Siberian Husky off lead walking??? Controversial

Louise.
Those dogs of yours must be the goofiest clowns to live with! They look great fun! its a shame your daughter (?) has to give up her toys for them though
Dawn.

Excellent post :smt001
were I not so thick skinned, I would be sat here now thinking what a bad husky owner I am, despite following the advice of published literature and 'time-served' experts and how misguided i must be for belonging to 'certain' organisations.
Fortunately, I am not so impressionable, and will continue to stick with my choice to keep mine safely on-lead and not take the chance of them ending up on the bypass (1/2 mile away) or motorway (3 mile away). When the road outside my house can result in a shattered pelvis, these busier roads could prove fatal, and i think more of my dogs than to risk it thankyou.


just as another little 'aside'. some are saying they are not a 'different' breed. If this is true, how come so many owners own a pack of HOUSE huskies (myself included here), who are not kenneled, but a fully integrated part of the family, yet that pack of 5, 6, 12, or whatever number of dogs, all live together in relative harmony. How many other breeds could you actually achieve that with and not have major chaos ensuing?. there is a good reason for this, they have not lost (nor had bred out) their basic pack instict. they remain pack animals and still organise hierarchy according to pack rules. Yes, an owner with an unquestionable alpha position is essential and impeccable training of manners required, but among my pack of 9, bloodshed is a very rare occurance and I would say the same is true of many multi-sibe homes. just come and watch their behaviour and interaction as a pack for a while, then tell me they are not diffent to other breeds. i have owned in the past, border collies, GSD's a staffie cross and a collie/lab cross, and i can assure you, they ARE different

I have owned Sibes for 13 years, and it saddens me to think that people like Anne and Lisa think they know best. What will it take for you to re-evaluate your thinking one of the dogs you rehome with a reliable recall to end up dead, but then I guess you will blame the new owner not the instincts of the dog.
One question I would like answered about your recall training, you stated that the dogs would return to you even if they were mid chase, may I ask what they were chasing?

I can't speak for Anne, but for myself I am giving my personal opinion (having owned Huskies) and The Mayhew's opinion (having rescued and rehomed many) At no point have I said that any of huskies organisations advocate letting huskies off lead, although I do know for a fact that there are members of both the SHCGB and SHWA that do exercise their Huskies off lead. As far as I'm aware this is a discussion thread, for people to express their opinions ;-)

Sorry but I fail to see how this comment is at all relevent to the discussion

What a shame, poor thing may end up spending an awful long time in kennels now, waiting for somebody that will risk its life everyday. How sad.

was unprofessionalism not mentioned earlier in this thread?. you do not mention why this person was turned down, though reading her thread, i think most of the sibe owners on here can work it out, but whatever the reason, I find it rather unprofessional to point out that individual on a public forum they are a member of.
Incidentally, the O/P, owns two huskies, and follows most husky owners ethos on excercise: only off-lead in a secure area.

To be honest, I was pretty shocked to be called a cruel and lazy dog owner and must admit I spent a long time talking to my dogs last night to try and ascertain their true feelings about their obviously sad and frustrated life.

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to teach recall to a dog. I do actually know how to do this having had a few dogs over the years before the Siberians came along - including a Doberman, a standard poodle and a parson JRT -who with the correct training all went on to have excellent recall as they were not breeds developed with the purpose of running away from the handler's (musher's) voice.

Siberian Husky owners have been criticized here for not letting their dogs do what is natural to them. I agree wholeheartedly with this. It is natural for a Siberian Husky to want to pull a load of some kind in harness and I think it is a huge pity that there are Siberians out there that never get this chance and only get a scamper around a bit of common land instead. Chasing a ball is poor substitute for doing what generations of selective breeding - their very hard-wiring - is telling them to do...

x

Probably for not having achieved perfect recall in all situations with their 16 month old despite taking them to regular training sessions

Sorry but I can not see the need for such comments at all and agree that it is completely unprofessional.

thought i would share with you a few photos of my mentally deprived dogs and their lazy owners (anyone who thinks riding that rig is easy obviously never tried it, there is a fair amount of phsical effort involved in scooting/running with the dogs, its not a case of get on and ride)





....and one taken about an hour after a very unstimulating on-lead walk (climbing the walls with frustration as you can see

Yes, but you're asking us to accept that your opinion (and Anne's) is right and we are all wrong and you don't accept our personal opinions, so my question still stands and is relevant - discussion thread or not - where's the evidence? I'm still waiting...

