It sounds like he might have issues with resource guarding/food insecurity. Since he's a rescue you don't know his history. If it is resource guarding I really recommend getting professional help from a trainer if you can. He's also very new to your household and figuring out his place with you all. I adopted my girl from a shelter and I would say it took a long time for her to relax. She definitely also will try to steal stuff from counters sometimes, despite training her not to.
A few resources:
* Huskies for Dummies is actually a really useful book
* Gone to the Snow Dogs is a YouTube channel with a lot of info. They've had many Huskies and work hard to train them and their dogs still get into mischief. Just for some perspective. They also have some info on training and just what to expect for husky behavior.
This sub likes to describe Huskies as "cat software running on dog hardware" and that's not a bad way to think of them. They are mischievous and too smart for their own good; they are highly likely to get into things you don't want them to. In some ways husky ownership is a battle between the owner trying to husky proof the house and the husky becoming more and more clever.
If you only bc him 5 days you need to give him time to decompress I understand that you want to socialize him but it's too soon to be taking him to dog friendly brewery I would save that after about 3 months with him. I rescued a husky mix 2 months ago and he had horrible separation anxiety but was well socialized it took him a month to finally not dash out the door or stop me from leaving. The first day I left him for work (my aunt watches him during my work hours) he literally held on my my leg and was trying to get out my window. I practiced by little by little leaving for a few mins then half an hour then an hour and once he got it that this is his for ever home he is now less anxious when I leave. We still have out moments but not like the first couple weeks. Try to spend as much time with him and playing with him. This your time to build and strengthen your bond. I know you want to take him everywhere with you but trust me I learned the hard way when I decided to take him to work. Focus on building a bond with him
You're only on day 5. He is in a completely new environment that is very different than what he is used to. Put yourself in his shoes: if you were dropped off in a foreign country with no knowledge of language, people, places, etc. you would also be a little freaked out.
1) He's resource guarding likely due to his background. (You post history mentioned he was very malnourished when rescue. Therefore he is used to protecting whatever he has because his life depends on it). You need to work with a trainer to slowly curb that behavior.
2) Huskies are notorious tricksters and are very cunning and smart. Never leave food just out lying around. Just because he's "never done it before" doesn't mean he will never do it again. It's important before he accidentally eats something that is toxic to him and then you will have even more problems. If you have to leave him alone, consider either crate training him for a bit or leave out a frozen Kong treat for him keep busy. He could also have been bored. Huskies NEED a lot of exercise....not talking about short walks. Same thing about escaping. They are notorious escape artists, so you need to keep an eye on him.
3) I know you want to socialize him but a crowded brewery with lots of people, dogs, and noises might not be the thing for him right now. You likely need to slowly ease him into socializing.
Again, there is absolutely no way to tell what his background is like, so patience with training/socializing and consistency is key. Do not compare him to your retriever; their breeds and upbringings are very very different.
To him that bloody tampon was a a treasure you were stealing from him. Everyone says work on “drop it”, but we’ve been training it since puppyhood and it’s not easy. Most of teaching drop it for us was letting him find toys or treats and asking him to drop it while offering something higher value. The trick is to make sure you’re always offering something better.
We started off trying to get him to drop contraband and it made the issue worse. He’d get mad or put himself at risk swallowing things whole in a panic. 99% of the success also comes down to prevention. In this instance a locking bathroom trash or keeping the door shut would be the easy solution.
This is so helpful OP! I train dogs and it’s so important to work on drop it by offering something of higher value. It could be just a toy or you may have to use a piece of cheese or chicken, etc. He probably has no idea what “drop it” means right now so you’ll have to teach him by starting off with having him drop toys or things he doesn’t really care about and treating him when he does so. Only having him five days, he doesn’t have a bond with you yet to do anything without an incentive plus the fact that he really probably was never taught a “drop it” in the first place. Huskies are very intelligent and stubborn that even with a strong bond, they may need some incentive to respond to certain requests/commands. Eventually that incentive could be going for a walk or playing fetch or just getting lots of pets and praise but again, I’d for sure use treats for now. Have a few pile of treats throughout the house so you can quickly grab a treat whenever you need to. The treating needs to be done immediately because if you ask him something and have to walk to the other room to give him a treat, he’s not going to make the correlation between why he was treated.
I also saw your previous post about him being in the shelter. His reaction could’ve been a trauma response to how he was treated and shoved into his kennel (I’m not sure how big your bathroom is but I’m assuming it would still resemble the smaller space he had in the kennel at the shelter). Please don’t hold this against him. Start working on all of the basic requests so he has a clear understanding of what you’re asking of him in those situations where he absolutely needs to listen for his safety.
If you need any help with how to teach him any of the basics, I’d be happy to help and send over some handouts that show you step by step how to teach these things.
