October 7, 2025 • 31 mins
We challenge the tired story that Huskies are untrainable and show how early game‑based work, smart reinforcement, and flexible routines create calm, reliable dogs. From recalls around deer to safe outlets for the full predatory chain, we share what works and what to skip.
• starting early with games to prevent bad rehearsal
• building motivation with ditch‑the‑bowl and animated rewards
• reframing stubbornness as perseverance and independence
• delaying cues until behaviour is reliable
• managing deer, bears and high arousal with distance and lines
• safe outlets for the predatory sequence at home
• ditching routine to reduce anticipation and arousal
• exercise myths, decompression days and mental work
• agility, canicross and variety for fitness and focus
• who Huskies suit and how to set standards
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lauren Langman (00:09):
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sexier than a
Squirrel podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers, and it's my
mission to help owners becometheir dog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Hello and welcome to the Sexyin the Squirrel Podcast, the
(00:31):
podcast that gives you real-lifedog training results.
And today we are talkingHuskies.
They're a breed I absolutelyadore.
I think they are the mostbeautiful thing on the planet.
I particularly love blue eyes,but you know what?
Some of them do not have blueeyes and they are still
particularly gorgeous.
I'm joined by two wonderfulHusky owners, both Loveday and
Shelly.
And I know we're going to gettwo possibly very different
(00:52):
insights into Huskies and Huskyownership or maybe being owned
by a Husky.
Shelly, tell me a little bitabout your Huskies.
Welcome here.
And most of all, inspire peoplethat are listening and talking
Husky ownership.
Shelly K. (01:07):
Hello, everybody.
Thanks for having me on thepodcast.
So right now I've got twoSiberian Huskies, Sila, who is
eight and a half years old, andSuka, who is five and a half
years old.
Sila was initially started onclicker training because that's
where I started my training withuntil he was about two, I
guess.
And then I converted over togame space training.
(01:27):
And Sukka has been completelytrained on games.
And so they're very active.
I do a lot of fitnessactivities.
We candy cross, we ski juror,we scooter.
We also sled in the winter.
And I do, I don't believe inlimiting my dog's capabilities.
And so we've done obedience.
We've done like we've competedin obedience and scent work and
(01:50):
tracking.
They've got theirchampionships, grand
championships and trick dog,stunt dog, canine fitness.
So I'm pretty much game.
We do weight pulling as well.
So I pretty much don't limitwhat they're able to do.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink this is a husky, it only
does this.
And you can't train a husky.
I probably have heard that evenfrom breeders.
(02:12):
You can't train a husky.
You can never have your huskyoff lead.
All of my huskies have been offlead when we hike.
And I think one of the things Iwould say to new owners or
people considering getting oneis start training right away.
Start playing the games rightaway.
Because so many people contactme and they're six months in.
(02:32):
The first four months, they'vetaught their dog a lot of bad
habits because they're so cute.
So, you know, the first thingthey do, they put a leash on
them and then they let them runand see everybody and see every
dog.
And then at four and a halfmonths old, when they get some
strength and ability to pull,they're wondering why their dogs
are pulling and they can't,they don't walk nicely, they
don't come when they're called.
So I think that's probably mybiggest thing would be as soon
(02:55):
as you get your dog, I let themsettle for a week or two, and
then I start.
So there's no waste of time.
Speaker 02 (03:01):
I think that's mega, Shelly, because I have an owner
coming here tomorrow, actually.
She's got a very, very birdydog and not a husky, a gun dog.
And this dog is really birdy,but for the first nine months of
its life, it's been allowed torun around the woods.
And so now she's struggling toget the dog to disengage from
the birds and come back, and shewants a recall.
And the dog's already rehearsedit for nine months.
(03:23):
Nine months.
I also saw a really great videoof a trainer yesterday, a
trainer who I really respect,actually.
Um, I really like, really greatperson.
And her little spaniel's on alead, and the other dogs are all
up ahead.
