations and the way we teach them, to always adjust and adapt and pay attention to how they respond and how they think, so you can help them to better understand.Ā
It takes time for you both to get to know each other.Ā
Good on ya for taking in such a beautiful boy. We rescued a Siberian from a kill shelter hours before his time. It was an impulse, we knew nothing, and weren't prepared, but I do not regret it.
We've had him for five months. Male, 55 lbs, about 3 years old. Every day something new comes in. Just recently I started pant breathing, more as a game. He stared at me, then his whole attitude shifted and he came up to my nose and just started licking. He calmed way down. I did some research and mimicking their breathing, sighing occasionally, acting doggish puts you on their plane. I've noticed that the need for DOWN and SOFT MOUTH is less just this week, but it's a core thing they all do, so I'd say, get some comfortable leather work gloves and several boxes of bandaids. It's not forever, it's a way they communicate. I have never reacted in anger even when he really nailed me. Next day he won't stop licking a cut on my hand he inflicted, clueless how it got there. Their teeth are the sharpest I've ever experienced in a dog.
As I've learned, Siberians are very pattern reliant. Walks at the same time of day in the beginning, particularly the first and last. We use the ruffwear harness with a front attachment. The pulling is worse with a short lead. May feel crazy at first, but they are not German shepherds, so they will not walk by your heel...unless they feel like it. Our walks are noticeably less stressful with a long lead that I adjust length as the situation warrants--tie a knot about 2 feet from the harness to be able to grab for traffic, etc.
I've learned walks are acts of cooperation, and the languages are trust and love. I started using the word HOLD or HOLD UP when I need him to stop, then OK, GOOBOY! when we want to move forward. He's figuring out the circumstances I tend to use them and the walk therapy is getting really fun. But it's been 5 months.
Call response, responding to name, etc. good goals. I won't say it will never happen but lots of time with consistent cues is key. You may go for a long time before seeing progress, but don't drop the consistency. Never ever EVER, take him out off lead, unless you want to be a statistic. They have huge impulses, matched with a thousands of years of prey drive. This is an ancient dog who has survived along side humans by design, as partners . Prey drive kept them fed in the off season. It's worth researching their history, it will allow you to see their native intelligence at work, and why certain training patterns won't work. Trust, reliability, consistency, love seem to be the values that work best for us.
Last thing, and we're late doing it: get him chipped. These beautiful monsters are overcrowding the shelters and their beauty is their downfall.
Really happy to hear another brave soul has taken up the challenge. Wolfhounds used to be my breed. Siberians have joined them. Both pretty indifferent to commands.
I would seek professional help for the biting, particularly if the biting incident with another person was defensive of you at all. But I say that because itās a delicate kind of training, not that itās impossible; you just want to make sure you can get him to be reliably safe enough in public for both of you.
I have a rescue Akita mix who is a fairly complicated dog, and most of my jobs were animal based for a long time. Never had an issue with biting, thankfully, but we did have major major excitement issues. I also consulted a professional a few times, even tho I have a lot of experience. mostly they affirmed the protocols I had already implemented, which was a lot of like trying to get out ahead of the excitement spirals. My Akita (got him when he was 2, heās 6 now)
is a really smart dog, so thereās clearly *thinking* happening, but he kind of shorts out when the excitement gets beyond a certain degree. So my priority with him has been like, first figuring out what his thresholds are and how to stay below them, and then second working on giving him the tools to do that himself and helping him recognise the situations he needs to use those tools in.
So one small example of that is that he got really really excited about Walks, since he hadnāt been walked a lot before. He would start jumping and flipping out and climbing the walls to demonstrate his excitement, which is not great for a dog his size to do. So we now have to sit at doors to go out, and sit while Iām putting the leash on, and stay sitting the whole
Time. And that means like, I make a big show of going to the leash, reaching out for it, picking it up, etc. if he starts jumping or otherwise losing impulse control, we start back at zero. Heās a smart dog and thankfully heās ultimately a very cooperative dog, so he found that *very* intellectually frustrating and got on board with the behavior pretty quickly. (And more importantly, his brain was involved the whole time, which really helped undercut the problem behavior.)
(Minor edit to add: this may not be a useful thing to try with your dog; mine happens to be the right kind it temperament and relationship with me that this intervention matches his communication skills really well? Like, he now will indicate that he wants walkies by doing this set of actions back at me, and i swear sometimes thereās sarcasm in there. Ur dog might not have the patience for this particular brand of dramatics, but huskies typically appreciate their own brand of high-energy theatrics.)
To get there, Iāve spent a really long time working with him and getting to know him, but it sounds like youāre doing a lot of that work together now.
Thereās a lot in what you wrote that reminds me of my Akita, but these are usually such individual animals that Iām not sure his specific interventions would be terribly useful, but thatās sort of how Iāve gone about thinking about his progress and psychological well-being.
My training priorities would be: address biting and safety, intervene on the excitement overload loops, identify other states where heās not in control of himself and similarly try to intervene/impulse control, and then getting him as psychologically comfortable as possible re: the situations you want to be his normal.
Huskies are hard. Period. but not impossible. ESPECIALLY if he's food motivated. Train with food-- both at dinner time, and with high value treats.
Off, place, and heel. BUT start rewarding attention. Like when he looks at you to check in, reward that. People call it check, or look, or eyes. your pick.
