The Siberian Husky is a dog breed like no other. Beautiful, energetic, mischievous, and full of personality. This ancient dog breed is renowned for being independent and stubborn. However, unlike many other dog breeds, the Siberian Husky is not a people-pleasing breed and will not automatically want to bond with you.
The Siberian Husky will require you to earn its trust before it bonds with you and chooses to listen to you. The best way to earn the Siberian Husky’s trust is through positive reinforcement training and being consistent and patient. The Siberian Husky does not respond well to a heavy hand.
Talk To Your Husky
Dogs understand a lot more than we give them credit for. Even if they don’t understand every word you say, they react to our tones, facial expressions, and body language. A happy tone of voice, smiling, and laughing will encourage a bond with your Husky and make them feel good. It will also boost your mood.
Chatting to your Husky while you are out walking may seem odd, and it may get you some strange looks from other people, but it will reassure your Husky that you are happy with them and that everything is ok. It is also an excellent way to acknowledge your Husky whenever they look at or focus on you.
Body Language and Physical Contact With Your Husky
Dogs read body language constantly and communicate through body language. Therefore, mimicking their body language is an excellent way to bond with your dog. This doesn’t mean that you have to get down on all fours. It’s more simple than that.
- If your Husky makes eye contact with you, smile and look them in the eye. Be careful not to stare, as this can be threatening to a dog.
- Suppose your Husky leans against you; lean back lightly and give them an ear or chest rub. Leaning is the dog equivalent of hugging.
- If your Husky wants to lay beside you to rest, give them some affection and relax together.
- If your Husky approaches you with a waggy tail, come down to its level, smile, and talk to it.
These are all pretty simple things to do, but they can mean a lot when bonding with your dog.
Fun Training With Your Husky
The Siberian Husky is a playful dog and loves to have fun. So if you turn the dog training into fun games, your Husky will be eager to participate. And if there are rewards too, your Husky learns that you are fun and listening to you is beneficial to them. Patience and consistency are the main focus when training a Husky, they are intelligent dogs, but you need to make it worthwhile.
The Siberian Husky can be trained easily, they are intelligent dogs, but the trick is getting them to want to do it. Finding a reward that your Husky loves will be trial and error. I have tried numerous treats with my Husky, ranging from kibble to sprats. My high-value reward for recall is a little bit of cheddar cheese. My Husky will do anything for cheese!
Aside from the basic training like sit, down, and stay, it is a good idea to continue the training with your Husky. 5 minutes every day teaching something helps your Husky to use their minds, and it helps them learn that focusing on you is positive and rewarding. In addition, it helps to strengthen the bond and create trust between you.
Daily Exercise for Your Husky
The Siberian Husky is a working breed, which means that they need to be doing something. Most unwanted behaviors seen in Huskies can be put down to:
- A lack of training.
- A lack of exercise.
- A lack of mental stimulation.
Any Siberian Husky guardian will tell you that a tired Husky is a happy Husky, and they are not wrong! The Siberian Husky needs to have daily exercise with its human. A big outside area isn’t enough for a Husky; they will get bored, escape and go looking for an adventure on their own.
You need to schedule at least 2 hours daily for exercise with a Husky. For example, an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to go walking, running, or biking. Spending time with your Husky doing something they enjoy will help create and maintain a good bond. As well as reduce the likelihood of them escaping to find their own entertainment.
My Siberian Husky gets a walk first thing in the morning for about half an hour; then, she goes out later in the day for an hour to an hour and a half. She has good recall, and we are lucky to have safe fields and a Loch near us. So she gets to run around the fields and swim in the Loch if she wants to. We will go to the woods or beach at the weekend, and she can be out for up to 3 hours each day.
Brain Games for Your Husky
The Siberian Husky may not appear on any smartest dog lists, but they are intelligent. Don’t confuse intelligence with biddability. The Siberian Husky is a thinking dog; they will work out how to escape if necessary and decide if they want to do something. And if they are bored, they will escape to find entertainment or destroy your house or garden to relieve the stress of boredom.
As a working breed, the Siberian Husky needs to stimulate their minds. Going for a walk or a run isn’t enough; they must explore and figure things out. A bored Husky will dig up your garden or chew through your sofa to relieve the stress of boredom. And being bored is stressful for a Siberian Husky.
Fortunately, there are a lot of puzzles available for dogs. Although you don’t have to spend a fortune on puzzles and games for your dog, you can make your own puzzles and play games to stimulate your Husky. Enrichment for dogs is becoming more well-known now.
Teaching your Husky to play ‘find it’ is a great way to get your dog thinking. For example, I use the inner tube of toilet paper or kitchen rolls, put a couple of treats inside, fold down the ends and hide them. I then tell my Husky to ‘find it,’ and she uses her nose to sniff out the treats, and as a bonus, she can shred the old cardboard tube.
Playing hide and seek is a great past-time and allows you to spend time with your Husky doing something fun. It also gets your Husky using their brain! If you have children, it’s fun to get them involved too; this also allows your Husky to bond with them.
Final Thoughts on Bonding With Your Husky
Unlike other dog breeds, where the person chooses the dog, and the dog wants to please the person, the Siberian Husky is more like a cat; it will take time for the Siberian Husky to decide if they trust you or not. So, if you decide to bring a Siberian Husky into your life, be prepared to work to earn its trust.
If you bring a Siberian Husky into your life, you must be prepared to spend a lot of time with it. The bond won’t happen overnight. First, you need time to get to know each other and trust each other. Next, you need to spend a lot of time determining what motivates your Husky and what it enjoys doing. Once you know how to motivate them, training becomes more straightforward.
However, once you have earned the Siberian Husky’s trust and bonded with it, there is no turning back. They are fantastic dogs, and there is a sense of achievement when you give a cue and your Husky responds. The Siberian Husky is like no other dog I have had. It is fun to be around, and you will have years of laughs and adventures once it trusts you.
I hope you have found this article helpful.
Before you go, you may find these articles interesting:
Games To Play With A Husky Puppy – these games are good for older dogs too!
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