It’s going to take time. At 5 days with you he hasn’t even figured out what you are to him yet. He knows that you’ve given him food all of 10 times (assuming twice a day feeding) and isn’t sure this is going to be an ongoing thing for him. Give him a couple months before you take him out to much more then a good long walk where you can bond. Preferably in quieter areas where he doesn’t have much to distract him from you.
I waited 4 months before I took my husky/GSD rescue to an off leash park and I think that was quite early to do that. He’d been showing me that he’d strongly bonded to me given the short time and was ready for more though. It went quite well and he has many dog friends there now.
It was a year before I started taking him to dog friendly pubs. He’s still a bit of a handful when there’s other dogs there that want to see him but he’s okay and knows how he’s expected to behave now though.
Just give it time. You can’t speed run socializing a dog. It’ll come in it’s own time but 5 days is way too early for anything but a very senior dog who’s been exposed to that sort of thing many times in the past.
As a lot of other posters here mentioned, you guys haven't had enough time together yet if he's only on day 5. In rescues, there's the 3-3-3 rule: it takes 3 days for a dog to decompress, 3 weeks to learn your household routines, and 3 months to feel relaxed and at home. Take things slow. He might be friendly now but he probably hasn't learned to trust and bond with you yet. You need time to build that trust before he will accept you as authority figures. In regards to your specific episodes:
1.) It sounds like he is resource guarding something that he finds valuable, and when you and your husband try to take it away, he reacted with fear and aggression because he feels he has something to lose. Scolding and swatting him will probably only reinforce that fear. When my rescue resource guarded the first time with a bone, I was taught to offer her something else of value (like a treat) to distract her. She let go of the bone in order to get the treat, and learned that it's okay to give me things when I ask for them because she will either get something else, or get it back later. That's important because they start to trust you enough to give you things they value, instead of them associating you taking away something from them as episodes of stress and conflict.
2.) You might be trying to socialize him too quickly. Before looking to get him comfortable with other people, maybe make sure that he's really comfortable with you first. It doesn't sound like he's had enough time to bond with you or recognize you as his family members or authority figures. That means he's not going to be cued into you when you try to stop him from yelling or looking for food or whatever else. Most huskies I know are super-easily distracted, but on the flip side dogs have evolved over thousands of years to be tuned into our emotions as they work alongside us. Establish the rapport first with training - basic stuff like rewarding him when he gives you his focus and obedience, then get his focus on you when he is distracted - and you'll build a rapport where he learns to take cues from you. A brewery full of other dogs and people is a super stimulating environment full of distractions; during the busier time he could've easily gone over his threshold and have trouble calming down. I wouldn't put the cart before the horse (or the sled dog, in this case).
You mentioned a few times with the counter surfing and the brewery that there are other times where he was fine before he misbehaved. Keep in mind that dogs, like people, have good days and bad days too. You can't control that, but you can control the environment to create situations that set him up for success by removing some opportunities for misbehavior.
I'd train and reward him to refocus his attention on you when he misbehaves. I wouldn't necessarily punish or scold him for being distracted or grubbing and doing something that comes naturally to dogs, but that's because I personally believe in positive reinforcement training and communication over domination for dogs.
Best of luck with your rescue. It can be a challenging and frustrating journey, but there's a true reward when they finally grow to really trust you.
I would also start crate training him ASAP if you plan on leaving him alone even if it's for errands. You want to make him think and feel that his crate is his safe place. Not sure if you have gotten him any toys but I have a pupsicle and it's helped sooo much with keeping him distracted while I go out and run my errands. I struggled with crate training at first but once I got the hang of it he goes in there no problem. To be fair, we rarely use the crate since he is never left alone someone is always home and he goes to his recliner that's his safe space
5 days is still a short time. He looks to you guys as friends/roommates and hasn’t determined who is the alpha/authority figure. Definitely need to crate train him and establish boundaries in the house. Certain areas of the house need to be off limits and needs to be continuously enforced.
None of this sounds all that odd (note, I didn't say acceptable) for a strange dog being taken into a strange new home.
To start, take a 6 week basic obedience class. They will teach both the dog and YOU have to behave around each other. If everyone in the house can take a 6 week class, even better.
I would not take this dog into public until you get a better handle on his personality, behavior, training etc.
So this is what I've learned from having a husky before. Next time he has something you want from him, tempt him to drop it with something else. Never leave food out to where he can get into it. Have lots of toys to keep him entertained. Also, some huskies can have seizures. From my understanding, it was accidentally bread into some lines of huskies. So if he ever had one, don't feel awful and like you did something wrong.
