I've had many friends ask me what living with a Siberian is like and if what they've heard of the breed is true. This is my experience having two of them and comparing the experience to what I "know" of the breed. Always remember that each individual dog will vary. The breed itself has certain characteristics but each dog has its own personality. Nature (genetics) and nurture (how the dog is raised) both play a role in how your dog behaves, no matter what breed.
1. They should not be let offleash - with exception. Generally the first thing you hear about huskies goes something like this: Never let them off leash, and never leave them unsupervised outside, because they will escape and run away. They are born and bred to run and it can be difficult to build motivation to get them to come back to you because the world is very exciting. Freedom, running full speed away from you, and exploring new things are all extremely fun for a Siberian, or really for most any dog. For that reason it is not advised to let them off leash unless in a fenced area. An escaped Siberian is likely to get hit by a car or run so far that it is hopelessly lost. Huskies running the Iditarod or other races run over 100 miles in ONE day. Think very hard about the risks before you ever unclip the leash.
So that's the general rule: never let the dog off leash. However, I've had Denali off leash as much as possible her entire life for just that reason. I read so much about why not to let them off leash that I decided to just make recall and following me a focal point of training. Since I was starting with an 8 week old puppy that I could easily outrun if needed, I worked hard on recall and took full advantage of her natural instinct to follow me. She now has excellent recall and it's still something I give her a treat for every single time (unless I forget the treats, oops!). She did go through a phase from about 9-12 months old were she was testing the limits and if she really did have to come back when called. This is typically puppy teenager stuff. Be consistent and don't allow the dog to not listen to you. That phase is when the dog will learn "oh, she means it, I better do it" or "eh, nothing happens when I don't listen, so I'm going to ignore her."
Teaching recall, or the Come cue, can save your dog's life. I've had people tell me that you can't teach a Siberian to come when called because they are independent and stubborn. Words like "stubborn," "independent," "willful," or even "stupid" are words that describe a dog that is none of the above, but rather just hasn't had the right motivation or been taught with the right technique to do what you ask. Positive reinforcement is the way to go. Don't believe in the dominance or alpha training. Your dog does not need to be afraid of you to listen to you. There are a lot of games and ways to enforce a good recall. Recall is one of the cues that you should always, ALWAYS, give a treat for (or toy if your dog prefers).
1. They should not be let offleash - with exception. Generally the first thing you hear about huskies goes something like this: Never let them off leash, and never leave them unsupervised outside, because they will escape and run away. They are born and bred to run and it can be difficult to build motivation to get them to come back to you because the world is very exciting. Freedom, running full speed away from you, and exploring new things are all extremely fun for a Siberian, or really for most any dog. For that reason it is not advised to let them off leash unless in a fenced area. An escaped Siberian is likely to get hit by a car or run so far that it is hopelessly lost. Huskies running the Iditarod or other races run over 100 miles in ONE day. Think very hard about the risks before you ever unclip the leash.
So that's the general rule: never let the dog off leash. However, I've had Denali off leash as much as possible her entire life for just that reason. I read so much about why not to let them off leash that I decided to just make recall and following me a focal point of training. Since I was starting with an 8 week old puppy that I could easily outrun if needed, I worked hard on recall and took full advantage of her natural instinct to follow me. She now has excellent recall and it's still something I give her a treat for every single time (unless I forget the treats, oops!). She did go through a phase from about 9-12 months old were she was testing the limits and if she really did have to come back when called. This is typically puppy teenager stuff. Be consistent and don't allow the dog to not listen to you. That phase is when the dog will learn "oh, she means it, I better do it" or "eh, nothing happens when I don't listen, so I'm going to ignore her."
Teaching recall, or the Come cue, can save your dog's life. I've had people tell me that you can't teach a Siberian to come when called because they are independent and stubborn. Words like "stubborn," "independent," "willful," or even "stupid" are words that describe a dog that is none of the above, but rather just hasn't had the right motivation or been taught with the right technique to do what you ask. Positive reinforcement is the way to go. Don't believe in the dominance or alpha training. Your dog does not need to be afraid of you to listen to you. There are a lot of games and ways to enforce a good recall. Recall is one of the cues that you should always, ALWAYS, give a treat for (or toy if your dog prefers).
It is also crucial that you do not call your dog if you don't think it's going to come. All that teaches is that "Come" doesn't mean a darn thing. It's optional at best. If your dog is in the middle of playing with another dog at the dog park, don't call it. If you aren't sure how distracted the dog is, say your dog's name first. If the dog looks toward you, they are paying attention and it's a good time to call them over for a treat. You should never punish a
dog for coming to you. For example, if you notice the dog chewed on your shoe, don't
call the dog to you and yell at it. Coming is always a good thing,
nothing bad ever happens.
