Training for Rescues

[Lovely Luna]

Hello All!

Luna, our beautiful Husky girl, rescued us back in July and has been a wonderful addition to our family. She is approximately 20 months old, extremely sweet natured, and generally a great little girl. She came to us already potty trained, and has fairly good manners in general. I am wondering tho if there are resources for training a "young" dog instead of a puppy, as I have found tons of reading for training puppies.

She knows not to beg, she sits on command most of the time, and sits before walks to get her leash on, and before eating. She still pulls when on leash tho, and has recently begun to chew up things in the house. We've gotten plenty of chew toys for her, but she still finds other things to chew, like the furniture. I've read about spraying with something dogs don't like, but not sure that is feasible for furniture. I don't catch her in the act so cannot correct her that way. Short of keeping her out of the living room when we're not home, are there any recommendations on how to train her not to chew up the house?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Dunc]

I think you'll find most on here will tell you much the same crate her,IMO its better for you and more important its better for her.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

With regards to training for young dogs not puppies, you might find somewhere local that will run a basic obedience course for all ages. Nukka was too old by two weeks to join the local puppy class when it started so I enrolled her in the basic obedience and although alot of the stuff is what I've been working on from the moment we got her it still helps to validate what your teaching and re-focus you on the things you'd given up on along with adding some new skills that you didnt think of, we started working on heel work and have now (with the help of cocktail sausages) got Nukka walking quiet nicely without pulling... most of the time! Lol! And the chewing part cant really add anything to what Duncs already advised, its safest for her so she doesnt get into anything that could hurt her while your not there and although it takes the patients of a saint to train some dogs to stay quiet and good in the crate its worth it for the peice of mind!

[Cathy]

My boy (also 20 months and adopted as an "older" youngster in April) will chew furniture (or, rather, eat another entire couch) if not crated when I'm not home. The couch he ate? He was alone for 45 minutes!

He came to us with similar basic manners as your Luna. I'm really not experienced enough to give any advice on training other than to say that our boy has responed well to consistency. He also pulls on walks; right now, he seems to be responding to advice I found on here. (I'll let that person respond -- but it's the method in which, if the dog pulls, you stop so they learn that pulling doesn't get them to where they are trying to go.) I also use a training collar about every third day, which he does well with, but our goal is to get him to walk fine on his flat collar.

Good luck with Luna -- if that's your girl in your avatar, she's just beautiful!

[Mazz]

Zoya was not a rescue, and we of course were able to train her during her puppy stage. However, we've also trained her all the way through. She is currently 17 months old.

It's not really much different, training a young Husky vs. training a puppy. In fact, we find it easier, because Zoya now responds to her name being called, while when a puppy, we had to use other attention grabing techniques. Once she was about six months old, we would have her sit while placing her food bowl. If she moved toward the bowl, we would retract it. Within a few minutes, she learned to sit while placing her food bowl, and not to move toward that food bowl, until we gave the signal it's OK. We did the same with the water bowl. Huskies are very intellegent animals. It's true that they have an easily diverted attention span. So maintaining a level of understanding, being consistent, and not becoming frustrated during the training process, are important to achieve success.

A crate is your friend, and your dog's friend. At least it should be. Getting a dog acclamated to a crate, can sometimes be challenging. Don't force them into the crate, don't punish them using the crate. We are fortunate to have a kennel off the laundry room. That's where Zoya spends her time when we have to leave. Our last Husky, Elke, tore apart a recliner once. It did not take her long, and she did it while we were sleeping at night. I'd agree with Dunc, get a crate, for your sake and for the sake of your Husky.

We have found that exercising a Husky, making sure they are well-exercised, will calm them down (until they nap or sleep it off, then they are back at it again). Zoya is outside quite a bit, running and play fiting with Koda. When we bring her in, she is fairly calm, mainly because she is tired. She has never chewed a shoe, a stick of furniture, or anything that was not hers. Why? I don't know. We had a lot of toys for her when she was a puppy, we played with her using those toys constantly, and she continues today, with some of those same toys.

[Shrimpo]

Well we have found something that works well for chewing

Follow the below.

Get a Rolled up newspaper.

This is not to hit the dog with..ever...

Go tot the object that the dog is chewing (Chair), make sure they are near you, but don't drag them to it..or it wont work..

Then Knock 10 bells out of the object (chair), shout, scream at it,swear at it, and mean it, make sure the dog can see you doing this..

Now dogs don't like trouble, and they will see you having a go at the object (chair) and will think, stay away from that as it's trouble.

Yes it sounds mad, but works.

Give it a go and see what happens, but don't over do it, and if it's your front door, make sure no one is watching you, as they will think you mad.

Shrimpo

[Bec]

LOL Shrimpo that's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard, hehe.

A couple of things;

- it could make the dog see you as an unstable leader. A good leader doesn't show extreme aggression like that, they remain cool calm and level headed.

- considering this is a rescue dog and one of an unknown background, it could easily frighten the dog and encourage them to be scared of you, or the object you are 'knocking 10 bells out of'

- it could simply teach the dog not to go near the lounge when you are around

JMO

Lovely Luna, crating could be an option but it still doesn't teach the dog not to bite/chew the items she's getting stuck in to, and it may not address the actual problem (the reason why she chews things up).

What training have you done with her? How much exercise does she get? Destructiveness is usually a sign of boredom.

[Shrimpo]

LOL Shrimpo that's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard, hehe.

A couple of things;

- it could make the dog see you as an unstable leader. A good leader doesn't show extreme aggression like that, they remain cool calm and level headed.

- considering this is a rescue dog and one of an unknown background, it could easily frighten the dog and encourage them to be scared of you, or the object you are 'knocking 10 bells out of'

- it could simply teach the dog not to go near the lounge when you are around

JMO

Lovely Luna, crating could be an option but it still doesn't teach the dog not to bite/chew the items she's getting stuck in to, and it may not address the actual problem (the reason why she chews things up).

What training have you done with her? How much exercise does she get? Destructiveness is usually a sign of boredom.

Bec

Yes it does sound a bit funny, but have been training dogs now for some 8 years and the guy who used to run the club was a well respected animal Behaviourist, this was one of his little secrets, that he passed on to us. I have to say of all the people we have told to try this over the years, most say it works. Yes I agree if the dog is very nervous then this probably would not work, remember dogs live in the now, so although you may show a bit of "loopy" while doing this, I don't thinks they will see this as a normal thing, that is probably why it works, they don't see you act like this all the time (well hope not ) and don't like it, so stay clear of the object.

Yes we have not seen the dog, or know its history fully, it is difficult to do this from a PC, you can try lots of other things to stop chewing like bad tasting spays on them (Chilly Peppers, Tabasco), if you do try the above I would suggest you see what the reaction is first time, if it has a negative effect, then you will have to try something different.

I have just suggested one thing that I know has worked for many people, as chewing tends to happen when you are not around, either due to boredom or worry, it is very difficult to correct sometimes, as you can not tell the dog off, some hours after the event, they will just think when you come in, (see the destruction) and have a go at them, that is what happens every time you come in.

As with all correction, you need to see how it goes, and the results, yep don't make it worse or give yourself a new problem.

And a cage will work, as all they have in the cage is what you give them, but not everybody has a cage, or the space for one.

If it's not for you or your pet, then OK.

Just a bit of advise I thought I would pass on if you want to try it.

Shrimpo