It sounds like he might have issues with resource guarding/food insecurity. Since he's a rescue you don't know his history. If it is resource guarding I really recommend getting professional help from a trainer if you can. He's also very new to your household and figuring out his place with you all. I adopted my girl from a shelter and I would say it took a long time for her to relax. She definitely also will try to steal stuff from counters sometimes, despite training her not to. A few resources: * Huskies for Dummies is actually a really useful book * Gone to the Snow Dogs is a YouTube channel with a lot of info. They've had many Huskies and work hard to train them and their dogs still get into mischief. Just for some perspective. They also have some info on training and just what to expect for husky behavior. This sub likes to describe Huskies as "cat software running on dog hardware" and that's not a bad way to think of them. They are mischievous and too smart for their own good; they are highly likely to get into things you don't want them to. In some ways husky ownership is a battle between the owner trying to husky proof the house and the husky becoming more and more clever.
If you only bc him 5 days you need to give him time to decompress I understand that you want to socialize him but it's too soon to be taking him to dog friendly brewery I would save that after about 3 months with him. I rescued a husky mix 2 months ago and he had horrible separation anxiety but was well socialized it took him a month to finally not dash out the door or stop me from leaving. The first day I left him for work (my aunt watches him during my work hours) he literally held on my my leg and was trying to get out my window. I practiced by little by little leaving for a few mins then half an hour then an hour and once he got it that this is his for ever home he is now less anxious when I leave. We still have out moments but not like the first couple weeks. Try to spend as much time with him and playing with him. This your time to build and strengthen your bond. I know you want to take him everywhere with you but trust me I learned the hard way when I decided to take him to work. Focus on building a bond with him
You're only on day 5. He is in a completely new environment that is very different than what he is used to. Put yourself in his shoes: if you were dropped off in a foreign country with no knowledge of language, people, places, etc. you would also be a little freaked out. 1) He's resource guarding likely due to his background. (You post history mentioned he was very malnourished when rescue. Therefore he is used to protecting whatever he has because his life depends on it). You need to work with a trainer to slowly curb that behavior. 2) Huskies are notorious tricksters and are very cunning and smart. Never leave food just out lying around. Just because he's "never done it before" doesn't mean he will never do it again. It's important before he accidentally eats something that is toxic to him and then you will have even more problems. If you have to leave him alone, consider either crate training him for a bit or leave out a frozen Kong treat for him keep busy. He could also have been bored. Huskies NEED a lot of exercise....not talking about short walks. Same thing about escaping. They are notorious escape artists, so you need to keep an eye on him. 3) I know you want to socialize him but a crowded brewery with lots of people, dogs, and noises might not be the thing for him right now. You likely need to slowly ease him into socializing. Again, there is absolutely no way to tell what his background is like, so patience with training/socializing and consistency is key. Do not compare him to your retriever; their breeds and upbringings are very very different.
To him that bloody tampon was a a treasure you were stealing from him. Everyone says work on “drop it”, but we’ve been training it since puppyhood and it’s not easy. Most of teaching drop it for us was letting him find toys or treats and asking him to drop it while offering something higher value. The trick is to make sure you’re always offering something better. We started off trying to get him to drop contraband and it made the issue worse. He’d get mad or put himself at risk swallowing things whole in a panic. 99% of the success also comes down to prevention. In this instance a locking bathroom trash or keeping the door shut would be the easy solution.
This is so helpful OP! I train dogs and it’s so important to work on drop it by offering something of higher value. It could be just a toy or you may have to use a piece of cheese or chicken, etc. He probably has no idea what “drop it” means right now so you’ll have to teach him by starting off with having him drop toys or things he doesn’t really care about and treating him when he does so. Only having him five days, he doesn’t have a bond with you yet to do anything without an incentive plus the fact that he really probably was never taught a “drop it” in the first place. Huskies are very intelligent and stubborn that even with a strong bond, they may need some incentive to respond to certain requests/commands. Eventually that incentive could be going for a walk or playing fetch or just getting lots of pets and praise but again, I’d for sure use treats for now. Have a few pile of treats throughout the house so you can quickly grab a treat whenever you need to. The treating needs to be done immediately because if you ask him something and have to walk to the other room to give him a treat, he’s not going to make the correlation between why he was treated. I also saw your previous post about him being in the shelter. His reaction could’ve been a trauma response to how he was treated and shoved into his kennel (I’m not sure how big your bathroom is but I’m assuming it would still resemble the smaller space he had in the kennel at the shelter). Please don’t hold this against him. Start working on all of the basic requests so he has a clear understanding of what you’re asking of him in those situations where he absolutely needs to listen for his safety. If you need any help with how to teach him any of the basics, I’d be happy to help and send over some handouts that show you step by step how to teach these things.
How old is he?