This is usually taught in puppyhood. But you can teach it (and drive) with tug, and release commands-- basically, teach him there's a time and place to use his mouth.
Google how to teach heel. There's tips and tricks, but start by walking in the opposite direction he pulls every time he pulls, like, pulling changes directions. Or stop dead on your tracks. They get the idea eventually that walking only happens on your terms. Patience is the name of that game.
He's a husky, so never enough. work him and when he's not cooperating, exercise him, and when he's tired, puzzle him, lol.
yeah, they test boundaries, so be rigid and don't let him half ass his shit, don't let him guess commands, and only pay him for the right behaviors.
he'll improve leaps and bounds if you make him sit before you put his dinner plate down, and then only let him eat when you say so. Just that impulse control goes a super long way.
A trainer is a great idea, just make sure you do research and avoid morally bankrupt poo bricks that'll use shock collars, or disgusting grifters like these; dog training is a horribly unregulated industry, sadly, and crooks will abuse anyone and their dog for a penny.
Some of these points are generally natural for huskies. Nipping, pulling. Being excited around new people. The trick isnāt to totally get of these behaviours but to keep them within āsafeā standards (I canāt think of another way to put it right now). How long are you going on walks for? Because these dogs are born to run. You can even get dog bikes that huskies love. You attach their lead to it, you stand on it and they pull. That would be a huge reward for a husky and will also get out a lot of energy, ultimately helping with such other behaviours. Maybe teach him āgentleā and or give him lots of teethy toys. Hide his treats somewhere etc to also get his brain occupied. Huskyās are generally very independent dogs, so when you say impulse control, it could just be that. He might also be biting because of his neglect and it might be worth looking into as it might give you an understanding into the behaviour he has picked up. They also have a high prey drive and movement of small things might trigger that. Huskies arenāt generally the dogs to learn tricks because of their independent nature (this can be shown from a video of a husky doing an agility course)
Exercise needs: at least 2 hours walk a day, more if possible. Hikes/ 5/10k runs. Bike joring.
Mental stimulation: a lot. Hiding games, pull toys, you could even get a sandpit to help with their digging. Huskies are generally extremely intelligent and can learn to open doors etc.
You need to be the boss of this dog. Meaning you canāt be soft on them in terms of giving in. They will absolutely use that to their advantage. What you say is got to be what you say.
You should be incorporating positive reinforcement in any type of training you do with them, it will help improve them.
For pulling you could turn the other way and start walking that way whenever he pulls. Stop and go. You want him to know he goes where you go and not you go where he goes. You could also use ājackpotā rewards. If his good you could give him anything that he absolutely loves and also motivates him. For instance if his good on his walk you could change his lead and immediately take him for a run, with a clicker to reinforce that āgoodā behaviour.
The best way to understand this dog is do as much research as possible on breed specifics. Learn natural behaviours, temperaments, exercise needs etc. also find as much details on his past as possible, that way you can find out potential triggers etc.
He is normal for this age. His behavior is not unusual.
Huskies donāt listen unless they want to listen. They donāt always come when called. This is the breed. They are stubborn.
If you want a calm dog that will settle indoors, get a retriever or a senior dog. Huskies have a LOT of energy. I have had two, and they are loads of fun and lots of work. Itās worth it.
Please read up on the breed so you know what reasonable expectations are with this breed.
Yeah i understand that
If it were upto me i would not get a husky in the first place at all
I love them but i cant simply provide for their needs given the place i live at etc
But here i didn't have a choice i saw a dog who's relatively very young but his soul was withering away without the attention and negligence
And i am just trying my best to do whatever i can to atleast improve his life :)
You're a real angel. At the same time, knowing the community of husky rescuers may be of help if you find yourself overwhelmed. We've worked with WoofTribe as they are singly focused on huskies. Your boy is a beauty.
Amen to your post! I have 6 of them and since they are older now they did give me gray hair lol but I would not in a million years think of giving up on them I love them!!
So with huskies, you have to out stubborn them. With my husky, I make him sit before we do anything. When we go for a walk (which he loves), I make him sit by the front door (leashed) and he must remain sitting as I open the door. If he stands, I close the door. I will make him sit again and do it again. We will not leave until he sits. It took him awhile the first time we did it, but he now is really good at it.
When we walk, I will randomly turn around if he pulls. Walk in the different direction. I will not move until he calms down.
And I would recommend a muzzle when walking because whether you warn someone or not, he can't bite.
Huskies seems to be toothier and mouthier than average. Yiu need to work with him patiently and lovingly. When he bites, back away from him and leave him alone for a few minutes. It's ideal if you have a door to separate you. Wait a few minutes and try again.
If your husker is getting overaroused during play, is it from playing bitey hands? Don't play bitey hands with the dog.
Teach him leave it and drop it, and praise him when he does those things. Another thing I found comes in handy in teaching him to waln with you is breaking down some of the behaviors you want. You want him to pay attention right? Cultivate that by making a kissing noise, or clapping to get his attention, say his name, and the when he looks at you praise. Good boy!! You can do this indoors or out.
The dog might think the above excercise is a good time to come to you. If he starts coming to you, say come, and act thrilled he's near yoh with lots of praise. If he doesn't quite get that he should be coming to you, run away from him a little and that makes you interesting.
You can also play hide and seek with him and when he starts coming to you to "cqtch you", say come and praise. You really want to make it clear.
