Introduction
Dealing with an aggressive husky can be a challenging and even frightening experience for dog owners. Huskies are known for their strong-willed and independent nature, and while they can be affectionate and loyal pets, they also have a reputation for being stubborn and occasionally aggressive.
Addressing aggressive behaviour in huskies as soon as possible is vital, as it can pose a risk to the safety of the dog and its human family members. Failure to adequately address aggressive behaviour can result in severe injuries and legal consequences.
Table of contents
Understanding An Aggressive Husky
This post will provide an overview of the causes of aggression in huskies, signs to look for, and practical strategies for managing and modifying aggressive behaviour.
We will cover preventative measures and specific training techniques to help dog owners address aggressive tendencies in their huskies. By following the advice in this post, dog owners can help ensure the safety and well-being of both their pets and themselves.
Huskies are generally known to be friendly, social, and outgoing dogs, but like any other breed, they can display aggressive behaviours. Understanding why huskies become aggressive is crucial to effectively dealing with this issue.
Reasons Huskies Might Be Aggressive
There are many reasons why huskies may become aggressive, including genetics, improper socialisation, fear, anxiety, and lack of training.
Aggression may sometimes result from a medical condition, such as pain or an underlying health issue. Huskies are also known for their strong prey drive, which can lead to aggression towards smaller animals.
Different types of aggression
- Dominance aggression: This type of aggression is displayed when a husky tries to assert dominance over people or other animals.
- Fear aggression: This type of aggression is a defensive response to perceived threats or danger.
- Protective aggression: This type of aggression is exhibited when a husky feels the need to protect its family or territory.
- Redirected aggression: This type of aggression occurs when a husky cannot reach the intended target of its attack and instead redirects its aggression towards another person or animal.
Observing its body language and behaviour is vital to identify the type of aggression your husky is displaying. Signs of aggression in huskies may include growling, barking, biting, snarling, and snapping.
Many triggers can lead to husky aggression. Common triggers include fear or anxiety, territorial disputes, resource guarding, lack of socialisation, and improper training. Additionally, huskies may become aggressive due to changes in their environment, such as moving to a new home, changes in family dynamics, or introducing a new pet.
By identifying the triggers of your husky’s aggression, you can take steps to address the underlying issue and prevent future aggressive behaviour.
How to Prevent Aggression in Huskies
Preventing husky aggression is vital to keeping your pet and others safe. Here are some strategies to help you avoid an attack before it occurs.
Socialisation
Socialising your husky is essential for preventing aggression. Early socialisation with other dogs and people can help you’re husky learn to interact with them in a non-threatening way. Make sure to expose your husky to various experiences, such as car rides, trips to the park, and meeting new people.
Obedience Training
Obedience training can help your husky learn to follow commands, which is essential in preventing aggression. A well-trained husky is likelier to obey your commands and less likely to lash out. Teach your husky basic obedience commands such as sit, stay, and come.
Avoid Triggers
Certain situations may trigger aggression in your husky. These triggers can differ for each dog, but common ones include loud noises, unfamiliar people or animals, and physical discomfort or pain. You can try to identify your husky’s triggers and avoid them whenever possible.
Provide Exercise and Mental Stimulation
Providing your husky with enough exercise and mental stimulation can also help prevent aggression. Huskies are active dogs and need plenty of exercise and playtime to burn off excess energy. Consider taking your husky for a long walk or run each day or providing interactive toys and puzzles to keep their minds engaged.
Following these prevention strategies can help prevent husky aggression before it occurs and keep your pet and others safe. Remember, if you are ever concerned about your husky’s behaviour, seek the advice of a professional dog trainer or veterinarian.
Dealing with an Aggressive Husky
Dealing with an aggressive husky can be a challenging and potentially dangerous situation. It’s essential to approach the problem calmly and with a clear understanding of the steps you can take to safely and effectively manage your dog’s behaviour.