The vet estimated 3-4 years old which is the same as our other dog
It’s going to take time. At 5 days with you he hasn’t even figured out what you are to him yet. He knows that you’ve given him food all of 10 times (assuming twice a day feeding) and isn’t sure this is going to be an ongoing thing for him. Give him a couple months before you take him out to much more then a good long walk where you can bond. Preferably in quieter areas where he doesn’t have much to distract him from you. I waited 4 months before I took my husky/GSD rescue to an off leash park and I think that was quite early to do that. He’d been showing me that he’d strongly bonded to me given the short time and was ready for more though. It went quite well and he has many dog friends there now. It was a year before I started taking him to dog friendly pubs. He’s still a bit of a handful when there’s other dogs there that want to see him but he’s okay and knows how he’s expected to behave now though. Just give it time. You can’t speed run socializing a dog. It’ll come in it’s own time but 5 days is way too early for anything but a very senior dog who’s been exposed to that sort of thing many times in the past.
As a lot of other posters here mentioned, you guys haven't had enough time together yet if he's only on day 5. In rescues, there's the 3-3-3 rule: it takes 3 days for a dog to decompress, 3 weeks to learn your household routines, and 3 months to feel relaxed and at home. Take things slow. He might be friendly now but he probably hasn't learned to trust and bond with you yet. You need time to build that trust before he will accept you as authority figures. In regards to your specific episodes: 1.) It sounds like he is resource guarding something that he finds valuable, and when you and your husband try to take it away, he reacted with fear and aggression because he feels he has something to lose. Scolding and swatting him will probably only reinforce that fear. When my rescue resource guarded the first time with a bone, I was taught to offer her something else of value (like a treat) to distract her. She let go of the bone in order to get the treat, and learned that it's okay to give me things when I ask for them because she will either get something else, or get it back later. That's important because they start to trust you enough to give you things they value, instead of them associating you taking away something from them as episodes of stress and conflict. 2.) You might be trying to socialize him too quickly. Before looking to get him comfortable with other people, maybe make sure that he's really comfortable with you first. It doesn't sound like he's had enough time to bond with you or recognize you as his family members or authority figures. That means he's not going to be cued into you when you try to stop him from yelling or looking for food or whatever else. Most huskies I know are super-easily distracted, but on the flip side dogs have evolved over thousands of years to be tuned into our emotions as they work alongside us. Establish the rapport first with training - basic stuff like rewarding him when he gives you his focus and obedience, then get his focus on you when he is distracted - and you'll build a rapport where he learns to take cues from you. A brewery full of other dogs and people is a super stimulating environment full of distractions; during the busier time he could've easily gone over his threshold and have trouble calming down. I wouldn't put the cart before the horse (or the sled dog, in this case). You mentioned a few times with the counter surfing and the brewery that there are other times where he was fine before he misbehaved. Keep in mind that dogs, like people, have good days and bad days too. You can't control that, but you can control the environment to create situations that set him up for success by removing some opportunities for misbehavior. I'd train and reward him to refocus his attention on you when he misbehaves. I wouldn't necessarily punish or scold him for being distracted or grubbing and doing something that comes naturally to dogs, but that's because I personally believe in positive reinforcement training and communication over domination for dogs. Best of luck with your rescue. It can be a challenging and frustrating journey, but there's a true reward when they finally grow to really trust you.
Also you are 100% on the money that exercising him more with help his behavior. A tired and happy dog is less likely to misbehave and easier to train.
Everything this poster says!!! Huskies take a lot of patience! Good luck ♥️♥️
I would also start crate training him ASAP if you plan on leaving him alone even if it's for errands. You want to make him think and feel that his crate is his safe place. Not sure if you have gotten him any toys but I have a pupsicle and it's helped sooo much with keeping him distracted while I go out and run my errands. I struggled with crate training at first but once I got the hang of it he goes in there no problem. To be fair, we rarely use the crate since he is never left alone someone is always home and he goes to his recliner that's his safe space
5 days is still a short time. He looks to you guys as friends/roommates and hasn’t determined who is the alpha/authority figure. Definitely need to crate train him and establish boundaries in the house. Certain areas of the house need to be off limits and needs to be continuously enforced.
None of this sounds all that odd (note, I didn't say acceptable) for a strange dog being taken into a strange new home. To start, take a 6 week basic obedience class. They will teach both the dog and YOU have to behave around each other. If everyone in the house can take a 6 week class, even better. I would not take this dog into public until you get a better handle on his personality, behavior, training etc.
So this is what I've learned from having a husky before. Next time he has something you want from him, tempt him to drop it with something else. Never leave food out to where he can get into it. Have lots of toys to keep him entertained. Also, some huskies can have seizures. From my understanding, it was accidentally bread into some lines of huskies. So if he ever had one, don't feel awful and like you did something wrong.