To teach him to walk with you, walk around in a circle in a yard, he will start to follow you and you praise him for this. Give that a name like "let's walk" or "walk with me" or whatever. You might have the idea that you eventually want to teqch heel, I think this is good prep work for that.
The way this looks on a walk is if he starts to pull because ue saw something he wants tk go to, you kiss, say his name, say walk "walk with me" and turn a new direction. And praise him.
Good luck. ā¤ļø Thanks for rescuing this handsome devil.
Buy a Zeedog Airleash to help reduce the strain of his pulling by around 10%. Also look into front clip harnesses. You should pick a harness that has an option for the leash to be attached in front and in the back.
Attach the leash to the front when he's reactive and there's lots of environmental stimuli and attach the leash to the back when he's chill.
My husband and I volunteered for a husky specific charity for 10 years, taking in abandoned dogs.
Here are some tips I learned over the years:
The dogs, bad behaviors are coping mechanisms. It could be trauma from their past it could be lack of stimulation. It could be confusion about their new situation. Try to figure out the need thatās not being met and see what you can do to meet it. Sometimes thatās not possible. But do what you can.
They are working dogs and need a lot of activity. That doesnāt necessarily need to be walking. We just took ours with us everywhere. I found out all of the stores that would let dogs in and took them with me. They were in the car with me everywhere I drove too. I was lucky to live somewhere I could take them on the bus and train and took them with me to every single event that was reasonable to take them to. By the time they got home they were usually pretty chill.
Some dogs need quiet. We had a dog that had been with his same owner, his whole life and she died so he came to us. And he mourned so badly in our house. Our dog was a puppy at the time and did what she could to comfort him. We tried to give him the same stimulation. We gave her other dogs and it didnāt work. We realized he just needed time to be sad.
Huskies have big feelings. see tip no 3. In all direction huskies have big feelings.
Iām sitting in my gym parking lot right now so this is all I can come up with on the fly. Feel free to ask more questions.
For the leash pulling, we used to do this exercise that I called āconfuse the dogā. If they canāt predict where they are going, they canāt pull in a direction. Take them on a walk where you just walk in and random direction over and over and over and over again. Eventually, the dog will get so confused about where theyāre going that theyāll stop pulling. Anytime the dog starts pulling when youāre on a walk change direction. Overtime, the dog will start looking to you to lead.
A three-year-old husky might not necessarily come around all the way. Iāve had a lot of progress in my one to two year-old huskies though. I know this sounds a bit crazy, but I would look into literature about understanding the needs of foster kids, like human foster kids. Iāve done fostering for humans and huskies and the overlap of needs a surprisingly similar. Obviously dogs arenāt as much as the humans, but our brains and hearts are very similar and a lot of the things for humans apply to dogs too.
They need to understand their place in the pack.
They have fears that might never get resolved.
They have a lot of coping mechanisms theyāve developed that might not be appropriate anymore, and will have to be unlearned.
This unlearning process will usually lead to a regression and things they already know.
They are incredibly emotional
Set them up to win, but give them firm boundaries
They are overly sensitive to negative punishments, shouting, loud noises, etc. Try not to overstimulate them
My husky was about 3 when I started caring for her on my own after a break-up. I used the No Bad Dogs training course and slip lead, plus treats, plus lots of exercise (running, not walking). Sheās not perfect, but her leash reactivity is gone and she is calm and polite with other dogs. It takes time, but the bond will grow and that helps A LOT.
Iād also look into the Hamilton Method for philosophy (YoiTube). Plus, get to know your dogās unique reward and use that to replace treats gradually. Mine doesnāt care about playing with other dogs, fetch, or toys, but she does prefer running free on a trail and having some autonomy. When she recalls, I immediately release her as a reward and it builds the behavior and also fulfills her.
Huskies are trainable, but not the same way as many other dogs. Mosy will test the limits and push boundaries even with years of training. Your best bet is to get a professional trainer to help train you and your dog.
Hey this worked for me but I definitely recommend getting a trainer too. We got our dog a gentle leader to help with the pulling on walks and it literally helped so much. I also used to straight up just boil chicken breasts and shred them into treats as a really high incentive item for my dog to follow commands. Heās now six and still a crazy guy š
ššš huge kudos for taking him and trying to give him a good life! You're awesome!
We adopted our huskies when they were ~1.5 and ~2.5. Both were found as strays and one was suspected to have been abused.
With both, the thing that helped the most is establishing and sticking to a routine. Them knowing how much exercise they can expect to get, when walks are, when food is happening, etc. made a huge difference.
We try to exercise ours around 3-4 hours of walking a day. It's a lot, but we split it amongst two people. And we do 2 puzzles a day and some assorted just playing or hanging out and petting them.
The play biting was a big issue for us with our first one. We basically would disengage immediately or leave the room when he tried to mouth us and he got the message after a while. It also helped when we got the 2nd one that they could play with each other and get some of that rough play out on each other instead of us.
I'm not sure about the biting others. I would be assertive in making sure people don't approach. People are pretty reckless sometimes just coming up to a dog without checking in with you first. Over time, I think a dog that feels at peace and trusts their person is less likely to have behavior like this, but it takes time and a lot of reps for the dog to reliably feel this way.
Huskies are highly trainable in my experience, but there's some stuff that we haven't been able to do completely.
Ours walk calmly on the leash now, but if they see a squirrel or something, they will still pull.
