New 6Month Old Siberian Husky Questions :-)

[griff-uk]

Hi everyone,

 

 I'm mark and i live down south in the UK. We have just taken on a six month old female Siberian husky named Sapphire  She is a pure white, with stunning blue eyes. We have had her now for 5 days and she seems to be settling in OK with just a few worrying issues. Firstly our main issue is she seems to show extreme jealous behavior when our little one year old boy Max requires any or our attention. Just the other day Max attempted to grab Sapphire's hidden treat toy and she went for his hand so i shouted at her and said a stern NO! Today whilst i was at work my partner Nikki said that when Max walked to her, Sapphire attempted to push Max away from her and when Max placed his hand on Nikki's leg Sapphire bit Max's hand, not hard but still done what she done.

 

Now Sapphire is only 6 months old and has come from a house where she was not apart of the family indoors, she was kept out in the conservatory section. Also the original family did not have any small children. Max is our youngest child and we also have Joshua who is 4 and Emma who is 9. Sapphire is great with the both of them so its just our 1 year old which we seem to have the issue with. Sapphire i don't think in her first 6 months of life has not really had to deal with boundaries and rules as such and so may need time and commitment to learn whats right and whats wrong. I sit on the floor with our youngest child Max and call Sapphire over where she will lick max's face until i have to tell her to stop but i do that whilst rubbing her neck and saying what a good girl as its this affection i am after with her.

 

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated and i hope this section is ok for me to have written this entry :-)

 

Regards

 

Mark

[Mobezilla]

I honestly would teach your youngest boundaries and not allow him to take Sapphira's treats or chew toys, but thats just my opinion. Others will probably respond shortly, welcome and good luck ^-^

[griff-uk]

I honestly would teach your youngest boundaries and not allow him to take Sapphira's treats or chew toys, but thats just my opinion. Others will probably respond shortly, welcome and good luck ^-^

thanks for your reply, im guessing you dont have children as teaching a 1 year old not to touch certain things is practically impossible :-)  its not just with the treat toy it appears a jealousy issue

[Removed #5]

I think you pretty much said it right, Mark, when you said "she was not apart of the family indoors".  She's new to your pack and trying to find her place in it.  She also sees Max as a "puppy", so she's got to be shown that he fits higher in the pack order than she does.

Since she already  sees the two older children as higher than she is it shouldn't take more than a few "No!"'s for her to understand that he is too.  The "bite" as you call it, I'd see as more of a way of saying that she is higher than he and your correction of that will tell her where she belongs.

 

Welcome to the club and the forum, you'll find out in short order that Husky's are unlike any other dog you've ever had, they're - without doubt - more a "thinking" dog than any I've ever had.

[RedJasper]

Welcome to Husky Owners.  I agree with Al Sapphire has to learn her place.  Mouthing a young child or anyone for that matter is not acceptable.  You are on the right road with a firm NO!  Consistency.  I also recommend bitter apple spray.  Spray it near the mouth if it continues spray in the mouth as soon as it happens.  It wont hurt the dog it just tastes awful.  You have a 3-5 second window for any correction if you miss the window then the pup has one up on you.  That is where the consistency comes in.  That 20 pound pup and become a 50 pound dog with mouthing issues rather quickly.  As far as the jealousy goes I have 3 that are jealous and are wanting attention.  I find it endearing because mine don't fight for the attention.  My Vader gets this way when my infant nephew comes to visit.  The baby has to be taken into another room when Vader is around because Vader is almost 80 pounds with behavior issues however the funny part is he wants all of Sterling's toys and runs off with them.   He too was a biter and was our for serious blood and bitter apple helped him a lot!   Good Luck!

[Elyse]

Adding to the excellent advice already given above:

 

I'd recommend practising NILF, or 'Nothing in Life is Free'. It will set rules and boundaries for her, and the best part is, even little kids can participate in it. Googling it brings up tons of hits, but basically she gets nothing for 'free'. If she wants attention, outside, food, walks, etc...she has to do something for you (and other members of the family). This can either be a trick, or in this case, good behaviour. 

 

With that out of the way - welcome to the forums!

