Siberian Husky off lead walking??? Controversial

How do you KNOW for sure this is done every day? Come on Anne you dont do you, you couldnt possibly.

The other questions......?

I don't mean to be rude but I would never exercise a dog off lead like this. All our dogs are kept on 100ft longlines whist their recall are perfected before going completely off lead. A dog that take 2 hours to catch imo should not be completely off lead.

We would never rehome an Afghan to a novice, amongst many other breeds.
Our aim is to rehome dogs to breed experienced homes, unless it's a particularly easy dog.

I am off to find a brick wall to bang my head of it!

Back soon

Oh before I go..

Working dogs have the need to work.. So as you have admitted you must not be giving your dogs their basic needs as you have never had them in harness..Mental cruelty??

What about dogs of a nervous disposition? Noise fearful dogs? How do you stop a bolting dog, a Husky if you like, my friend had one with a terrific fear of fireworks, how do you teach recall on a dog that is terrified? I mean we dont have bonfire night do we, we have bonfire month!! and can you explain to Sue L how she would catch Jenna, when she is petrified, and cannot be found even in her own home sometimes? as her "basic need" is to hide from the noise?

Other breeds on that list are; Lhasa Apso, Pekingese, Shih Tzu, Tibetan Terrier ;-)

Well said. The excuses are different when the shoe's on the other foot isn't it

Anne, for that matter, do you race any greyhounds you get in for rehoming, do you go rabbiting with any JRTs, do you indeed lure with the borzois, or herd with GSDs or Collies, in fact do you do ANYTHING "Appropriate" with the dogs, apart from let them run off ???

Your very much generalising all dogs here! Every dog should be taken and looked on upon its own merit and breed standards. Is this not why we have different groups for different dogs???

Ummm think we've done the greyhound thing to death now, they do not need to race, were not bred to race so not really a good example to use.

I have just highlighted the key word in that statement. take a look at just about any Literature you can find on huskies, and closely examine what they say about the word Reliable in relation to a loose husky.

Taken in the context that was written, the quote it relates to discussing 4 loose dogs. Most 'serious' husky folk (those that work them) are also multiple husky homes, as ours is. All very well if you have the time and stamina to walk them one at a time, two of us walk 4-5 together. Letting 4 totally loose is neither wise nor safe. Ours only go loose in our local enclosed rugby field, in which case we dont walk them at all, we take them up in the van and let them into the field. Even in this large space (about 4 acres) they still romp for 10 minutes, then start patrolling the perimeter to look for weak spots. theres only a limited amount of exertion and metal stimulation to be gained by chasing a ball in a field (and most of ours are above chasing a ball anyway). Ours achieve far more stimulation from there bi-daily runs in harness.

Mental cruelty: thats an interesting one!. should anyone who cant allow a Husky to show its natural talant by running in harness actrually be considing one as a suitable pet?

SPOT, Don't split hairs, it was a general example, including lots of different breeds. I'm sure Anne isn't stupid enough to take it word for word, and understands what I was saying

Do you have anything constructive to add, rather than finding a post to pick at ?

LOL straight to the point and suffering no fools as always!!!

In the interests of fairness, re these two points :

Not every dog of every breed carries its breed traits/work drive.
Anne`s dogs may well not have sufficient, if any, breed related `drive` to cause an issue in their individual cases, same as not all Collies want to herd, not all Terriers want to dive down holes to kill rodents, not all Lurchers chase small furries or kill cats etc etc

Saying they run off` is rather emotive and finger-pointing don`t you think ? :?
A dog off lead and having a run-about does not mean they all `run off`. Run about off lead yes but I don`t think its fair to accuse someone of letting their dogs just run off when there is no evidence to suppport that claim.

Just my [ unbiased ] opinion on the content of the above comments :smt001

As far as I'm aware no one is saying this. I am talking about a reliable and trustworthy recall, no dog can be taught a 100% fail proof recall. All our dogs regardless of breed are taught a reliable and trustworthy recall (i.e return on the first call) and exercised safely off lead before being rehomed, this recall is tested mid chase etc. Some dogs are rehomed having to wear a 100foot long-line i.e severe dog aggression, people aggression and those individual dogs that no matter how much time you spend training them just don't have a reliable recall (not breed specific)

I would not rehome a husky to someone who didn't agree with exercising them off lead and wasn't prepared to continue safely exercising one of our dogs offlead daily.

I wouldn't exactly class them as authoritive figures. I personally think they honestly believe huskies can't be trained to be safely exercised off lead, I do wonder how many have actually tried or know for sure of this themselves rather than listening to heresay.
Unless a husky is regularly exercise either, off lead, off lead in an enclosed area or involved in husky sports then yes I do think it's cruel to only walk a husky on lead.

Of course you can't be 100% sure, but measures are put in place so that to the best of our ability we can insure our dogs are being cared for properly. We carryout spot checks and post homevisits, part of the post homevisit is often to go on a walk with the dog, you can tell pretty quickly whether that dog goes for regular off lead walks and whether the owner has kept up the training.

well, given the speed and stealth at which a husky falling short of that 100% can vanish (And straying huskies have been known to go phenominal distances from vanishing to being found). thats proof enough for me that im doing the right thing by not risking it

That's exactly what I was getting at!!

bloominell Miss, give us a chance!!
I have answered your questions now

THANK YOU!!! at last! Can you now accept that people that own Hukies, given their heightened prey drive and running instinct, will keep them on a lead in a public place rather than risk their pets lives for the reasons you have just finally stated, that NO DOG has a 100% trustworthy recall and that some dogs NEVER have a reliable recall, which of course is tenfold in abreed like a Husky.

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions Anne.
Dawn.

Ohh my dogs get exercised on the kids trampoline as well.. That gives them plenty exercise!!!

Whether its what they need.. but its what they want to do

Sorry yes Anne, I just saw it and thanked you in the other post.

I would walk the dog off lead on a 100ft long line. just to add if a dog were petrified of fireworks I wouldn't take them out whilst fireworks were going off, especially around guy fawkes etc