How to train a Siberian husky – Canine of Intelligence

By Sally Gutteridge | Breeds

Beauty and brains unite in the Siberian husky. Bred to pull sleds for many miles in arctic conditions, this breed of dog is becoming increasingly popular as a family pet. With an appearance similar to that of the white wolf and great strength of body and mind the husky is a canine to be admired.

A home for a husky

If you are new to the breed and are thinking of offering a home to a husky, intensive research on how to train a Siberian husky is advisable. You will need to provide this type of dog with a particularly understanding and active home. An unstoppable intellect and intense need to be physically and mentally occupied is a prominent trait of the husky.

Bred to live and work in freezing conditions, midsummer heat can be particularly uncomfortable and dangerous for your dog. Training sessions should be catered around the dogs need to be as physically cool as possible.

Training your Husky

Learning the theory on how to train a Siberian husky will probably not prepare you for the practicality of the exercise. Intelligence, stubbornness and the questioning nature of your dog may prove frustrating. Your husky will learn a trick quickly and soon become disinterested if asked to repeat it too often. Training sessions could easily become a case of you saying “jump” and your dog asking “why”.

The answer to the question, how to train a Siberian husky, is as simple as this; Treat him as an intellectual equal. Be aware that he only needs a small amount of positive reinforcement and reward based training to learn something new. The husky will only respond to positive handling and training.  He will work out what you want from him quickly and with minimal effort. Your job is to work out how to motivate him to repeat his prior learning when required.

Avoid a Stalemate Situation.

There is absolutely no point in persevering on a training stalemate situation with your husky. His stubbornness will prevail and training will become a frustrating exercise. If your request is falling on deaf ears, then change tactics to achieve your desired result. If you are asking something of him and the request is being met with lack of interest, then briefly ask for something else and reward him on delivery. You will take him by surprise which can then be used to coerce him into the previous request. How to train a Siberian husky, along with any other super intelligent yet independent breed can take thought and a little trickery.

Recall – How to train a Siberian husky to come when called.

Recall can be one of the main problems with this breed. Unsurprisingly as their nature says run in a straight line. Just as a Labradors nature says pick something up and a terriers instinct is to shake an object around. Knowing how to train a Siberian husky to come when called and actually being able to get an off leash husky back on request can be very different.

Traditional recall training is a must with this breed. It is certainly not advisable to let your husky off the leash and hope for the best. Begin by recalling on the leash and always reward your dogs return. Vary your reward to keep the dog interested. He will soon become bored of the same treat. A squeaky or other noisy toy may be good motivation.

The Long Line

Introduce a long line to allow your dog to run. Your husky must be allowed to run otherwise he will be unhappy. A life of leash walks is not how to train a Siberian husky. A long line can be made of any type of rope or cord, keep in mind though that it could be slipping quickly through your hands at some point so choose a fabric that is less likely to burn your skin. Most pet stores carry what is called a cotton web long line, it’s a great inexpensive option.

When you are certain that your dog will return to you on leash leave the long line attached to his collar and remove the traditional leash. Increase the distance of recall gradually but still maintain in control by holding onto the long line. Eventually and only when confident, you can drop the long line on the ground and practice recalling your dog in the traditional manner. At this point the long line is your insurance policy. Progression from long line work will be short recall off leash. You can also shorten the long line until you no longer need it. Training often and several times a day is the best to train your husky to return on command.

By living with and learning how to train a Siberian husky you will certainly learn a lot about canine behavior. You will also benefit from the necessary research of many positive reinforcement dog training techniques.

About the Author

  • Amber says:

    How do you get your husky to stop whining. My husky “Leeah” loves to whine loudly first thing when I wake up for school. It’s almost like she thinks i’m leaving her or something. It’s so loud when she whines. Please any advice to help.

    • Jean Cote says:

      Hi Amber. What happens when she howls? I have a feeling that she might be getting reinforced for this behavior. What do you after she starts howling?

    • Sarah says:

      If it’s in the morning and she’s whining? then she might want to go out and do her business. Don’t forget, they can’t nip to the loo in the night like we can, she will of had to hold it in so she doesn’t get told off for pee’ing on the floor in the night. Take her out a.s.a.p and she how she does then.

      • Joan says:

        I really need to know how to train my 2 Siberian Husky brothers, especially when they’re together!
        The only word they know is their names. I really want them to be house dogs because at the moment they’re outdoor dogs and I feel really sorry for them, do you know what I can do?