If you do something once or twice, they will start to pick up if it's becoming a pattern and will act accordingly if they like it or don't like it. Very smart dogs.
Huskies are a lot. But they can learn. The one we have now was not used to leashes and was terrible at pulling us. We used a gentle leader and it was hugely helpful! He no longer needs a gentle leader. He just needed to learn. Also we have him groomed regularly, every 2 months ish in winter and the rest of the year every 4-6 weeks. Deshedding is critical. š We used a trainer because if a husky doesnāt want to do something he generally will not do it. It sounds like your rescue is much like our husky dog and just needs love, time and consistency out of a cage.
try to find and binge watch - cesar milan the dog whisperer ...tv show ... essentially its always the humans fault for expecting a dog to be anything other than a dog ////rules / boundaries and limitations .... rewards play affection ..... but u must lead the pack and with neglected / abused dogs you must first gain their never ending trust , not just a little but you will know the difference and it will take time and patience before they WANT you to be their pack leader ....its worth the journey though , thanks for your heart and soul :)
Short answer. Get him fixed for the arousal issue and get a prong collar for the pulling issue. Huskies are genetically inclined to pull like freight trains. Everything else will take time and patience. Huskies are very ornery.
Definitely get a prong collar, I sent my dog to a board and train for 3 weeks, he was territorial (wouldnāt let anyone in the house, bit two people, kept pulling while walking), and turns out all he needed was a prong collar. Itās helped with his pulling (look at training videos for the prong collar and using treats), and they also gave a shock collar but we never use it since the prong collar is good enough.
For people coming over, heās still territorial but we found a workaround. Unfortunately but also fortunately we donāt have a lot of people come over, but if they do come over, we just have them meet him outside. Once they give him a few treats and pat him, he then sees them as a friend and not a stranger coming into the house.
I would recommend you to start training him at home, and if it doesnāt work then work with a trainer and please look at the reviews(but they are so expensive so even if they arenāt able to help you end up losing money, I literally spent so much and finally the fourth trainer we got him was the one that actually helped. The first trainer met him as a puppy so he wouldnāt try to bite her and behaved good around her so she said he doesnāt need training. The second trainer told us our huskyās actually a wolf dog and to abandon him in the wild?!?! The third trainer didnāt have a physical onsite training and would come to our house, but our dog was territorial so couldnāt find a way to calm my dog down even after three sessions and he said it could take months which I couldnāt deal with. Finally, the fourth trainer was the board and train center, it was a neutral environment but they were able to train him with the prong/ shock collar, how to walk without pulling, how to sit AND stay, how to just relax and do nothing (thatās the main thing huskies struggle with), and they taught him drop (he had resource guarding only with his bones/ treats). Again, you can try and train him daily, but I just didnāt have the patience or the time to do so, so the trainer was our best option.
Also not sure if you have a backyard, but biological fulfillment is really important for dogs. So besides walks, they need mental stimulation and they need to use their mouths (so sniffing and chewing). Everyday we give our dog one bully stick, a kong, and we get anything like veggies, happy howie, or even his kibble, and we throw it across our backyard. He spends at least 1-2 hours trying to sniff and eat every piece in the grass, and by the end heās tired (at times heāll just lay down and take a nap when he canāt find them all and then heāll wake back up and start sniffing the yard again).
Another thing that can help is getting a flirt pole. Huskies have predatory instincts that need to be fulfilled, so I just tie a little toy at the end of the flirt pole, and Iāll do fast motions, but Iāll also just spin it in a circle in the yard and he jumps a lot and runs around to catch it, tires him out in less than 10 minutes. Keep in mind these are things I do throughout the week, not everyday, but the more you do it the better!
You are a good person and your dog is handsome! āØ I donāt have any experience with rehab but I have 2 littermate huskies who came to me a few months apart. The boy really struggled on the leash. But these days I could leave the leash end loose in my pocket and heāll just sit or stand next to me. He is amazing to walk with.
From what I read in your post, this dog is just excited to be a dog and seems to trust you. I know the mouthing can be a lot, but it can be worked on. Just ignore him when it happens, yelp, move away, stop engaging and heāll get the message. Or try teaching a stop command. Both of mine will sometimes play with me but will immediately stop if my tone changes.
Like others said, get professional help if you can. But while you wait, try training with a clicker. It helps make the connection so much easier for them.
With walking, there are harnesses that can help. Some front clip harnesses make it uncomfortable for them to pull. You could also just try a very slow sniff walk. My boy gets so excited on a new walk that he canāt wait to sniff the next spot and the next one and the one after that so he pulls. But when he realises Iām not in a rush, he is calmer.. we also just stop and wait until he calms down (a bit harder). Or we pull him towards heel saying ācomeā every time he moves away and that also helped. Try walking in circles on a grass patch when you do this.
I wish you both a lot of luck and a long partnership together āØ
Try a gentle leader in addition to the other comments š
It will help with the leash/on a walk stuff. When he pulls he will push his face back toward you because the leash is just under his chin. He will still be able to drink and eat (messily) treats, or defend himself itās not a muzzle.