And this spaniel's reallypulling and screaming and trying
to get with the other dogs, andreally like, and I think what
sometimes happens is we thinkwe've got one dog under control,
(03:43):
but actually they arecompletely, whilst you might
have them on lead and you've gotthem like captured, you have
not got one part of their brain.
Like their brain is all outthere.
And so I love what you saythere.
Now, Love Day, I know you'vehad a different experience
potentially with huskies, but Idid hear something that Shelly
said that I thought was very,very tangible.
You've got a dream with yourhuskies to do some agility at
(04:05):
some point, right?
And you want to do someagility.
Speaker 01 (04:08):
Yes, yes, definitely.
I mean awe, Shelly, of all thethings you've done with uh with
with your dogs.
So, yes, but I I completelyagree.
I think because huskies are sointelligent, they can literally
turn their paw to whatever youwant them to turn their paw.
And Shelly, I'd definitely loveto have a conversation with you
about sledding because I wouldlove to do that with mine too,
because I think they would loveit.
And and yes, I have also beentold that dogs are untrainable
(04:30):
or that you've got to be reallyharsh to them, or that they will
get dominant and aggressive ifyou don't put them in their
place and you don't teach themthat you're alpha.
So when I got my first husky,my first ever dog, I that that
was what I had read on theinternet.
And definitely if you readabout huskies on the internet,
you will never get one becauseeverything is so negative about
them as a breed, I think.
And I think that's such ashame.
(04:51):
I think that's such a shame.
Speaker 02 (04:53):
I also think just listening to you, Love Day and
Shelly, I also think both ofyou, you're very good advocates
for the breed, but both of youhave really worked hard on
getting your dogs on board.
And I know that, Shelly, that'ssomething you do.
So I don't know if you couldtell our listeners about how you
get them on board.
And I know Love Day, we couldtalk as well on this.
How have you got them on board?
(05:13):
Because I think that's probablyone of the biggest things
initially.
And like you said, you mightwait a couple of weeks to let
them settle in.
I might not even wait them thatlong.
I'd be like, the sooner you canstart playing games and the
sooner you can cut startonboarding them to your way of
like training, how do you getyour huskies on board?
Speaker 00 (05:29):
So I just want to add one thing that I forgot to
say.
Another thing I commonly hearthat drives me crazy are huskies
are stubborn.
Oh, because I hate the wordstubborn.
And I think a big part ofhaving huskies in any dog for
that many, any working breed forsure, is getting people to
change the way that they thinkand how they refer to their dogs
(05:49):
because I think of them asthey're perseverant.
When I was a police officer andI was training as a police
officer, my coach officer waswriting up a review on me, and I
said to him, I bet you're gonnawrite that I'm stubborn because
I just worked on a certaincase, and I really stuck with it
like a dog with a bow.
And I solved the case.
And he said, No, he said, neverthink of yourself as stubborn,
(06:12):
think of yourself asperseverant.
And that's really stuck withme.
And I really see that in mydogs.
I never see them as stubborn,they're perseverant, they're
independent thinkers, which Ilove.
They're active, which I love.
So I think it's finding thatmatch with your personality as
well, makes it easier or harder.
If you're not an active personand you get a husky, you're
(06:32):
gonna become active.
Speaker 02 (06:34):
I love, I love what you say there.
And I also think just quicklytouching base with both of you,
because the husky does have thatlook more more wolfy.
So they are more wolfy looking,they're more uh they they've
just got that great look.
I mean, they are beautiful,they are one of the breeds that
you just for me, they're likejaw-dropping.
Like I just think they'regorgeous and they really are
gorgeous.
However, I think people arequicker to go to pack mentality
(06:57):
with them.
I think quicker to go to a sortof a dominance theory with
them.
I think people are quicker tojudge them along that sort of
and the people that own them aswell potentially can go down
that route quickly.
So, as in, they can fall downthat route because that trap is
there and ready for them.
It's like the path is laid out.