    • mat says:

      Ignore her dont spoil her lol

  • Tulip Nix says:

    I have a almost 2 (on the 23rd June he will be 2 years old) year old Siberian Husky called Dexter! He is by far the biggest (not fully grown) husky that we have met! He know 23 tricks reliably, but as I have only just turned 12 years old myself, we struggle with some of his tricks like ‘under my arm’ and ‘weave through legs’! By the time he is 2 1/2 years old, I would like to have taught him 50+ tricks! His favourite thing in the world is jumping and as we only started jumping 7 (approx.) months ago, he can only jump 3ft! I don’t know whether to push him on further or stick to the lower heights! In a couple of weeks, we will be starting agility club (when he is 2 years old) and he is confident with everything there! Does anyone know the heights in average agility compititions? We also do CaniX and Scootering (with a proper scooter)! Is this too much for him to cope with? If you have any trick suggestions, please reply! He already knows sit, stay, paw(sitting), down, 2 paws, stand(feet on my shoulders), crawl, jump, up, come, weave(poles), weave(legs), see-saw, tunnel, dog walk, bow, spin, leave it, under, paw(down), paw(standing), high-five and under my arm!

    • Jean Cote says:

      That is awesome! I have a Siberian Husky myself and can vouch to their great intellect. 😉 You can literally train your husky to do anything you want, the sky is the limit.

      Your dog doesn’t really need to jump higher than 26″, this is the highest jump height in competitive agility. Have you considered doing agility with your dog? I’ve done it with my husky and she loved it. The only thing is because it requires working around other dog, I had to spend a lot of time reinforcing my husky to stay with me instead of going to visit other dogs. But your dog may be different. 😉

      As for different jumps, I’d say that you could build sequences like they do with agility to make it more challenging for your dog. There is a ton of different sequences you can make with just three jumps.

      And the tricks. Well, you can teach any other tricks, there are so many to choose from. Your dog seems to like athletic tricks, how about jumping over your back? You’ll need the help of someone else for that but it would be cool. How about standing tall for about 30 seconds, on his feet and in a beg position?

      My husky loves cute tricks, like bow, shy (touch paw on nose), etc…

      Another thing, is that you can make the existing tricks more intricate, like a reversed crawl, or build a chain of behaviors like 3 tricks in a row… Hope this helps. 😉

    • I have an 8 week old girl husky I named dexter, dexy for short. 🙂 and I hope that she may learn as quickly as your dexter has. Good job!

  • i have a siberian husky for about a year, and he is a hand full, i been attemting to train him but he since to have better thing to do. since i was in the military i left a couple of times, now that i am out, i want to start to teach him how to behave and stuff like that, what do u recomend.

    • Sarah says:

      Patience & time.

      Huskies are very stubborn, and high maintenance. They know for a fact they’re not like the “Lower” class domestic dogs. Just take your time, have treats and a clicker.. my husky knows that clicker within seconds and she does EVERY thing because she knows a treats coming lol 😀

  • Jenn says:

    My husky is 13 weeks old and I almost have him trained to sit he does it but I have to say it a few times first. My question is am I starting to early?? And he is starting to chew on things like table legs and shoes.. I have gotten him tons of toys how can I brake him of this?

    • Sintija says:

      Well if you buy him some dental sticks to chew on or if you get a spray that will prevent him from chewing things he might stop 🙂

    • Sintija says:

      But get him checked for any stres problems because my husky hade the same thing…

    • Sarah says:

      You have to say it more than once because they’re very stubborn. Keep at him though, he’ll give in eventually.

  • About Dogs Online says:

    I hear their extremely smart, looking forward to getting my own soon.

  • Jean Cote says:

    You need to curb this bad behavior A.S.A.P. The quicker you do it as he is young the better behaved dog you will have later on. As for teaching your dog to sit, if your dog is not responding to your command the first time, then he hasn’t been properly conditioned to it. I talk about exactly how to do in my new course “Good Dog, Good Life”. Basically you have to say your command 1 second before the behavior is offered for it to be properly conditioned.

    Here’s a link to the course: http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/obedience-training.html

  • Jean Cote says:

    I recommend tricks. It’s fun for you and the dog and it’s all positive training stuff. 😉 This is definitely the site for this kind of stuff, look around the forums and you can sign up and ask questions if you don’t know where to start or what to do.

  • deb says:

    my daughter has a husky, and we are having a hard time potty training him . Can you give us some advice on this issue as I will be taking care of him for 21/2 weeks and don”t wont him going all over in my house.

  • Jean Cote says:

    The solution to potty training is supervision. Which means that you must be with your dog 100% of the time until he is properly potty trained. And yes, that means that you will have to crate your dog when you are not at home.

