I live on somewhat of a farm and was curious if huskies can be trusted to walk around a property, with their owner, without a leash? Of course it varies with the individual personality and training of each dog, but I was just wondering generally speaking.
NO!!! Unless you have a weird husky that isn't going to vary even with training.
I have rescued huskies all my life, I breed/show shepherds, but I love huskies too. Usually the huskies I get have been mistreated and the girl I have now is so special, but she has burn marks, her ears are split, acid was poured down her throat and her tongue/throat has pit marks, it's horrible what was done to her. With all that was done, they still couldn't beat the husky out of her. I also have many acres, but if she gets out of the fence or off the leash, she goes.
I have loved every husky I've ever owned, but I never try to make the husky a shepherd, they're not and never will be. A husky has so many other great qualities, but obeying the "COME" command is not one of them.
EDIT - My husky is eight now, I've had her since just before her second birthday - the other day I had my daughter take her to the vet for her annual, and she bolted when the car door was opened, after all this time she still runs :)
Keep in mind, these dogs are bred to run. If you want to work on training, get a 100 foot leash from PetCo/PetSmart/wherever. You need to work on obedience, coming when called, coming with distractions and the like. THe 100 foot leash will aid you in distance training and commands. If the dog does well short distances, 6 feet, work up to longer and longer distances and then use the full 100 feet. Keep him on the 100 foot leash until you are sure.
But I would say, why would anyone ever take the chance. Things like this take a lot of training and trust between you and your dog. What if the dog runs off and kills a neighbors cat or their rabbits or their chickens, or your rabbits or cats or chickens because of the instincts these animals have. Better safe than sorry :)
No you can't trust them off leash. Even highly trained huskies that have won awards for obedience have been known to bolt. They have this wanderlust quality to them, and want to explore. Itchy feet is something else I call it. One of my current dogs is a Siberian, and she's really very well behaved, and we actually did try her out off leash a little. After 2 incidents of her deciding to take off and completely ignore us, we stopped trusting her off leash. She also managed to get loose once, and had wandered at least a mile before finding someone with a dog she was interested in. Fortunately the woman was kind enough to catch her and call us - she thought it was a neighbor's dog (until she got a closer look) since one of her neighbors had a husky that got loose on a regular basis. We also had a neighbor with an Alaskan husky that we used to catch for them on a regular basis.
btw - it helps if you have another dog to keep the husky company. They are much less bored that way. We actually got a second dog (she's a hound/rotty mix) specifically for that purpose.
My family has raised Huskies for decades, and we also had a farm/ranch type of home for a while. Generally speaking, NO! Huskies are not good of the leash, espscially where there might be wildlife. Ducks, geese or any small animal that runs away! They are head strong and tend not to listen when they get fixated on something more interesting. Ours would get out of the out door kennel and run down to the next ranch and kill chicken, and then run to a near by pond and kill the ducks! Than come back stinking! Wet huskie smells horrible! Yuk! I would'nt recommend iT !
I have a 5yo husky. GREAT DOG!! I can not leave him without a leash or he wanders...and he is neutered! I do have two acres fenced in for him and the other two dogs and that does contain him....the fence is 6 feet high, but in all honesty he could jump it if he tried, I have just been very lucky he has not figured it out. 8 foot is better. We have cats and birds as well, have had rabbits in the house, and he has never attempted to harm any of them. Good luck, Huskies are great fun and super companions!
You wont be able to trust a husky for many years. It takes a lot of CONSTANT training and working with them(Alaskan Malamutes too) to get them to be well mannered on a leash.
I had a friend who had one of each, both were rescues and both about 3-4 yo. He had to keep them with him almost every minute of the day before they got over their separation anxiety. He had to keep a leash on them all the time just to have something to grab onto if they tried to bolt out the door.
And when they did get away they would run 2-3 miles before he could catch them(fortunately they always went to the same places when they ran away, one would go to an elderly housing complex, the other went to a house that had a flat-coated retriever.)
Only when they were around ten years old, were they allowed off leash occasionally.
No!!!! Siberians are bred to run, and they will run when given the chance. No matter how much training the dog has had, it is not safe to EVER have a Siberian off leash unless the dog is in a fenced area. I currently own a Sibe and I've had them in the past. I also belonged to the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Cleveland for several years, as well as had lots of experience with my friends' dogs(She had 17 Siberians at any given time (she used to be a musher/breeder)). so please, for the saftey of your dog, keep it on leash or in a fenced in area at all time.
That depends on the relationship between the dog and its owner and also on the age of the dog. I had a Huskie once and she was the best dog ever! I could not trust her to roam freely, but I never had a problem with her running off when we were walking out in the woods together. They are extremely intelligent dogs and I can't wait to get another.
we have a husky and a larger city back yard. we have a park behind our house that we walk her in, but i would never walk her without her leash and harness. the harness becasue she has shaken out of her collar before when just attatched the traditional way to a leash. she has escaped the house a couple of times out the front door and she loves being in the house. i would highly suggest that if you want to keep your husky you need to put it on a leash unless you have high fences posted around your property. you will never catch up to it to catch it if it runs too far.
Generally speaking, I've had two husky mixes. One lived mostly on my grandparent's farm. She never gave us any trouble and loved all the other animals.