The thing is you've both been very insulting to Husky owners in general and respected and established breed/rescue orgs etc, in my book if you're going to go around giving your personal opinions like this you should be able to back it up, and not just by personal opinion ;-)

No the dog was rehomed last year having only spent a short time in kennels, she is now happy in her new home and enjoys her daily off lead walks.

They are Dawn.. They make me laugh many times a day with their antics..
Caitlin doesn't usually give up her trampoline but instead plays with him..To be honest I'm not sure who is worse!!

They hardly looked depressed and mentally harmed by the fact they don't get off lead everyday (but only once or twice a week for an hour in en enclosed area!)

Sorry if you felt I was picking on you and your quite right I dont have anything constructive to add, Im just rather confused. There seem to be 3 camps on this subject, those who do let their sibs run free off lead, those who only walk on lead and those who say they should be run/worked etc to get their full stimulation, however, those who work their dogs appear to disagree with these dogs only being walked on lead and never having off lead exercise or the chance to run.

Is that basically right? I must say I do feel to never allow your dogs off lead in a safe place does seem rather restrictive whatever the breed but especially for these type of dogs.

I understand you think Im a fool, I was just trying to clarify the point that greys were not bred to race, can only apologise for going OT but as Im sure Dawn will confirm its habit of mine. However I do not feel it was necessary to get so personal.

I bet she is.

Im just the same Spot!

this is my camp:

*Most Huskies should NEVER be off lead in an open public place.
* If you have a secure place to let them off (fully fenced park, field etc, then great, thats fine, by all means let them loose in there.
* HOWEVER, they ARE a working breed, and if Im honest here, if all the dog gets is a loose run in a field, then that dog is not getting the stimulation he needs.
* I strongly believe most huskies should get the chance to run in harness, be that pulling a rig/sled, or even just on a mountain bike or doing canicross on a walking belt.

Just as a matter of interest, what is the background of thoses huskies coming into rescue?
*owner cant cope? (unable to give the dog the training and stimulation they need)
* picked up as a stray? (so most likely run away from somewhere, no I.d, so never claimed)

what I will bet is very few actually come from homes where they are properly worked unless its a genuine case of dire straits

Lisa wrote: "At no point have I said that any of huskies organisations advocate letting huskies off lead, although I do know for a fact that there are members of both the SHCGB and SHWA that do exercise their Huskies off lead."

As secretary of SHWA(UK), I would just like to make the point that we would not consider rehoming a Siberian to someone who insisted in exercising their dog off-lead in an unenclosed area. This would be both irresponsible and cruel. It may well be true that some SHWA(UK) members can let their Sibes go off-lead, but that is their responsibility and does not in any way represent SHWA(UK) policy. What we do advocate is that all owners train their dogs to recall, so that in the unfortunate event that the dogs gets loose, at least they have a chance of getting it to return before it disappears into the distance. All our dogs are trained to recall, but we would still not let them off lead in an unenclosed area.
I also think that Lisa and the Mayhew are treading a dangerous path for their organisation. If, for example, they rehomed a husky to an individual, with the proviso that it must recieve off-lead exercise every day - a proviso which flies in the face of the advice given by every single Siberian Husky organisation IN THE WORLD!!! - and that husky caused a road accident resulting in death or injury, the Mayhew and its rehoming officers would and should be sued for maximum damages for giving irresponsible and dangerous advice.

Someone also asked several pages ago whether those who advocated keeping Siberians on lead, who advocate the same for other breeds. My answer is, with almost no exceptions, YES.
I have lost count of the number of times off-lead, completely out of control dogs have attacked my on-lead under control Siberians while walking in the park. I have even had two rottweilers jump into the middle of a team while training. Dogs get a bad enough press in the UK at the best of times. Irresponsible owners letting their dogs off lead and out of sight make things worse. IMHO

Mick
Dreamcatcher Siberians
Siberian Husky Welfare Association (UK)

Well said mick :smt023

Lyn wrote: "Just as a matter of interest, what is the background of thoses huskies coming into rescue?
*owner cant cope?
* picked up as a stray?

what I will bet is very few actually come from homes where they are properly worked unless its a genuine case of dire straits"

Of the 50+ Siberians SHWA(UK) have rehomed since February this year, off the top of my head I would say that approx 40% were the result of relationship breakups, 50% "Oh my god this cute puppy has turned into a big bouncy dog and I can't cope 'cos I'm expecting another baby (or a similar variation)", and maybe 10% cruelty cases. The more important statistic is that 95% came from backyard breeders/puppy farmers interested only in making money and who gave the new owners only very minimal information about the breed.

Mick