    Then, you will need to reward your dog every single time that he goes outside, with a treat and lots of praise.

    And, you will also need to ‘test’ your dog by giving him a sense of freedom inside your home which you pretend like you are not watching and give him the opportunity to either come to you to go outside or to soil your home. As soon as he does anything inside your home you have to catch him in the act. Then bring him outside.

    Being upset after the fact does nothing. So if you come home and there’s something in your home, there’s nothing you can do about it, nor will punishing him for it do anything either.

  • Cassie says:

    My husky is a year old now and has been trained to lay down when told and to sit. His biggest problem though is he eats all of our new plants, we have recently redone our backyard and he wont stop ripping up the small plants and our small tree. I think he knows this is wrong because he doesn’t go near them when we’re outside. He also rips up trash and pillows when left alone. Any help on how to get him to stop? We thought he might grow out of it, but that hasn’t been the case.

    • Sarah says:

      He’s bored.. that’s why they do this. My husky Bella, she’s 2. She’ll shred paper, or anything she can get her jaws around, even popping things like Christmas tree baubles. We got her a massive bone before, it was gone in no time with those strong jaws O.o… take him on walks daily, make sure you brush his fur, keep him cool and exercise his mind.

  • Matt t says:

    I have a one year old male husky, he has been a great dog from day one. Easy to train does t mess up the house all around perfect. I did all my leash training and so showing him his boundaries because I have a 5 arcer yard that’s not fenced in. He did really well at first now I’m having problem keeping him in my yard. Any advice on what to do? Do I need tog back to the leash and walking around his boundaries?

  • David W. says:

    Not at all. Mine is 11 weeks and learned to sit shake and lay down in 15 minutes. I’m just a 19 year old college student and never owned my own dog. Not that I’m Csear Malone but these dogs are incredibly brilliant. I use a milkbone trailmix I got from Target as treats because they’re smaller. Put the treat over or slightly behind his head so he is already in the sitting motion. After a day or two you can start doing it without treats, just make sure you make it a positive experience so your pup might even take it as playing. Also you probably won’t break him of his chewing. He is probably teething and he wants all different kinds of surfaces to soothe his gums. There are sprays that you can buy that taste bitter to the dog so they won’t chew certain things but best advice is to pick up or put away anything you don’t want the pup eating. One thing I do is soak his rope toy in water, freeze it and then give it to him later. It’s both cold and hard which has to feel great on their gums. I’ve also heard of freezing yogurt /peanut butter in something and giving it to them, but I’ve never tried it. Finally, just wear your puppy out as much as possible. He won’t feel the need to chew as much if he’s napping and if he doesn’t get enough exercise he will start getting anxious and chewing things because he’s stressed. Mine has a problem with biting hands. I grab his mouth closed, sternly tell him no and squeeze firmly until he gives a little whine. Then I offer my hand back, if he bites again I repeat the process until he stops and make sure to give him praise. Not sure if you could use that method with other things but it seemed to work after a while with my puppy. You just have to remain patient and be consistent so he learns what his boundaries are.

  • CoryR says:

    Hi i also have a husky puppie no it is not to early i had tort my puppy sit drop high five shake, and fetch bye this time, so good luck,

  • I just got a 5-6 month old husky named Marley. I’m also having trouble potty training her to go outside. She was previously kept in an apartment patio with two other Huskies and not allowed to enter the apartment. Now she is in my condo (slightly larger) and only relieves herself when she is in the patio. I take her on walks during the weekdays and even more so on weekends. She has yet to do her business in the dog areas of our complex. Luckily, no mess inside the house yet. However, we’ll be on a walk for a couple hours without luck and she will go as soon as she gets to go back in the patio. Any suggestions?

    • Jean Cote says:

      That’s interesting. I think you somehow have to get her to pee outside on the grass and reward her with a delicious treat and lots of praise. It appears that you’ve already tried that with a 2 hour walk and she hasn’t gone peeing. You might want to super-hydrate your dog before leaving. They do this with sledding dogs as they have to run long periods of time. What you do is put a can a tuna in a bowl and fill it up with water. Your dog will LOVE the smell and taste of the water and will drink all of it. Then take her outside and wait for her to urinate on the grass. The key here is to associate peeing outside on the grass as extremely pleasurable. So as she pees, encourage her verbally and as soon as she’s done, immediately give her a delicious treat and make a big deal out of it like she just won the lottery.

  • Sebastian says:

    Hello Jean!
    My family and I are about to own our first husky, he will be 8 weeks old when we pick him up from the breeder and I know that they are incredibly smart. Unfortunately the majority of my house is carpeted, so with that said, what is the best way to potty train a pup?