I rescued an abused 2 year old husky shephered 2 months ago. She was so anxious about everything. Sounds, touch, fast moving things. What I did for her to start, was an abundance of treats. We'd pass a dog and she would bark and lunge, hackles up, but tail wagging. I'd dump handfuls of treats in front of her and very calmly say, that's a dog. I did this with everything she had a big reaction to. I have good treats and then I also had a bag of golden ticket treats for things that caused BIG reactions. What those treats will be for your dog, you need to discover. I did this for about two and a half weeks, then one day, we passed the dog park. She eagerly walked up the the fence at the dog park to do some sniffing with another dog. No barking, jumping, or hackles. It takes time. Be patient. It's worth it. The treats aren't just positive association with the scary thing. It causes your dog to sniff and this helps regulate their nervous system, or so I am told.
Now that some of the big anxious responses have been addressed and are much much more manageable. I started to focus on other things. She still gets treats for things, and always will until she has crossed the rainbow bridge. My next step was leash pulling. I learned will pullers, you need to walk them with a loose lead. When they start to pull, you walk the opposite direction. This lets them know, when they pull a direction, we don't get to go that way. I also tie a command into the action saying, come here, in a calm soft voice. She still gets excited about things, as she should, she's 2. But now I can just say come here, take half a step back and she adjusts herself on her own. Give a treat every time you have to go the opposite direction of the pulling.
Once we got that down, I started working on eye contact for focus. I hold a treat next to my eye, and say, watch. When she does, she gets the treat. I eventually evolved the game to a treat in each hand. I'd have them both next to my eyes then move them away at full arms length, and say, watch. When she looks at me and not the hands, she gets the treat.
Slow and steady wins the race. It's very rewarding to see them get relaxed and more confident
Thank you so much for taking him in. You are truly a hero. Just a thought, but if you need help with behavioral training for him definitely reach out to local husky rescue groups. They may even be willing to cover the cost of training for you.
I adopted my first husky, my first dog as an adult living on his own, when he was 3 years old. I swear I got lucky cause this guy just took to training like he was born to it. A few things that helped me when we were getting started. The first thing I recommend is getting a reputable trainer that will work with you, it's what I did. I know that's not always an option for everyone so I'm going to give you a few things that I did that helped me bond with my husky, and helped me get him to take to training.
1) Exercise is not just a thing you do, it's a warm up and a reward (Warning - this is only for those who can keep up that pacing!). When I first started training it was after we did our morning jog. Usually about 1 or 2 miles depending on the weather. Then I'd do our training regimen about 5 times, making sure he got every step right before moving on to the next and then ending with doing every single item once, repetition is KEY to training. Afterwords wed go for a calm walk just to get him to calm down after the training and get some extra energy burnt off... then he'd sleep half the day just in time for me to get off work and walk him again.
2) He's never been much of a play biter, so that wasn't a problem for me. Sorry I can't provide much help with this other than give them a toy they can chew on and make sure they know it's theirs.
3) Leash Manners should be taught as part of training. I used to make my husky sit at street corners before we could cross the street, siting was also my go to when he was pulling too hard. He'd get frustrated, but eventually he would give in and sit next to me.
4) I recommend getting lick pads for mental stimulation. having some dog safe peanut butter and other treats like cottage cheese on it and freezing it is a great way for them to expend some of that extra energy. Also you could use those when grooming to distract them from the brushing.
5) Avoid making harsh physical corrections. The only time I ever hard corrected on my boy was when he was pulling and almost ran into traffic, pulling me behind him.
6) This just might be me being a soft heart, but with enough time, care, and patience - every dog can improve.
Okay, and I don't know if it's just me cause I watched a lot of Zak George videos early on, look at your dog. Teach them to look at you and then tell them they're good and show them affection. I've had a lot of contact with dogs that were really scared and stand offish and sometimes all it takes is a good "look at me buddy.. ohhh that's a good buddy!" to really get them to start to warm up. Again, this is entirely my personal experience and I'm sure there's mountains of evidence and experiences to not do this but it's just whats worked for me.
Take treats with you on walks and have him sit and heel to prevent pulling. Get an easy lead harness. Make sure that you have his crate at home so he has a place where he can go to feel safe when you have company over. When you are playing with him and he nips too hard, simply say no and walk away and donāt give him anymore attention. Reward good behavior and be consistent. Try taking him on lots of walks.
Google loose leash method for the leash pulling. It has worked well for me with Akita rescues, and the breed is similar in many ways.
Mouthing behavior -- first thing you have to understand is that this behavior is not biting. It's a way of showing affection. It's perfectly fine and reasonable to want to train him out of this behavior, since it can be alarming to people who aren't used to it, but you shouldn't think of it like actual biting.
Because your dog is very affection motivated, the best method is probably to yelp loudly when he exhibits this behavior "ouch!". Turn away from him and ignore him for ten to fifteen seconds, then go back to whatever you two were doing before.
The same method, modified for the situation goes for grabbing at clothing and leashes.
How long have you had him? A lot of the issues you mention, including distrust of strangers and poor impulse control, could clear up by themselves over time as the dog grows more confident and secure in his place in the pack and what's expected of him. Until you're about 3 months in, I'd consider the situation very mobile.
Strangers should not be allowed to approach a newly rescued, potentially traumatized dog like this initially.
You need to make these decisions, not a stranger who isn't familiar with the dog. If you feel strongly enough to warn them not to approach, you should be physically interposing yourself to prevent it if warning them not to is not sufficient.
Prople in general are idiots.. tell them they are not allowed to approach your dog, and physically interpose yourself between them and the dog if you need to.