[griff-uk]

 WOW Some very good and friendly advice. And at least i know im most definatly looking for help in the right place. I will be looking at all solutions mentioned and see what happens i suppose. I know our next step also is going to be training her to go into her new crate which we will be getting in the next week or so. mmmmmmmm ive heard and read this can be a tricky phase in their development??

 

again thankyou for all your extremely helpfull replys

 

Regards

 

Mark

[Removed #5]

 WOW Some very good and friendly advice. And at least i know im most definatly looking for help in the right place. I will be looking at all solutions mentioned and see what happens i suppose. I know our next step also is going to be training her to go into her new crate which we will be getting in the next week or so. mmmmmmmm ive heard and read this can be a tricky phase in their development??

 

again thankyou for all your extremely helpfull replys

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

Mark, the trickiest part of it is *you* recognizing that the crate has to be *her* home.  Put treats in there, maybe even feed her in there, make sure the kids understand that  when she goes into her crate that it's *her* place and that they should leave her alone.  Don't ( if you can avoid it ) use the crate for punishment; telling her "crate" when you want her out from underfoot is acceptable ( all the way 'round ) because that gives her a time to herself in "her den".

 

I don't use one - my dogs run free in the house, but that doesn't mean that they don't get told "enough!" and "go lay down" at times.  I'm sure if you ask, others will give you better guidelines about how to crate than I can.

[Keeonah]

I have given you a reply in your intro piece

 

Gary.

[griff-uk]

I have given you a reply in your intro piece

 

Gary.

Thank you for reminding me about that Gary i have responded to all posts.

[griff-uk]

Here are some pics of Sapphire :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matthewj]

Hello, I'm having a similar issue with Loki, my nine week old pup. He likes to bark at the children(9 and 4yrs) when they are on the sofa. I think he wants them to play, but when they dont get down and play with him, he tries to jump up and "nip" them.......he doesnt bite anywhere near as hard as I know he could, but it still upsets my 4yr old daughter......I think if he continues, even with me giving him a firm NO,then I may try that spray that someone has advised you about......good luck.....happy Sunday 

 

[griff-uk]

Hello, I'm having a similar issue with Loki, my nine week old pup. He likes to bark at the children(9 and 4yrs) when they are on the sofa. I think he wants them to play, but when they dont get down and play with him, he tries to jump up and "nip" them.......he doesnt bite anywhere near as hard as I know he could, but it still upsets my 4yr old daughter......I think if he continues, even with me giving him a firm NO,then I may try that spray that someone has advised you about......good luck.....happy Sunday 

Ah yea very similar in a way. Please let me know how you progress with this issue. Also does anyone in the uk know where i can get any of that sour apple spray etc??

[griff-uk]

Hi everyone so this is the latest update so far. Today i was 5 mins from home when my mobile rang and it was my partner. She said that Max our one year old started to crawl past Sapphire and Sapphire turned and nipped him in the face right on his nose. Now there is only a light red mark and i think this is possibly the pressure of some teeth hitting his nose rather than any penetrating and im sure if Sapphire actually bit him it would have shown more trauma than it does. However this is a situation we have to take very very seriously. A while later i was observing and max was feeding Sapphire some crisps. We don't usually allow this by any means however i wanted to allow it to continue to see the behavior Sapphire used etc. She was taking them very very softly from Max's hand and continued to do so each time. Now Max crawled away and then turned back to Sapphire where he tried to touch her paw. Sapphire lunged slightly towards Max's face again and i Instantly said ''NO'' and scruffed Sapphire straight to the kitchen and locked the stair gate and walked away.

 

I left Sapphire there for roughly 10 minutes and then reopened the gate. One question i have is will this still be as effective even though we can still be seen depending on where we are in the living room or would it have been better for her to have been shut out behind a closed door where she would have no vision of anyone. There were no further situations this evening. Please can anyone guide me further into dealing with this situation and how likely it is she will learn NOT to do these behaviors whatsoever in the future.

 

Thanks in advance :-)

[Removed #5]

Mark, I think that if she'd really wanted to hurt him you'd be seeing more than a little red mark.  I agree it's unacceptable but my money is on "it's play" ... you're, as I said earlier, essentially dealing with two puppies there - one with fur and one without.  Your description of the event sounds like play - your son reaching for a paw - and puppies play with their teeth, sorry.