  • Marta says:

    This has been very helpful! I have a very well trained eight year old Labrador – a white husky (about one yr old) adopted us – he has been with us for three weeks and I could see right away his independent personality would challenge me and would require a different kind of patience also well worth the effort – he’s a sweet and gentle friend
    Thnx!

  • Jean Cote says:

    The best way is supervision. Keep your dog with you at all times and when you are not at home or unable to supervise him, crate him.

    You will also need to set-up your dog to succeed and to reward him when he does. This means that you must bring him outside and wait for him to do his ‘business’ outside, and that you must reward him with treats, toys, praise and touch.

  • ainhoa says:

    thank you so much. Great advice.

    My Puppy nuka she is 8 weeks
    old. We just got her 3 days ago and she is obsses with being the alfa so
    she get crazy when we eat first, she want to sit on the top part of the
    sofa, she try to go ahead when passing throught door, she goes crazy
    angry if she is not the one with the posation of the toy because when i
    finished and leaving on the floor to let her know I am the alfa so she
    gets frustratate and does not wanted anymore. And she bites “big time”,
    hands, legs, feets and face. we have try your technic,to hit her on the
    nose with one sheet of newspaper, wich she tries to eat ;). we try to
    give her another toy when she is bitting us and whe she finally cheew
    the toy to give her reinforsment. To hit the floor and make loud noise
    with our hands, saying no or bad puppy. And of course treats. NOTHING.

    3 days of constant training and she is super intelillent and super sturbborn. She does what she wants

    Pacient fellows it will be a long way

    • Jean Cote says:

      First, I have never advocated to hit your puppy with a newspaper, I don’t know where you got this from but it is completely unnecessary. Second, there is no such thing as your puppy trying to dominate or to become the alpha. What you need is a proper understanding of positive reinforcements and how to apply it efficiently with your puppy to encourage good behaviors. Giving your dog a toy after biting you will encourage the behavior of biting.

      • Kayla H says:

        There is such a thing of a puppy trying to be the Alpha. It is in their blood. They are bred leaders. Where you get that there is “No Such Thing” as a dog trying to be the alpha, is absurd.

        Siberian Husky’s are dominant dogs. They have a different way of showing dominance. My Husky attempts to show his dominance to my 5 year old German Shepherd, as we all know this won’t work. My Husky does the same with me. Though he has not learned yet that I am his owner and he will obey me. I must say that he will be going to obedience classes here soon if he doesn’t get his act together. I have tried everything in the book and NOTHING has worked for this dog.

  • Will says:

    I am getting a husky in 6 weeks, It’ll be my first dog on my own(I’ve owned others as a family but am on my own now) and my yard has 2-3 acres. I was going to fence off a section for her own area, and was wondering what is a recommended height for a fence, also how much sq. yardage would be adequate? Thanks! Great info so far.

    • I take it you already have you husky… Just letting you no that I recently heard of a one yr old jumping 5ft fences so I would say 7ft fences are safe.

      • no matter how high the fence is, your husky WILL escape. they get bored easily, and are great escape artists. 🙂 u should name it houdini

  • vicki says:

    hi i got a husky pup she is 8 weeks she nip if we play with her how can i stop her from doing it and is it to soon to start with tricks and 1 last thing it seems like she got dandruff how can i fix it

    • Jean Cote says:

      That is a normal behavior for puppies – but you do have to let them know that it’s not appropriate. You can do that by immediately stopping playing and not giving any attention as soon as your puppy nips. You might also want to get her checked out as it sounds like she might dry skin.

  • matt says:

    no it is not too early, my husky is 12 weeks old and can sit, give boths paws separatley, lie down and hi five. He learnt sit in minutes when i was feeding him and held his food above him until he sat. he learnt very quickly. I had a similar problem with buying lots of teething toys and he kept eating other things but i just stopped him chewing whatever it was and replaced it with something he was allowed to chew

  • Tony Jackson says:

    I’ve recently got a year old Siberian Husky, he’s very well behaved and sweet. The only problem is he bothers my older dog, and that makes him constantly bark. He spends most of his day nibbling on my other dogs ear and trying to mount him, even though he is fixed. It has gotten to the point where my old dog can no longer go outside to use the restroom without being harassed so he’s started going inside again. I have the couch set up as only the older dogs territory to atleast give him a break from bing harassed and give myself a break from the barking. Any advice?

