Siberian Husky off lead walking??? Controversial

Please explain why? Luck.

A lady who lives near where I work always lets her Sibe off the lead in what she considers to be a safe area. This is a field surrounded by quite a wide ditch. I saw her a while back and her husky had a great big stitched wound across his thigh. I asked her what happened. "Oh, he jumped the ditch, got on the road and got knocked down," she replied. I took this to be a lesson learned.

How wrong. She's still walking him off-lead in the same area. I asked what about him running onto the road. She said she'll keep a closer eye on him in future ...

I'm not going to lecture her, you or anyone. If people want to take these risks then it's their dog (although I pity the poor driver who might be responsible for hitting such a beautiful dog). Please don't, though, suggest those of us who are responsible with our dogs are doing the wrong thing or being somehow cruel...

My dogs all run in harness - doing what they were bred to do. Frustrated? I don't think so.

You are extremely naive and putting human feelings onto canines if you think it's somehow frustration/dissatisfaction that makes them run.

Don't think I've ever seen a dissatisfied dog (or a slightly peeved horse for that matter - sorry, Little Britain reference there!)

x

I've broken my vow made yesterday , but when I read this I had to say - with you 100% here, this is what I've been trying to put across (think you've said it better ).
And as this is now my last post, I accept your apology Anne - thanks (by the way I thought your Sibes looked great in the pics).
This thread has for me run it's course, especially as now we're being chastised for even having them at all!!! We are the pack, we live together as the pack, he is more than a 'pet'.
As I said yesterday, may as well bang my head against a brick wall.

Ciao Mozzy

Considering we have been rehoming since 1886 that's an awful lot of lucky huskies ;-)

And do you have records from 1886 that states every single one of them died of old age and not accidentally on a road or ran off never to be seen again??

Probably not..

Have to agree with Sarah... who by the way is a highly respected person in the "real" sled dog world.. whether as a breeder, musher or judge..

I also agree with Charoite.. who seems to have it pretty much spot on..

Again though the point that is being missed is the... "do you want to take that chance?".. NOT that they can't be trusted!

Probably not dating back 120 years but we do keep an eye on our dogs for the whole of their lives and stay in contact with the owners and follow up with regular post home visits :smt001

Could it be safe to say:

Anne's situation seems to suit her well in all her experiances and other people prefer what they do - both happy with the results. And that anyone undecided needs to asses their own individual situation but be honest with themselves when it comes to off lead time that if what they are doing isn't as succesful as what Anne is doing to then strongly think again.

I certainly don't think Anne is in the wrong and would never judge her for it but people must be aware that it is a very careful decision to make. For instance just because one person told me it would be ok to let them off because they do I would have to decide for myself and never take other people's word for it.

I would never let my NI off in small busy public areas or near roads - not because they run and keep running but because they are into everything and quite boistrous but I let them run free where I feel it is safe for them and tend to rely on my own judgement.

I have to say I wouldn't even let my NI off in the park Anne shows as they probably wouldn't even be as good as her Huskies there lol.

People must just be very honest with themselves when making the decision.

I think it must also be made perfectly clear that where the prospective owner doesn't have some enclosed land to run them in that they must think of alternatives as they must still get to run daily even if it is on lead as like Anne points out people that just think onlead means walking only will end up with very frustrated dogs.

If I had Huskies or any other dog that could never run free I would have to be sure it could still get to run every single day no matter how I achieved that. Even if I had a rig / ran it on my bike attachment etc I would still have to be sure it ran everyday if I didn't have enclosed land then what would I do in the summer months when it might be too hot for a constructed run etc - All things to be taken into consideration.

1886 WOW! that IS a long time!!
Dawn.

This wasnt directed to me but I'll still share my view. This has A LOT to do with the line of the sibe like I already told you before. Show line are moderate siberians in many ways, they tend not to have such strong drives to prey or run/pull a sled as do the working likes. Some working lines are better than others and have quite a big differences in prey drive as well.