This also includes if your dog does escape and you finally (hopefully) catch it. You don't want to scream at it and beat it. You want to give it a treat if you have one and calmly lead it home, where it then gets more treats and love and play. I know from experience how difficult it can be to keep your cool when your heart is pounding and your adrenaline is pumping and you were terrified that your dog was going to get hit by a car and die. But you must remain as calm as possible and not punish the dog when you catch it. Otherwise what did you teach your dog? You taught your dog that running is better, because when you catch up to it you're going to inflict pain. Think about what your dog may see as punishment. If you go to the dog park and the only time you call your dog to you is when you leave, what is the dog going to learn? It will learn that the fun is over- which can be seen as a punishment of sorts. The dog park is a great place to practice as you can play "catch and release." When you know your dog will come, or when it's heading to you anyway, say "come" and give it a treat when it gets to you. Then immediately let it go play again. You can even clip the leash on for a second then unclip it again. I don't think of Come as a command to have the dog come to me. I think of it as telling the dog I have a free treat.
I've had Denali since she was an 8 week old puppy and from the very beginning I worked hard on recall. She was offleash very often. Puppies love to follow you, so I'd have a zillion treats with me and be constantly rewarding her for chasing me and following me inside and outside. We also played "puppy pingpong" at the park, where my husband and I would call her back and forth between us. This is an excellent game that encourages the puppy to run very fast to you when called. We started at short distances when she was a puppy, maybe 6 feet or so as she was on leash so we could enforce the command if needed by reeling her in, but gradually we increased the distance and went to a 20 ft leash, and then she'd be completely offleash and we'd call her back and forth from about 50 yards away. I would start with her and my husband would walk away and I'd hold her by the collar, preventing her from following. He'd turn and call her and I'd let her run to him to get a treat. Remember that puppies have a fairly short attention span so don't play games like this for extended periods of time. 5 to 10 minutes at a time is plenty. You don't want the dog to get bored.
Kaytu on the other hand, we got her last October when she was a year and a half old and she didn't care about paying attention to people at all. I've had to work extremely hard to get her to even notice us when she's distracted. She has major "selective deafness" where I know she hears me, but is choosing to ignore me. I don't think she'll ever be trustworthy offleash in open areas. She comes when called at the house, and about 80-90% at the dog park, but if it's not an enclosed area then she needs to be on leash. Also she can't be unattended in the backyard. She can climb chainlink fence and I have no question about her ability to jump a 6 ft fence. Denali hangs out in a yard with a 4 ft fence no problem, doesn't try to get out, but Kaytu is a true escape artist. She's jumped through window screens to get out. Again, each dog is an individual and nature and nurture both have an important role in their escape tendencies, and your ability to get them back.
Spaying or neutering will often decrease the dog's desire to escape, but not always.
I've had Denali since she was an 8 week old puppy and from the very beginning I worked hard on recall. She was offleash very often. Puppies love to follow you, so I'd have a zillion treats with me and be constantly rewarding her for chasing me and following me inside and outside. We also played "puppy pingpong" at the park, where my husband and I would call her back and forth between us. This is an excellent game that encourages the puppy to run very fast to you when called. We started at short distances when she was a puppy, maybe 6 feet or so as she was on leash so we could enforce the command if needed by reeling her in, but gradually we increased the distance and went to a 20 ft leash, and then she'd be completely offleash and we'd call her back and forth from about 50 yards away. I would start with her and my husband would walk away and I'd hold her by the collar, preventing her from following. He'd turn and call her and I'd let her run to him to get a treat. Remember that puppies have a fairly short attention span so don't play games like this for extended periods of time. 5 to 10 minutes at a time is plenty. You don't want the dog to get bored.
Kaytu on the other hand, we got her last October when she was a year and a half old and she didn't care about paying attention to people at all. I've had to work extremely hard to get her to even notice us when she's distracted. She has major "selective deafness" where I know she hears me, but is choosing to ignore me. I don't think she'll ever be trustworthy offleash in open areas. She comes when called at the house, and about 80-90% at the dog park, but if it's not an enclosed area then she needs to be on leash. Also she can't be unattended in the backyard. She can climb chainlink fence and I have no question about her ability to jump a 6 ft fence. Denali hangs out in a yard with a 4 ft fence no problem, doesn't try to get out, but Kaytu is a true escape artist. She's jumped through window screens to get out. Again, each dog is an individual and nature and nurture both have an important role in their escape tendencies, and your ability to get them back.
Spaying or neutering will often decrease the dog's desire to escape, but not always.
2. They are a working breed and need to work. This is very, very true. They need a constructive outlet for their energy (physical and mental energy) or they will create their own fun by destroying your everything, barking, and unruly uncontrollable behavior.
