Walking my husky off the Leash!!

[siberian_wolf]

OMG sid, you have had some v.frightening experiences. Glad you have learnt from them now

+1

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

thnx

[lynnmw1208]

Very interesting thread We have never let Pongo off-lead, alot of it having to do with people telling us never to do it. We have dropped the leash on occasion by accident and he just didn't notice lol. We were lucky because once he snapped the tag clear off his collar in the back on his lead but he came right back to the house. We ALWAYS supervise him while he's outside even at my mom's house with a fenced in backyard. I don't want him digging and getting out. I don't think he seems to be the type of dog to take off and run, but I'd rather not find out. good advice here though!!

[KaylaR13]

IMO its very risky and one that I will never take with my dog. All it takes is one wiff of something they want or something catches their eye and bam they're gone. I value Dakota too much to ever risk him not coming back. I know too many people who lost their beloved pets this way. They can have just as much fun running on a long lead or running in a secure fenced in area. Chances are if he took off once he will do it again and next time you might not be so lucky. I hope everyone's advice helps you.

[ISDW]

Look, i wrote my opinion.It will be nice if you had the ocasion to see my dogs on walks, you would see about what i am talking about. Sure it is dog to dog..not every dog is the same. But please don't try to tell me that I am irresponsible, or i have not many experience, becouse this is not right. I don't want to start a dispute, i just told my opinion and my experience with my dogs.

If you re-read my post you will see that nowhere did I saw you were irresponsible or have not had experience. However, in your original post that is what you implied about those of us who won't let our sibes off lead. I used to take Diesel to obedience classes, he was one of the best dogs there, would do everything he was asked brilliantly. He will come back to me straight away in the field, he is a very, very obedient dog. However, he is a siberian husky (or possible sibe/mal cross) and knowing the breed, I won't trust him anywhere off lead that he could get hurt. My choice.

Best of luck, I hope you never have cause to regret it.

[SnowSpirit]

Best of luck, I hope you never have cause to regret it.

Thank you, you can be sure that i will have no problems with them.

[Bec]

Cardifboi, it's not about the puppy being naughty.

It's about the puppy not being trained properly by you, to recall when you want him to.

A reliable recall is not something that a pup is born with, or just happens out of luck.

If you cannot guarantee that your dog will come back to you 100% reliably do not risk letting him off leash in an uncontained area.

Could you call him off a rabbit that he was chasing?

If the answer is no, don't risk it.

[raindog]

There are two basic breed characteristics which explain why every single Siberian Husky-related organisation IN THE WORLD recommends that Huskies be kept on lead unless in a secure, safe area.

These are:

1. The fact that huskies have a high prey drive; and,

2. The fact that huskies are an extraordinarily intelligent and independent breed.

It is the combination of these two factors which makes off-lead exercise and Siberian Huskies such dangerous bedfellows.

As people have said, Sibe puppies will often be very obedient and well behaved. Then adolescence hits and they become sullen teenagers and all bets are off.

We have owned Sibes for 16 years and started our research into the breed 3 or 4 years before that. During that time we have come across at least one owner each year whose "incredibly obedient Sibe" was killed (on the road, shot by a farmer etc) when on just one occasion and totally "out of character" it suddenly decided without warning to forget its training just the once with tragic results.

Quilla (Dreamcatcher's Misspelt) was such a dog. We sold Quilla as a puppy to a lovely lady who wanted to do obedience and agility with a Siberian Husky. She was aware of the breed's "peculiarities" but thought that, with training (and she was a very experienced and expert trainer) she could achieve what others could not. She trained Quilla to the highest levels in obedience and made a successful start on her agility career. She was the most obedient and well-behaved Sibe that we have ever come across. One day she was at home in her garden when someone inadvertently left the gate open. Quilla started for the gate and her owner called her. For the first and last time in her short life, Quilla ignored an instruction from her owner, ran out of the gate and was killed instantly by a passing car. Why she chose that one occasion to ignore a command, we will never know, but that choice was fatal. Obviously, the circumstances of her tragic death were not related to an on- or off-lead situation, but they do indicate that no matter how obedient your dog, no matter how well-trained (by experts) your dog may be, no matter how strong the bond between owner and dog may be, sometimes it just isn't enough and letting your sibe off-lead in an unenclosed area is always much too much of a risk.

Mick

[Val (Zebedee)]

First let me say there are some excellent posts & pieces of advice on this thread & rep has been duly added along the way!

