Are Siberian Huskies The Most Untrainable Dogs?

[husky princess]

That is true poodlefan as she is teaching me a thing or two on how to conduct my methods. And to those people who said poodles arn't real dogs, tell me what is a real dog? A wolf? LOL.

[poodlefan]

That is true poodlefan as she is teaching me a thing or two on how to conduct my methods. And to those people who said poodles arn't real dogs, tell me what is a real dog? A wolf? LOL.

A "real dog" is apparently what ever the person who says you ain't got one has.

[huski]

huski - LOL goldie turn, turn straight into a tree. That is classic! LOL. Micha sounds like a very good boy, but that's different the beagle is the difficult one.

Not really unusual - beagles are known for being evil but I found her very different to my Sibe when it comes to training. There are some similarities though: they are both stubborn, head strong and VERY strong willed!

The other thing I found with Mish was he changed a lot once he got to about two years of age. He calmed down a lot and focused easier. We have had training difficulties as he had bad experiences with other dogs when he was younger and I have had to deal with him being dog aggressive/dominant. That is a real challenge and something that needs constant management. However, he is so happy to come out with me and have new experiences and he does like to do new and exciting things. I have found if I make training exciting and I am full of energy he works so much better - I take high value treats like roast chicken and a squeaky toy or ball to reward him with. He doesn't like tug toys as much as my beagle does, so instead I rev him up by running with and changing direction suddenly and getting him excited.

As I have said before the benefit of training a stubborn or strong willed breed like a Sibe is that it is SO very rewarding when you make progress. I personally find biddable "easier" breeds boring.... I'd take a tricky dog any day!!

[Just Midol]

Yeah they lose interest.

10 minutes is far too long imo.

Try dropping back to 3m three times a day and see if they improve at all. Longer doesn't necessarily mean better.

That sounds great thanks and should there be limits to how many tricks per lesson, or do you stick to 4 a lesson or less/more?

I only go over one thing in each training session.

Though on walks I sometimes put some training into it with random sits and drops and such.

[husky princess]

That is true poodlefan as she is teaching me a thing or two on how to conduct my methods. And to those people who said poodles arn't real dogs, tell me what is a real dog? A wolf? LOL.

A "real dog" is apparently what ever the person who says you ain't got one has.

That is it!

[husky princess]

huski - LOL goldie turn, turn straight into a tree. That is classic! LOL. Micha sounds like a very good boy, but that's different the beagle is the difficult one.

Not really unusual - beagles are known for being evil but I found her very different to my Sibe when it comes to training. There are some similarities though: they are both stubborn, head strong and VERY strong willed!

The other thing I found with Mish was he changed a lot once he got to about two years of age. He calmed down a lot and focused easier. We have had training difficulties as he had bad experiences with other dogs when he was younger and I have had to deal with him being dog aggressive/dominant. That is a real challenge and something that needs constant management. However, he is so happy to come out with me and have new experiences and he does like to do new and exciting things. I have found if I make training exciting and I am full of energy he works so much better - I take high value treats like roast chicken and a squeaky toy or ball to reward him with. He doesn't like tug toys as much as my beagle does, so instead I rev him up by running with and changing direction suddenly and getting him excited.

As I have said before the benefit of training a stubborn or strong willed breed like a Sibe is that it is SO very rewarding when you make progress. I personally find biddable "easier" breeds boring.... I'd take a tricky dog any day!!

TRUE, TRUE. I love the feeling when she's done something correct and love training her. I was surprised to hear cos according to this instructor who has it in for me and my pup is sibes are the ONLY problem child. So any other breed not mentioned is surprising and I welcome the news. LOL. Join the club so to speak.

Yeah they lose interest.

10 minutes is far too long imo.

Try dropping back to 3m three times a day and see if they improve at all. Longer doesn't necessarily mean better.

That sounds great thanks and should there be limits to how many tricks per lesson, or do you stick to 4 a lesson or less/more?

I only go over one thing in each training session.

Though on walks I sometimes put some training into it with random sits and drops and such.

Great training tip. Maybe someone else will also find it handy and useful.

[WoofnHoof]

itkay - Exactly it the trainer who has a problem with the sibes has a border collie and on that day her dogs were enticed by 2 different puppies trying to get close to them and escaped from their tether and rushed over to the puppies. And as I was the last one walking behind everyone else towards class she noticed I wasn't interested in what happen and was concentrating on getting my pup to class. Came over and gave a talking to.

The owners of the 2 puppies that were trying to get to her dogs weren't interested in listening to anything she had to say, as it was crowded enough without getting into close proximity to another dog she directed it to me instead. I'm actually very polite and kind so I just said OK and nodded my head. From that day on she's noted how sibes are so disobedient and untrainable.

I've learnt never to take her off the lead in any public or new area where she will run non stop and only take it off in the safety of the backyard. And with your theory, you may be on something there. I am very happy with my sibe and wouldn't trade her in for any different dog or breed.

Does your sibe chase the horses?

When he was allowed in the paddock (not dog safe fencing) he was terrified of the horses, much smarter than my chi who DOES chase the horses lol. Now that he is bigger if they were running he would chase them I think, when we walk past a cow paddock he is always very interested in them. When he is on lead near the horses he is still a bit unsure of them but then he was the same with cats until one ran in front of him and prey drive kicked in.

huski - LOL goldie turn, turn straight into a tree. That is classic! LOL. Micha sounds like a very good boy, but that's different the beagle is the difficult one.

Not really unusual - beagles are known for being evil but I found her very different to my Sibe when it comes to training. There are some similarities though: they are both stubborn, head strong and VERY strong willed!

The other thing I found with Mish was he changed a lot once he got to about two years of age. He calmed down a lot and focused easier. We have had training difficulties as he had bad experiences with other dogs when he was younger and I have had to deal with him being dog aggressive/dominant. That is a real challenge and something that needs constant management. However, he is so happy to come out with me and have new experiences and he does like to do new and exciting things. I have found if I make training exciting and I am full of energy he works so much better - I take high value treats like roast chicken and a squeaky toy or ball to reward him with. He doesn't like tug toys as much as my beagle does, so instead I rev him up by running with and changing direction suddenly and getting him excited.

As I have said before the benefit of training a stubborn or strong willed breed like a Sibe is that it is SO very rewarding when you make progress. I personally find biddable "easier" breeds boring.... I'd take a tricky dog any day!!

That's interesting, mine has just gone two so I wonder if he will improve. Finding something to motivate him enough is the real problem, I'm not going with severe correction as that is what I ended up doing when trying to get him to stop chasing, nicking off etc and it just ended up being a constant battle and I'm not really interested in fighting such strong instincts with negative reinforcement all the time.

I would like to get into sledding with mine though, and he absolutely loves lure coursing, some people have asked if it's made him chase things more but realistically he used to chase anything that looked like prey well before we went lure coursing.