Stay calm and avoid escalating the situation
When dealing with an aggressive husky, it’s important to remain calm and avoid escalating the situation. Yelling, hitting, or physically intimidating your dog may cause your husky to become more aggressive or fearful. Instead, speak to your dog calmly and reassuringly and avoid direct eye contact.
Remove your dog from the situation
Remove your husky from the situation triggering their aggressive behaviour. This may mean physically moving them away from the trigger or confining them to a separate area of your home or yard.
Use positive reinforcement
When your husky exhibits non-aggressive behaviour, reward them with positive reinforcement. This can include treats, toys, or verbal praise. Rewarding your dog for positive behaviour can help reinforce good habits and discourage negative behaviour.
Seek professional help
If your husky’s aggression is persistent or severe, it may be necessary to seek professional help from a veterinarian or certified dog trainer. These professionals can help you identify the root cause of your dog’s aggressive behaviour and develop a customised plan to address it.
Be patient and persistent
Dealing with an aggressive husky can be a long and challenging process, and it’s important to remain patient and persistent in your efforts. With time, consistency, and positive reinforcement, you can help your husky overcome their aggressive tendencies and develop into a happy, well-adjusted companion.
It’s important to remember that every husky is unique, and what works for one dog may not work for another. However, staying calm, seeking professional help when necessary, and being patient and persistent can help your husky overcome aggressive behaviour and become a happy, well-behaved family member.
In some cases, dealing with an aggressive husky may require professional help. However, it is essential to recognise when the situation is beyond your level of expertise and to seek out the use of a qualified dog trainer or behaviourist.
Seeking Professional Help
There are several situations where it may be necessary to seek professional help. For example, suppose your husky has bitten someone. In that case, if their aggression is becoming more frequent or intense, or if their behaviour is negatively affecting your quality of life, it may be time to seek outside help.
Working with a professional dog trainer or behaviourist can have many benefits. These professionals have the knowledge and experience to assess your husky’s behaviour and determine the root causes of their aggression. They can then develop a customised plan to address the specific issues your husky is experiencing.
In addition, working with a professional can be safer and more effective than dealing with aggression alone. A professional can guide how to safely manage and modify your husky’s behaviour, reducing the risk of injury or further escalation.
You can start by asking your veterinarian for a referral to find a qualified professional in your area. You can also look for dog trainers or behaviourists certified by reputable organisations, such as the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers or the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants. Be sure to research and choose a professional with experience working with huskies and a track record of success in treating aggressive behaviour.
Conclusion
In conclusion, dealing with an aggressive husky can be challenging and potentially dangerous. It’s essential to understand the causes and types of aggression in huskies, as well as to take steps to prevent attacks from occurring in the first place. If you find yourself in a situation where your husky is displaying aggressive behaviour, staying calm and diffusing the problem safely and effectively is crucial. Seeking professional help from a qualified dog trainer or behaviourist can also be beneficial.
We encourage readers struggling with an aggressive husky not to give up hope. Addressing and managing your husky’s aggressive behaviour with patience, consistency, and the right tools and resources is possible. Whether it’s implementing prevention strategies, working on training and socialization, or seeking professional help, taking action is vital.
We recommend contacting a qualified professional if you need help figuring out where to start. They can provide guidance and support to help you and your husky work through any issues you may face. You and your husky can build a strong and healthy relationship with the right approach and mindset.
The first is a uncastrated 2 year old Siberian husky called Pegasus. His owner is not financially able to provide him with the exercise he really needs. She does not want to take away his manhood though I am in the process of changing that. I run him when I can and am in the process of buying a dog treadmill and agility supplies but it is challenging when I pretty much work him for free. The owner pays me low amounts sporadically. He pulls like a maniac and will run off and not come back if let off leash. What should I do about getting his excess energy out and get him leash trained??
