Meagan Rox Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 I have a friend who has a husky /lab mix. After doing research, this dog has all the qualities of a husky. My friend had to move in with me after having no where to go because no one will take her with the dog. This dog has destroyed everything she ever owned. Beds, couch, wood floors, and I am told she can't be crated because she gets out of a metal crate, bends the door right up. I took her and the dog in since I was assured the dog does not chew when she was with other dogs. I have two border collies who are very well behaved. The dogs get along great, and the husky is so sweet to me and my boyfriend. Now it's beginning. Started with 6 remotes so far, not the end of the world. Then a toy box ( which my dog also got involved in, which was upsetting). And this week, it's the couch and the molding on our stairs. I know it will just get worse because I have seen what this dog can do. I know part of the problem is, this dog 100% thinks she is the alpha of her pack between her and her mother. Outdoors, this dog will not respond to her name, looks at you and just goes about what she is doing. Never comes. My friend never learned to train her dog, and I don't know if it's good if my boyfriend and I step in to help, since it's not our dog. We had to step in and change her feeding routine. The husky was left a bowl of food on the floor but never touched it. She was very skinny as well. She would watch us feed our dogs and I would need to hold the husky back when she so badly wanted to eat. So we now feed her morning and night and she eats every bite. Im thinking its a good thing that she has a small routine now? My main question is, how do I scold this dog? And should my boyfriend and I really be the ones to even scold her if she's not our dog? I'm reading that you can't be too harsh with them, but my friend has never scolded the dog well enough for 2 years, and now the dog has control. We properly scolded our border collies as babies, and now all they need is a look and hands on the hips, and they know they were bad. We can't even say the word " bad" around them or their ears go down and they know. My apologies for the long post!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Remove the dog from the room when it's being naughty a firm AHAH or NO , how often is the dog walked? Chewing is usually due to being bored Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meagan Rox Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Also, I would like to add that since I have border collies, we of course have a big yard. Our dogs NEED excersise everyday, or they are unhappy. Rain, shine, snow, we take them to play every night after work, and every weekend they go to the dog park. With the husky, we try to get her to engage while playing, but she's off on her own. And we can't bring her to the dog park with our dogs, because she runs away ( it's enclosed) but takes a very long time to get her back. Her owner only brings her out for 15 /20 minutes each morning. I'm thinking she needs more excersise Unfortunately, this happens when we aren't home. We bought doggy cams and she does listen when we say no through the camera and stops so that's good. But we are working so sometimes the damage is already done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 She definitely needs more exercise , she's bored the poor thing , mine go out 3 times a day from 20mins to an hour each walk like you in all weather's lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meagan Rox Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Thank you, thats good to know. I want to get as much information so I can help my friend. The other thing that I'm wondering is an issue is that the husky doesn't have a real place to call her own. She loves being here and is very comfortable, but we live far from everyone we know. On the weekends my friend takes her dog with her so the dog is sleeping at different places every weekend. Sometimes she is left with family for the day ( Condo with no running space) and my friend picks her up, drives back to our home. The husky spends ALOT of time in a car. And Monday is usually when the dog is more active and destructive. Just a thought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Hahahaha, cant be crated. Yes she can, but with persistence. Believe me, if Koda can be crated (our rescue) then any dog can be crated. It is going to take some perseverance to crate train though. Once you have, you will find its the best thing you have ever done. So, how we did it. I took a couple of days of work to start this off. There was no way on this earth we were going to do it otherwise Put in the crate for 5 mins and leave the room (important). Then let her our for a bit, then 5 mins again, then let her out for a bit. Do this for a couple of hour or more if needed. Get some treats handy. She goes in on her own when instructed, she gets a treat. If she is quiet the 5 mins in there, she gets a treat. No exceptions at all. Noise, no treat, and no treat till she goes in the crate on her own. Increase to 10 mins for an hour or so, then half hour. Once you get to an hour and she is quite an hour, go out for an hour and come back. Let her out, treat. Increase to a couple of hours. Once you can do that, you can likely leave her whilst you are in bed at night. Routine is key, so when you go to bed, she goes to bed. Other important things She is fed in her crate, every time. Its her place! Her toys when you tidy up go in her crate (remove if she is staying in it on her own locked in for safety) She only ever gets treats in her bed Crate is absolutely never ever for when she has done something wrong. Knocks something over, put her outside, chews something, put her outside. Never ever in her crate. The key to this is simple. The crate is her bed. Its her space, and her place to relax. Once you establish that, you will find thats where she will go whenever you want her to, and often on her own. Don't believe its possible? Check this out Thats one of 4 that he has completely destroyed. He literally snapped the bars to get out Still think they cant be crate trained? This is him just before I closed his crate to go to bed the other night. He'd been fast asleep there for about half hour as usual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meagan Rox Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 That is exactly what her husky did! And she never tried again because she was concerned about the dog getting hurt. That was so helpful, I will show that to her immediately. Do you have any recommendations what to do if other dogs are in the house and not crated? Do we separate them? Thanks again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 3 minutes ago, Meagan Rox said: That is exactly what her husky did! And she never tried again because she was concerned about the dog getting hurt. That was so helpful, I will show that to her immediately. Do you have any recommendations what to do if other dogs are in the house and not crated? Do we separate them? Thanks again!! We dont have ours in the house not crated, so wouldnt really be the best person to ask that question to be honest. In my opinion, get them crate trained and then thats something you dont have to think about. With regards the safety part of things, what is more harmful? The surroundings of a crate, or the surroundings of a create (they can still get to that from the outside), plus the rest of the house. You walk around the house and see how many other potential hazards there are in comparison. And get your friend to get on here. We're here for advice You wont get better than people who have hit the same roadblocks for advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve A75 Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 Sounds like the dog is bored, husky dogs have 3 gears, eat,run,sleep pretty much in that order. He/she will need at least half hour off lead to run around and burn themselves out, I have a 5 month old and pretty much stuck to these rules and he is not a problem at all!! Learn it’s habbits as well, this can be useful as you will see the signs when there becoming bored, I know people crate their dogs and I bought one for mine but he hated it and was destructive in it so got rid, he is now a gorgeous well behaved boy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meagan Rox Posted April 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 These are great points! Thanks so much for the input. I'm going to show my friend all of this tonight. As for scolding, I guess we will just stick with a firm no and then hope that with more excersise she will start to settle down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say that the husky/lab cross doesn't sound very attached to the humans at all! My full husky can be quite aloof with humans, but always watches us closely at the dog park, and if we move too far away (for example to throw her poop in the bin), she would immediately run after us. That half lab sounds more husky than my full husky! And now back to people with helpful advice. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meagan Rox Posted April 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 I 100% agree! Different breed of course, but my border collies are inseparable from us. One in particular doesn't care much at all for other dogs, at the dog park she only cares to meet new humans. The husky/lab is very much a lone wolf. I do notice when I show her a lot of attention and talk to her and am affectionate, she is very snuggly with me. But I'm not her owner so I don't want to confuse her either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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