Dogs

[BobbyPhil1781]

53 minutes ago, DawgX said:

Anyone have or had any experience with Siberian Huskies? I adopted my lady earlier this year and she's been a blast. She's about 2 and really well behaved for the most part. Only thing she does that gets on my nerves is that her playful biting can become too much and that she can be difficult to walk (pulling, lunging at squirrels, chipmunks, etc, and basically lacks impulse control when she gets excited). But other than that, she's been an incredible dog.

How are you mentally stimulating her?? My pup is half husky and definitely does the same when walking. I just made sure to get a good harness that doesn't hurt her if she does it. I tripped over her once when running bc she lunged at a bird lol. She's very intelligent and learned not to cross my path when walking anymore. She stops and goes behind me so I didn't have to do much there. The play biting could be her just being a puppy but mental stimulation is very important to this breed. 

[BobbyPhil1781]

1 minute ago, jyod21 said:

I have a Siberian Husky.  He's 8 now, but still full of energy.  My wife got him, from a breeder, as a pup, and then I came into the picture when he was a little over a year old, so I've been with him the majority of his life.  He's a blast, but also can be a handful, especially when he was younger.  My wife has a ton of horror stories about him, as a puppy.  I stayed on him, a lot, and then he naturally mellowed out, a little, around 3 years old, or so.  He's been a great dog. Intelligent, and hilarious.  He has a lot of personality. Sheds like crazy.  He's fixed, and an inside dog, but he absolutely loves being outdoors.  He also loves a good squirrel/ chipmunk.  They're supposed to be escape artists, but he's only gotten away a few times, and never was far.  Of the "lost dog" posts I see shared on FB, it seems like 40% of them are Sibs.  They're always in for an adventure. 

Yeah they are. Mine is half with other half being ACD so she's been fairly easy to train and she doesn't go all sib and try to get out at all. I actually let her walk herself as we get closer to my house bc she doesn't run and she respects boundaries as well and doesn't try to go through them. 

It's all about mentally stimulating these dogs and of course, tons of exercise!! These dogs need it! I walk mine 6 miles a day now that I'm working from home. She's sleeping a lot of the time now lol. We did just get done with a fierce tug of war session though. That's easily her favorite

[OkeyDoke21]

3 minutes ago, JTagg7754 said:

Yeah they are. Mine is half with other half being ACD so she's been fairly easy to train and she doesn't go all sib and try to get out at all. I actually let her walk herself as we get closer to my house bc she doesn't run and she respects boundaries as well and doesn't try to go through them. 

It's all about mentally stimulating these dogs and of course, tons of exercise!! These dogs need it! I walk mine 6 miles a day now that I'm working from home. She's sleeping a lot of the time now lol. We did just get done with a fierce tug of war session though. That's easily her favorite

Yeah, for sure.  My old house had a nice privacy fenced in back yard, and I put in a dog door from the basement, to the yard, so he was in heaven there.  Built a new place that we moved into this spring, and we don't have a finished yard yet, or a fence, so we've had to make more of an effort to make sure he's exercised.  Thankfully, my wife took up running, when the gyms closed, so he gets in multiple miles, a day.  He jumped in my neighbors pool this past Monday, so that was mildly embarrassing, but other than that, he's been adapting great to the move.  He also went from being kind of skittish to people, to absolutely loving people around that 2 or 3 year mark, too.  

[JonStark]

1 hour ago, DawgX said:

Anyone have or had any experience with Siberian Huskies? I adopted my lady earlier this year and she's been a blast. She's about 2 and really well behaved for the most part. Only thing she does that gets on my nerves is that her playful biting can become too much and that she can be difficult to walk (pulling, lunging at squirrels, chipmunks, etc, and basically lacks impulse control when she gets excited). But other than that, she's been an incredible dog.