I have an now eight year old Siberian Husky. He’s a rescue. As far as I’ve been informed the guy that had him tried to make him a fighting dog. A different person rescued him and tried to make him a dog like on the movie White Fang which we all know White Fang was a fighting dog. A friend of the guy who wanted to make the Husky like white fang told him not to and that he would train and find the dog a good home. Well the original owner abandoned him and before that kicked him, punched him, and just acted like an idiot. The he gives him to one of his friends against his other friends advice. The poor dog got no attention, abused, starved weighed 40 lbs, was emaciated, couldn’t barely walk, would trip over his own feet, and didn’t even have the strength to run much less walk. Like I said before, the friend of the guy who wanted to make him like white fang took him and put the dog on Craig’s list. So I took him in. Now for the fun parts. He’s possessive of his food, water, toys, even toys that aren’t his, when dog’s are playing at the dog park he’ll growl and snarl and even go so far as to bite them but NOT bite hard enough to make them bleed, will try to dominate every dog at the dog park and even go so far as to hump them, will growl and snarl at any dog that tries to get pet by me, will growl and chase any dog away from and toy or piece of food that he perceives as his, will bite if I even try to point at or pick up a piece of food that’s 4 feet away from him or even to pick up a Kong that has or had peanut butter in it, has bitten me for moving a make shift rug that he perceived as his, has bitten me for petting his head, flanks, feet, putting on and taking off a harness, biting me for even walking past something he perceived as his, and yesterday when I was putting food in his dish on the third scoop of an eight ounce cup tried to bite me, you so much as raise your voice he hits the ground, and after he bites you he whimpers and puts his body, ears, and head low. He’s even had his tail between his legs. He’s attacked my feet and hands and won’t let me get his Kong when he’s done with it, he’ll guard it. He’s attacked my vacuum cleaner, broom, and me when I even walked by his food and water dish. Now a year and eight or nine months later he still does all the same things but at least I’m a little better at reading his body language. Not by much though. I want to help him but I don’t quite know how. Any ideas? I’ve tried the sit and wait for your dinner trick but he’s a picky eater and doesn’t eat for days. He’ll sit and wait but then when you let release him from a sitting position he’ll try to guard it even if I’m on the other side of the room he’ll come over and try to bite me! Does or has anybody run into this problem? I’m hoping that I can get some good ideas on how to make him a normal Siberian Husky. Yes, and I know that’s typical Siberian Husky behavior, but I’d like a Siberian Husky that has manners! Oh, and one more thing, he wasn’t socialized disciplined the right way from the start. Anybody got any ideas of how to stop all the madness?
Yes here’s some good advice. Train him! Make him work for his food ex. Have him sit and wait for his food. And he only gets it when you release him and say it’s okay to eat.
I have s 13 week husky, he attacks to harm whenever I try take his harness off or get food away from him. Last night I got bitten really bad and needed 13 stitches he even but my dad and lunged at my mom. I really need help before theh get rid of him! Any advice?
Hi, we have an 8 month husky, he is always really good, we dont have a gate in front yard so he is off the lead when we are outside but on it when we are not. He does very well except at night when we try to bring him inside, the last few weeks he has started to growl at use and even bit my husband while bringing him in. How can we stop this before it gets worse?Again it’s only at night he does this
My husky is 10months old and we live in India, I do understand that the tropical weather is not at all suitable for huskies in any way. We didn’t adopt or buy him, we got him as a gift. Yes, a gift. We can’t even give him back because he’s our gift and we didn’t want to abandon him. We have AC for him and take him for walks early in the.morning and evenings. He used to mingle with new people before but offlate he is not. He is not on leash when he’s at home. He’s extremely affectionate towards his family members and with people who knew him from the time he was young. From past 2 months he’s bit almost 5 people. No, he doesn’t bite his family members but he definitely bites new people. He doesn’t give any signs of warnings before biting. We are really worried. Please help us!
my husky is 5 months old and he is teething and recently got his 4 months shots, and a tracking chip. he has had two aggressive behaviors towards me and in one of them he bit my hands. i did not have deep wounds because he does not have all his teeth but I am afraid and don’t know what to do. Can i get some advice?
