Skillfulmmd Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Hello, first of all id just like to say great site you guys got here and ive seen lots of nice huskys Now onto business, I have a 1 year old male alaskan malamute husky named blizzard. I've had him for 5 months now but he just isn't getting any better training wise. I Brought him from a woman in the town next to mine and he was very badly treated he never had proper food and he had cuts just above his elbow where he had to sleep on concrete all the time. When I got him home he was great temperament wise even more so with my other dog storm, but he had the runs and his stomach was very bad for around a week. I decided to put him on Wag worker but he didn't agree with that either so I spent a couple of hours looking around and found a dog food company named oscars they deliver your food straight to your door and the food was very good and highly recommended as its wheat gluten free. Blizzard loves this food and scoffs it down so quick you wouldn't even think I feed him, hes filled out very nicely and is coming on great wait wise. But his main problem with food is snatching and stealing it I have two younger brothers and because they leave there food on the sofa or the kitchen work top he jumps up and eats it with out a seconded thought ive tried telling him off and locking him out for about 5 minuets when he does it but it dosent seem to be making any difference. And last but not least is his problem whilst going out for a walk, He is just perfect on the lead he will walk at your pace and will never pull an inch in fact i can out my hand in my pocket in confidence that he wont tug my arm off. But the minute i take the lead off he is like a thing possed he wont listen to me when off the lead and if he sees another dog he will run straight over to them to check them out. Now don't get me wrong I love it when he is socialising but other dogs are scarred of him and growl at him as they seem to fear him. When this happens he goes straight on the attack and he could easily tear another dog to shreds. I really love husky and getting one has been my dream for ages but I don't want to have a bad dog and take away from some of the quality time we could have, so if you got any hints tips or training guides id be very great full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Hi Mark...welcome to the Pack !! Blizzard is gorgeous, well done on taking him on poor thing it's a good job you got him out when you did! Not got much advice on the food snatching as my boys do this - they know they're not supposed to though as soon as my back is turned they counter surf lolI think it's a husky / mal thing - maybe have a word with your brothers, sounds like it's them that need training lol - i'm still trying to train my stepdaughter without success LOL Ok, now i'm jealous - how did you train him to walk nicely on leash LOL my boys take ME for a walk lol and if we see another dog i get dragged over for a butt sniffing session lol Look forward to getting to know you and hopefully seeing you at one of our meet ups - we're also having a camping trip in October to celebrate the site's first birthday if you want to come you're definitely more than welcome ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skillfulmmd Posted September 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Thank's so much for the fast reply It's great to see such an active admin. And as far as walking goes he was just like that when I got him I couldn't have asked for a better behaved lead dog. And id love to go on the trip but it depends where you go because i live so far south it's hard to get anywhere really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 First of all welcome to the site, and as Sarah said good on you for taking him in. With the food thing search for BARF on this site there are lots of really good threads on it, that's what I feed my dogs on and they lurve it. The food snatching, have you tried the 'leave it' approach. Have a treat in your hand, show it to your dog then with two fingers push his nose away and say 'leave it'. If he does then give him another treat (different to the one in your hand). Keep on doing this until you can eventually place the treat on the floor in front of your dog and tell him to leave, again if he does give him the other treat. Once mastered you could try when he goes for food on the worktops etc. As for the offlead walking, well welcome to the world of Huskies:wave::wave: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 added to rep smithy The camping trip is near cannock chase - midlands some members are coming up on the train and we're giving them a lift so can sort something out for you as well if you'd like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ade hill Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 best advice i can give you mate, is simply not to let him off the lead, if you want him to run a bit, buy a long leash, like a horse lunge rein, will give you the chance to let him run without him escaping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skillfulmmd Posted September 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Ok well when are you doing the trip I think it would be good fun but I won't know anyone lol. And he is good with treats he does paw sniffies and take it gently which is all trained to perfection but other than that he will wait for me to turn my back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 oh don't worry lol i haven't met half the people that are going and some that are going have never met anyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 hi welcome to the site gorgeous dog u have! i havent got much advice bout ur problems except the offleash one which was answered by ade brilliantly - i wud get a long lead what if one day he sees a rabbit or sumthing n runs off after it ignoring ur commands then hes gone its quite a well known fact that without bein trained a reliable recall they just wont listen - tho a recall isnt 100 % effective its better than no recall at all - i dropped my boys lead 1 day n he just shot off if he hadnt ov stopped 2 sniff a bush i dont think i wud ov got him bk so what i have for when i take him to a feild near my house is a 50ft lead that way he gets the freedom without bein able 2 run away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fran Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Hi nice Mal. i know mals have more recall then sibs but I would also never let them off lesh. I bought a walking belt and long lead which frees up your hands and gives the dogs some freedome to rome but I still have control. it great for long runs!