Digging, Chewing, Running...

[becky85]

Hello all! This is my first post, and I appologize if some of these issues are things that I'm sure have been addressed by previous writers. (But it would take me all night to sort through all the threads to find any answers to my questions!) So I appreciate your patience.

First a little background. I'll be breif...Juno is my 2 year old male Husky. My husband and I got him from the Humaine Society about a year ago and immediately fell in love. Juno is sweet, affectionate, playful, and has a VERY good heart. But he has some issues that we haven't been able to really fix.

Problem #1: Digging. When we first got Juno we decided to keep him in our fenced-in back yard during the day while we were at work since we had no idea whether or not his previous owners had house broken him. The first thing we noticed when we got home were HUGE craters in the yard! One of which went under the fense into the neighbor's yard! As a solution to this problem, we decided to get started on house breaking right away. Thankfully he was very quick house break, and doesn't torment our cats too much ;-) (Unfortunately this did not fix the problem. Juno will still dig holes in the yard if left outside unattended for any length of time. A shame since he LOVES the cool breeze in the spring time. I feel terrible making him come inside after he does he business.)

Problem #2: Chewing. Juno has toys, bones, chew sticks, and all manner of other pre approved things to chew on. Unfortunately, if ANYTHING is left within reach, he'll forgo his assigned chews and tear whatever it may be to pieces. This has included countless shoes, paper, couch pillows, my car's registration papers, and just today, a roll of masking tape we used for a recent painting job. We do what we can to keep the doors in the house closed to limit his daily roaming to the living room and kitchen area, but we're only human. If we leave a piece of mail on the counter and the cats knock it to the floor, or if we happen to kick off our shoes at night and forget to bring them in the closet, we can kiss these things goodbye. When we come home from work the next day, they will be shreaded all over the living room floor by the time we get home. HELP????

Problem #3: Running. I would love to take Juno to a park and just let him run wild. Unfortunately, if I were to ever let him off the leash, he'd be gone forever. He's escaped out the front door from time to time. He runs down the street and it is almost impossible to catch him. He just.... RUNS! I have to get in my car, drive up the street ahead of him, and trick him into running into me. Sometimes this works, sometimes not, and I have to get back in my car and try again. I'm not going to risk letting him find his own way home. We had a scare once where he was lost for two days, and later found at a neighbor's house with their husky. They had him INSIDE their house! I'm almost certain they would have kept him had they not actually seen me putting up LOST posters all over the neighborhood. Juno is a gorgeous dog and very friendly. I wouldn't be surprised if he was stolen if found wondering the neighborhood on his own. There's also the possibility that he just won't know his way home. I've read that Huskies have a very poor sense of direction. I've noticed this while taking walks. When we return to our house, he just keeps on walking until I pull him towards the house and show him the front door. Then he gets this "Oh yeah!" Look about him. Any ideas?

Sorry this was so long. If anyone has any advice on one or all of these issues, please let me know. I appreciate the input!

[lynnmw1208]

I would say these things can be worked on with some basic obedience training. It doesn't sound like he knows the difference between what is yours and what is his. Teaching the command "leave it" should help. We did this by leaving a treat on the ground and saying the command and when the dog leaves it alone and looks at you reward them and say "leave it, good boy!". If he does get into something of yours, say "no, not yours" and hand him one of his toys. when he takes it praise him and he should get the idea. if you're worried about him getting into stuff when you're at work during the day, I would recommend crate training him or limiting his roaming of the house to one room (maybe a laundry room?). A crate will be his safe place to go and relax during the day, Pongo loves his.

As for the running out of the house thing, that's very dangerous! I would work on this right away. You will need two people to do this, one to hold onto the leash and give commands and another to open the door and come in. You can either teach "stay" or "wait" for this one. Pongo uses both of these commands for different situations. I would say use "stay". I would work first with Juno in the house and teach him to sit and stay as you walk away. Definitely reward with treats and progressively let him stay for longer periods of time. Then you can move on to the door issue. Have him sit and stay about 4 feet from the door and stay stay (make sure he's leashed). Open the door and say stay again. If he so much as jerks a little say "ah ah" or "no" and close the door. Only when he stays nice without moving reward him. Definitely don't start this with the door wide open. First start with a crack in the door then progress until you can have it wide enough for a person to walk through. The next step would be to do this with another person to simulate when a guest would come over. It will take a while but I think this one is well worth the time and safety of your wonderful dog!

that's all the advice I can think of as of right now and I don't know much about digging as my pup doesn't do it. good luck!! and enjoy your new dog!

