Question:
Hi, I dont personally have a Husky, but a friend of mine has 3. When she got her first Husky, it was an impulse buy; she did absolutley no homework on the breed at all. She was not prepared for the traits of the breed. Her dog (and all Huskies) is a very clever escape artist, and will escape the enclosed yard and take off at all opportunities. Same with the 2 others she purchased. I don’t know how many times her dogs have gotten out, and been missing for days. Huskies love to roam, but can seldom find their way home. They have a need for major excercise, as they are working dogs to the bone. I have heard they are hard to obedience train, but I have seen Huskies in the Obedience Ring at shows, so it is not impossible. They have a very high prey drive, and you must watch them carefully around cats and other small animals. They are friendly dogs, they seldom bark but make a funny Roo Roo sound. If you get a Husky, be sure to read all you can, and talk to breeders. You would not believe the number of Huskies that are turned in to shelters and rescue due to lack of information on the part of the owners. Good Luck.
Response:
Any opinions on how good or bad a choice a Husky would be for a family dog? Some info…. Our previous family dog of almost 13 years appeared to be a Husky/Sheperd mix. We have a private 4 bedroom home on a 1/4 acre fenced lot with mixture of grass and trees in the suburbs. The dog would live in the home (all rooms) and play in the yard. The dog would have to accept and enjoy some serious cuddling from my 2 children (13 & 10). In fact, would like a dog that would enjoy a lot of family attention, but would not take it to the degree of a Golden Retriever. (Serious acceptance of attention, but with a touch of reserve. :-) ) Interested in a long haired dog, 45 to 65 lbs. Really liked the Husky/Sheperd look. My children lean more towards the Husky/Wolf look. My wife and I are experienced owners and have had dogs all our lives. Any good or bad stories about Huskies as family pets? Thanks Rick
Response:
The husky is a pretty dog, but they are distructive, and like to run away. They’re fence jumpers. You’ll have to keep a leash on the dog outside of a fenced area.
: Any opinions on how good or bad a choice a Husky would be for a family dog? : Some info…. : Our previous family dog of almost 13 years appeared to be a Husky/Sheperd : mix. We have a private 4 bedroom home on a 1/4 acre fenced lot with : mixture of grass and trees in the suburbs. The dog would live in the home : (all rooms) and play in the yard. The dog would have to accept and enjoy : some serious cuddling from my 2 children (13 & 10). In fact, would like a : dog that would enjoy a lot of family attention, but would not take it to : the degree of a Golden Retriever. (Serious acceptance of attention, but : with a touch of reserve. :-) ) : Interested in a long haired dog, 45 to 65 lbs. Really liked the : Husky/Sheperd look. My children lean more towards the Husky/Wolf look. : My wife and I are experienced owners and have had dogs all our lives. : Any good or bad stories about Huskies as family pets? : Thanks : Rick — Elaine Gallegos
Response:
> Any opinions on how good or bad a choice a Husky would be for a family
dog? I have owned several Huskies in my life, and they are definitely affectionate animals. They are very strong pack animals, and need to know their place in the pack. They have a high prey drive (will chase small animals – even domestic animals like cats). Most huskies are very mouthy, and like to play bite. They like to wander and will jump fences to get out. All of my huskies hated being left alone, even for a short while. They love to bark and talk! If you are willing to put forth the effort to train them, they can be exceptional family pets and will love you & your children dearly. They will play for hours and are a very high energy dog that needs lots of exercise. I do recommend Huskies to people with children, but they are definitely not a dog for first time owners. Too many huskies end up in shelters because their owners did not realize how much time & effort they must spend to properly train the dog. All three of my huskies came from shelters and were only a year or two old. One had been a stray (remember they love to wander & escape fences), the other two had been given away by their owners as "being too much to handle". I wish you luck in finding the right dog for you, just take your time and try to match the dog that best fits your personality and situation.