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinitykate Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Welcome to the pack! First off, Blizzard is beautiful and I'm terribly jealous that he walks so well on leash. God bless Finn, but she has to sniff every damned thing, and still wants to tackle other dogs to greet and play with them. As for "off leash" it would be in your best interest to only attempt this in fenced and secure areas. Huskies are notorious escape artists. They'll run off and be 5 miles gone before they realize you're not with them. I wouldn't trust any dog that I wasn't 100% confident in the recall of off leash, and I don't think I'll ever trust my husky off hers. I would hate to see you lose him. Finn has a long lunge line for the park so that she can play and greet the other pups, and she doesn't even notice she has it on. I'm comfortable enough with the long line that I can drop it, and let it trail behind, but keep in mind that every time you tell him to "COME" and he doesn't, he learns that he can ignore your commands, and that can cause the ignoring behavior to escalate. Please do keep us updated. This group has a wealth of knowledge to share Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyries Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 hi mark and welcome to the site hope u can make some of the meets xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damrod Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Never trust a Husky off a leash. Always, have a short lead or long lead for him to run on or a securely fenced area. You can always do recall training in a hallway with all the doors closed, so that there are no distractions and slowly move outside with a lead for longer distance training. Gotta teach the kids to not leave their food lying around. Counter surfing can be stopped with mouse traps upside down on the counter, so when he disturbs them they make that popping sound. Princess is still kinda bad at that. Punishment after the fact does not work too well on dogs. Here are some sites: http://www.gopetsamerica.com/training/teaching-chasing-recall.aspx http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vmth/small_animal/behavior/pdfs/Recall%20Training%20in%20Dogs.pdf http://www.dogskool.com/stealing.html Of course, never ever give up!!!!! And a tired dog is a well behaved dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqwidge Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Hello and welcome to the pack, Blizzard is gorgeous! We have the same problem with Eika with snatching food, she takes cheese from our 18 month old without a second thought (straight out of his hand)...while we're sitting with him, and i have no idea how to stop it, we've tried leave it etc etc, doesn't work! tried yelling, being calm, and when he eats breakfast etc she is tied up to the door in the kitchen, or she would steal the food from his highchair..... Um...i don't know the answer, sorry, but thought i would let you know you're not alone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeus Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Hello welcome to the forum! The people on here are fantastic at giving advice so keep up the postings. My advice for the food snatching - sorry to say but I don't think you can ever train a dog not to have an opportunist food snatch!! Therefore we simply just don't give our dog the opportunity. When we first got Zeus he would sit and stare at our plates, even though he'd just scoffed his own tea. We trained him out of this by firm NO's and tellings off. But I know for a fact if I left a bit of chicken on the side he simply woulnt be able to resist.:58: So my advice - don't leave food out! If you want to keep leftovers, box them up straight away, and if it's for the bin, put it in the bin straight away! And as for the walking... :015: wow - good on the lead! Must be the Mal in him!! lol. Off lead - be careful! Even if you know your dog is only playing, other owners can get frightened / annoyed if they see your dog bounding towards them. As above, the only thing you can do is give him a long lead for the park and try taking him to enclosed areas. My local park has a dog exercise area which is great - all dogs free to run around off lead, and if anyone can't handle it, they leave! If your park doesnt have this, try an enclosed tennis court or a walled field. Good luck! Nice pic of Blizzard - he's very cute Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bec Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Blizzard loves this food and scoffs it down so quick you wouldn't even think I feed him, hes filled out very nicely and is coming on great wait wise. But his main problem with food is snatching and stealing it I have two younger brothers and because they leave there food on the sofa or the kitchen work top he jumps up and eats it with out a seconded thought ive tried telling him off and locking him out for about 5 minuets when he does it but it dosent seem to be making any difference. What sort of training do you do with him? You could get him to a point where he won't touch food when you have him in a stay, or when you are in the room, but really - how long would you expect him to leave food alone when no one is there to supervise him? Even my dogs, who will stay in a sit when I throw food on the floor next to them, if left to their own devices with food in their reach I don't expect to come back to the food still there. The best thing you can do immediately is to do lots of training with him so you can pre empt him if you can him trying to get food, but also to make sure food is always out of his reach. The more he jumps up on the counter and gets food the more he will be rewarded for doing it. Your brothers are going to have to learn to keep food out of the reach of the dog. And last but not least is his problem whilst going out for a walk, He is just perfect on the lead he will walk at your pace and will never pull an inch in fact i can out my hand in my pocket in confidence that he wont tug my arm off. But the minute i take the lead off he is like a thing possed he wont listen to me when off the lead and if he sees another dog he will run straight over to them to check them out. Now don't get me wrong I love it when he is socialising but other dogs are scarred of him and growl at him as they seem to fear him. When this happens he goes straight on the attack and he could easily tear another dog to shreds. You've bought a breed that is known for their unreliability off leash. This can be worked on with training, but you will have to put a lot of time, training and commitment into getting him reliable off leash. For now I'd be keeping him on a long/lunge line so you can reel him back in. Focus on teaching him a recall command. And if he attacks other dogs, keep him away from them. If they are scared of him it will be because of his body language and the way he behaves around them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wadsworth Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 We have the same problem with our dog stealing food/dishcloths/food from the birdtable etc. She knows its wrong but takes it anyway. So I may try the mousetraps.... The only problem we have with her now is that she keeps knocking mum over (shes 83) and we have tried turning our back on her and walking away, but she runs and leaps at her back. Also when mum is sitting down, pup will keep trying to jump on her and tries to take her hand. It takes an while but they do get there eventually, I think you have done a wonderful job with Blizzard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephona Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Hello and welcome here! Huskies are really unreliable off-lead, so yep, the best solution is to buy a long lead. I have a 26 ft flexi lead and if I want to let him be free, I either take him to the enclosed dog park or on the long lead. When we go to obedience, there is a really large field that is enclosed and we practiced recall there and even with treats, at times he just chose to look somewhere else instead of coming back, he simply wouldn't come. We live in an apartment and one day I left him get out on the main hall as I was greeting somebody who had just came from the elevator and the second I took my eyes off him he ran down the stairs and managed to go get 2 floors below us. He eventually came after we called him like 6 times. It was all inside our block, so nothing could have really happened, but you can't really trust them. Kremlin always snatches food if he gets the chance. We did what Smithy mentioned and it worked for stopping him steal stuff when we are there, but if he gets around food when nobody is watching, he will jump on it right away. Good luck though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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