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Husky wont 'Come'


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Just found the forum, looks to be the Goods! :)

Im the owner of a Siberian Husky, He's about 1.5 year old atm

He's a very well behaved dog, Does the whole Sit, Shake and drop thing. Has lots of energy! and plays with other dogs outside 'his' territory very well.

But once i let him off his lead in a public place, He just kinda runs off and wont Come on my command (or even ecknowledge im there). The only way ive basically found to get him back is to jump in the car, and drive up beside him.

Any tips/advice/ links?

Ive tried for a while to just reward him with treats, He isnt so bad in the backyard, I just think the excitement of being free, overrides him.

Cheers.

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that is one of the reasons you dont let huskies off lead!

they are very stubborn and will ignore you

the few times that mine have slipped their collars they have run circles around me and ran off!!!!

i find that saying BYE THEN and walking away or just watching them for 5/10 mins and slowly approaching them works

huskies are intelligent and live to serve themselves so when you let them off and want them to come to you

look at their eyes......they are silently saying 'jog on m8 im free!!!'

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LOL +1 Kells for the funniest description ever of not letting a husky off lead!

Yep agree with her tho.. you can train recall till your blue in the face but if theres something more interesting then their gone, thats how so many end up in rescue centres as strays coz they've run off and either not wanted to go home or couldnt find their way back.

Really wouldnt risk it.... get yourself and you dog a flexi lead or a really long (50ft) training lead.. that way he can still have a run and play but when its time to go you can just reel him back in! ;)

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Hi and welcome to the forum. A husky off lead is something not many people would even consider. They are extremely prey driven and if they latch onto something there is no way they will come back when you call - as Kelly said, they live to serve themselves :) (well said Kelly). They are sooo stubborn :( I have found with Ozzy that when we call he will first look to see what is in it for him - and 90% of the time he will be more interested in what HE is doing, and will carry on as if we didn't even exist, Micah on the other hand will always come to us when we call, but that is not to say she will stand still while we put her on a lead. I would definitely not trust mine off lead in an open or public area - it is just not worth the risk of them running off and being injured or lost.

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only advice i can offer is dont let him off - did you research the breed? huskies are notorius for running off and 'going deaf' when free then its only a matter of time before you loose them or worse

like kelly said get a flezi lead (the extra large 1s) or a 50ft / 100ft lead (off ebay) to let them run around MUCH safer that way :)

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But once i let him off his lead in a public place, He just kinda runs off and wont Come on my command (or even ecknowledge im there).

That is the essence of a Siberian Husky. These dogs have been bred for at least 3000 years (although current research indicates that sled dogs have been used in Siberia for at least 10,000 years) to be sled dogs - to run. They were also bred to be strongwilled and intelligent enough to make their own decisions. Many mushers will tell you that their best lead dogs sometimes ignore a command because they know it is wrong and will lead to danger. In addition, they have an incredibly high prey drive - again the result of their Siberian origins and the fact that during the summer they were not fed by their Chukchi owners, but left to hunt for their own food. Given all this, you have a dog which is hardwired to run and hunt. When you are training it to recall, you are going against all its natural instincts. That isn't to say you shouldn't try - simply that with huskies, such training can never be 100% reliable.

Mick

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i may sound bad saying don't let him off the lead....... i have let one of mine (quinn) off the lead just lately and he does run around like a divvy but its in the woods or fields where i live away from roads, but he has run after birds that have been disturbed by him and has come straight back to us only because we have his 2 girlfriends on leads with us and we have to say bye to get him to come.. i would be really careful as i am with mine :rolleyes:

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embry's the same way, as will be most huskies.

he's graduated two obedience classes, and did wonderful recalls in class, but when we let him offlead at our enclosed dog park he definitely doesn't stick by me! we learned that clicker training and cheese cubes work great to train with :D

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A good thing to remember is:

There are 2 types of husky owner, Happy ones and ones that are frantically searching for their lost dogs.

Definitely not worth letting off unless your in a secure purpose made dog park. As Mick has said recall training will never be 100% with this breed. Though there are some that will tell you that they will come back, and in my honest opinion it's not worth listening to those people. If you do, you risk losing your dog at best, at worst you risk your dog getting killed. Sounds melodramatic but I've heard many a story, where their dog was run over because it was let off lead.

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First things first. If you want to have an off-leash husky, you need to build his/her respect on you first.

You need to build the "i trust myself he won't run" afterwards too.

Huskies are intelligent as you may have known now :P

But you have a chance to walk them off leash. they just have to respect you.

In my pack here at the Philippines, we have 6 huskies, the rest are chows, chihuahua, pitbulls, canines, shitzu, yorkshires and etc etc.

Three out of six huskies can walk off leash. Mine still can't because I haven't been able to build his respect because mine is still recovering from the NDV shot.

But I managed to walk Obi off leash for 10 secs. I'm still not confident because he's still a pup.