Here's the route you go on.
Dominant alpha sort of space,isn't it?
Like, so I just wanted to touchbase on that as well.
(07:19):
I think you own breeds, both ofyou, that people are quick to
take on that route.
Speaker 00 (07:23):
Yeah.
To answer your first question,though, how I got them on board,
Suka was easy because I startedwith him right away.
So he was very food motivatedas a puppy.
So really easy to get himengaged.
Sila was more difficult.
Sila's a redhead, and his hisbreeder would always say he's a
redhead.
And that was her reason for whyhe is the way he is.
Uh, I can't tell love day ifyour hair is red or not, but no
(07:45):
offense if it is.
Speaker 01 (07:46):
No, it's no, no, no, it's fine.
There are red highlights inthere that are natural, yeah.
Anyway, that makes meforthright though.
Not right.
Forthright, yes.
There you go.
Speaker 00 (07:57):
But Sela was really difficult because he was not
motivated by toys.
He was not a food-motivateddog.
And so finding things to gethim to engage with me took me a
while, probably took me about amonth.
And what I found out with himwas it was how I animated food.
It wasn't about animating it,it was very specific.
So when I played airplane game,this is where I figured this
(08:20):
out.
When I did the airplane game, Ihad to really move it around
and fast and slow and up anddown.
And I had to put sound effectswith it, but it engaged them.
And once I figured out thatpiece of it, it became more of
me looking at what am I doinghere?
And what does he need?
Because he's so different fromSuka, Suka wouldn't care.
(08:40):
Suka, I don't have to doanything with the food, right?
He'll just he'll react for it.
So it took me a while to getSila engaged.
And plus, I would have to usehigher value with Sila.
Suka, I could just use kibble.
What Sila got into it though, Inow I just use a like kibble
for the most part.
I do take higher value stuff.
Like if I'm off leashing and Iknow I want to practice recalls,
(09:01):
I take higher value stuff withme.
Toy motivated, Suka's more toymotivated.
I get about a minute of playout of Sila.
And I I kind of know becausehe'll just leave.
He'll just walk away in themiddle of play, he'll just drop
the toy and leave.
So I have to be really, reallycognizant of the fact that I
don't want to play too long withhim.
So that's probably my biggestchallenge was with Sila, but he
(09:24):
does both now.
He's food and toy motivated.
Speaker 02 (09:28):
How about you?
How have you managed to getsome of yours on board?
Speaker 01 (09:32):
Yeah, well, I'm I'm I'm impressedly, you had 50% of
your dogs were were foodmotivated and play motivated
because none of mine were.
I mean, I had three of themfrom small pups, and one was a
rescue, and none of them werefood oriented.
I mean, I remember when I gotthe rescue, he he didn't know
what anything other than kibblewas.
I gave him a bone and he lookedat it and went, What am I meant
to do with that?
So that was a very long journeywith him.
(09:54):
But all of them, it's somethingthat we've had to grow.
We ditched the bowl, we ditchedthe bowl in the right way.
Yeah, I mean, ditching the bowlmakes such a difference.
It really does.
And exactly as you say,Shelley, movement, movement,
movement all the time, all theway is the way that you keep
them engaged and keep theirattention.
So, yeah, I mean, the way I gotmy dogs to be foodie was to I
(10:15):
set myself the challenge ofthree weeks of them taking all
their food from my hand.
So, you know, like you wouldmove my hand around and I would
I would play with it, we'd playgames with it, they'd work for
their food.
But after a week and a half, Ihad foodie dogs.
It worked, and it worked sofast, and I was amazed at the
shift that it that it made.
Speaker 02 (10:33):
Love day, I have to say, Shelly, when I first met
her, I was like, dear lord, whaton earth is this?
And I'm gonna say that in areally straight way because she
turned up in the car park,there's dogs hanging out of the
car, literally, and they're justlike, Oh, like literally any
opportunity.
And I'm like, what has actuallyhappened here?