You could always get a collar like this for walking:
https://www.chewy.com/herm-sprenger-chain-dog-training/dp/185342?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Herm Sprenger&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwApwLevU_pIV4GifVfgvL4Du37J-pSa7oXy6Lut8gfn7c23V31wWQpCm1y9RoCD5kQAvD_BwE

Most of the time a dog will be fine listening, but it doesn't know what you want them to do. As the dog pulls, it tightens up to tell them that's not how they should act. Of course, huskies are always stubborn so who knows if that would ever work lol.

I've used mine on some crazy dogs before and now they are some of the best dogs I know on a walk. I've also tried the gentle leader (which goes around their snout and tightens when they pull), but most respond better to the collar. 

[DawgX]

52 minutes ago, jyod21 said:

I have a Siberian Husky.  He's 8 now, but still full of energy.  My wife got him, from a breeder, as a pup, and then I came into the picture when he was a little over a year old, so I've been with him the majority of his life.  He's a blast, but also can be a handful, especially when he was younger.  My wife has a ton of horror stories about him, as a puppy.  I stayed on him, a lot, and then he naturally mellowed out, a little, around 3 years old, or so.  He's been a great dog. Intelligent, and hilarious.  He has a lot of personality. Sheds like crazy.  He's fixed, and an inside dog, but he absolutely loves being outdoors.  He also loves a good squirrel/ chipmunk.  They're supposed to be escape artists, but he's only gotten away a few times, and never was far.  Of the "lost dog" posts I see shared on FB, it seems like 40% of them are Sibs.  They're always in for an adventure. 

Definitely big time escape artists. Only once has she ever escaped from me though - we were on a walk and somehow she got loose from her leash - and I was surprised when she actually listened when I told her to stay. But I know she would have taken off had she seen a wild animal, haha.

But yeah, I've talked to other husky owners and most say they start to somewhat calm down around 4-5.

52 minutes ago, JTagg7754 said:

How are you mentally stimulating her?? My pup is half husky and definitely does the same when walking. I just made sure to get a good harness that doesn't hurt her if she does it. I tripped over her once when running bc she lunged at a bird lol. She's very intelligent and learned not to cross my path when walking anymore. She stops and goes behind me so I didn't have to do much there. The play biting could be her just being a puppy but mental stimulation is very important to this breed. 

Still trying to figure out how to best mentally stimulate her. Especially now that I'm working from home but she has to sit there bored during the day. I've tried different toys that are meant to be mentally stimulating and when we go for walks I let her explore quite a bit. But I'll definitely take any advice on how to best keep her mentally engaged.

I've definitely tripped over her a time or two on our walks when she sees an animal out of nowhere, haha.

And I've tried a couple of different ways to get her to stop the play biting, like giving her a toy instead but that only works sometimes. I guess chewing my hand is just more appealing lol.

 

17 minutes ago, JonStark said:

You could always get a collar like this for walking:
https://www.chewy.com/herm-sprenger-chain-dog-training/dp/185342?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Herm Sprenger&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwApwLevU_pIV4GifVfgvL4Du37J-pSa7oXy6Lut8gfn7c23V31wWQpCm1y9RoCD5kQAvD_BwE

Most of the time a dog will be fine listening, but it doesn't know what you want them to do. As the dog pulls, it tightens up to tell them that's not how they should act. Of course, huskies are always stubborn so who knows if that would ever work lol.

I've used mine on some crazy dogs before and now they are some of the best dogs I know on a walk. I've also tried the gentle leader (which goes around their snout and tightens when they pull), but most respond better to the collar. 

I now have a harness and a leash that works pretty well in regards to not allowing her to pull too much, even though she still definitely tries to. I've thought about giving the gentle leader a try though. Do those hurt the dog in any way?

But anyway, they are great dogs. Definitely the goofiest dog I've ever had and just fun to be with, albeit she can be quite stubborn and bratty at times, haha.

[DawgX]

1 hour ago, JTagg7754 said:

Yeah they are. Mine is half with other half being ACD so she's been fairly easy to train and she doesn't go all sib and try to get out at all. I actually let her walk herself as we get closer to my house bc she doesn't run and she respects boundaries as well and doesn't try to go through them. 