It seems like a lot of people have had similar circumstances with their adopted huskies. We rescued our female husky about a year ago. She is around four years old. The only thing we know about her is that she was found as a stray with a full blooded husky in IN. They had no luck finding the owners. We have a German Shepard mix male that she is fine with. The day we got her she went after him because she was eating and he came to her bowl. This has never happened again. She wasn’t the friendliest of dogs when it came to being close to another person. She would growl and leave if you sat next to her, she didn’t care for comfortable areas to sleep other than the floor, but she has never been aggressive towards humans. She didn’t know any tricks or commands. She has made a 180 since then. She loves to be played with, she loves her beds, and she loves her family. She is perfectly fine with other humans and she has learned a lot when it comes to commands. A few days ago she attacked a female dog that was not leashed and was walking on the road in front of our house. She has done this one other time, again with a female dog that was not leashed. We have a tri fenced yard. Our city does not allow a gate in front of the property so we can’t change that. She is fixed and I don’t know if she is lashing out on females for territorial reasons or if it is something else. She is fine with dogs that are leashed, it just takes a bit to get them acclimated with each other. She likes to make her dominance known. I am not sure what to do to get her to stop attacking unleashed dogs. I want to add that she is a hunter. She has brought countless animals back to us including rabbits, birds, and possums. Only the possums survived because they play dead. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we could help her? I know it takes time but I don’t want the police showing up at our door to take her away from us. She is part of our family now and we would be devastated.
We adopted a 6 yr old male husky 2 weeks ago. We were told that the person we got him from had only had him for about 8 months.
At first he was doing well. Then he attacked/agressively played with our friends MinPin. He has now “hunted” our 2 cats and gone after another MinPin at the pet store.
Is this type of agression normal for this breed?
A little more back ground… We were told he was nuetered 6 months ago. We were told there was an incident with the neighbors dog of the previous owner prior to being nuetered. But we were not able to get much detail.
We were told he is a “sash” husky. He is 25inches at the wither and 87lbs. Beautiful ghost blue eyes. I mention this because we were also told he had been a breeder prior to be adopted by the person we got him from.
I am not certain if any of this has any bearing on his behavior, so just in case…
We also have a Shiba Inu mix (f. 4yr) and a Lab mix (f 5yr). All of our furbabies are rescues. We also have 3 teens at home.
Anyhow, any advice you could give would be great. We really don’t want to see him re-homed again.
Thank you,
-Lea
i received my husky from my son after a year old i have worked very hard with him on many things but our home we live in does not have a fenced yard and he is on a lead that restricts him from certain areas but one of problems i am having with him is when people approach coming in the yard and he is familar with these people. they are playing outside and the ball comes in his area and when going to get the ball the dog bites the neighbor i was not there when the incident happened what can i do to stop him from being aggressive in this way i don’t want him to bite the kids next. He also always prays on the other animals one behind a fence and the other belonging to the neighbor he bit. I know he wants to be part of the fun and this causes him to be aggressive but he shouldn’t bite. please help
I have recently gotten a 2yr old husky from our local shelter he has been adopted out 3 different times and brought back 3 different times all in all he is a good dog but does have attitude problems haven’t really been able to pin point the cause but has nipped at different people at different times he is very good around me and my wife but other people not so much and we have a 6 yr old boy and kinda makes us nervous with him and going to be having a baby also not sure what to do don’t want to get rid of him but my family is nervous around him because he nipped my sister and my mom just the other day but not the same time can you please help
Unfortunately, many rehomed dogs will have a lot of issues due to lack of previous training. Also, you have to remember that this dog does not have any kind of relationship with you yet. In his eyes, you are just a human trying to take his stuff away from him.
It sounds like this dog will require a lot of work to rehabilitate his behavioural issues. You may want to consider hiring a local behaviourist who give you hands on advice about how to help fix these issues.