She's come for a holiday, andI'm like, what's happened here?
(10:53):
Like, who is this crazy ladywith four huskies hanging out of
the vehicle?
I love you to bits, lovely.
You're one of the best likepeople that that we train in the
sense that you're so open,you're so up for it.
But the biggest thing is you'vehad a mega transformation.
You had a mega transformationbecause those four dogs, I would
say, Shelly, are probably I canunderstand why people would say
stubborn.
(11:13):
And I understand that that'snot what we want to call them,
but they are so independentthinking that you could have no
thinking in your direction.
So, uh, Shelly, tell me any ofthe struggles you've had with
yours.
Speaker 00 (11:28):
So Sukka's main struggle is fear strangers.
And he's been that way since uhprobably around eight months
old.
He was fine as a puppy, andthen around that eight months,
he started displaying FearStrangers.
And I think part of that wasdue to I at the time was showing
him in confirmation, gettinghim ready for confirmation, and
the way that the people in thatare there, there's a different
(11:50):
mindset in how you handle dogs.
And I think that hurt himrather than helped him.
And so his biggest struggle isfear of strangers.
He's much better now, but hestill doesn't like people coming
up to touch him.
I can hand his leash tosomebody and he'll walk with
them and no problem.
So he's very uh very specific.
Selah.
I guess with Sila, it would behe still has that independent,
(12:13):
he'll think about it.
You know, like when you're whenhe's gone.
And I remember when he wasyounger and he was running a
free on a trail, and I calledhim and he stopped and he turned
and looked at me.
And for that split second, Ithought, he's not gonna come
back.
But then he did.
So so Sila is more of that.
I'm just that Suka, 99.9% surehe's coming back.
(12:37):
Sila, 90% sure he's coming backwhen I when I ask him on the
first call.
And I'm very big on I set mystandards for my dogs really,
really high.
And you probably do as well,both of you, because they're
working breeds, and I have, youknow, I want my dogs, I want to
know that 99.9% of the timethey're gonna do what I ask them
to do the first time.
(12:58):
I don't like repeating cues.
And I think that's probablysomething too I would recommend
with people that are gettingpuppies is get a really good
positive trainer that knowsabout not putting those cues in
too early because I think that'ssomething that people do too
often.
They want to get a recall cueright away, they want to have a
loosely schwab cue right awaywithout building up the behavior
(13:21):
and getting that behavior theway you want it first.
The cue is easy, so I thinkthat's a big part of it too, is
not rushing it.
Speaker 02 (13:28):
I was training with um a trainer last night,
actually, with um Eliza.
Eliza has online lessons.
I am definitely not hertrainer.
I am not going to be hertrainer.
Training your daughter is not athing.
And so in agility, I can, buthe'll work some music if I
don't.
Anyway, the trainer was wasgiving Eliza words, and Eliza
was like really deciding.
She was like really thinkinghard on the cue.
And I said to Eliza, really,it's not the cue, and it's it's
(13:49):
mostly the timing of the queueand the consistency of the cue.
The cue itself doesn't reallymatter.
You can call it apples,bananas, or pears, pink, blue,
yellow.
I mean, sure that tone can helpand pitch can help, but you can
change the tone and pitch onmost words.
The big thing I really think isimportant is what you said
there is actually you don't needto put the cue in too soon.
And I think too many trainersdo that.
But at the same time, I dothink huskies have some typical
(14:11):
problems, and I do think they'vegot, like, for example, I was
giving you before you before youwere on the podcast, I was
giving the example of myyoungster running off and
chasing a bird this morning, andshe literally was bird-brained.
And when I when I say that, Imean bird-brained.
Like it's like the lights areon and nobody's home.
So, can you both give me anexample where you've had that
with your huskies in somescenario?
And I would say, my Spanielstypically, it would be in hunt
(14:33):
territory, and it would be whenthey have seen something, they
think they're hunting.
And I've seen it a few times onher.
