Sounds like you have a typical Husky on your hands! I wouldn’t call it a nightmare

From our experience…..

Regarding the eating – don’t worry, this is normal. We find ours won’t always eat what’s been put down for them and this can sometimes be for a few days, so don’t worry. If she is lively enough and her ‘usual’ self don’t worry too much, just make sure she is having a wee and a poop ok as well. Huskies have a knack of conserving energy and resources and don’t tend to over feed themselves, well a lot of time! One of ours will probably eat anything it’s given whilst the others will often walk away from their bowls would food left in them.

If she is not eating her normal food, then don’t give her any treats until she starts eating her food again. We only feed ours kibble (dog biscuits) we don’t give them ‘humanised’ food. The brand we get is ‘Fish4 Complete for Working Dogs’ and they love it and their coats are definitely better for it . We went through numerous different brands and did a lot of research on the content of the food. We often found that the ‘cheaper’ foods her less ‘real’ food in them which had potential to make them hyper! Fish4 Complete is 70% fish plus potato and we food our youngest the puppy version of that. We also sprinkle some Fish4 Salmon Oil on their kibble as well which is a nice treat for them

We don’t generally give them to many treats, only at puppy phase do we use treats a lot to get them trained in some basic commands, then we stop. Nowadays, it’s only when we take them to the dog park do they get treats (small cubes of mild cheddar cheese, which they seem to love more than chicken/beef treats!) which they only get when to come to our calls.

Personally I would cut out the digestive biscuits etc and only feed them proper good dog biscuits or raw/wet food for dogs.

Regarding affection etc – Until recently we found our females to be quite aloof and will happily go off into a corner on their own and will come back to the room to check we are still there and go back to their corner haha! Apparently this is a trait of female huskies?! The boys always up on the sofa with us and all cosy. However, in recent weeks both of the females are not getting more affectionate!

How much do you exercise your puppy? The cause of over-excitement particularly in puppies is down to lack of exercise or stimulation which is the bit that owners can find challenging. A tired husky is a happy husky. You may find that if you tire her out she will be more likely to be cosy and affectionate with you.

Our youngest Delilah who is 7 months old is a real livewire and she pushes all our buttons! We might as well call her ‘No!’ as that is what we are saying to her a lot of the time. That said, if you call her she does come to you, better than the others! They all have their individual characteristics which you need to embrace whilst maintaining control over them ensuring that they give you respect.

Regarding her running away, I would suggest not moving towards her or chasing her (if that;s what you do), let her come to you, in her own time. I can’t say ours have ever done that. We used treats to teach them to sit, lie down, wait, shake hands, hi-five’s and sometimes (but not always successful) a rollover. However, if they get a ball then they won’t give it back until we entice them with something else haha.. gotta love ‘em.

Patience is a virtue and huskies will test it to the limit, sometimes it’s easy to just let them get away with things but then you are making a rod for your own back.

Try this website for some simple tips and advice (we subscribe to the ‘inner circle’) which has given us some useful pointers. http://www.amazingdogtrainingman.com/

You will get many people say many different things. Huskies are definitely a little different to other, more ‘obedient’ breeds of dog and get a bad wrap, however we have found them to be wonderfully good natured animals and good fun whilst been amazingly frustrating as well… mind you that is part of the attraction!

Cheers
Neil

He should be ok if he is not a dominant unneutered male, just let people know as you come in that he is unneutered.

Hopefully see you there

Neil.

I am sure you can let yours off the lead, we have known a few escape artists however at the farm they tend to be more interested in what’s going on inside the perimeter. That said, probably worth keeping him on the lead initially. Helping Hearts Animal Rescue are there most weeks (we are part of the team) also and one of them is a dog behavourist who can reassure you, they have a Husky, Nanuk, currently in for rehoming that is a known jumper (he will happily scale an very high fence where he is staying) but at the farm he hasn’t jumped yet. As there are so many huskies there I don’t think jumping comes into their heads lol.

Just in case you didn’t realise, it is not only huskies that are at the farm. It is a public dog field open to any dog owner, so we often get other breeds happily (most of time!) socialising with the huskies.

Is your Husky a male or female and if a male has it been neutered? if female has it been spayed?

Cheers
Neil