Calling all Husky owners

[donnav]

Hi

I am a first time dog owner - have a 12 week old Husky who goes by the name of Zak - he's absoloutely gorgeous and have started clicker training. He already knows sit, down and spin, I want to teach him recall but all the information I can find says this breed is not realiable off lead and will just run and run any Husky owners out there can confirm or otherwise?

[emmabeth]

I don't have a husky, but I know folk who do (and many other spitz breeds also).

Honestly - what you have heard is the truth, they dont tend to run in a loop like other breeds will and they dont tend to specifically chase a scent or a the sight of something, they run... in a straight line... until something stops them. Unfortunately that something tends to be a vehicle or a train.

I would work on teaching him a recall anyway, using a harness and a long leash, but dont expect that you will be able to routinely let him off lead in open areas, teach the recall more as a/ something to do! and keep him thinking and concentrating on you and b/to give you a fighting chance in an emergency situation.

You will find if you look hard enough, a small handful of people who will say their husky comes back - and that might be true, right now.... but then they will stop saying this when their husky DOESNT come back one time.... and unfortunately with huskies, that one time tends to be one time too many.

Not worth the risk - occupy your husky with other things - seek out safe secure places to let your husky run free off lead, consider training your husky to run beside a bicycle using a springer or walkydog device, or invest in a scooter or rig for your dog ot pull (in suitable places) as per his breed design!

[mselisabs]

Many breed books advise not to let husky's off leash as they will happily go off doing their own thing, not a care in the world. That said, maybe you can strap a harness on him and some roller skates on you and go for a ride

[hrlysquaw55]

I lost my first husky almost 2 years ago. There is no better dog in my eyes!! But, YES............ they LOVE to RUN!!!! I chased Kenai soooo many times. From what I understand the sense to get themselves back home is not very good, must be from running sooo very fast!!! I was lucky as I lived on a 1000 acre ranch so I could use the truck to follow until he got tired. Since he passed I have rescued another Husky and thank goodness I have only had him get away from me twice!n The first I had to chase him down. Since that time I chose a VERY special treat that he LOVES....I hold it in my fist above my head and call out "chicken". The second time he got lose I held up my hand and yelled "chicken" and he came running up to me!! I know how lucky that was, so I'm not going to trust it will work again, but am soo glad it did this time. !!! So keep this trick in mind along with the other great advice you have been given. I would hate to have someone loose their beloved dog from being hit by a auto or lost and never knowing what happened to the dog.
Jenny & Kody

[donnav]

Thank you so much for all the advice I will def be getting my skates or bike out - we haven't had Zak long and already can't imagine life without him so I won't be risking him running off!

[wvvdiup1]

You know, Huskies aren't the only dogs that do this! From my experience, Akitas and Samoyeds (aka "Sammys") do the same thing! Using treats to get my dogs to come sounds like a good idea, however, this gets very old fast for the dog, especially if that dog is interested in something else! You will need a back up plan should this plan fail. Use or do something else that the dog likes to recall it.

[josie1918]

While I do not own one, I have dealt with a lot of huskies, and their owners. Never met a husky I did not like, they are just wonderful dogs. They do however take off like a streak of lightening when off a lead and many times get lost.
The ones I know also enjoy digging, not like a terrier to find something, but these dig to make a nice, cool place to lay.
They have so much energy, and such an adventurous spirit, I sometimes wonder if they aren't in their own little world when they get off a lead, I don't think they even hear their owners call them.

[Fundog]

[quote="josie1/] They do however take off like a streak of lightening when off a lead and many times get lost.

They have so much energy, and such an adventurous spirit, I sometimes wonder if they aren't in their own little world when they get off a lead, I don't think they even hear their owners call them.[/quote]


That sounds like my little cotton-head Dottie!

Have a look at some of the other threads/dialogues about recall with dogs that like to run. There's some good stuff in there, that could help you quite a bit, inspite of the breed.

[jeannais]

We have a rescue Husky/Retriever mix. He has been with us for 8 months and is an absolute love. However, he will run any chance he gets and nothing, I mean nothing, can get him to recall. He gets this look in his eye (he has only one eye) and he's off. We are very cautious and never let him off the lead, have tags and a chip, but realize that one day he might not come back. We walk him 4-5 times per day, have a huge fenced in yard and take him everywhere with us to stave off his boredom. He used to very easily scale the fence gate (4') and disappear for an adventure, but we propped up some surf boards and a bike, so he now avoids it.