I've seen it where she'sliterally middle of hunting,
middle of sort of workingthrough like a tennis ball, and
then something's changed in it,like the ball's been hidden or
the ball's been moved away, orsomething's happened, and you
can see her lose her whole head.
(14:53):
But I actually think with aninexperienced handler, I do
believe you could really mess upthere.
And I really believe you could,you could lose her because she
would really be trying hard tolook for that ball or that thing
or that bird.
But if you didn't pick her upquickly enough or stop it
quickly enough, I think it couldturn into a behavior you really
don't like.
Shelly and Loveday, have yougot any examples?
(15:15):
I'll come to Shelly first.
But have you got any any anyexamples of that with a husky?
Like I said, I can tell youmine with my dogs.
Um, what would yours be?
Speaker 00 (15:23):
I guess the only thing they really struggle that
I would say they struggle withwould be like they can stop and
watch deer.
And if we're canny crossing, ifwe're doing a running event,
they just on by.
That's not a problem becausewe've done it so often.
But if we're walking, forexample, or they see a deer, as
long as the deer are still ormoving slowly, totally fine.
(15:46):
That hopping, like if you getfour young young deer hopping
around, that arousal level goesup really, really fast.
And if you don't have theirattention before that happens,
it can be difficult.
And usually, though, if I knowthat there's deer in the area,
if I've got them, I'll have themon the line or something.
And then it's just a matter ofif I know, like if I see the
(16:08):
first deer come, I kind of backoff and give myself some
distance just to make sure theirarousal is going to be kept in
check.
I think that's probably thebase.
Oh, and bear for what we don'tsee bear very often, but when we
do, those are like thousandpercent.
Speaker 02 (16:22):
It's how it's how you just dropped in there.
Oh, and bears.
Speaker 00 (16:25):
Yeah, well, I forgot about it, but we we because
we're on the trails so much,there's bear.
There's I love that.
Speaker 02 (16:32):
I love that.
There's that there's just bear.
Um I I really and I and I wantto say here because I know Love
Day, your experience here willbe different.
I'm training an owner right nowwho her dog, she's honestly
away with the fairies, and thedog has been allowed way too
much rehearsal of the wrongthing.
Number one, or number two ishardwired to be more that way.
(16:53):
And I think there's probably anelement of both in some dogs.
Some dogs are hardwired, likeTokyo is hardwired.
His instincts on sheep arereally good, like, really good.
Have I let him rehearse it?
Have I let him go practice it?
Have I let him be a sheepdog?
No.
And he had one sheepdog lessonas a youngster, and I was like,
I really shouldn't do this withyou because I think that the
more I do it, the more thislight will flick on, and the
(17:13):
more you will want to do it.
And I feel like it's almostunfair to turn the light on too
much with a dog like thatbecause he's not that's not his
job.
He's never gonna be a sheepdog.
Love Day, I know you've gotexperience that to be honest,
listening to Shelly there,Shelly's dog sniffing out deer,
sorry, looking at deer orsniffing out deer, they've got
relative control.
I know that yours, even in thepresence of the scent, might
(17:34):
struggle, right?
Speaker 01 (17:36):
I had one incident where where we were walking
along the beach.
So you think beach prettypretty safe.
Um, we're walking along thebeach path, but then there was a
field, and and I had he was hewas a really young dog.
He was only probably aboutseven months old.
He was off lead.
I was confident of his recall,and then he just took off across
the field.
And then I stood there andwatched him as he flushed out
(17:58):
the deer, and then I watched himcrossing two fields chasing
these deer.
Thank goodness he never caughtthe deer.
And I and there were two dogwalkers standing there tuting my
dog off, and then another dogowner came up and said, What do
you do?
And I said, There's nothing Ican do, there's no possible way
I can catch up with him, that Ican't even get into that field.
All I've got to do is wait forhim to come back.
(18:19):
And once he'd finished chasingthe deer, he came back.
You know, and with you know, avery scared deer doubtless, but
no real harm done.
