CourtneyLynn04 Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Hello! We are new Husky owners, and our cute Kiana is now 5 1/2 months old. The vet said she is entering adolescence, and it's obvious. She knows basic commands from puppy school and is in advanced training, but she only minds when we have treats. We practice training her every night, but when she is not in a "training session," she will ignore us. For example, she loves to grab shoes, blankets, couch pillows, etc and dash around the house. She no longer responds when we say "NO! Drop it!" and thinks it's a game. We will even give her short "time outs" in the bathroom after she misbehaves and make her do some commands before she returns, but she goes right back to it when she's done. Sometimes she nips at our feet and hands when she is frustrated and wants our attention or when she doesn't want to follow a command. She challenges us every day. Kiana gets two 30-60 min walks a day and some playtime in the evening. Any suggestions for curbing this bratty behavior? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Ouch, welcome to the dreaded teenage stage. Don't worry, they only last half a year or so! So first off welcome to Husky-Owners I'm not the best person to answer to this question, but I know who is. I remember Emily had similar problem with her husky Chula... so I'll see if I can tag her into this post Meanwhile, I can only say be firm and reinforce the house rules. Not much help, I know... But that's basically the only thing you can do.. EDIT okay so I still can't tag sorry Courtney... can anybody else tag Emily? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtneyLynn04 Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Thanks for the welcome and advice! Year and a half? Oh boy! Good thing she's cute... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mydiamond Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Teenage stage in humans last for six years theoretically as for the "grab the blanket and run with it" thing, if you haven't, I think it'd help (a bit) if you use a low-toned, calm voice to say "no". And most importantly never ever chase her that'd just add even more fun into the game just walk slowly in the hope that she'd stop and turn around to see why aren't you chasing her about the "I will only listen if you have treats" thing, maybe you can try to keep a piece of treat in your pockets and casually give the dog a command she loves to perform the most. In my case, it's 'sit'. When the dog sits on command, surprise her with the treat. Even in training sessions, try to hide the treat in a non-transparent jar or something. That way she'd learn to perform tricks without needing to see a treat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 have tagged her for you it only lasted about 6 months with my girl ,. we couldnt leave ANYTHING around she had to be constantly supervised and also crated when we went out , stick to your guns , reinforce eveything and dont let her get away with anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebasCbass Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I am going through the same thing right now. It takes a lot of patience and consistency when training them. Keep strong and good luck, we all need it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chula Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Aw! I remember this stage! Almost like it was this morning...oh wait, it WAS! She doesn't do the steal and run thing as much as she used to, but she is still a little brat on occasion, especially on walks when she wants to go faster so she bites at the leash. She was a downright beast on the walk this morning, it was so icy and I was terrified of falling and she was running in circles jumping in the air and biting at her leash, so we went home. She has mostly grown out of the nipping/biting at hands and feet stuff, but it took a lot of consistency. I would keep a short leash on her (like Lupine's Training Tab) when she was being bratty, and any time she started to bite or jump, I would hold it and make her lay down until she was calm. Sometimes this would take AGES! We also would put bitter apple on our hands, and she knew that when the bitter apple bottle was visible that meant that finger chomping was going to taste bad. We also had issues with her outside where she gets so wound up that she comes flying through the air trying to tackle you and jumping and pulling on clothes or nipping at our hands trying to get us to play chase. This has almost entirely stopped, although I must admit that the way it stopped wasn't necessarily ideal, but she would not respond to being ignored, she'd just bite harder. So once when I was out in the yard trying to clean things up, she was jumping and nipping like a wild thing and I would stop and try to ignore her, but she'd keep at it. At one point she came charging for me and I instinctively put my knee up to protect myself from my manic flying husky and she crashed into it HARD and landed on her back. She walked it off but I think it probably didn't feel good. But she doesn't come flying at me anymore... Honestly, we also upped her exercise from regular walks to things that get her more tired (like biking and running, but we could do that until she was about a year), and gave her the opportunity to play with other dogs more. Dogs are great at teaching other dogs boundaries! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatipu Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Don't chase her when she takes things. Like you said, she responds well to treats. I take this as a positive, at least during this time. When she takes an item, I usually use a container filled with treats and shake it. Mine usually knows that means she's going to get a treat. When she comes to me she's focused on the treats and will leave the item. I calmly take the item and just praise her for coming to me (No treat) Every once in awhile I will give her a treat so she doesn't get discouraged but you get my drift :L If that doesn't work you can also try this: Put the items that she likes in a secluded room and sit in with her. Everytime she doesn't touch those items, treat her for not taking them. I''m assuming she already knows leave it if she's in advanced class so use that time to re enforce that command. Eventually, you can treat her less and less for not touching/bothering your items. She'll learn that she will get praise and treats for not touching your stuff she shouldn't. Of course with each session that she progresses in, treat her less and less and just give more praise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chula Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Mine started figuring out that if she "took" things, she got treats, so she'd take things on purpose and then bring them to show me she had them. She wouldn't leave them until she got a treat. Look, mom, I have your shoe. What you think about that? Oh really, well what about Dad's shoe? Hmmm...well what about this BLANKET! I bet you want this blanket back! Don't you... Don't you??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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