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I'll be chiming in here. I have been training Denali off leash for a little over a month now. I am not an expert by any means but these are my thoughts. About two months ago Denali slipped out of his collar and starting running I panicked and ran after him, then I stopped and called him and he came back to me, I was pretty upset. Fast forward I went with my friend on a golf course that's right in his backyard, he has a Doberman and a bulldog. He has e-collars on his dogs and swear by it, we put one on Denali and didn't even use it, he stayed close and had decent recall. I went ahead and purchased my own collar and have been utilizing it per the training manual. Denali is about 7 months now, I now can walk him off leash on my own in the golf course or in the back of a huge parking lot. I think it's a combination of a few things, the collar , him trusting me, I constantly praise him and treat him out there. I am making him retrieve sticks and balls, I don't know maybe he feels like he had a purpose or he likes working like that, but he has came into his own. If he sees another dog now he sits down on his own and doesn't even think of moving. I am comfortable and do not act nervous I'm sure if a squirrel ran out he would chase it, but he's a dog. When he runs with other dogs I can call him back granted it takes a few times he comes for me. Look I was very skeptical at first and thought it wasn't a good idea but I'm starting to build alot of trust into him and I think he is doing the same. Every time I call him he comes,back. Off leash he walks right next to me I constantly praise him, mentally I want him to know I'm the alpha I protect him , praise him and challenge his mind. Give your dogs a chance there a great breed and love learning about them.

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It's not that he's ignoring you...

This breed is notorious for it's off lead recall or lack there of...

read more...there are some good suggestions here...but ultimately a husky isn't going to be an off lead dog ever

You'll have that one in a thousand person who has a husky with amazing recall...but you'll overlook that they're one in a thousand entirely. Our pup whose close to age with yours...has NO recall when he's off lead...even if I have his favorite treats. Read more...research more...and continue to talk with other husky owners...it's not you hun...I promise

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I can't think of any dogs who come built with a reliable recall. Any dog regardless of breed needs to be trained how to recall. The problem the OP has is a common one we see in all breeds and types of dogs, training a reliable recall is usually hard work no matter what kind of dog you have. You can't just let a dog off leash and expect them to recall. You have to put the effort in first, know what you are doing, introduce distraction gradually and NEVER call your dog if you know there is a chance they won't come - because all that does is reinforce to them that the recall command can be ignored. I see a lot of people say their Sibes blow them off whenever they try to recall them but not one of them has done any dedicated reliable recall training. No surprise then that their dogs don't recall. Even if you will never let your dog off leash in an unfenced area - that is no reason not to train as reliable a recall as you can, because one day it can save your dogs life.

When you have a highly prey driven dog like some Siberians, training a recall can either be hard or easy depending on the method you use. IMO, the higher the prey drive, the better a recall you can get if you use the right methods ;)

....back in my box now :)

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Bec, Those correct training methods would be keeping a mouse in your pocket?laugh.gif

Milla has very reliable recall, in the dog park and in the yard, which are the only places she's off leash. We have an Invisible Fence which she doesn't yet trust--or rather, she doesn't trust a human to put a leash on her and drag her to a specific spot in the yard because she assumes she'll get a correction. She's fine on her own in the yard.

No "corrections" at the dog park so she runs free and wrestles and chases her friends. If she's resting and nothing else interesting is happening, she comes everytime I call. But if she actively playing or even if her friends are only nearby, forget about it!

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Bec' date=' Those correct training methods would be keeping a mouse in your pocket?[img']http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif

LOL no, but the way we train prey driven dogs is to teach them that you have the best prey item in your hand (generally a tug of some description) and that you are the best source of drive satisfaction.

Milla has very reliable recall, in the dog park and in the yard, which are the only places she's off leash. We have an Invisible Fence which she doesn't yet trust--or rather, she doesn't trust a human to put a leash on her and drag her to a specific spot in the yard because she assumes she'll get a correction. She's fine on her own in the yard.

No "corrections" at the dog park so she runs free and wrestles and chases her friends. If she's resting and nothing else interesting is happening, she comes everytime I call. But if she actively playing or even if her friends are only nearby, forget about it!

That's a pretty common problem that has less to do with her being a husky and more to do with the value she has developed for playing with other dogs.

Out of 10, with one being the lowest value and ten being most exciting thing ever, where do you think she rates playing with other dogs?

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Yesterday (when inside of course) I called Glala and to my surprise she actually came. I praised her and she immediately ran away :lol:

Dana is pretty good off-leash though. I don't do that much because I think it's unfair for Glala, who can't be trusted off-leash. Dana doesn't always immediately come when I call her, but she'll come eventually as long as I don't walk to her direction. No matter what happens, she always seems to make sure she can she us and won't go any further (and no, she's not a pup, she's already 8 years old). Sort off a 'tamed' husky I guess :rolleyes:

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I see a lot of people say their Sibes blow them off whenever they try to recall them but not one of them has done any dedicated reliable recall training. No surprise then that their dogs don't recall.

Totally agree! My opinion is that if more people tried recall as they would with any other breed, then they would find that alot of their dogs ARE actually capable of it. Rather than being lazy and saying " you can't let these dogs off the lead" don't get me wrong I'm fully aware that this is not the case for everyone, however I think people do give upthe recall training far to easily!

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Totally agree! My opinion is that if more people tried recall as they would with any other breed, then they would find that alot of their dogs ARE actually capable of it. Rather than being lazy and saying " you can't let these dogs off the lead" don't get me wrong I'm fully aware that this is not the case for everyone, however I think people do give upthe recall training far to easily!

I agree, Timbaboy. Many of the recall problems people have mentioned even within this thread are training problems not breed problems. That's not to say everyone could easily achieve a 100% reliable recall with their dog, but surely we all want to aim for as reliable a recall as possible even if we don't intentionally let our dogs off leash when it's not fenced. You never know when you might need to use a recall in an emergency. It's easy to say "oh my dog can't recall because of its breed" but I think in some instances, people use the breed as a reason why they shouldn't even try to train a reliable recall. Fair enough not to let your husky off leash if you are uncomfortable about it, but sometimes I think all these 'never let them off leash' warnings become an excuse for people not to bother training a recall.

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