Myshka was an "off-lead" pup till she was 18 months old, then the prey drive kicked in & she was chased across a field by a bird of prey that was defending it's nest. It took us about 1/2 hr to get her near enough to us to leash her again. Since then, she has broken out of the garden a couple of times & been away in the next village nearly in no time, fortunately for us, across fields & not roads. One time, a farmer caught her & tied her to his fence before calling us - it could have been fatal for Myshka if he'd shot her. Since then, she's been on a retractable lead or free in the enclosed dog park, end of.

Diesel is a rescue, we have been reliably informed by his previous owner he can be walked off lead no problem. Have we tried it? NO CHANCE! He gets walked the same as Myshka. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened.

All this was a BIG learning curve for me after previously owning a very obedient GSD that was only on a lead near roads for safety. He never wandered & used to walk circling us, as if herding us! So this on-lead stuff was an eye-opener for us, but we wouldn't have it any other way ....

[gvegan]

I'll go ahead and throw in my $.02. Aspen is my very first Sibe, but my hunting/hiking partner has owned 8 Sibes throughout his life. He is a dog behaviorist and trainer here in Texas and was also one of those people who thought his Sibes were well trained enough to hike with us off-leash. I had only ever met 3 of his 8 Sibes (the majority of them passed away due to natural causes) but I was a believer in his ability to recall them at ALL times. This was the sole reason for getting a Husky in the first place. I have only ever owned Labs beforehand. No matter how well you think your Sibes are trained, disciplined, or what have you.. instinct is INSTINCT.

What brought both my friend and I to the conclusion to NEVER again let our Huskies off-leash in an unenclosed environment was the death of my friend's eldest and MOST disciplined Sibe, Thundra. We do lots of camping/hiking trips all around Texas and of course bring along our dogs (his 2 Sibes--Tundra/Isis, with my 2 Labs--Tyson/Raider) and hike around with all 4 of them off-leash. One very unfortunate day, we were hiking through Big Bend National Park, which we had done numerous times before. We had seen several lone Coyotes here and there and never thought much of them considering the fact that they are ALL over Texas. They'd usually catch scent of our dogs before our dogs would ever see them and scurry away. Not a big deal. However, on this particular day something was different. Tundra caught scent of, what we found out to be a female Coyote in heat, and then made visual contact with her several yards away. His ears perked, he became intensely focused... and then, POW! off Tundra runs. As soon as Isis saw what Tundra was focused on, she was right there behind him chasing this Coyote. At that instant, my friend began his usual recall tactics... however for the first time that I had ever witnessed, it was to no avail. My Labs being Labs (albeit still hunting dogs) recalled right away when they tried joining in on the chase. So we make our run in the same direction as the Sibes, running at full speed, knowing that Coyotes can be VERY dangerous animals despite their scrawny-like stature. It wasn't even about a 50-yd run when we could hear the sounds of the Sibes fighting/rooing/whelping and what have you. We instantly knew, oh crap, this cannot be good but we figured 2 Sibes vs 1 Coyote... they should be able to hold their own. As we ran over a small hill, we could see off in the distance (maybe another 50-75 yards away) the Sibes and to our astonishment, FOUR Coyotes. It was a very disheartening sight because they were all entangled in an awful fight. At that point I gave my Labs the command to "retrieve" AKA join in with the Sibes to ward off these Coyotes. About 20-30yds from the actual fight, the continuous and threatening barks of my two Labs drove all four Coyotes away and immediately stopped at Tundra's limp body. By the time we got to him, he was already dead. His throat had been ripped clean away from his body and his face completely mangled. Both my friend and I immediately broke out into tears and did not know what to do. Isis was also severly injured with wounds to her face/front legs. It was the most unsettling scene I have ever witnessed. It was also the last time we ever hiked Big Bend, let alone allow for the Sibes to run off-leash.

I know this is a very, very rare mishap and would likely never happen to anyone else who allows their Huskies to run off-leash... but like it has been stated before... it only takes that one time... that .01% chance that your Husky will NOT recall and perhaps get injured... or worse...

Tundra was an old, disciplined Sibe. He was also thought to contain some wolf in him (10-15% at most) and was VERY big. It just goes to show you though that everyone has their stories about off-leashing Sibes, and a lot of them end up with a dead man's best friend. So why risk it?

Sorry about the long story. I'm just one of those people who will always advise against off-leashing Sibes no matter how well you think you have them trained.

[Sarah]

omg George that's awful!! So sorry god that must have broke your heart

Mick, poor Quilla So sad

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

omg george that must ov bin horrible for u and ur friend

added 2 rep tho