[Mazz]

Hi Becky. Welcome to the forum. Well, you've pretty much described what it is that makes a Husky a Husky. Digging is something that a lot of Huskies do. Our Zoya is a digger to the nth degree. We have some holes in the back yard that are more than two feet deep. I fill them with her stools, some straw and top them off with dirt then reseed. She will start to redig, until she hits the straw. But, all that just redirects her to virgin lawn where she digs in anew. You might want to establish a boxed in area, sort of like a sand box, where you'll have to try to redirect him when he is in a digging mood.

Chewing stuff that are not his. . . To a Husky, everything is "theirs". But you can train them to leave your stuff alonw. It will take some work, and there will be setbacks. If you catch him chewing something that is not his, correct him, and introduce one of his chew toys. You can try bitter apple spray on those things you don't want him to chew. But honestly, we have found them to be fairly ineffective with Zoya. That's why we worked so hard to get her to understand what was OK to chew and what was not OK to chew.

Fences are nothing more than a challenge to a Husky. We have a five foot cedar fence. Our last Husky could jump that with ease. Chain link fences are like ladders for Huskies. We installed a buried fence inside the perimeter of the cedar fence. Zoya wears a collar when she is in the back yard. So far, it has kept her from nearing the cedar fence and kept her from jumping it.

Huskies were born to run. Given any opportunity to get out and run, they will take full advantage. It is virtually impossible to trust them off lead. Fortunately, Zoya has not escaped on us.

Huskies require a lot of exercise and a lot of mental stimulation. We have two dogs in the pack, with a fenced in acre. They spend a lot of time play fighting, digging, running, and exploring in the back yard. Not everyone has that setup. Walking your dog on a lead for for an hour or so twice a day, doing some training to keep his brain ticking will help. When a Husky becomes bored a Husky becomes desctructive. Add pent up energy to that and they can be extremely destructive. Our last Husky ripped up newly installed carpet and tore it to shreds, disassembled a Lane recliner down to the frame, and the list goes on.

I think if you exercise your Husky with walks and spend some time working with the issues, you'll find some improvement. It won't happen without a lot of work on your part. Huskies are wonderful animals, but they do require a huge commitment of their owners.

[SiberHusky97]

Summed up exactly what I was going to say. All these behaviors are what makes a Husky a Husky. They are a challenging breed but they are worth it. Added to rep

[becky85]

Thanks so much for the advice! I'm afraid I have been guilty of neglecting him a bit. I was jobless for about 6 months, so I had plenty of free time to take him on walks, and he pretty much got spend every waking moment with me. But I'm back to working full time now and I confess I haven't been spending as much time with him as I should. I think with more walks and more play time, he won't be so bored during the day and hopefully may stop destroying anything he gets his paws on.

I'm really not sure about crating. I don't know if Juno was ever crated before he came to live with us, but my husband and I have had him for a year and never really considered it. Since he hasn't been crate trained from puppyhood, wouldn't trying to all of a sudden restrict him to a crate for 9 hours a day be a bit traumatic? Like I said, we keep all the doors to other rooms closed which confines him to the living room/kitchen area (Open floor plan). It really does work well as long as Hubby or I don't leave anything out for him to destroy. And like I said, I think just spending more time doing things he enjoys will help in that regard.

We've taught him "Stay!" When we walk in the door, so now we don't even need to say it. He stays back from the door when we come in. Unfortunatey we have yet to train the rest of the world this trick. When people come over, Say my sister in law and her family, they'll stand in the entryway and all file in slowly with the door wide open and this is usually when Juno takes the opportunity to bolt. We're working on training him to stay in his corner when someone comes to the door. I'll let you know how all that works out. He's smart and picks things up really quickly. I'm hoping by the end of the month he'll have this skill down.

As far as the digging, I guess that's something we're just going to have to avoid alltogether like we have been. Only allowing him in the back yard to do his business, and with supervision so he doesn't dig.

Thanks again!

[Sarah]

Hi Becky and welcome to the pack!

Yep sounds like you've got a typical husky lol great replies peeps added to rep

Look forward to seeing you around the site

[Cathy]

Welcome, Becky! Sounds like you have yourself a husky!

I second everything that Mazz said. Good luck with your sweet boy, I'm sure you'll find a routine that works for all of you soon.

[taz291819]

Becky, try using a kiddy pool in the backyard. Nanuck digs at the water just like he does the ground, but prefers the water.

Also, most huskies have a great sense of direction, they simply do what they want to do. They know where their home is by scent. The two biggest issues with letting a husky off the lead is 1. getting hit by a car and 2. someone stealing them.

My first sibe escaped a few times, and was at one point was gone for two days (not many neighbors in that area). But he did end up coming back home. I'd also consider an electric fence, whether hardwired or wireless, just in case.