Training my Husky to not run away...

[SaraphWolf79]

Oh, it was bad!  The first time he ran off, I cried and cried and thought I'd never see him again.  I actually took off work the entire day to go looking for him to no avail.  About 4 in the afternoon, some very nice gentlemen who worked at the airport about 4 miles away called me to let me know they had found him (they were actually gonna keep him because they couldn't get ahold of the local animal shelter to get my number, it was a Saturday and they were closed until 1 in the afternoon) Thank God the guys kept trying!

The second time, I was at work and my roommate called and informed me she had opened the windows and left to run some arrands...litt le did she know how flimsy the screens were, and Nanook just pushed one of them off and jumped through.  A good sumaritan called about an hour afterwards to say he had found him up on college campus (about 3 miles south of me.)  

Not only does he have his city tags on him, so if someone finds him, they can contact the animal shelter and they have my name and number on file, but he's also now got his own tag with his name, number and address.

It makes me feel a little better knowing it's in their breed to run, so I don't feel so much like the "unwanted owner".    

[irinad83]

Yes tags are soooo important! My guy was playing with some doggies at the park and he lost all of his tags! I need to get them ASAP! Actually I'm going to do it today! Thank you for a good reminder!
I would never want my little one end up in a pound! (he is Microchiped, but sometimes thats not enough)
thanks again!
Enjoy your day!

[Klondike]

Please let me know if the clicker works.  Klondike runs every chance he gets.  We walk him every night and he has a large yard to run & play in but every chance he gets he is out the front door.  We were hoping he would out grow it, any chance of that???

[RedyreRottweilers]

Forget training many of the Northern breeds "not to run away".

Certain breeds can never be trusted off lead.

Most Siberians fall into that category.

These dogs have been bred for MANY years to run long distances. They are genetically programmed to get out there and GO, and believe me, they will.

[Rachel]

We taught Sophie to always sit at the door before going out.  She now knows that even if the door is open she must always sit.  This might help with him bolting out the front door.

[Kermit]

I used to have two Siberian Huskies. They ran away all the time. They were master escape artists, and they would slip through an open door before you even knew it. I couldn't even count the number of times they ran from me. Unfortunately, they did not get any better about it as they got older. That's how I ended up losing both of them.

[Anakalia]

I just found this thread and horrible memories came rushing back to me!  Huskies are gorgeous dogs, I had one 6 yrs ago, and she was beautiful.  Redish in color one blue one brown eye.  She knew all the basic commands and a few tricks, but we could never ever train her to stay in our yard.  We even went so far as to have a fenced in area and a cable on her when she was out so she wouldn't run!  Tony, my fiance ran her a few miles everyday, but it never seemed like it was enough.  She HATED being in the house, she either looked out the window all day or sat by the door begging to go outside.  Well one day when she was out doing her "business" she snapped her cable AND jumped the fence and she was GONE!!  We never did find her and it took us a long time to get over it.     I really hope you can find something that works for you and your husky, because losing them like that and not knowing what happend to them is unbearable.

Andi

[Nicole]

Hey everyone,
 Sorry if I repeat stuff that others have said, I wanted to chime in and don't have time to read the whole thread.

Anyway....in my experience, Huskys are very very very hard to train when it comes to the running off thing. I had one, Tsunami, and he could literally open doors. Everytime we left, so did he. We had to resort to keeping him locked in a room when we left...so sad. He'd run off at any opportunity. As a matter of fact, that's how I got him...he showed up one day. When I finally found his owner (like a month later) she almost couldn't believe it was him when I called her after seeing her flier posted. She lived 20 miles away from me! But the more I got to know this dog, the more I realized that 20 miles was nothin' for him. She asked me if I wanted to keep him..and I did...anyway.. ..

I don't have any advice, just do NOT trust him off-leash. Its just a fact with these guys. Take extra precautions when leaving, work on training in the house. I saw that Grumpy suggested clicker training...or expounded on it. I'd say that working on his behavior in the house is the best thing, so that he doesn't dart out, and then never ever allow him off leash in an unfenced (HIGH FENCE) area.

Far as the barking...yeah, Huskys do this kind of howling thing. Sometimes it sounds like they're talking. Tsu NEVER barked only made those howly, talking kinda noises. I've read that this is what many Huskys do.

Good luck, and just realize that Huskys are a special breed...they are bred for intense work in extreme climates, and have TONS of endurance and are extremely independent. Its not that they don't love you, but they love the great outdoors and their sense of adventure more. They do. Its a fact.

You could just feed him alot and make him real fat....heheheh e! Maybe then he'll lose his motivation to run off!

AND BE SURE TO MICROCHIP!

There...off my soap box and off to class. See everyone in a few hours....

[ZooCrew]

Hello!!

My girl is only 1/2 husky, but up until she was 4 yrs old, I could never, EVER let her off leash.  It took alot of work, patience, and perserverance before she was ever allowed off leash.  And we do have our setbacks.

After I let her do lure coursing, she thought she was allowed to chase after every squirrel.  So I had to start retraining her, and doing it a bit differently than before.

I always tell people she started off as a horrible husky puppy (b/c she was SUCH a troublemaker), and then matured into a nice german shepherd adult.  If she were a full husky, I wouldn't even dream of letting her off leash.  And although she is allowed off leash now, I rarely let her, and only in situations I can control (or at least better control).  She is never walked off leash, unless I feel there is a slim to none chance of a rabbit or squirrel being around, which is pretty rare.  And only in areas dogs are allowed off leash, which is also few and far between.