[Lisa9]

Hi. I'm new to the group. I haven't introduced myself yet. But, I just had to tell you about my Husky. She has passed now, this past April. She was 15. I still miss her dearly. But, anyways. She was a exception to the rule of Huskies. I did do obedience training with her when she was a puppy. Even tho she hated it. So I don't know if that helped. But, she would never take off. I use to be able to take her for walks down the bike trail and let her loose. She never took off. She was a lazy girl. And she had attitude. She was the queen. I used to be able to sit on the front porch with her and she would stay on the porch. Even if another dog walked by. Of course she would give the husky howl. But she would stay right on the porch. Boy, I miss her. I want to get another Husky. But I know she or he would never be like her.

She a had a litter of puppies when she was a year old. We kept 2 of her pups. Now they were typical Huskies. Many times I would chase them around the nieghborhood. They were a team. One would dig(to get under the fence) and the other would look out. Make sure I wasn't watching. I would always know when they got out. Because they would scream going under the fence. Or through the fence. They would rip the slates off the stockade fence. The holes were always so much smaller then them. Thats why they would sceam. It had to hurt squeezing through a hole small then them. They have both passed as well. They actually pasted before thier mom. I miss all three of my girls. Well anyways. I just wanted to put in my two cents about my Huskies.
Buy the way, my name is Lisa. As of right now I own 9 dogs. (None of them are huskies) 8 of them are little guys. Under 20 pounds. All under 4 years old. The 9th one is a Golden Retriever. He is 12 years old. He was diagnose with cancer a couple of weeks ago. The Vet said he has 2 weeks to a month. I don't think he will last the whole month. I think the cancer is starting to travel to his lungs. He is starting to breath a little bit heavier. It's hard watching him go through this. And then deciding when enough is enough. I've been through it many of times. But it does not get any easier.
Anyways, nice to meet everyone.

[Emmy'sMama]

I don't have too much experience with huskies, but I do own a Samoyed and I never let her off leash outside of a fenced-in area (well, one time when we were on a big plot of land with several other dogs around...even then, I kept a close eye on her). Actually, she doesn't show a huge desire to run off (unlike other dogs I've had in the past), but she has a mind of her own and will not respond to the "come" command unless she wants to. And even though she is very food-driven, there are things outside that are even more exciting than food, so I don't trust her to return on command even when I have treats on hand.

She does show a desire to run (though I hear that huskies tend to be even more energetic in this regard), so sometimes I jog with her (she has dysplasia/arthritis in one elbow, so it has to be low impact/short distances) and I have found that the dog park is a godsend because I don't have a fenced yard and she can chase and be chased by other dogs. Unfortunately, I also have to limit her time at the dog park now because of the joint issues, but before those surfaced, we would spend an hour, even two at the dog park and she could run to her heart's content. Occasionally, when we are in a place with few people and no cars, I will attach a long leash to her harness and give her a bit more leeway walking. She loves swimming, or rather, retrieving tennis balls out of lakes, but even then I keep her attached to the long leash.

I should note that my dog--and I have heard, this tends to be the case with Huskies as well--is an amazing Houdini. Even at four or five months old she decided she didn't want to be in her crate while I was away from home and I would come home after maybe an hour or two away to find that she had gotten out. At first, she learned to open the the door fasteners. Then she managed to push out the backside. Eventually, I had four metal lock on the crate just to keep it together and closed, and even then she escaped. To this day I'm not quite sure how she did it, but there were bent metal locks and bent metal crate wires! Then when we moved to our new place, we kept her in the unfinished basement when we left the house and she eventually tore through the door leading into the main part of the house. So now we give her the run of the house when we go out and she seems to be much happier. As she is fully grown and can be trusted not to tear the house apart, I'm happy to have her stay in the common area. Anyway, I'm not sure I would ever leave her unsupervised in either an electric fence or in a short/chain fence by herself. She'll stay in a short, chain fence with another dog present, but she could and I think would easily get out if left by herself. So if I ever get a fence, it will have to be a tall one that is impossible to climb. And yes, Samoyeds, like huskies, like to dig, so I'll have to think about concealing the bottom of the fence somehow as well!

