Dog Community

is my Siberian Husky being a little too aggressive?

Posted : 1/5/2007 12:52:53 PM

i'm sorry if this is a repost and if it is i would appreciate any links to where i can find an answer for this. well i'm a proud new owner of a 2 month old female Siberian Husky puppy named Kiba and the problem is whenever she's around my dog or my girlfriend's dogs she's always trying to "rough-house" with them.

my other dog is a 10 year old Chow-mix and my girlfriend has two Chiuahuas (sp?) that are about 3 years old. everytime Kiba is around any of them she's always trying to bite them, chase them around, ram them with her head, etc. the other dogs are quite distraught by this and have to growl or bark at her to make her stop and sometimes it'll take a while before Kiba gets the point.

now i know that Kiba's only a puppy so this is probably normal behavior, but is this sort of behavior going to continue as she grows older? i don't mind a little playfulness between the dogs, but the other dogs hate it when Kiba's constantly rough-housing with them. is this a behavior i should try and stop or will it go away as the puppy gets older? i'm sorry if this is a noob question, but i'm a noob owner and i just want Kiba to get along with my dog and my girlfriend's dogs. thanks in advance everyone. [

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Nikki Love

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:07:41 PM

hi there.
when my pup was 2 months old, she was also like yours is now.
She is now 2 years old, and has mostly outgrown this behaviour, but every so often she has her 'puppy' moments.

i also have a rough collie, and they do play real rough together, but they dont ever hurt each other, and always let each other know when they have had enough,, and it stops there and then.

She should ougrow it as she grows up, but always be prepared for if and when she fancies having a 'puppy' moment!!!!!

Firestorm

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:11:55 PM

I personally think it would not hurt to get Kiba in puppy class. She needs more doggie socialization and when she gets older I would get her in obedience training. These classes can be a great help.

dogslife

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:14:31 PM

Huskies are usually a ball of fire. She sounds like a healthy one. I would curtail the horsing around if the elders are gettin annoyed. Teach her subtle manners early, and avoid big time problems as she gets larger and much stronger. BTW, how is the walking on a leash going?

Obediance classes are probably a good idea as Firestorm just mentioned.

Scout in Canada

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:22:22 PM

My dog was a "pushy player" when I first got her (4 months old). She wouldn't pay attention to other dog's clear communications of "leave me alone!". I just kept bringing her around other dogs that I knew were fairly tolerant, and I think as time went on she started picking up and understanding dog body language better. Plus, as time goes on, she is less puppyish and has started outgrowing this pushiness.

houndlove

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:29:48 PM

Puppy kindergarten and a doggy socialization plan BUT huskies are sort of known to be rough players. My dog Conrad loves huskies and labs because those breeds are typically the ones that like to play as rough as he does. The last time there was a husky at the dog park, my two and that dog were just blurs for about an hour non-stop.

Puppy socialization can help your pup learn to better understand doggy-speak for "LEAVE ME ALONE!" but there's nothing wrong with rough play if all parties are consenting.

Marchelle Garcia

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:47:24 PM

wow thanks for the quick replies everyone! i'm kind of hoping that she would just outgrow this or at least come to an understanding of what "leave me alone" is in dog language. for those that mentioned doggie socialization...how abouts do i go about doing this?

ORIGINAL: dogslife

Huskies are usually a ball of fire. She sounds like a healthy one. I would curtail the horsing around if the elders are gettin annoyed. Teach her subtle manners early, and avoid big time problems as she gets larger and much stronger. BTW, how is the walking on a leash going?

Obediance classes are probably a good idea as Firestorm just mentioned.

yeah i definitely want to stop the more "problematic" behaviors now before she gets bigger and stronger...i just didn't know if this was one of those behaviors. walking on the leash with Kiba is great...she doesn't try to run out ahead of me or try to sniff everything she passes. she pretty much just follows me along wherever i go.

i definitely want to enroll Kiba in some obedience classes, but i heard it's important to establish that i'm the pack leader first before doing so. any opinions about that?

thanks again everyone for the input. [

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houndlove

Posted : 1/5/2007 1:53:56 PM

Any good beginning obedience class will teach you how to be a good leader for your dog and how to communicate with her. That's the whole point of going to a class, learning things! Dog obedience and training classes are way more about training humans than training dogs. At least, the good ones are. You go to class and learn a new thing but then have to spend the next 6 days doing your "homework" until the next class, so the instructors will make sure that you understand what's going on before you walk out the door at the end of class.

espencer

Posted : 1/5/2007 2:34:47 PM

Right now is a very good moment to teach her to walk next to you on a leash so she does not brings up that side of the Siberian Husky of pulling in the future during the walks and you can do some other excercises to redirect that side of her [

], if not then you would be fighting against a pulling breed and you are not going to like it