You could walk a husky 6 hours a day and it wouldn't be enough because they need to run. Running is important to them. Before Kaytu, Denali and I would go on bike rides several times a week (she doesn't pull much) and I also started her in agility when she was about 8 months old. We went to the beach once a week for a couple hours where she would run, dig, and play. When she was about 6 months old we started going to the dog park almost every day except on weekends and would stay for 1-2 hours. Now with Kaytu, I take Kaytu for her own bike ride for ~5 miles a couple times per week. I take her by herself because Denali can't keep up with her. Kaytu is insanely fast and pulls hard. It's a great workout for her. I bike with both dogs to and from the dog park almost every day which is 3 miles round trip, and we spend 1-2 hours at the park. No beach days anymore because it's not fenced in and Kaytu can't be offleash there. I still do agility with Denali and plan to start soon with Kaytu. The point is, if you have a Siberian husky, you must keep them busy. Siberians are known to be destructive when they get bored.
3. They shed.
In colder climates they may not shed as much, but they do shed. They also blow their coat twice a year. That means every last strand of fluffy, cottony softness comes out. It takes about 2 months or so. 2 months of clumps of hair falling out. A total 4 months of the year per dog. At least 1/3 of the time.
If you brush every day, your fur pile will look like this.
Your dryer lint sheet will look like this.
A very important bit of information is that you must NEVER SHAVE YOUR HUSKY except as required for medical reasons. Their body is designed to regulate their body temperature with all that fur on them. If you shave them, they are actually more at risk of a heat stroke. The fur is insulation against both cold and heat, but more so with cold so you do need to be careful in heat. Don't take them outside in the middle of a hot day. If they need to be left outside, have plenty of water available or even a kiddie pool with a couple inches of water in it for the dog to lay in.
4. Separation anxiety (or maybe it's just boredom).
Huskies commonly have separation anxiety. When you leave, they freak out. They whine, the howl, they bark, they find a shirt or sock of yours and cuddle with it. They may be so frantic that they injure themselves trying to escape from a crate. They may rip the trim off from around a door keeping them in a certain room. They may leave claw marks in your walls or doors trying to get out. Most huskies do better in a crate when you leave. I strongly suggest you have a crate to keep the dog safe and keep your stuff safe while you can't be supervising. Crates also are a safe place where the dog feels secure meaning that whining and howling should be a minimum.
Don't confuse anxiety with boredom. Going to the bank, be gone for 15 minutes, come back and your sofa is shredded. Take a shower, not paying attention for 10 minutes, dog eats 4 socks and has a potentially life-threatening condition. These are more likely born of boredom more than anxiety, though anxiety may play a role as well if the dog is panicking when you leave. Crate when you can't be watching! As I said, they are easily bored and will make their own fun by ruining your everything. If your dog has severe separation anxiety you will likely need a trainer to help you desensitize the dog and offer tips about how to keep the dog calm and busy while you are gone. Chews like bully sticks are a good option. Toys that dispense treats are good too.
5. Noise.
Huskies are noise makers. They rooo and wooo and oowwraahooaaaooo! They bark, they howl, they "talk," they growl, they groan, they oof, and they woof. Some make much more noise than others. Neighbors probably won't appreciate a dog howling and whining and barking all day. Youtube is full of huskies talking and howling. It's cute when it lasts a minute. It's cute when that youtube-famous husky Mishka says "I love you" or "bye bye". It's not cute when can't get them to shut up and they whine or howl nonstop. Most huskies I've encountered, including my own two, are generally very quiet. When they start getting excited they whine and "talk". When they play they are growly and bark a lot- don't confuse that with aggression, it's usually not. Look at the body language. If they are loose and floppy and giving play bows then it's fine. If they are stiff and head high with chest out, that might be aggression about to explode and it's time to step in and distract your dog for a minute to bring their excitement level down a notch.
6. They are natural diggers.
I taught Denali to dig in sand and dirt, but not to dig in the grass. Kaytu doesn't dig except to try to escape. I don't leave the dogs outside unattended (except in the dog run which I don't care if it gets dug in) so they don't have a chance to rip up the yard. I encourage them to dig in the dirt at the dog park or the sand at the beach. Digging is a very natural behavior for all dogs but huskies are prone to it as they are programmed to dig down into snow to make a bed. They may also dig because they are hot. Digging down a couple inches exposes cool dirt to lay on. If your dog is digging off just the top layer of ground then this is likely the reason for digging. Another common reason for digging is because of critters like voles or moles. Until you get rid of the critters, the digging will continue. If your dog is a real true digger, it can be a great idea to provide a designated digging area. Make a square of 2x4 boards and fill it with sand or dirt. Encourage the dog to dig there by burying toys and large treats. Having a designated area will stop the dog from digging in other areas.
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