But yet, mine uh do not havethat impulse control.
They see a deer, they seeanything like that, and they are
after it.
Um, and there's another exampleof a challenge that I've had
with Huskies.
The postman left the gate open,and one of mine escaped, and I
(18:44):
I followed him and I called him,and he turned around, looked me
straight in the eyes, and went,you know, and turned around and
kept running.
And I was like, you little.
Speaker 02 (18:59):
Independent mind, persistent, and and I like all
of that.
I did think for a split secondwhen you said, and I followed
him, I thought you meant thepostman.
I thought you followed thepostman, the postman.
Speaker 01 (19:10):
Believe me.
Speaker 02 (19:10):
He looked him in square in the eye, and I was
like, oh my goodness, she'stenacious.
And I but I do believe thatthat Love Day coming in at it
with especially because you'vecome in and you've got four dogs
and they've they've learnedbits off each other as well.
But I've never seen sometimes,I would say, when I say I've
never seen hunt instincts sostrong, they've got very strong
hunt instincts, but I wouldguess they would be the same as
(19:32):
that little spaniel that I'mtelling you about the birds, the
one that's coming to usactually for a lesson tomorrow.
So she's got a lesson tomorrow.
And one of the biggest thingswe're gonna say to this owner, I
don't know if you guys canguess it, one of the biggest
things is we need to stop thatrehearsal.
And the struggle is all of thepictures that I'm seeing on
social media of this dog are heron the moorland walking and
walking and rehearsing, all ofthe things we're gonna tell them
(19:53):
that she needs to stop.
And that is a huge thing.
Shelly, what do you think?
Speaker 00 (19:56):
Well, I was just gonna say, you know, it's funny
because people think they haveto run their dog, they have they
have huskies, they need lots ofexercise.
And it's a double-edged swordbecause I wave pull, I run my
dogs.
The more fit they are, the moreyou got to do with them.
So I would caution them aboutthat.
And the other thing that I wasgonna say was in regards to the
the deer, just a little story,because there was a deer with
(20:19):
four little ones, which is veryunusual.
And we would stop and we werewatching them walk by.
The little deers were hoppingaround.
A nate, a dog in the adjacenthouse, they've got a little
tiny, like a like a shih tzukind of dog, got loose on them.
It went chasing all the deer.
Mine were standing therewatching.
(20:40):
He had to get on his machine,his forerunner, and go catch his
dog.
Anyway, that was so funny.
I just found that so funny.
Speaker 02 (20:48):
I I do believe though, people don't get that
what they rehearse, they become.
So the more you allow, ofcourse, if you're gonna let your
husky go chasing deer, ofcourse, that's that's sport,
right?
Like that's that's that'sexactly sport and hunt and and
game.
Same as if I let my bordercolleague chase sheep, right?
Or my spaniel chase birds.
Like they are going to becomethat.
(21:09):
And even dogs who are inworking capacities, they're not
allowed free reign to just gooff and hunt.
Like they're not allowed freereign to go off and play with
sheep or work the that go andcatch birds or retrieve birds,
or you don't let them just gooff and do it.
Speaker 00 (21:22):
That's why I really like the game space training,
because huskies have that fullpredatory chain sequence, right?
So they want to kill and eatthings, they want to stalk, they
want to chase, they want to doall of it.
And so I really use uh the gamespace training to really
address all of those aspects.
Like we do control with it,yeah.
(21:44):
With it, yeah.
That's probably been thebiggest, had the biggest impact
on the dogs and self-control.
Nice, huge, nice.
And then I really like doing uhRussian doll cardboard, you
know, the box inside the box andegg cartons, and because the
dogs love ripping the boxes.
I don't care, rip the box, andpeople say, Oh no, because then
(22:06):
they'll rip every box.
And it's like, no, I can leavea box sitting out in the house.
They don't rip it.
And I think it's getting thatunderstanding that you need to
satisfy your dog's instinctualneeds, especially with this
breed, because they want to dothe whole thing.