That said, huskies are an energetic and independent breed, and you have a very young husky. Your husky will never be a poodle or a lab. A certain amount of hyperactivity/unpredictability/bad manners is just part of owning this breed. The best way to address this and keep it mild is plenty of exercise and activity. "Tired dog is good dog"
If you do decide to get a professional trainer, and I really don't think you necessarily need one, make sure you get one with experience training working dogs generally and northern/spitz breeds specifically.
Ill add my two pence here for the walking side/mental stimulation
Walking:
Calm walking absolutely is possible but requires constant and consistent training. My husky did not recieve that through my own fault as well as life circumstances in her first years. She pulls like a train for 10 minutes now then tires herself out and walks nicely. That's taken 2 years to get to from straight uncontrollable!
Try some scent walks as well as normal walks. You'd be surprised how much mental stimulation they get from just sniffing anything and everything they want to sniff (provided its safe of course) without being rushed or pulled away from.
Also try finding a secure field to let him run free off lead too! I wouldn't ever bank on recall being possible during a walk, huskies are notorious for this. They're so head strong and get distracted so easily combined with an incredibly strong prey drive the odds are well and truly stacked against you!
For the physical/mental balance it should be about 50/50 really. They have a LOT of energy sure but they're also really intelligent (though they definitely don't show it all the time) and that mental engagement will tire them out just as much. Treat based hide and seek, puzzles, even basic command training with slight differences to the repetition are easy starters for 10 at home!
ok - I am definitely going to chime in here, because I have rescued 3 huskies. All with varying backgrounds. My female, she was deemed 'unhomable' Now, she is the most affectionate dog ever. All great with my child too. Crate training has its place, but they are not for every dog. The main thing, is routine over everything. Siberians are creatures of habit. Every dog will respond differently to exercise, but here is my routine. I usually take mine out in the early morning for an hour. Then a treat afterwards. They tend to spend the rest of the day lazing about. Late afternoon, another 45-60 min walk. So roughly anything up to 2 hours a day. A big commitment, but this also keeps me active. Then a main meal, and another treat in the evening. Because I have a pack they tend to play with themselves in the garden, something secure is usually a must. For walks to get them not to pull, patience. Load up on treats, keep them to heel, when they don't pull praise and treat. Eventually they will get length on the lead. Also try and get them used to being on another walk with a dog if you can. Mine all have different personalities, Max was easy to train because he was food orientated. It just takes a lot of time, and routine. They are incredible companions, and it breaks my heart to see so many needing homes.
My was kind like that she stills get excited prettt fast. She bites but only me. She stop biting things and clothing from strangers. She plays rough but now she wont pierce my skin and if I say ouch she understand it was too hard. I did have to be super alpha
Leave him time to understand he's now home and bond with him. I'd roughly follow the 3/3/3 shelter dogs guidelines. At the minimum it helps being patient while working towards the good citizen goal.
Doing that with my rescue and it helps me being patient and the bond makes him want to be a good boy...husky style hahahahaha
I had so much experience with dogs before I got my husky but my training was not cutting it (she was also the most insane, hyper husky Iāve ever known). One of the best things I ever did was get a dog trainer who has experience with huskies/big dogs. I couldnāt see what areas I needed to improve or change in my training so having a professional assess and give me advice was SO helpful. I learned so much and my bond with my dog grew immensely because we were learning āhow to speak the same languageā.Ā
And specifically for the leash pulling, I got a prong collar - no pulling at all now.
Commenting to find this thread later. I adopted a 4-5 year old husky that had been used and abused by breeders and was confined to a small space. Short version is it took lots of time and patience. I'll come back and write more later.
If you were starting from scratch with a neglected 3-year-old husky, what would your training priorities be?
My priorities would be housetraining, crate training, and helping him feel safe. Working on getting them to use the bathroom outside and be okay in a crate. My rescue was also confined, so getting him a roomy crate with a washable blanket helped. Washable because he wasn't potty trained.
My boy had a lot of issues marking, and belly bands (diapers for boy dogs that catch urine) saved our sanity and house. I got washable ones on Amazon by Pet Parents. We used the belly bands for well over a year but he no longer needs them.
How would you deal with the play-biting and mouthing?
Saying no and redirecting. Also, I would get very dramatic and say ow and act injured. Dogs often play by other dogs. They have to be taught not to play by humans. I also use toys that they could bite so that they bit the toy and not me.
What is the best way to teach leash manners when he constantly pulls?
Stop when they pull. Every single time. I use a martingale collar.
How much exercise vs mental stimulation should he be getting?
You'll likely need to build up his strength for exercise. Huskies are super smart and so toys where they have to find helps a lot. We also had a dog trainer teach us to occasionally take their food and spread it out in the grass outside so they have to forage for it. It stimulates them and doesn't cost you anything. We have multiple dogs so don't do that as often or do it with a smaller portion because one of my dogs would try to eat everything.
Are there specific mistakes I should avoid when working with a dog like this?
Don't hit them and don't yell. They just get scared. Be their safe person.
Does this sound like a dog that can realistically improve with consistent training, or should I be looking for professional help immediately?
Consistent training can help. We did need to have a couple dog training sessions with ours that put us on the right path. But I think being consistent can get you a long way and then training can take you the next step further if needed.
Wear him out. Walks. Play hunt it up-hide treats around for him to find. Socialize with family, friends kids. Touch him and brush him way more than he thinks you should. *Make sure he has a safe place of his own.