No, siberians who are not worked as sled dogs have the greatest risk of escaping. Believe me, running loose and training in team are not to be compared. This is like comparing leash walking a greyhound vr. training it on the track. I know this is very difficult to understand if one has no experience on how a working sled dog works but if the dog is a proper siberian (i.e. not show line and bred for working only) it WILL pull like a machine designed to do so. I just cant understand this whole debate about siberians and if they should be let off lead or not. Why on Earth arent you debating about if one should own siberians if they are not used for breed specific work? To me this whole discussion is as absurd as if you were discussing whether to push or pull your car to town. You drive it, that what is it for!!

There are a lot of dog breeds now kept as pets that aren't used for the work they were bred for...

Should we stop keeping them as pets, since they may still have the breed traits that made them "working" dogs in the first place?

I agree.

"May still have the breed traits"?

Perhaps, if running a slack line is a breed trait. Or if being dog aggressive is a breed trait. Or if looking like a polar bear is a breed trait. Sure, why not.

Really. Having a great opportunity to see how the Finnish sibe breeders work to keep the breed ABLE to work I must disagree with you. Besides, how would you know if the dog can and will work if you dont work it?

I meant most dogs in general...

A lot of dogs in the KC "working group" don't do the job they were originally bred for. Many still have the breed traits that were bred into them, but they are not technically used.

E.g. Boxers were orginally bred to help hunt bulls/large animals etc. Max is very good at "playing" as if he is bringing down an animal (e.g. hamstringing it and then going for the throat), and will often attempt this when playing with a much larger dog.

I'd never take him hunting in any form, but if the instinct is there, should I work him? Should I keep him as a pet if he could (theoretically) bring down a cow/sheep/horse?

How does any breeder know if a dog can or can't work? Including retrievers, spaniels etc.
What happens to a Husky if the running/working instinct isn't there?

If I wanted to learn and expand my knowledge on a topic I would go to a specialist, wouldn't anyone?

I think there are enough people on here who are, in my opinion, breed spaecialists, these are the ones I would seek advice from, not an all-rounder.

IMHO

Same here :smt001

I agree for huskies that aren't exercised properly either by; not being trained to go off lead, not involved in husky sports(i.e getting plenty of running) or don't have regular off lead access to a large enclosed area.

The majority of stray dogs we have claimed are dogs that don't get regular off lead exercise, you can't blame them for wanting to escape and have some free running. I don't think it's just relevent to huskies.

Yes and Anne would be considered a breed specialist

Very true.

sorry deleted

Sorry just to say if anyone (hopefully) is considering letting their huskies go for off lead walks PLEASE take the time to train them a proper and reliable recall first. Speak to a trainer about the use of a 100 foot longline if you don't know the in's and out's of how to use them. Remember it may take months of free running on a 100 foot long line before they are trained enough to go off the line, it may take less, But don't take any chances. Take your time, don't rush and be sure they have a reliable and trustworthy recall before coming off the 100ft line :smt001

NB: I would recommend any owner does this regardless of their dogs breed but it's even more important for the stubborn or independent minded breeds :smt001

I've been reading this thread with interest, mostly because of how prickly people have been getting.

I'll state from the outset that I know nada about huskies, they're not my 'type' of dog so I'd also never own one.

What I do want to say though is that my boy regularly plays with off-lead huskies on the beach. Around here a lot of people seem to own them. From my observations, people here take their huskies to the beach on the lead and then, like most other dog owners (including me). let 'em rip. There's no roads nearby and there's no livestock. The worst that could happen would be they end up swimming to Ireland or end up in Prestatyn .... actually, the latter's a fate worse than death :smt002

The one's I've seen hare about the place at great speed....certainly too fast for my lummox to keep up with....but do return to owners. The other day, whilst my boy was pounding around the sand trying to keep up with 3 huskies, I was chatting to the lady owner of them who'd had huskies all her life. Her take on all this was that she lets her huskies off-lead in places like our beach where is there no stimuli other than other people's dogs - they cannot get run over and they cannot chase livestock.

So perhaps, like most things, it's a case of horses for courses?

We find this to be the case too.

Excellent Post I hope people take your advice