Going to the Dogs

G[d looking pointer

 

Justkelven, thanks

 

Our dog with a large carrot

 

Went for an overnight backpacking trip with Max over the weekend.

While the dogs sleep in the tent with me, they are always tied to me (or something else if I walk away from them or the camp). The huskies' prey drive is very high. They would chase anything that moved and getting them to come back (unhurt) would be a challenge.

 

My tree climber...Monkey-Dog

 

Here are my little munchkins....

They're essentially our kids!

Bradley:


Brodie:

Cheers,

Sean

 

Max is such a handsome pup! And yes, huskies turn off their listening ears when prey is about.

 

Thanks. He's due for our annual (or twice a year) visit to the groomer. So hard to keep up with his wooly coat. When I tied him to the tree to go take some pictures, he was like "Uh... where are you going?" And then started chewing on a stick.

One time we were camped and a ranger came up. Checked my permit and thanked me for having Max tied to me. He told me a story about a guy who had his dog with him. Dog was off-leash, saw a deer and went after it. He chased it over the edge of a hill. The deer knew the area, the dog didn't, and didn't survive the fall. That stuck with me.

 

RIP Cricket, just sick and sad

 

Maya just joined the family this weekend. 7 month old Husky/Airedale mix. She's adjusting well, but it's going to take a while. As with all things dog - patience, love and TREATS work wonders.

 

Cool looking dog

 

Just added a new girl to the family...
Meet “Sami” a 13 month old Husky mix (?)looking for any info on how to insure she grows into a great truck dog..@huskymike inspired me with his beauties and stories about them...

 

He likes the mud.

 

She's a good looking dog! Looks full husky to me, but I'm no expert ( <---- keep that in mind while I pretend to know what I'm talking about. )

Training a husky is no different than training any other dog. Some dogs can have more of certain characteristics than others (like huskies being notoriously difficult to train recall). Just means you have to work harder at that skill but the basic training is the same. Rewards, corrections etc. Biggest mistake I see people make is they keep trying new things. You'll read their posts like "She just won't listen. I tried toys, food, clickers, whistles, harnesses, everything! Nothing works". If they would have stuck with one thing, it probably would have worked.

Basically any training program will work as long as you are consistent. Trying to find a reward that motivates your dog may be a challenge, but in the end, it's the same training. I enjoyed, and would recommend, taking a 6 week basic obedience group class with our Aussie and, a years later, with our huskies. I had my daughter handle one of the huskies and I handled the other. Getting professional training will start you off on the right foot, mostly showing YOU what you need to do. Also dogs have different personalities. Mika is sort of a nervous dog, Max is a couch potato. They are littermates and totally different dogs.

Ginger the Aussie was a mind reader. I only had think of a command and it seemed she knew what I wanted. Amazing. Huskies are more stubborn Our huskies (and Huskies in general) have very high prey drive. They are never off the leash, especially when we hike. One squirrel, deer, rabbit etc and they'd be gone.

Regarding being a truck dog... You just have to make getting into and being in the truck enjoyable for a while so she relates "good stuff" with the truck. She might just take to it like Max did.

We did this with both our dogs and, while they both happily jump up into the vehicles, Mika always has this "I hate this" look on her face. 6 years into it and I think late last year was the first time she started laying down while we were driving.

I kid you not, a few years ago, for a 5 day backpacking trip, we drove to Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead (near Lone Pine, CA) from San Diego and then back and she "sat" behind the front the seat of the Sienna the whole 5 hours each way. Didn't lay down once.

I think that's enough rambling for now. Always happy to talk dog stuff and help if I can. There are a few others here who have Huskies. Hopefully they'll chime in with their stories. I had my heart set on a German Shepherd as our next dog after Ginger, the Aussie passed. The huskies sort of fell into our lap and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

 

My Shorthair Obi