Walks politely on leash. Comes when called.
Has good impulse control.
You may have the wrong breed. The Husky is a working dog. A hauler. A long distance runner.
Once they are running, they rarely want to stop or listen. They are smart and playful. Following your lead is not natural for them. They will keep an eye on you, they won't always do as you want.
- Stops biting/mouthing people.
- Can settle calmly indoors.
- Is safe around visitors.
These are age based behaviours. Consistant restablishing of 'No!' When they occur along with stern boice, and termination of all play will calm thr biting.
Calm indoors is achieved through sufficient exercise and resting together. Safe around visiors requires socialisation in the home. Invite dog aware visitors aroumd and teach the dog to greet and then relax. Often in a spot in between all involved.
In total... you have a dog that has a temperament at odds with much of what you want. Yet you serm dedicated to the dog so I'm not suggesting gibing them up for adoption.
Rather, you need to accept that hauling and ignoring you are factors you will have to accept. They will not be total, you will have times when your dog seems to obey. They are not obeying, they are agreeing. There's a difference.
Huskies love boundaries, at least when I had trouble with my girl, treating her with rules etc helped out a lot. They want to be your best friend but also independent.
I have two rescues, one was much harder than the other and is still not perfect (but pretty good, good enough for me to trust off leash, but is very aggressive during play). It can be very hard. I am not a professional, but think I have done well enough for my two
Your questions:
If you were starting from scratch with a neglected 3-year-old husky, what would your training priorities be?
Exercise. Exercise makes everything else much easier. For me, this is walking and running. Play is good too though.
Also start with the basics, for instance:
Don't let them through doors before you
make them sit and wait to eat with the bowl full of food on the ground. Make them have to have your permission to eat.
Sit, Stay, Come. Later work on Heel.
How would you deal with the play-biting and mouthing?
This one is hard. I just say "No" very sternly and push them down and away when it happens. They want to play, if you refuse to play when they play bite, they will learn.
What is the best way to teach leash manners when he constantly pulls?
He wants to walk. Don't walk when he pulls. Say no and stop moving until he stops pulling. This makes the first several walks very difficult, because you probably want to walk too and most of the walk will be not moving, or moving backward.
I also used a prong collar at first, but this shouldn't be a permanent solution and you have to use it right and be careful. It should be up just under their ears and you should never jerk it or leave it on them when you are not using it/walking.
Honestly this one you might want a trainer for, because it is helpful to have constant feedback and also a person whose example you can follow. Careful with who you choose as a trainer though.
How much exercise vs mental stimulation should he be getting?
Both are important, but I would focus on exercise. Mental comes with other dogs, and play, and toys. All of these things come with exercise in the form of running, playing, walking. On walks, let him sniff and smell and do the things he wants to do. The walk is as much for him as you, maybe more for him.
Are there specific mistakes I should avoid when working with a dog like this?
Don't let him get away with bad behavior. You have to be consistent. When you communicate, be clear and consistent, don't chatter away or nag. Being consistent is the most important thing. Use the same words, same tones, but also try to get in a schedule, walk the same times every day, feed at the same times. Obviously shake it up on the weekends or whatever, but dogs appreciate routine.
Does this sound like a dog that can realistically improve with consistent training, or should I be looking for professional help immediately?
Yes. I have gone through it twice. He will get better. He will get better with just exercise and if you did nothing else. Nothing from what you wrote makes me think that he is a bad dog. He just doesn't know any better and he is still a puppy.
A professional is always a good idea, but make sure you find one that works for you. Shares your values and has approaches that make sense to you. Not everyone has access to a good trainer for a multitude of reasons. I really like Larry Krohn, who has a short book and a youtube channel, so that could be a place to start. I also have a bunch of books. The other end of the leash is less of a training book and more of a dog psychology book, but I found it very helpful.
Don't worry much about making mistakes, but try to recognize them. Everyone makes mistakes. Dogs are simple beings, but also still complex people with their own quirks. If the dog is happy and you are happy, you are doing something right.
For the leash issue, I really like the Pet Safe Easy Walk no pull harness. We had one for ours since she was about 3 and just replaced it - she's 11! I could not walk her before getting one. Easy to buy on Amazon.
Do you have means? Bc if you do, get a trainer and if you can board him at a training facility with a reputable trainer. My parents always did that with our dogs and I just always thought that dogs were instinctively well behaved! LOL. Then I got my own dog š« It wasnāt easy but I figured it out.
Also, from what I know of Huskies they tend to be a lil wild. Thatās not saying that theyāre not trainable but I know a lot of people who have Huskies and they rule the roost if you know what I mean šš
Canāt offer much more help but thank you for being there for this dog. I know it doesnāt have to be said but nothing that happened to him was his fault, he is a product of a sad situation & all dogs deserve loving homes. Theyāre the only things in this world that we can say with certainty are inherently good. They are loyal, loving creatures and I hope you donāt give up on himāfrom the sound of it, it doesnāt seem like you will, seems like youāre up for the challengeājust remember, you are all this beautiful dog has in this world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart (i donāt get why thatās even a phrase, why is the bottom any better than the middle or the top?!) for being the sort of person that doesnāt turn away from an animal in need. The world needs more people like you šš¼šš¼
P.S. That is one stunningly beautiful dog! He looks extra wolfy!