It's all about mentally stimulating these dogs and of course, tons of exercise!! These dogs need it! I walk mine 6 miles a day now that I'm working from home. She's sleeping a lot of the time now lol. We did just get done with a fierce tug of war session though. That's easily her favorite

I swear I have two different dogs - winter Luna and summer Luna, haha. When it was colder out we'd walk for 5-8 miles every day, and now that it's hot out she tires out much more quickly.

[JonStark]

3 minutes ago, DawgX said:

I now have a harness and a leash that works pretty well in regards to not allowing her to pull too much, even though she still definitely tries to. I've thought about giving the gentle leader a try though. Do those hurt the dog in any way?
 

Nah, most training tools don't hurt them if used correctly. Obviously if someone uses a gentle leader and whips the dogs head around, that'd hurt. For normal people walking their dogs, all it does is put some pressure on the dogs nose when they start to pull and they start to fall back a little. My two use it, but my dad's dog freaks out with it around his snout so that collar I linked is the same idea, but around the neck. 

Honestly, even shock collars and prong collars are fine for more aggressive cases (again, as long as they are used responsibly). A prong collar isn't made to inflict pain on a dog. It's made to simulate a mother grabbing the dog by the mouth when it does something wrong. Dogs just need to know what you expect of them and different ones respond to different techniques, but a lot of these tools get a bad wrap because people abuse or use them incorrectly. 

[BobbyPhil1781]

46 minutes ago, DawgX said:

I swear I have two different dogs - winter Luna and summer Luna, haha. When it was colder out we'd walk for 5-8 miles every day, and now that it's hot out she tires out much more quickly.

Same! My dog LOVES the snow (shocking) but she also loves people and animals and we rarely see them in the winter other than the neighborhood newfys and other huskies. Never met a person or animal she didn't like.... except the one time she jumped up and caught a bird flying by which is one of the more remarkable things I've witnessed. She was probably just wanting to play but she did kill it. She always wants to go out when she sees snow. She will sit at our window and whimper if she sees it coming down until I take her out and then it's smiles and miles and I freeze my asss off. In the summer, she will look out the window and whimper at every dog that walks by and then run to the front door so she can go see them. Luckily I've lived in the neighborhood for a while and most have figured her out b/c she gets all ACD on dogs when she gets near them. This is her neighborhood and they will know it but she never hurts them. She growls, and barks, and acts like she's going to nip but never makes contact. At first, other owners are "WTF! Why are you letting her do this?" then they realize she's just expressing her dominance and her tail never stops wagging and she's harmless. Then after 1 minute, she gets all husky on em and gets bored and wants to go do something else.

I get how people like pure breeds but mixed breeds keep you on your damn toes lol.

OK that's enough of my pointless story. It's better than typing emails to clients where I won't be talking about dogs.

[BobbyPhil1781]

55 minutes ago, DawgX said:

Still trying to figure out how to best mentally stimulate her. Especially now that I'm working from home but she has to sit there bored during the day. I've tried different toys that are meant to be mentally stimulating and when we go for walks I let her explore quite a bit. But I'll definitely take any advice on how to best keep her mentally engaged.

I've definitely tripped over her a time or two on our walks when she sees an animal out of nowhere, haha.

And I've tried a couple of different ways to get her to stop the play biting, like giving her a toy instead but that only works sometimes. I guess chewing my hand is just more appealing lol.

My dog doesn't require it as much now but back when we first saved her, I used to take a medium sized Kong toy and stuff it w/ broken Milkbones and a little peanut butter and freeze it over night. She would spend 20-30 minutes on this thing trying to get the peanut butter out and then the treats, stuffed in the top, wouldn't come out as easy. She would literally take the Kong and slam it against the ground and if that didn't work, she'd throw it anywhere she could to get this treat out. That was a good start. There's also treat puzzles that worked in the past but she got bored w/ them so I'm not sure I want to suggest those and potentially waste any of your dollars. When we started leaving her out of her crate when we would go to work, we would hide treats all over the house to engage her senses while we were gone. Just remember where you hide them b/c if they don't find em, you may get ants....... dammit.