Anyway, there have been a couple of times when Emma has accidentally gotten loose while I'm out walking her. I find that she responds best if I get down on the ground, usually on my back and make noises, such as sighing or laughing. I might even run the opposite way. But the worst thing to do is chase her. And even when I frantically call her (the first time she got lose she was only four months and we were next to a semi-busy road at rush hour, so I was frantic), she thinks it is a game and will run towards me and then run back away.

[Emmy'sMama]

Another thing you might look into when your husky is a little older is local sled dog groups/clubs. I was down visiting my in-law in Tennessee and a husky rescue/sled group was promoting an upcoming reenactment of the 1925 diphtheria serum run. They also invited any sled dog breed to participate in their group activities and learn how to pull sleds. I would love to get Emmy involved with a group like this, but I'm afraid that pulling a sled over long distances would just be too hard on her joints. However, I'm sure your husky pup would love it when he is old enough.

[laceygraves1995]

i used to have a dog that wazs part husky border collie and she never ran away, but the fact that she was part border collie, im not sure if thats why she stayed close to me, unfortunatly we had to get rid of her because we were unable to excersize her enough and she became aggressive towards me and even attacked a baby, but now she is nice and is living a farm, well just goes to show that if you dont excersize your dog it gets mean, but anyway i think if you do some serious training, its possible for him to stay near you off lead

[MPbandmom]

I have a husky lab mix. Sky looks more lab, but I think she may well think more husky. If let off leash she will take off at full speed. She will come back when called 3 times, after that, she takes a "been there done that now I'm going to do my own thing" attitude. Fortunately she is very people friendly and will go up to anybody new, so around people she is easy to catch.

I took her on a group walk once where the others there convinced me to let her off leash just to see what she would do. She took off full speed, came back when called, took off again at a trot. All of the other dogs pretty well stayed near their people or would check back in frequently. Not my dog. She was off scouting out the trail (she did stay on the trail.) Whether we were still in view behind her or not, she didn't care. She kept going. After about the 3rd time we called her back, she stopped coming back. She would just stop and stand where she was and wait for us to catch up to what she felt was a reasonable distance and then she would be off again. Once she started doing that, the only way she would come back to the people was if we stopped walking. Then she would come back.

I have a really hard time dealing with the initial panic that I feel as she takes off when let off lead. That walk convinced me that she isn't particularly a run away candidate, but she does make her own rules, and is a little too smart for my comfort zone. I only let her off lead in an enclosed area or when my son is around. (He was her original adopter and he trained her to come to a whistle. I can't whistle and my voice isn't very loud. When I let her off lead on the group outing, I made certain that a member of the group was capable of whisteling loudly before I did so. And there were a couple of times where the whistle was the only thing that brought her back/stopped her forward movement.

I have purchased a whistle which my other dog Sirius (unknown spitz) has developed a pretty good response to, but it doesn't seem to have registered with Sky. She seems to think when I blow the whistle that I am calling Sirius.

I only let Sirius off leash once. She took off giving me several minutes of panic. I don't trust her off leash for squat even if she does come pretty well to the whistle. Where Sky is people friendly and will pretty well walk up to anybody, Sirius is not and likely would not, or if she did, she would be likely to snap at anybody reaching out for her.

[siberian]

Hi there! I have a 3 year old siberian husky and she just had 6 puppies. I´m keeping one puppy for myself. Huskies love to dig, run and pull. It is a sled dog and needs activities, but it can´t be off leash just anywhere for its own safety and others. My husband and I have trained our dogs to come when they are called in our back yard where they can run free because we have a fence around it. The fence is high because huskies are also excellent jumpers. The best place to train your husky is a fenced area. Siberian huskies are usually very friendly to humans, but they don´t have a need to please us...so they pretty much do what they want, if not rewarded with something they like...FOOD!! Huskies love to chase every little creature that moves, so if they see a cat or a squirrel, even a falling leaf in the wind, they go after it. That´s why huskies should be kept in a leash...remember that they can run for miles and miles. This is my opinion of course.There are ways to wear out the energy, for example make your dog carry a backpack or wear a harness and let it pull you...that´s what they are made for. I love this breed, it´s beautiful, intelligent, humorous, affectionate, strong and a sort of untamed in a good way.