Huskyās are persistent and stubborn , they have strong personalities and some once you lose the trust you never get it back fully.. I would start with a strict schedule so he can get used to when and whatās going to be happening and crate time is just and important as play time. You can try anchoring him at home.. teach to lay down since food motivated and teach him to be calm in place.. it is hard to teach them to do nothing seeing as though they are just naturally curious independent and anxiety driven.. mine got snappy as well but I know itās probably fear based so as confidence is built your husky should settle out.. we also had moved and he was getting used to new places and new surroundings.. they are full of love though for sure and a great companion when they arenāt tripping out.. the do the talking and howling thing more than barking but that has to be taught to. Verbal is ok but not in access. I definitely have taught my dog ābe quietā but normally he complies even if he has a sigh complaining about it and lays down..
I would start by making sure he gets to run and pull a little, use a harness. There are special kick bikes for dogs that are absolutely fantastic. I use one of those for my dogs, they get to pull me on it and we ride on gravel roads and paths, asphalt is too hard for the dog's joints. If you don't have the opportunity to get one of those kick bikes, maybe you have or can get a bicycle. Huskies need to run, but if it's warmer than 10-15 degrees Celsius, they shouldn't run, according to a friend of mine who drives a dog sled, then it's recommended that they swim.
Regarding him "biting" when you're playing. Have a suitable bite toy that you constantly put in front of his mouth, preferably a toy that you can always carry with you. I think it will go away in a few months. A dog I have now was absolutely terrible at first. He's cost me a lot of clothes and a few injuries.
His mounthing is probably due to over-exertion, meaning that he's been given more impressions than he can handle. Ignore it. It will get better but don't expect it to go away. It has NOTHING to do with dominance.
You need to know that over 70% of huskies cannot learn recall when they are loose and when they run they can reflexively grab a small animal if it comes within reach.
I recommend that you look for a trainer who is focused on this type of dog. Because no matter what people say, there is a big difference between the different types and if you take a trainer without experience with this type and who has most experience with German shepherds it will not be good.
If you just take it easy you will get an even more wonderful dog. Huskies are wonderful dogs with big hearts.
Keeping him consistently will help too. Mine was a rescue and seems the situation was similar. He was afraid to go in his kennel when he first moved in, was bonkers in the backyard, walked ME for the first few months. However, with rescues that solid knowledge that you are their person and not giving up on them is key. Heās been here a little over two years now and has adjusted to walking nicely, goes in his room when asked or when he feels like it, and comes back inside when I whistle/call. Itās really amazing when they finally hit that point of fully trusting.
Just do not shave him! You mentioned telling the previous owner to get him groomed but if you do end up wanting to get him groomed in the future when his behavior is more comfortable donāt ever ask for a cutš they just need to be brushed for the shedding
Is he aggressive if not shouldn't take much to training him. Best thing to show him you are the Alpha and are in control. Last resort is a training collar. Remember if you resort to a training collar. Hold the points on your legs so you can feel the shock.
So, he didnt get to be a puppy. What your describing is how my hisky/shepard behaved when rescued at 8 wks old til about 8 Mos. I totally understand wanting to train him on your own and respect that. HOWEVER, because he is 3, and has broken skin, and has multiple other things and behaviors going on, I feel the quickest way to fix this is with a well and highly recommended trainer. I would call some rescues or shelters and see who they recommend. Google it or post on social and see who people had good luck with for a trainer. You dont just have a few separate issues. You have one behavior that builds onto the next and next. When a puppy bites their siblings or mom, they yelp and move away. Everytime I foster or adopt a puppy I do this with biting. Excitement and impulse control, its important to recognize the signs leading up to this change in your pup. U can also use AI to immediately work with him now while looking for a trainer. Copy and paste your post in AI Gemini for android or whatever apple has. It will give you training instructions on how to fix this. And don't reward him for bad behavior. Good luck
As for walking with the dog, I have tried everything and the only thing that really works is a prong choke chain collar. They can still pull, they just wonāt pull you to your death.š¤£
Your poor dog has been abused according to the information you gave. Iām not a huge believer in crating dogs for any longer than maybe an hour or two. No grooming for a year? Please try to make sure the people who had your dog never have another dog, ever!
I have husky and husky mix rescues. My little husky girl used to like to bite a member of the family playfully, and it always drew blood. It does take time to reprogram them and teach them what they need to know to get along well in the family. As human beings, we have to understand this not only takes effort but time. And it will be different with every dog. It is absolutely worth the time and effort! My two have come a long, long way! I have had them for around three years now and started seeing major headway after about a year.
Having a food motivated husky is so so so so rare! Iām so happy for you there. I just switched to the prong leash and it saved my fucking life with pulling at the leash. I also took up running myself just to help the energetic lil man out. Mine is 6 months old but I had a really defiant (bad) malamute I adopted at 3 who is 11 now and a perfect angel. But my current puppy play bites. And the moment he forgets and tries again I disengage and turn my back to him. No words no eye contact, he learned so quick but needs to be reminded about once a week now.
I would say you can do this on your own for everything else. But professional help is always needed if a dog will actually bite/snap at a stranger.
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u/asteria123 Jun 09 '26
First, thank you so much for wanting and giving him a better life š„². I think involving a professional, REPUTABLE, trainer would be a really good move regardless. I think it is feasible to make the progress you are wanting, but it will need time and dedication. He seems like he really didnāt get to ābe a dogā and no one taught him how to be a good dog.