  • I’m planning on getting one as soon as I live by myself for college. Is it a good idea to get a Siberian Husky as s college student? I most probably will be going to the town of Grenoble in France which has alot of green spaces and is in the alps so they will be accustomed to the weather

    • Jean Cote says:

      It could be done, but realistically it’s probably not a good idea as any dog that you bring into your life will require time. And if you get a puppy, you have to be prepared for potty training which will require that you get up every 4 hours to let your puppy outside, and you can’t really be gone for more than 4 hours at a time.

  • HI there,

    my husband and I got a husky mix (possibly), and we thought she was just being absolutely stubborn at learning her name or coming when she was called, with a hand clap or whistle. Well I started wondering if she may be deaf. We did some at home test, and unless she is the only dog we have had that doesn’t like squeak toys or flinch when the broom drops, she is deaf!
    Luckily we have 3 other dogs, one of them being a German Sheppard, that has had 2 litters. And has helped train the other dogs to go potty outside and other good habits.
    To the point,

    I was wondering if anyone knew any specific ways to train a deaf husky?

  • Melisa Kiraz says:

    Hello, we get a new husky puppy a month ago. He’s 13 weeks old now and I would like to ask you some questions, since I noticed that you seem to know a lot (instead of some others on the web -.-) anyway, my dog is biting my little brother every time we are playing together. My brother is 14 and every time our dog does it he screams like “Ouch” gets up and starts ignoring him. But our puppy doesn’t care, he keeps biting his socks, legs etc. if course I did some research but I couldn’t find any recommendation which satisfied me completely. I don’t want t try something new every single day, he would be confused. Thanks for now.

  • Paul Webb says:

    My husky is super smart, he is 13 weeks, I have taught him to give both paws separately and at the same time, I’ve taught him sit and lie down, he goes to toilet on command, he comes when called, I’ve also started to teach him play dead with the gun gesture by saying bang, he gets bored very quickly though which usually puts an end to his training session until later on, he is really easy and understanding once he knows what you are asking of him, he is very eager to please me and craves appraisal, this is the smartest bread of dog I’ve had, and I had a very smart collie, but he always surprises me with his intelligence over and over again, lol just thought I’d share my findings with him.

  • julia says:

    We are about to get our huskey puppy and was wondering how I should potty train him

  • Charissse says:

    My husky puppy is 5 months old… His name is trouble and he definitely gave himself that name….You cant turn away from him for 2 secs without him doing something he KNOWS he’s not supposed to. I have a 6 year old german shepherd and from the moment we brought TROUBLE home he cries or lets out a never ending howl everyyyyytime the german shepherd is not in his eyesight. He wakes us up every morning with the howling and will not stop until we wake up. He will literally eat ANYTHING!!! Lint, dust, hair, dirt, grass, paper, plastic, lizards, these are all things I’ve seen him go out of his way to eat… and actually swallow! He will ignore you when you call him at times, I thought he either understood another language , was deaf, or he just don’t care! I’m scared to put him in training because I’m afraid it just wont work for him. He’s always thirsty and constantly drinking, we have a water fountain that he dips his entire face and makes a mess all over the floor! I try to keep him out and build trust but he always damages things that are very important like chewing on the corners of the wall… I don’t know what to do and life has just become very stressful from the moment we brought him home!!! Please help!!!! Pleasse Pleasse Please for the most part just stop the howling!!! Thank you.

    • Luann Johnson says:

      To Charisse,

      The first thing you need to do is bring him to the vet. There might be something medically wrong since he is so thirsty and eats anything. He might have worms or something more. Also if he is sick that could be the reason that he is acting out. Also he could be deaf. He also is howling to call his mother whch now seems to be your German Sheperd. If you yell at him for howling that he will howl more for the attention. He might be left alone to long if your working/out alot. He needs patience, care and training. It’s not his fault for any of the behavior…he might be simply bored, Huskies need to run everyday and excercise is the key in this breed to have a great dog. Don’t give up on him, he is just a pup.

  • mark says:

    I have got 2..5 month old puppies.thay can sit and bark wen ask to.but still will not go out side.thay soil in my home hlep

  • Sara says:

    HELP! I have a husky and he is TERRIBLE! I love him to death and he is extremely smart but I have no idea how to “punish” him for bad things. He digs in the yard a lot and he comes in muddy and I realy don’t want holes in my yard so how do I stop in from digging? Also he howls in the morning to be let of his crate at 6 am on the dot every morning?! I would love to get some sleep on the weekends but with this dog its impossible. Is there anything I can do to show him he is being bad? 🙁

    • Jean Cote says:

      Two things.