So you've got to figure out away to let them rip something
apart, eat what's inside it,because it satisfies that
wanting to kill something anddissect it and consume it, and
(22:28):
they can do it safely in yourand they do they they do take
the whole chain.
Speaker 02 (22:32):
So they do take the whole chain, right?
From all the way through fromeye stalk, all the way through
to grab, bite, kill, dissect.
And I think that's a reallyimportant thing to understand is
that a dog that has thatinstinct, like your Labrador
doesn't have that instinct, likethat is not in your Labrador.
And I'm not saying that someLabradors don't do that.
What I'm saying is it's notit's not correct in a Labrador.
Whereas in a husky, it'sactually bred for it, right?
Speaker 00 (22:55):
And here, like I said, because we've got beer,
bear, they can bring a bear backto you.
If they go chasing a bear andthen that bear turns it around,
you can end up like it, it's areal safety issue.
And the deer here, if you know,if they chase a deer with a
young, your dog could getkilled.
So there's a lot of risk that Ithink people need to be a
little smart.
(23:16):
Like, you don't, your huskydoesn't have to run loose all
the time.
And the other thing I'll saytoo is I've left my dogs, I've
gone on vacations for up to twoweeks.
And my sister will take care ofmy dogs while I'm away.
She doesn't play games, shedoesn't have dogs.
She'll come feed them in themorning, like scatter feed them,
and then let them out for thebusiness, put them back in.
And they're not crated in thehouse, they're just left alone.
(23:38):
I know people think that'scrazy, but that's just, you
know, I brought them up that waythat they can be loose in my
house.
Then she comes home at lunch,let them out.
They can go for like two weeksnot having a walk, not having
played games, just having timein the backyard.
And it's just that time I seeit as a big decompression period
for them.
Speaker 02 (23:57):
So I think Shelley.
I love that.
Speaker 00 (24:00):
I think that's another fallacy that you've got
a husky, you've got to run, runthem and get them tired out.
And I'm going, actually,running them can be the worst
thing you do.
Speaker 02 (24:08):
Um I love what you're saying because I do
exactly the same.
When I go on holiday, I'm like,great decompression time.
When I come home, they're gonnabe fresh and ready to go again.
So I'm ready to train thembecause I'm possibly a little
bit like you, I like to trainquite a lot.
So because I like to trainquite a lot, I like to do quite
a lot, I'm quite active with mydog.
Sometimes some decompressiontime is good, right?
Like if we if we're active withthem.
(24:28):
I think that's that'sfantastic.
What do you think, Love Day?
Speaker 01 (24:31):
I I think that's such an amazing point, Shelly,
that you've made because when Ifirst got my first husky, I was
told in no uncertain terms thatI needed to be walking my dog
four times a day.
And I was like, I I don't havetime to walk four times a day, I
won't get anything else done.
I do actually have to work.
Uh, and uh so I was like, it'sgonna have to be twice a day,
and that's gonna have to beenough.
And then and then when I when Ihad the the situation where my
(24:56):
dogs just didn't have the calmand they weren't capable of
settling, and like you, my dogsare loose, they choose to be on
the boundaries, they all theysleep on the floor, you know, we
now have a very calm household.
But the best thing I ever didwas to go down to one walk a day
because my mornings wereinsane, because they were
expecting from the instant Iwoke up, they were expecting,
(25:16):
like, we're going to be goingfor a run, and the best thing I
ever did was to cut out thatmorning walk.
And now I can take them for amorning walk sometimes if that
fits in with my schedule.
I have ditched the routine, butthat's okay, they're still
calm, and then that's and thatthat's okay.
And I mean, today it isabsolutely pouring it down with
rain.
I mean, it is serious rain.
We went for a massive hike onthe moors yesterday.
(25:37):
Today, we are going to beplaying games in the house.
We are not going out in that.
I can't cope with that.
The dogs don't care, I care.
