Trusting your husky...

Trust can be a difficult thing for husky owners to have in their dogs. Huskies have a propensity to run if not safely confined or on a leash. They are smart, and therefore get bored easily. I read a book once that said “if you don’t give your Sibe a job, they will become self employed” usually they become home decorators, gardeners, or re-modelers, much to their owners dismay. Huskies are also anxiety prone, they can howl and woo for hours with no regard to nearby neighbors.

Lately we have been trying to trust D a bit more each week. Were diligent about not giving him opportunities to get in trouble, and he’s done fairly well with each chance we give him. The most recent Endeavor is letting him wander at night and sleep wherever he wants instead of kenneling him. He’s old enough now that he can make it through the night, and he understands our bedtime routines so he’ll relax when he knows were going to bed soon. Over all, he’s done fantastic! The first few nights, worrier that I am, I think I was subconsciously listening all night for noises that would indicate destruction, but he didn’t eat/destroy anything. Hurray!

We do have a problem in the evening sometimes though when we go out. I realized a few weekends ago when we took the fun bus to Wendover, that it would be his first time left alone over night. Well, lo and behold, he whined and howled until 2am (we left at 7pm). I feel terrible not only for our neighbors (let’s just say our cookie budget was high that week) but for Dalton too. I think this is something that we’re going to have to work on, but I can’t justify doing it at the expense of our neighbors sleep. Ideas? Anyone, anyone? No…. Me neither.

There are times when I think Dalton is going to do great, and he does, then there are times when he gets a wild hair up his ass, and drives me insane with the things he does.

Off leash training is another area we struggle with. We did some training with a 50’ lead for a long time, and he did really well until he hit adolescence. My worry is whether or not to keep working on it with the lead, or to cease and desist until he’s mellowed out a bit. I feel like this is going to be ongoing, and we may discover that he’ll always be an on-leash dog (I am talking hiking, memory grove, emigration canyon, not ‘round the neighborhood stuff.) I do have hope though; I’ve run into more people whose huskies do great off leash than people whose dogs don’t.

I wonder too if we will always have to confine him somehow so he doesn’t redecorate our apartment. When we moved into the last place, Nate got all new furniture for his “bachelor” pad. The last thing we want is to come home and have $4,000 worth of furniture destroyed. We’d really love to be able to let him have the whole living room when were gone, especially since he hates feeling “confined” (even though he has half the room already) but, I also can’t afford to replace all the furniture, and I don’t feel bad since he’s not actually hurting for space.

All in good time I suppose….