Sapphire at 5 months should be old enough to recognize "No!" but it may take a while for it to register - really - what the "No!" pertains to. In the meantime - he says with a sigh - anytime Sapphire nips (whether in controlled play or not) it's time for a time out. One thing you said, and I'll recommend otherwise  you "scruffed Sapphire straight to the kitchen" - I presume you're saying that you took her by the scruff of the neck and drug (dragged?) her into the kitchen.  Recommendation: if you have a short leash, leave it on her when she's in the house ... grabbing a dog by the scruff of the neck is not a good idea, she may just turn and bite because it hurts or is unexpected, if you have her on a short leash you can just take the leash and lead her to "time out". 

Your question about having her where you can be seen - yes, in my opinion it's more effective, dogs (especially young dogs) want to be part of the pack, by separating her you're emphasizing that her behaviour is unacceptable and by leaving her where she can see you it stresses the correction.

[Keeonah]

Al's advice is sound Mark and echos what has been said to you previously. It may take a little while but it should work. When doing it with my dogs I will also say "TIME OUT" as I lock them away. By doing this I have found that if they are playing up for any reason and I say to them "keep it up and you'll get a time out" they look at me a bit sheepishly and stop doing whatever they were doing. Keep up the good work and fingers crossed.

 

Gary

[griff-uk]

Mark, I think that if she'd really wanted to hurt him you'd be seeing more than a little red mark.  I agree it's unacceptable but my money is on "it's play" ... you're, as I said earlier, essentially dealing with two puppies there - one with fur and one without.  Your description of the event sounds like play - your son reaching for a paw - and puppies play with their teeth, sorry.

Sapphire at 5 months should be old enough to recognize "No!" but it may take a while for it to register - really - what the "No!" pertains to. In the meantime - he says with a sigh - anytime Sapphire nips (whether in controlled play or not) it's time for a time out. One thing you said, and I'll recommend otherwise  you "scruffed Sapphire straight to the kitchen" - I presume you're saying that you took her by the scruff of the neck and drug (dragged?) her into the kitchen.  Recommendation: if you have a short leash, leave it on her when she's in the house ... grabbing a dog by the scruff of the neck is not a good idea, she may just turn and bite because it hurts or is unexpected, if you have her on a short leash you can just take the leash and lead her to "time out". 

Your question about having her where you can be seen - yes, in my opinion it's more effective, dogs (especially young dogs) want to be part of the pack, by separating her you're emphasizing that her behaviour is unacceptable and by leaving her where she can see you it stresses the correction.

My partner is worried that even though Max will get bigger as time goes by, but so will Sapphire so my partner has said how will she ever see Max above her in the pack (if you know what we mean). Im guessing its because she would have learnt right from wrong???? Sapphire definatly understands 'NO', We have said it to her so many times now and to be fair she does usually listen and stops what she is doing I totally understand about the scruff too I will bare that in mind from now on. It was quite a natural reaction to be honest as i wanted to put the consequence in place as quickly as possible. She has a harness which is put on when going out for walks etc but does not have a collar on. Maybe when we are home its probably worth keeping one on her in case of a situation.

 

We will be getting her crate this week so we will be able to keep her there at times however i am fully aware that it cannot be used for punishment but it will give her and us more time out etc. As she has free roam of the house at present. Thankyou so much Al for your help and guidance i just really hope she does learn and stops lunging towards max like she does. 

[griff-uk]

Al's advice is sound Mark and echos what has been said to you previously. It may take a little while but it should work. When doing it with my dogs I will also say "TIME OUT" as I lock them away. By doing this I have found that if they are playing up for any reason and I say to them "keep it up and you'll get a time out" they look at me a bit sheepishly and stop doing whatever they were doing. Keep up the good work and fingers crossed.

 

Gary

Also good advice Gary and will be using that from now on. Ive definatly got my fingers crossed cause i think she is absolutely amazing and so different compared to your normal pet dog. It will be gutting if we have to move her on. But our kids have to be priority.