      1) To stop your dog from digging you will need to supervise him. I suspect that this has become a habit and as soon as you leave the backyard, your dog will go dig. My husky used to dig in flower beds all the time until I started to supervise her 100% of the time. When she is supervised, she is not able to dig and you can then begin to pretend like you are going inside and still looking out from the window or door. This will take time, you just have to catch your dog in the act.

      2) You say that your dog howls to be let out of the crate… Well, I hate to break it to you but if you let your dog out while he’s howling – you’ve just trained your dog to howl to be let out of the crate. The secret is to WAIT until your dog is calm and not making any noise before let out of the crate. Now this will take serious effort on your part because your dog has been reinforced so many times and you will be fighting a history of reinforcement.

  • Luke Roberts says:

    Hi,

    Ive had my husky for about 9 weeks, she is about 17 weeks old now. Im not really concerned with tricks, she is intelligent, she learnt the basics (sit, paw, lie down, etc) in a matter of an hour or 2. Whats got me stumped is house breaking and crate training. I wasnt getting anywhere with house breaking, so i got a crate, and at the time i thought it was a miracle worker. First night was clean, I kept the same feeding and “going outside” routine, and she stayed clean for a good month or so. I had to go away for a work committment for a couple of days, and my friend agreed to look after her for me…….. since then, nightmare!! she messes the crate virtually all the time, and rolls in it?????!!! Ive carried on with the routine i had with her, and it hasnt made a difference. I had to take her out of the crate because the mess was unbearable on a daily basis. Needless to say, after any length of time left on her own, theres a mess when i get back, even if its only a couple of hours. Its even got to the point where ill let her out, observe her going outside and doing her business and id praise her for doing so, then coming straight in and doing it again within a minute or 2. Im totally stumped. I didnt aquire the husky “blind”, i researched, and read up, and asked other owners anything i could think of. i knew i might be in for a bit of a challenge, but this is mental. I had none of this with my malamute, and they are supposedly very similar to a husky.

    Anyway, im hoping there is a trainer or something here that might read this and offer some advice? Like i said, we had a routine and i pretty much classed her as house trained, (she was left in her crate for 9 hours once when i got held up at work and there was no mess), we didnt even have accidents! but now shes worse than shes ever been. I was prepared for a good 6months of training to get her there, but to go backwards to this extent is confusing.

    Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.

  • Amanda says:

    Ok we got a husky for my son and i think he was beat or something cuz he won’t play he digs out all our trash and doesn’t listen at all and is just a horrible dog. I love him to death but im at the point were idk wat to do anymore someone plz help he is still a pup n i thought after bein wit us he would stop hiding from us but he don’t. Plz help

  • danewo75 says:

    I got a Husky puppy who is incredibly smart. His name is Lucky, He is only 5 months old and he will do anything i ask. He can even talk…well bark to the beat and match the pitch of entire songs on the radio….i have a duet with him and Whitney Houston singing the star spangled banner. It posted on youtube under my username danewo75. There are also some of him doing tricks. everyone I meet thinks he’s amazing! Listen to some of the advice on this site. It really helped me. Thanks!

  • Danielle says:

    I just bought a 10 week old Husky and she is actually very calm. She is very content sitting there with a toy. But the one thing that I need help with is that she is very jealous and stubborn with my other dog (a pug). Whatever my pug has, she wants and she will nip at him and scare him to get it. Any ideas on what I can do to stop this ?

    Thanks !!

  • Kaci says:

    I have a husky named Skyler. She is about 8 months old. She has a big problem with jumping on guests. How should I correct this? Also I make her sit before we go outside but as soon as I open the door she yanks me.

  • Woon says:

    I have 2 rabitts, & a suberian husky bought later. After husky in, i separete them 1 & 2. Husky like to chase them. I hope 3 of them can stay together under one roof.

  • jessica says:

    Okay, let me start by saying I am not a novice in dog training and handling, but im at a loss with our first husky. My partner and I have one female Staffordshire bull terrier -Kizzy (2yrs old) and 6months ago we bought a huskyXstaffordshire bull terrier puppy called Dexter. We have most things down such as house training, sit, stay, down, up, paw and he is totally respondent to his name and commands so we are lucky enough to have trained ourselves an ‘off-leash’ husky, however, lately he has been bullying our staffy, pooing and peeing when left alone for even just an hour and even more recently if both my partner and i are im the house or even one of us and we leave him downstairs, he pees. This is so frustrating as you can imagine, the dogs are walked 3 times a day without fail for at least an hour each time, we hold training sessions and are constantly keeping him sharp with new games and training, i have a feeling its frustration but am wondering if its too early for neutering as he isn’t even marking or ‘cocking’ his leg up yet. He has been crate trained from day one and a fortnight ago we took this down as our home isn’t really big enough for a large crate to be constantly up for him, but we are considering a kennel in the garden for the summer, if anybody has any advice on stopping this behaviour we would appreciate it as we are coming to our wits end. We want him to be happy, healthy and well behaved like our other dog but he’s becoming a real challenge and i can only put it down to him either becoming sexually mature, us taking his crate away or just plain bad, as my partner is keen to say… Help any tips would be great.