Scout in Canada

Posted : 1/5/2007 2:50:04 PM

I would go ahead and enroll in class immediately. They will teach you great, painless ways to assert yourself as a leader in the household - NILF, for example. You will want to look for a trainer that uses positive reinforcement techniques and treats as rewards.

snownose

Posted : 1/5/2007 3:07:30 PM

The above posters gave you good advice, but don't forget, and this comes from a former Husky breeder, this breed has way more energy than most dogs.
An outlet for that energy is a must.[

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mudpuppy

Posted : 1/5/2007 3:54:40 PM

um, your dog WILL NOT outgrow this on her own. All puppies start out being really rude, and the older dogs and other puppies they interact with are the ones who teach them manners. It is very important that you expose your puppy to other dogs and let the other dogs "discipline" your pup's rudeness. People who isolate their wild puppies from other dogs during early puppy hood because they worry about them irritating the older dogs end up with dogs who are extremely rude their entire lives. Adult dogs who haven't learned their manners are in grave danger of regularly being attacked by other adult dogs. Humans simply cannot teach these lessons. Puppy play dates are essential. Letting your dog interact with well-mannered older dogs is essential.

Katie

Posted : 1/5/2007 4:29:33 PM

SOL Food, I had to chuckle when I read your post. We had a Husky staying with us for a while back when I only had Cuma. She was only 9 months but she wanted to play with him constantly, and rough too! At half Cuma's size, she remains, to this day, the only dog to ever actually take him down to the ground while wrestling. She'd wrap her paws around his front legs and pull them out from under him. [

] It was quite amusing to watch, but we had to separate them after a few hours because Cuma would be absolutely exhausted and she'd still be raring to go.

As you know this is one of the most energetic breeds. Lots of exercise and mental stimulation (training) will help, but Huskies are very social dogs. She will likely always be quite playful with other doggies.

Marchelle Garcia

Posted : 1/5/2007 5:16:27 PM

ORIGINAL: houndlove

Any good beginning obedience class will teach you how to be a good leader for your dog and how to communicate with her. That's the whole point of going to a class, learning things! Dog obedience and training classes are way more about training humans than training dogs. At least, the good ones are. You go to class and learn a new thing but then have to spend the next 6 days doing your "homework" until the next class, so the instructors will make sure that you understand what's going on before you walk out the door at the end of class.

thanks for the information...i'm already in the process of looking for a good obedience school for Kiba and I.

ORIGINAL: espencer

Right now is a very good moment to teach her to walk next to you on a leash so she does not brings up that side of the Siberian Husky of pulling in the future during the walks and you can do some other excercises to redirect that side of her [], if not then you would be fighting against a pulling breed and you are not going to like it

haha yeah i definitely don't want to be in a tug of war match with an adult Husky...that's for sure. when i walk her now i keep the leash short and make sure she's just a little behind or right next to me. that's the proper way to go about it, right?

ORIGINAL: snownose

The above posters gave you good advice, but don't forget, and this comes from a former Husky breeder, this breed has way more energy than most dogs.
An outlet for that energy is a must.[]

oh absolutely. i knew i was gonna have my hands full when i got Kiba! [8D]

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

um, your dog WILL NOT outgrow this on her own. All puppies start out being really rude, and the older dogs and other puppies they interact with are the ones who teach them manners. It is very important that you expose your puppy to other dogs and let the other dogs "discipline" your pup's rudeness. People who isolate their wild puppies from other dogs during early puppy hood because they worry about them irritating the older dogs end up with dogs who are extremely rude their entire lives. Adult dogs who haven't learned their manners are in grave danger of regularly being attacked by other adult dogs. Humans simply cannot teach these lessons. Puppy play dates are essential. Letting your dog interact with well-mannered older dogs is essential.

hmmm interesting. now i know for people this would be something that's called "tough love" or "learning the hard way", but i'm just worried that the elders will get to the breaking point and do more than just bark and growl at little Kiba. the last thing i want is Kiba getting hurt because of something she thought was ok and normal.

ORIGINAL: cumasmommy
As you know this is one of the most energetic breeds. Lots of exercise and mental stimulation (training) will help, but Huskies are very social dogs. She will likely always be quite playful with other doggies.

lol well looks like i'll just have to keep Kiba around patient or other playful doggies. [

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espencer

Posted : 1/5/2007 6:06:41 PM

ORIGINAL: SOL Food

haha yeah i definitely don't want to be in a tug of war match with an adult Husky...that's for sure. when i walk her now i keep the leash short and make sure she's just a little behind or right next to me. that's the proper way to go about it, right?

Yes [

], you will see that in the future you will even be able to walk her off leash, to release that pulling gene inside of her in the future you can always buy roller blades and let her take you around the neighborhood sometimes [

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