That's all we really had to do w/ her until we moved and got this big window in our living room in a fairly active neighborhood. Now she just sits on the couch and looks out the window all day when we're gone and she's good.

[JonStark]

16 minutes ago, JTagg7754 said:

My dog doesn't require it as much now but back when we first saved her, I used to take a medium sized Kong toy and stuff it w/ broken Milkbones and a little peanut butter and freeze it over night. She would spend 20-30 minutes on this thing trying to get the peanut butter out and then the treats, stuffed in the top, wouldn't come out as easy. She would literally take the Kong and slam it against the ground and if that didn't work, she'd throw it anywhere she could to get this treat out. That was a good start. There's also treat puzzles that worked in the past but she got bored w/ them so I'm not sure I want to suggest those and potentially waste any of your dollars. When we started leaving her out of her crate when we would go to work, we would hide treats all over the house to engage her senses while we were gone. Just remember where you hide them b/c if they don't find em, you may get ants....... dammit.

That's all we really had to do w/ her until we moved and got this big window in our living room in a fairly active neighborhood. Now she just sits on the couch and looks out the window all day when we're gone and she's good.

Frozen peanut butter is a pro move. Originally we just put milkbones in the kong and my lab mix would just drop it down the steps and eat it in about a minute. 

[BobbyPhil1781]

4 minutes ago, JonStark said:

Frozen peanut butter is a pro move. Originally we just put milkbones in the kong and my lab mix would just drop it down the steps and eat it in about a minute. 

I found a way to break the medium sized ones and stuff the in the top. She couldn't lick it that way and it forced her to learn how to get it out. Sounds like your lab figured it out quickly though lol. We didn't have any steps for her to use at that time or she might have done the same. We also did it for our entertainment as watching her figure it out was funny at times

[DawgX]

13 minutes ago, JonStark said:

Frozen peanut butter is a pro move. Originally we just put milkbones in the kong and my lab mix would just drop it down the steps and eat it in about a minute. 

Yup, I never thought about freezing the peanut butter but that's a great idea. I'll definitely give that a try here soon.

[OkeyDoke21]

3 hours ago, DawgX said:

Still trying to figure out how to best mentally stimulate her. Especially now that I'm working from home but she has to sit there bored during the day. I've tried different toys that are meant to be mentally stimulating and when we go for walks I let her explore quite a bit. But I'll definitely take any advice on how to best keep her mentally engaged.

I've definitely tripped over her a time or two on our walks when she sees an animal out of nowhere, haha.

And I've tried a couple of different ways to get her to stop the play biting, like giving her a toy instead but that only works sometimes. I guess chewing my hand is just more appealing lol.

The "hide and seek" type toys have always been my husky's favorites.  The ones where the smaller toys fit into a bigger toy, and then they have to pull them out.   

Things like this: 
https://www.chewy.com/outward-hound-hide-squirrel-squeaky/dp/113786?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Outward Hound&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAjw88v3BRBFEiwApwLevZgEqQzWxjo37NUAb4lVPqkdi_YsWJLDOunRI6oc9KBmIjmxXSLzcxoC16kQAvD_BwE

He can play with those kinds of toys, for hours, you just have to put the little toys back in for him a few times, when he starts staring you down with that goofy husky grin.   

Edited June 24, 2020 by jyod21

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 hour ago, DawgX said:

Yup, I never thought about freezing the peanut butter but that's a great idea. I'll definitely give that a try here soon.

Can confirm, it’s legit.

[BobbyPhil1781]

If you start stuffing peanut butter and freezing, you can do other "treats" as well that I didn't do for multitudes of reasons. I know that apples are popular also but my dog won't eat apples. She'll eat lettuce.... plain... but not apples. Anything that is water based is good to try but they are obviously much messier. That's why I never used them.