New Husky Owner Seeking Guidance

[WollySam]

Hey guys! Im a new husky owner, I have adopted Wolly today and I am needing some guidance on how to make him listen to the rules im setting in the house, i dont want him in and on our bed and every time I go out of the house for something he starts howling and barking plus he seems anxious  and cant stop moving around as we try to sleep and if he senses a cat he starts barking at the middle of the night waking us up! I need guidance on how to train him for now he is obedient in some things and stubborn in others and I know huskies are stubborn but i need a way to let me sleep.... 

[Shepsky5]

Hi, how old is Wolly? 

For bed...you could try leaving leash on him. When he attempts to get up on the bed, make disapproving noise or say "No, no" or "Eh, eh" and make him get down again. If you are not there to watch, keep door to bedroom closed so he can't "sneak" up? Our adopted dog wore his leash in the house for the first 2 weeks. It made it a lot easier for us to teach him house manners. You do need to be consistent though...i.e. if one person lets him into the bed, but another person says No, that's confusing for the dog. A friend could not keep her dog off the couch - she would always say "No!" but her kids liked to invite him up and snuggle with him on the couch...so she had to give up eventually (even though she hates sitting in a sea of his fur).

For leaving house...if you keep going out for a short time (few minutes) and coming back, he should learn and adjust. My dog used to get anxious and run to the door and whine even when I took out the trash, but now he doesn't even get up anymore, he just lays there.( To avoid separation anxiety,  I'd build up the "absent times" gradually (i.e. don't just suddenly leave for an 8 hr workday...)

For sleeping...does he get enough exercise during the day? Also, it took our dog awhile to adopt to our schedule...he used to wake up at  5-6am...maybe his foster home's schedule. But he gradually adjusted over to our schedule, which is later. We are in the habit of taking a short walk before bed. It encourages him to "go" so that he is empty for the night, and it seems like a cue to him that it's time to go to sleep. He usually comes home and goes to sleep afterwards. Dogs don't sleep as deeply as humans, they naturally have more awake periods..but if he is barking and making noise,  it's not good to get up and pay attention to him...then he might just bark more because he like getting your attention and interaction in the middle of the night! My dog is very quiet, so maybe others will have better advice about barking...

The first few weeks/months were a lot of work and lots of learning for us! 

 

[Andy]

Darwins previous owners used to let him sleep on their bed. It took me a few weeks of "Off" to get him to sleep on the bedroom floor, I then left it a month or so to let that behaviour bed in. Then a few weeks of "wait" to get him to wait outside the bedroom with the door open so he could see and smell and hear me breathing. (he would still sneak in and lay on the floor) then as he got used to the fact I wasn't going anywhere during the night he started sleeping on the landing floor. It took a few months in total, but all training with Huskies is slow and gradual. 9 years later he rarely ever even comes upstairs at night, if he does it's because my granddaughter is staying over and he just lays on the landing outside the door.