[Removed #5]

Mark ( and once again I find myself the primary respondent in a thread! ) it's not his size that makes the difference.  There are 200pound men who fall into the pack at a very low order simply because they allow the dog to "rule the roost", it's the attitude displayed - now at 1 year old your son cannot show her that he's above her so it's up to you ( and your partner ) to make her see that.  If it's really not play but "status development" (( trying for a different word for "dominance" )) then it's going to be up to you and your partner to insure that he falls into the pack above her.

Now it's time to get someone with kids involved - I'm a bachelor and honestly don't know the best approach - my suggestion, for what it's worth, is to make each "time out" slightly longer than the preceding one and possibly giving your son some extra attention - that she can see - while she's in time out. (( That is strictly off the cuff, but I think my feeling would be to do everything to make her aware that he is absolutely above her in pack order. ))

Something I find unusual; from my reading here and from my two - Huskys generally are excellent with children.  My two will suffer a lot of abuse from little kids and the kids that they are occasionally around have come to accept that my dogs will play, albeit a bit rougher than others. Sasha, the one I've had problems with because she'd bite, was being petted by a very young toddler who unexpectedly reached up and hugged her around the neck, it was obvious that Sasha was uncomfortable but didn't do anything, didn't try to draw back, didn't try to get away and, thankfully, didn't bite -  I'm still real inclined to think that this is an attempt to engage your son in "puppy play".

[Keeonah]

Whatever you do Mark, do not just throw in the towel. These are trying times and only a bit of perseverance will win through. You are getting some very good advice and you are acting on what you are being told but it is not going to happen overnight. You will also need to keep an eye on your youngest. As Al has said huskies are generally brilliant with children. I don't ever recall a story of a husky injuring a child, I do, however recall something that was put on this forum the other day. If it's not a husky then it's just a dog. Soooo true. Huskies are special and you're a very lucky person to be owned by one.

 

Gary

[Mia-Blue]

Hi, I think you have had some great advice here and hopefully with time and patience the work will pay off...............but in the mean time you have your little boy Max who you have to keep safe, whether Sapphire's behaviour is play or not there is a possibility that real damage could be done to Max.

 

I have 3 children so can appreciate how difficult it is keeping a good balance in a house with a young puppy in the mix.

 

Let me tell you about my own very upsetting experience........I previoulsy had a beautiful border collie who was very precious to me, but unfortunatly when he became an adult he began biting, we tried everything, including castration, medication, dog behaviourist, but there was nothing we could do other than rehome him to a family without young children, it was a heartbreaking decision to make, but ulimatley I had to keep my young daughter safe, and having poor Willow locked away when she was in the room was totally unfair on my dog We had Willow from a tiny pup and spent 4 years trying to make it work to no avail

 

So I waited several years before we got Mia, my youngest was 7 at the time and was of an age where we felt she could be assertive enough to tell Mia what to do. She has been a huge part in her training which is fantastic, and has enabled Mia to know her place in our pack.

The problem we had with Mia was her response to other people's younger children. She had a terrible tendancy to nip everyone when she was young and really has only stopped this behaviour in the last month or so. I handled this by saying no firmly, using time out, and every time she nipped I would pass her a toy to hold to teach her toys were for nipping but hands weren't. It was a difficult stage for us to get her through and I prey that you will get there with Sapphire also, the behaviour you describe does sound more like play, then the agressive biting which we experienced with Willow, but I am sure the uncertainty of what she will do next is makes it difficult for you to feel able to relax with them in the room together.

 

You say you have only had Sapphire for a few days? was she previously re-homed? and do you know her history?