She is good at the beach, and in non-fenced dog parks.  To and from the house, and at my parent's acerage.  Other than that, she is rarely let off leash.  And I wouldn't suggest it to anyone else, either.  Especiallya full breed husky.

As for the barking/howling, Keiko does neither.  The only time she will bark is at the front door.  I used to kid people that she was mute b/c she rarely makes any kind of noise, no matter the situationi.  She obviously didn't get the husky vocal genes. 

[NoDogNow]

You might not be able to get a husky not to run, but I think you could train him to come back. 

I know several hunters who use e-collars on their dogs, so that when the dog is ranging out of voice range, they can use the collar to call the dog back to them.  The way I understand it to work is similar to clicker training, but that it works over longer distances. 

Just a thought.

[pndlake]

I know most of you have had premonitions about things about to happen and it happened to me two days ago.  I was driving down a country road headed for home alone the other day and I suddenly had a premonition that a dog was going to bolt out from the right hand side of the road.  I was doing about 60 mph and there were few other  cars on the road.  Thats right  - suddenly two dogs bolted out in front of me from the right about 1 minute after my thought.  Thank god I did not hit either one, I think because I was being extra careful and watching closely.  Then I looked again and it was MY dog Niki with a husky that I had seen running loose a few days earlier.  I was mortified.  She is in a fenced in area but in a few places our fence is in need of repair.  She never leaves the area except if nobody is home and she thinks she can get away with it.  I pulled off to the other side of the road that headed into an orange grove.  She stopped suddenly and contemplated bolting back toward the road but stopped as she really can't disobey me and she knew she was in trouble.  The husky took off into the oranges.  Niki jumped in the car and took her punishment (my yelling and making her lay in the corner).  Now she is by my side and has been kissing up for two days trying to make up for it.

It gives me the chills, people on the road all do over 60.  It is almost as if God was looking after us.  Now I will re-hotwire the fence.  I will never forget that premonition.

Peggy

[GR8DAME]

Oh Peggy, What a close call!

I'll add my two cents, because I did everything wrong, and my dog paid the price.
When we were first in our new house we got a red doberman puppy, his name was Rambo. We took him to school, and he was wonderfully obedient, until we bred him. (We are talking 20 years ago, and I've learned alot since then, so please don't irresponsible breeder me--if I knew then what I know now it never would have been done) After that , he would take any opportunity to bolt out the door, gate or anything other than jump the fence. We assumed he was out for females.The police were notified,and every availible adult in the house would jump in the car or head out on foot to find him, and bring him home. The last time he bolted he ran headfirst into a moving car, three blcks from my house. Our local police took the call and came and got me. He died in my arms in the back of the police car on the way to the vet...
I was too stupid to not breed, too stupid to nueter him when he started to bolt after females, and too stupid to train him better not to bolt, and it will haunt me forever.
Stella

[ZooCrew]

Wow, that's pretty lucky you seeing her like that and being able to get her.  I get a knot in my stomach just thinking about it.

[pndlake]

Stella, you can't blame yourself for your dog bolting.  These things happen, we do everything we can to keep it from happening but sometimes it does not just work out.  Thanks for your thoughts. 

Some dogs will bolt and some dogs are runners.  Maybe huskies are worse at it.

I cannot even imagine the basket case I would be if I had hit my dog with that car!!!!!  It would do me in.

[graymeiste]

Ah, the joys of having a young husky!  My girl is getting up there in years now, and she isn't interested in running anywhere but to the food bowl or to where she's due her next nap.

That being said.....

Huskies are rather notorious as being extremely stubborn.  That's the word for it.  Stubborn.  They are a highly intelligent breed that comes from heavily pack-oriented dogs who were bred to run...and run...and run...and run.  My Laeka was nearly enough to make me consider running away myself when she was young, but over time, we've come to agreements.  Whenever possible, I actually do let her run off leash, but even then, it's only when I am RIGHT THERE to stop her from running off.

My suggestions are to get a good, long leash and a comfortable collar for her.  I'm not big into "choke chains" or the like, but opinions vary.  I do NOT suggest putting a Husky into a harness, however.  Look at the chest on that pooch.  There's a reason they are called "husky."  You're going to have a lot of pulling against the leash anyway.  Put the pup in a harness and it'll be FAR worse on you.

Take the dog out and let it walk.  When he/she starts to pull at the leash, bring him/her on back in.  Verbally call the pup back and make it return to you.  Continue this until the dog learns to not pull.  In my case, this took over a year.  She just had to learn that if she wanted to go on fun walks, she had to mind.  Remember that stubborn part...heh.  Eventually, she did learn, and over time, I began to trust her a bit more.  Eventually, she came around and even learned to stay by my side, even leash-free.  With my wife, however, she still pulls and tries to run.  It's the pack mentality showing through.  I am the Alpha to her and must be obeyed.  My wife?  Not so much.   They still don't agree as to who the "lady" of the house is.

They're just stubborn.  You have to talk them into doing what you want or just keep at them until they give up.  And, as others have said, even then, you'd better keep your eyes on them.

As for the barking thing....  Don't expect to hear much of it.  Laeka barks only when startled.  That usually involves someone knocking on the door suddenly.  Otherwise, the only noise that she makes is the typical "wooo woo woo" husky warble.  That can, however, be encouraged.   She and I sing songs together that no one else in the house seems to appreciate!  Guess they just aren't music lovers.

Good luck!  They're great dogs, but man, oh man....stubbor n.