My best advice would be a slow introduction to this in a control manner to see how your dog will behave. If it looks good, then I wouldn't be worried. Otherwise, keep them on a leash until they know the proper behavior.
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NO!!! Unless you have a weird husky that isn't going to vary even with training.
I have rescued huskies all my life, I breed/show shepherds, but I love huskies too. Usually the huskies I get have been mistreated and the girl I have now is so special, but she has burn marks, her ears are split, acid was poured down her throat and her tongue/throat has pit marks, it's horrible what was done to her. With all that was done, they still couldn't beat the husky out of her. I also have many acres, but if she gets out of the fence or off the leash, she goes.
I have loved every husky I've ever owned, but I never try to make the husky a shepherd, they're not and never will be. A husky has so many other great qualities, but obeying the "COME" command is not one of them.
EDIT - My husky is eight now, I've had her since just before her second birthday - the other day I had my daughter take her to the vet for her annual, and she bolted when the car door was opened, after all this time she still runs :)
Keep in mind, these dogs are bred to run. If you want to work on training, get a 100 foot leash from PetCo/PetSmart/wherever. You need to work on obedience, coming when called, coming with distractions and the like. THe 100 foot leash will aid you in distance training and commands. If the dog does well short distances, 6 feet, work up to longer and longer distances and then use the full 100 feet. Keep him on the 100 foot leash until you are sure.
But I would say, why would anyone ever take the chance. Things like this take a lot of training and trust between you and your dog. What if the dog runs off and kills a neighbors cat or their rabbits or their chickens, or your rabbits or cats or chickens because of the instincts these animals have. Better safe than sorry :)
No you can't trust them off leash. Even highly trained huskies that have won awards for obedience have been known to bolt. They have this wanderlust quality to them, and want to explore. Itchy feet is something else I call it. One of my current dogs is a Siberian, and she's really very well behaved, and we actually did try her out off leash a little. After 2 incidents of her deciding to take off and completely ignore us, we stopped trusting her off leash. She also managed to get loose once, and had wandered at least a mile before finding someone with a dog she was interested in. Fortunately the woman was kind enough to catch her and call us - she thought it was a neighbor's dog (until she got a closer look) since one of her neighbors had a husky that got loose on a regular basis. We also had a neighbor with an Alaskan husky that we used to catch for them on a regular basis.
btw - it helps if you have another dog to keep the husky company. They are much less bored that way. We actually got a second dog (she's a hound/rotty mix) specifically for that purpose.
My family has raised Huskies for decades, and we also had a farm/ranch type of home for a while. Generally speaking, NO! Huskies are not good of the leash, espscially where there might be wildlife. Ducks, geese or any small animal that runs away! They are head strong and tend not to listen when they get fixated on something more interesting. Ours would get out of the out door kennel and run down to the next ranch and kill chicken, and then run to a near by pond and kill the ducks! Than come back stinking! Wet huskie smells horrible! Yuk! I would'nt recommend iT !
I have a 5yo husky. GREAT DOG!! I can not leave him without a leash or he wanders...and he is neutered! I do have two acres fenced in for him and the other two dogs and that does contain him....the fence is 6 feet high, but in all honesty he could jump it if he tried, I have just been very lucky he has not figured it out. 8 foot is better. We have cats and birds as well, have had rabbits in the house, and he has never attempted to harm any of them. Good luck, Huskies are great fun and super companions!
You wont be able to trust a husky for many years. It takes a lot of CONSTANT training and working with them(Alaskan Malamutes too) to get them to be well mannered on a leash.
I had a friend who had one of each, both were rescues and both about 3-4 yo. He had to keep them with him almost every minute of the day before they got over their separation anxiety. He had to keep a leash on them all the time just to have something to grab onto if they tried to bolt out the door.
And when they did get away they would run 2-3 miles before he could catch them(fortunately they always went to the same places when they ran away, one would go to an elderly housing complex, the other went to a house that had a flat-coated retriever.)
Only when they were around ten years old, were they allowed off leash occasionally.
No!!!! Siberians are bred to run, and they will run when given the chance. No matter how much training the dog has had, it is not safe to EVER have a Siberian off leash unless the dog is in a fenced area. I currently own a Sibe and I've had them in the past. I also belonged to the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Cleveland for several years, as well as had lots of experience with my friends' dogs(She had 17 Siberians at any given time (she used to be a musher/breeder)). so please, for the saftey of your dog, keep it on leash or in a fenced in area at all time.
That depends on the relationship between the dog and its owner and also on the age of the dog. I had a Huskie once and she was the best dog ever! I could not trust her to roam freely, but I never had a problem with her running off when we were walking out in the woods together. They are extremely intelligent dogs and I can't wait to get another.
we have a husky and a larger city back yard. we have a park behind our house that we walk her in, but i would never walk her without her leash and harness. the harness becasue she has shaken out of her collar before when just attatched the traditional way to a leash. she has escaped the house a couple of times out the front door and she loves being in the house. i would highly suggest that if you want to keep your husky you need to put it on a leash unless you have high fences posted around your property. you will never catch up to it to catch it if it runs too far.
Generally speaking, I've had two husky mixes. One lived mostly on my grandparent's farm. She never gave us any trouble and loved all the other animals.
My best advice would be a slow introduction to this in a control manner to see how your dog will behave. If it looks good, then I wouldn't be worried. Otherwise, keep them on a leash until they know the proper behavior.