 

Debs

[griff-uk]

Hi guys, i am nikki marks partner and i was wondering if you could answer some of my questions and worries........... i love saphy i really do but i am really worried she is going to be to much for us as a family. the more research i have done on the breed i think we are going to struggle to meet her needs. for instance i am soon returning to work and mark is working to so for some days she will be home alone all day at some points? we also cannot leave her alone atm because she trashes my house and howls and i am of the thinking it'd be cruel to leave her in her crate while we were gone all day? we also have a VERY small garden which has only a 4ft fence on 1 of the sides which im sure by the summer she will easily clear? my worries with baby have already been said by mark above. i also wanted stress we didnt go out and intend to get a husky my friend had 2 huskies storm and sapphire unfortunetly my friend has cancer and couldnt give saphy the time she needed and had to move home because of her health and was desperately looking for a good home for her and was let down at the last min (the day before she moved) and because my children loved her she asked if we could take her in so its really not that we went and got a husky without doing research it was a really last min thing and i thought we were helping but i worry it will end in tears for all involved especially sapphire. i just wanted to put my side accross and await honest replies about our situation.

 

thanks in advance

nikki

xxx

[Mobezilla]

Hi guys, i am nikki marks partner and i was wondering if you could answer some of my questions and worries........... i love saphy i really do but i am really worried she is going to be to much for us as a family. the more research i have done on the breed i think we are going to struggle to meet her needs. for instance i am soon returning to work and mark is working to so for some days she will be home alone all day at some points? we also cannot leave her alone atm because she trashes my house and howls and i am of the thinking it'd be cruel to leave her in her crate while we were gone all day? we also have a VERY small garden which has only a 4ft fence on 1 of the sides which im sure by the summer she will easily clear? my worries with baby have already been said by mark above. i also wanted stress we didnt go out and intend to get a husky my friend had 2 huskies storm and sapphire unfortunetly my friend has cancer and couldnt give saphy the time she needed and had to move home because of her health and was desperately looking for a good home for her and was let down at the last min (the day before she moved) and because my children loved her she asked if we could take her in so its really not that we went and got a husky without doing research it was a really last min thing and i thought we were helping but i worry it will end in tears for all involved especially sapphire. i just wanted to put my side accross and await honest replies about our situation.

 

thanks in advance

nikki

xxx

How long is all day? I crate Yuki for 5-7 hours at a time because yes, she destroys the house too lol. Shes crated about 4 times a week. Also, I don't have a yard, I live in an apartment. However, I do take them to the dog park twice to three times a week, they get walks twice a day, and I've just started bike-joring with Cloud as he turned a year old. No doubt they need a lot of exercise. Do you think between your family, you have enough time to exercise her every day? As for the yard, you could put her on a tie-out so she doesnt jump over the 4ft part.

[Mia-Blue]

I really do feel your pain Nikki, what a horrid situation to be in

I think both you and Mark have to be honest with each other about what you can offer Sapphire, she is still very young and needs a lot of time and attention to ensure she grows into a happy stable dog.

Huskies do desire the companionship of others, whether that is from a dog or people and do not like to be left alone for long periods of time. On the other hand with training and enough exercise there is no reason why she would not get used to be left for times in her crate.

My husband and I both work, and on the days that we are both at work we use a dog walker to ensure gets the attention she requires.

I am sure if you both have the time and patience you have the ability to make this work........only you can answer that

I wish you all the best xx

[CARRINGTON]

I could be completely and totally off with this but what about puppy classes? And not just any puppy class but one that allows your whole family to participate. I am in one now with Balto and my OH who at first Balto did not see as pack leader because he did not implement rules and let him get away with things. Then we did the NILIF program and that helped to some extent so we enrolled in one puppy class which was a fail and they mainly focused on one person handling the dog which is not very realistic if you have a family because the dog is around them every day and needs to interact with everyone in training. So we went to another and now both Zach and I work with Balto. Why not try that? You work on basic commands and can still apply NILIF to the training but everyone is able to be there and enjoy it plus she will be on a lead the whole time so if her behavior becomes bad you can just leave the room for awhile or if jumping up is an issue while there (which my dog has all the time) you just step on the leash so she cannot jump up. This has helped with Balto some (of course he likes to be a pain because he is a puppy). try NILIF is free and time outs work if you just keep being consistent (it does for Balto unless the cat is involved then forget it). Good luck and if this sounds like something not worth doing then ignore this but IMHO this has really helped both Zach and I to establish what commands we want to use and also how to do those commands together instead of me having him lay this way and him doing it this way and I use wait while he uses stay. It just helps and the kids can become involved. Good luck and let us know how things go.