  • jessica says:

    Kaci- of you are using a harness on Skylar I suggest changing it to a standard collar -especially if she is yanking on the lead whilst walking too- don’t just tell her to sit at the door either, make sure she gives you your space around the door area, keep a strong presence about you until she backs off and takes her focus off the door, once she has done this open the door but don’t move, and don’t let her either 🙂 she must be waiting for your signal to go of she stays calm, attempt to walk through the door with her following behind you, repeat until you get it and keep it a consistent exercise every time you want to go out with her… May I also suggest trying it with all doors or gates etc indoors and out, the more often she has to do it the more likely you are to succeed, feel free to offer praise or treat as reward if that is your preferred way of training :thumbsup: good luck, x

  • jessica says:

    Susan Christiansen- I see you have other dogs I can only assume are trained. In training your deaf pup I think you should use another dog that is well trained to show her hand signals… I trained my Staffordshire bull terrier and huskyXstaffy with both voice and hand command so that if there was ever a need for it I could get them to do something without having to use my voice. Teach your already trained dogs to respond to the voice command with a universal hand signal whilst your husky observes and teach her the same hand gesture, load yourself with treats and patience and I assure you she will learn, our 8month old husky gives both paws, lies down, sits, stays, jumps and more recently ‘speaks’ with hand signals. I have many things to say about huskys haha but one thing I know for sure is they’re genuinely intelligent 😉 good luck X

  • Tiana says:

    Hi there, I have two Siberian Huskies and I need a little help. Yoko is a year old fixed girl, and Titus is about an 8 week male. He’s new to the family, and Yoko has just been acting crazy around him. She barks at him constantly and never leaves him alone, playing with him really rough to the point that he’s begun to bark back at her viciously. She tends to bug him the most when he’s napping in the living room with my fiancee and I, and is also persistent in playing with him when he’s hiding behind the furniture to get away from her. We don’t want Titus to get the mindset to play so rough with other dogs at such a young age, especially because Yoko plays rough with other dogs and people in general already, so we’re kind of stuck on what to do. Do you have any advice as to what I should do to calm Yoko down around him, or anything in general? I could really use the help!

  • Beccie says:

    I have had my husky Mischa from 8 weeks, she’s now almost 13 weeks. She’s already learnt sit, stay, lay down, paw, she’s house trained (a few accidents rarely) and she is good on and off the lead. I am in awe of her! I knew this breed was smart but I am amazed at just how smart she really is!

    • Jean Cote says:

      That is awesome, keep up the GREAT work! Be sure to continue working with her off-leash, especially in highly distracting environments like public parks, etc. Personally, my husky was perfect as a puppy and would follow me around everywhere I went, but then at around the 8 months mark the teenage years kicked in and she figured out there was a whole new world out there – which made training a little bit more difficult.

  • Meghan says:

    I just adopted a two year old husky a couple weeks ago from the shelter. She is really smart she knows how to sit, lay, shake, walk, and is potty trained. I am currently teaching her to come when called, except I run into two problems. One is she does not realize that “come” means to walk over to me. I’ve tried waving a treat, but she just looks at me funny. The second problem is teaching her to repeat this trick. I struggling with getting her to stay so I can be a far enough distance to get her to come.

    • Jean Cote says:

      Hi Meghan,

      Please download my eBook, there is an exercise in it about getting your dog to come. You can get it here: https://www.successdogs.com/free-dog-training-ebook/

      But to summarize, teaching your dog to come is rather easy. You have to make it pleasurable for them whenever they come to you, this means you can either give your dog a treat, play a game (chase/tug/wrestle), and of course lots of praise. But here’s the thing, one of the best ways to teach a dog to come is to say your dog’s name and then running away from her. This will trigger her chasing instinct and it will make it fun, of course, give your dog a delicious treat when she gets to you. A helper is definitely helpful for this as they can hold your dog while you walk away, another way is to have a long line and to use a pole so that you can walk away from your dog while the long line is goes around the pole, and thus preventing your dog to walk towards you. With this exercise, you’d only let it go after you’ve said your command COME and again, run away to trigger the chasing instinct.