In the meantime, here are some articles containing advice on things you can use with this dog.
https://www.snowdog.guru/choosing-the-best-training-method-for-your-husky/
https://www.snowdog.guru/10-ways-owners-sabotage-their-dog-training-efforts/
https://www.snowdog.guru/using-the-umbilical-to-establish-leadership-with-your-husky/
https://www.snowdog.guru/demystifying-dominance-in-dogs/
https://www.snowdog.guru/how-to-manage-dominance/
I have a sib husky an we only had him a few weeks he’s 2 half he is food aggressive he chewing prastic toys an dummys an if you try an take them off him his fur stands up he shows his teeth an grawed an barks an tried to go for me an now he has taken control of the house he layed on the rug an guard it an I sat on my sofa an he went for me again cos every thing he thinks is his but it isn’t an don’t no what to to
Eva, a muzzle should never be used a punishment for biting. Instead, a muzzle, when correctly used is nothing more than a tool to take away the opportunity for the biting to occur. And using a muzzle is not a long term fix for the problem of inappropriate biting. It is a short term temporary fix. The long term fix for this issue is giving the dog tools so it can make a more appropriate choice to deal with its fear and anxiety around a stressful situation. And also developing good leadership skills for you so the dogs looks to you to fix a problem, not taking the situation into her own hands.
https://www.snowdog.guru/can-stop-huskies-fighting/
https://www.snowdog.guru/huskies-fight/
https://www.snowdog.guru/demystifying-dominance-in-dogs/
Also, check to see if how you are attempting to correct this problem is causing additional problems.
https://www.snowdog.guru/10-ways-owners-sabotage-their-dog-training-efforts/
Very helpful article. I have a two year old husky and 13 year old mixed dog.Got a new husky now.She is one year old and never lived with other dogs.She got on great with two digs (old us male and the 2 year old is female) but then she attacked both of them in separate times.Gave me an awful flight. I’m worried now that they won’t get on.
Well, Eva, unfortunately, adding new dogs to an existing group requires some thought and planning. Not all dogs get along well with each other. You say the new the dog never lived with other dogs. That means that she is also very likely missing socialization skills so she has no clue how to be able to handle living with other dogs.
The reason she “got on great” with the other dogs and then attacked them is explained in the article that talked about the Honeymoon Period. In this first three weeks the new dog into the group is very reserved towards the new dogs but then makes a move to carve out and improve their social ranking within the group.
You have to find a way to become a good consistently strong leader to this pack of dogs or they will be spend much time in fighting. :(
You can begin by umbilicaling with the new dog to begin establishing a relationship with the new dog https://www.snowdog.guru/using-the-umbilical-to-establish-leadership-with-your-husky/
Margit, thank you so very much for your valuable advise! I will do my best to make apack hhappy. Do you want think it is good idea to mussle the new dog for a few minutes after she attackes? I never used the mussle before.
So how do I stop the aggressive behavior when it is another dog? I can’t remove him (being the trigger) from the home. He is our baby.
I am not sure I understand what you are asking. Is it the other dog that is being aggressive? Is one dog reacting to the aggressiveness of the other dog? One dog triggering the other dog? Both dogs need to be worked with to address their issues.
I have the exact same problem I think it would be better if he got more exercise but because of how he acts I can not walk him with my other dog. I can’t handle two of them if strays run up to us. It seems there is nowhere you can go and not encounter a loose dog. Since I am one person with two dogs, they get walked one at a time. He has been on group hikes with other dogs and calms down after walking a bit.
Love your articles i find them really informative and a great source of information, im just wondering if you could offer any advice on a problem im encountering when out with my husky. My husky is a rescue husky we have had since he was approximately 8 months old, 2 years later our frightened, destructive new arrival is a thriving contented dog… apart from when we are out on a walk , i always keep him on a leash and he enjoys his walks however several times other dogs who are not leashed have ran and approached him and his reaction is one of shouting and nipping these dogs, im really unsure how to progress, i have tried the approach you suggested with a friend and finding out at what point he gets stressed and the tension starts pretty much as soon as he sees another dog and he wont respond to any tangible rewards , prob due to the high level of arousal, i should point out we have another dog, a collie cross who lives with us and he is absolutely fine with him?
When your dog is leashed and reactive this is called Leash Aggresssion. There are tips for you in this article. https://www.snowdog.guru/dealing-with-leash-aggression-in-huskies/