4 Year Old Female Husky Mix Help?
September 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
My 4 year old Husky mix Sweetie is a real sweetheart hint the name. She is a rescue dog, she is a Siberian Husky/ Alaskan Husky mix. She was a lead sled dog, and I am training her again for that position. But I am having a lot of trouble with her behavior. She as a lead sled dog is very dominate towards other dogs. She is great with my 7 month old Cockapoo puppy, when it comes to other dogs she does alright but with her dominate behavior she tends to frighten the other dogs (I’m worried that another dog will start a fight with her because they are scared or something). Sweetie gets along with other sled breed dogs obviously it is just with other breeds that she seems to have trouble with. Is there anyway to correct this dominate behavior of hers?? Sweetie also has a very sensitive stomach. Is there any type of dog food that might be good for her?? She isn’t my first dog I’ve just never owned one with her sensitive stomach nor one as stubborn as she. Any help you can give is welcomed.
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It’s hard to say why Sweetie is acting like this without knowing her full history. Any number of things could have happened in the 3 years prior to you getting her. Perhaps she was never exposed to dogs of other types, and although she has accepted your puppy (because he is yours, and she respects you), it doesn’t mean she will accept all dogs.
Dogs bred to work in teams can be very particular — they tend to gravitate toward their own breed and don’t have much patience for “outsiders”.
I can tell you right now that — although her personality might be part of what makes her a good lead dog — lead dogs aren’t dominant because they have to “fight” for their position. Jack London was not speaking accurately about sled dogs when he wrote “Call of the Wild”, yet everyone seems to think that this is the way the team dynamic works.
Sweetie is a lead dog because she is smart, she is confident enough to run ahead of a team with nobody to follow, and because she listens to commands. This is how leaders are chosen — they don’t “fight” for their position.
You may have to accept that Sweetie just isn’t the type of dog you can take out on a leash to PetsMart or the park. Remember that Alaskan Huskies are first and foremost a working dog — they are not typically pets, and the often spend their entire lives in a dog yard or on the trail with their own team. In that respect, they are uncivilized.
I’m glad to hear that you’ve got her diet issues sorted out. I hope this helps!
I’ve starred it to see if Loki could help.
25 years of being owned by Siberian Huskies. I currently have 14 Huskies most of whom were rescued by us from people who didn’t know what they were getting intohttp://www.dogster.com/dogs/486763
I think perhaps some more training might be in order. You should take sweetie to obedience classes. There theyll be able to help you with socialisation and controlling her dominant behaviour.
Also, with her food. Its probably best to discuss that with a vet. Let them know what your feeding her now and what reaction she has to it.
Good luck!
I had a Siberian/malamute mix and your dog sounds like mine. I think dominance is their nature. I don’t know that more training would help other than training by you. She died at 24 years old picking and choosing her friends to the end.
I would watch for corn and wheat in what I feed her. How about Wellness brand?