  • Yu says:

    My 9 week old Siberian Husky is being trained to pee outside. He goes to our slider door and sits there till we open it. He pees or poops outside but then 15-30 mins later its back to the slider so he can pee again, even if its just a trickle! Is this normal for a puppy to go so often??

  • Hannah Morris says:

    Hi I also have a husky x staff and she’s got a fantastic temperament . She’s nearly 6 months old and we absolutely adore her but she has a few problems I’d like to curb. She was being so good with house training and recently since I had new flooring put down she seems to be reverting back to soiling the house . She also still mouths a Lot and bites the children constantly , it’s definitely puppy mouthing and not aggressive biting but I was wondering how to curb it ?!
    She is allowed of her lead and the only time her recall is bad is when other dogs are involved she just is way more interested in them then me , I do remember my other dogs growing out of this though. Unfortunately she is not food orientated at all so food training is not very useful.
    I walk her for atleast an hour an a half a day but wondered how I could incorporate better exercise into her routine ?! Should I be doing one road walk and one off lead walk a day ?! Plus games in the house?!
    She is due to be neutered in a few weeks.
    She’s very quiet and only barks if she hears a noise near the kids bedrooms at night I think this is the staff in her being the mother dog .
    I do let her on the furniture . I’ve heard that this compromised my alpha status ?! Any advice would be fab . We adore her and she’s a fantastic addition to the family . I wanna start running with her to does anyone else do this? X

  • Melinda says:

    My Husky is about 3 months old and howls and whines when she doesn’t have attention and i try to avoid it but he keeps getting louder and louder

  • Fabian says:

    Hi, how can i get my Husky to settle in at our new house, his 11 months old now, we’re living for a week in the house and he’s in the yard but howls and moans sadly 90% of the day and tries to dig himself out by the yard gate. When he was about 8 or 9weeks old we moved and he adapted immediately to the place, but this time round it’s much harder for him to adapt, any advice please?? 🙁 my wife wants me to sell him already because he keeps her awake.

    • Jean Cote says:

      You mean you leave your husky outside during the day? Do you bring him in at night?

  • Jim says:

    Our huskies usually do well to come when called but every now and then we have one that goes rouge on us. It’s just the nature of the beast called a husky.

  • Jenna D. says:

    Hi. We recently adopted a rescued Siberian Husky name Sunny (Sundance). He is approximately 18 months old, still a bit unfamiliar with his new name but getting used to it and slowly responding when we call him. Our issue with him is that he will attack and fight with our Pit Bull, Bella, if she gets near his food, toys or my fiance. Bella is very gentle and loving and is becoming scared of him but when they play together, it can get a bit rough but not violent and they kiss and nap together.

    I’ve decided that a gentle approach is best so I’ve been taking his toys and placing them near me while I’m on the floor with Bella, calling him over to receive plenty of affection and giving positive encouragement for him to “share”. When done, the toys are put away. Bella is not a toy dog, she doesn’t play with them at all.

    They eat at the same time but at different ends of the room and that’s been helping with the food aggression. Once they are done, the food bowls are put away. Bella has been with us for months and she was also a rescue. We just worry that we may not be able to train him to not attack her when she goes near something he thinks is “his”. PLEASE, can you give me any advice at all to help with this issue??? We want to keep him but if it continues with further attacks on her, we will have to return him to the rescue. Thank you!!!!

  • john says:

    i had a siberian husky my friend give it to me my husky was 1yr old this day .. is it okey that i only spent time with my dog (caliber) just in the morning for just walking or running? and putting him in the his dog house .. and i could just spent a little time in the afternoon cause due to busy college studies ..

    i need ,more more and more advice
    thanks in advance ! ! :thumbsup:

  • Kirsty says:

    My husky puppy is 12 weeks old he can sit and give his paw. He is very good when using the toilet as he uses his training pads but he never goes outside, if he wants to use the toilet he waits till he goes back inside. Our main problem is his biting and jumping, we all withdraw our attention and he finally gives in but when will the biting and jumping stop?

  • A.j. Kuster says:

    Hi there, I have 2 year old male named Guinness and I have been interested in teaching him more tricks! He knows how to sit and shake and is extremely obedient to me, he never leaves my side. But, he is really quiet. Can anybody give me some ideas on how to teach him to speak or maybe even say words? Thank you!

  • Levi says:

    I have a 4 month year old husky but she’s blind and I’m having a lot of trouble potty training her any suggestions anyone please.

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