Response:
: Any opinions on how good or bad a choice a Husky would be for a family dog? : Some info…. : Our previous family dog of almost 13 years appeared to be a Husky/Sheperd : mix. We have a private 4 bedroom home on a 1/4 acre fenced lot with : mixture of grass and trees in the suburbs. The dog would live in the home : (all rooms) and play in the yard. The dog would have to accept and enjoy : some serious cuddling from my 2 children (13 & 10). In fact, would like a : dog that would enjoy a lot of family attention, but would not take it to : the degree of a Golden Retriever. (Serious acceptance of attention, but : with a touch of reserve. :-) ) : Interested in a long haired dog, 45 to 65 lbs. Really liked the : Husky/Sheperd look. My children lean more towards the Husky/Wolf look. Many huskies have that ‘wolfish’ look, but I’d personally stay away from wolfdogs (hybrids) and do not recommend them, as I believe that only those with wolf/wolfdog experience, education and the time to properly socialize/train them should have them. They are in a different class than the normal dog, and bring their own special behavior into the mix that can sometimes be difficult to understand for those who have not done the research or had the experience. Many times they do not "learn" the same way other dogs do, and can be difficult to train (housebreaking and otherwise). That said, I’ll tell you about our Husky/Newf mix that is oversized for a husky, but does lean more towards the husky side in looks (and yes, she looks a bit ‘wolfish’ herself). She was a rescue pup, a bit slow in housetraining and not real intelligent, but very loving. At 1 yr old now, and weighing in at about 75 lbs., she hasn’t destroyed anything in a while, but we were a bit concerned about one of the kitchen table legs when she was teething. She will end up the dominant dog of our three girls eventually, but gets along wonderfully with the Lab and LabX she was raised with, and sleeps with our cat (whom she was raised with, she never did chase him), but has a high prey drive for birds and squirrels. Being that she isn’t real "bright", her OB training took a bit more time and patience than our other two, but the time and effort has paid off. Her recall off-leash leaves a bit to be desired at times, but she has been taught *not* to leave our unfenced yard as long as one of us is out there to supervise (which we always are, but it did take several months and much frustration). She is very human submissive with family members, but is the first to bark at a stranger (who then gets "kisses" as soon as they are within reach). She has never shown any agression towards any other dog, but will growl at our youngest on the rare occasion when she has had enough play and wants a nap (and sometimes "play growls" during play with the youngest… they haven’t finished settling their ‘pack order’ yet) She is mainly an inside dog, and loves human attention probably more than eating (yes, she’s a glutton for ear scratches). According to friends and neighbors who raise Huskies/sled dogs, she has learned more OB than most huskies usually do, as some never quite get the hang of off-leash work and will take off at the first opportunity to run and play. : My wife and I are experienced owners and have had dogs all our lives. : Any good or bad stories about Huskies as family pets? : Thanks : Rick I will say that our Lab and LabX were much easier to train (both general manners and OB), but our Husky/Newf has a piece of our heart that neither of the other dogs could have. Yes, she is stubborn, was hard to train, and I wouldn’t recommend this type of dog to a first time owner at all, but there’s just something about her silliness that tugs at the heartstrings :) If you get a Husky, or HuskyX, be expecting to have your work cut out for you, and realize that you may not be able to have it off-leash at all (unless in a fenced area). Also realize that if not raised with cats, it may eat the neighbor’s cat if it comes in your yard, along with any squirrels or birds it can catch. They do have need a lot of exercise and love to run, ours absolutely adores children, and will retrieve just about anything we throw for her. (tennis balls, sticks, frizbees, even trys to catch snow-balls in season 
) As Husky are a bit more difficult in training, you and your family may be able to find on in a shelter or rescue. Unfortunately there are quite a few people who get them for their looks and don’t realize how different they are in nature than some, so they end up in shelters many times at 4-5 months of age (when the teething nightmare is going on, lol). Try to talk to few owners and observe the breed if you possibly can… and realize that we were very lucky in getting such a good one! Good luck, Cat in Alaska
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