But for many people, that is soshocking.
And I see so much online abouthow many hours exercise.
And when I first started, I waslike, yes, an absolute minimum
of two hours a day.
And now I'm like, actually, no,um, exercising their minds is
as important as exercising theirbodies, and and they they can
(25:59):
get exercise, especially I'vegot multi-dogs, I do let them
run in in my garden, and they doexercise and play with each
other, and and and that's okay,and and that that in fact that's
better for them.
And as you say, if if we skip aday and we don't exercise in
terms of going for a walk,actually that's good for them,
and that's what they need.
And we don't need to justpiling on more and more and more
(26:20):
and building up their fitness,because as you say, the the
fitter your dog, the you know,the more active they are, the
more energetic they are.
And that's not that you know,never exercise your dog ever,
but there's a there's a balancethere.
Speaker 02 (26:31):
It's reframing exercise, isn't it?
It's reframing exercise for yousaw me um doing what I call
confidence circuits, which iseffectively I I really like to
teach them cavaletti, splittingtheir back legs ready for
running contact training foragility.
I like to teach them lots ofdifferent surfaces, balance
paths really with more purpose.
So I really like doing um thatwith my dogs.
(26:53):
And I know Shelly, you dosomething similar.
And then Love Day, I know thatyou're building up to doing some
agility, but a lot of it'smental work.
I think mental that there'sthere's so much you can do
mentally.
Go on, Shelly.
What were you gonna say?
Speaker 00 (27:04):
Well, I was just gonna say the to me, the mental
part is probably more important.
More for sure.
Uh because they are smart andthey're extremely creative.
Like so many huskies, you hearstories of them climbing fences
and they're skate artists andall this.
They're very creative.
And I that's kind of why I'mI'm glad you mentioned ditch the
routine, because I know so manypeople, they're very set and
(27:27):
regimented.
And I honestly think withHuskies, ditching the routine is
huge.
unknown (27:32):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 00 (27:33):
Because we know it's like, oh good, what are we
doing today?
What are we gonna are we goingout?
Because they're verypredictive, like most dogs, they
all predict everything, right?
So I think that's a big part ofit, is it's more exciting for
the dog that way in terms of oh,what are we doing today?
Oh, we're doing this today.
Oh, good.
We're not well, you don't evengo for a walk, you don't leave
the yard, right?
So I really like that you saidthat piece.
(27:54):
And then regarding agility, Ido do, I've got my a small set
of agility, like the tunnel andjumps and stuff.
So there is hope for agility.
Yes, my dogs do it.
Speaker 02 (28:06):
If I do it, Shelley.
If you need a hand, I'm ready.
I'm ready.
Speaker 00 (28:10):
I I would I don't compete in it, I just do it for
fun and fitness.
Um, and I and like I said, Idon't like limiting.
So I've had dogs that have I'vehad like asset hounds, you
know.
We put the the pole on theground, he's not jumping, but he
loves running through thetunnel.
I think it's more for thatmental stimulation than the
physical aspect of it for a lotof dogs, and variety, variety's
(28:33):
mega, isn't it?
Speaker 02 (28:34):
Like varieties are really, I think it's important
for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
So, guys, Huskies, are they foreveryone?
Absolutely not.
You know what?
I think you need to have theright mindset for Husky, but I'd
say the same with Spaniels, I'dsay the same with my board of
colleagues.
I would absolutely say the samewith a Jack Rossell terrier.
(28:54):
So for me, I think you do needthe right mindset, I think you
do need the right framework, andI definitely think you need to
be the right owner for your dog.
But at the same time, isn'tthat every dog?
Are Huskies trainable?
Love day.
Are Huskies trainable?
Speaker 01 (29:08):
Absolutely 100% trainable.
Yes.
Speaker 02 (29:11):
Shelly, are Huskies a brilliant breed in your life?
Speaker 00 (29:15):
Oh, yes.
I wouldn't have any otherbreed.
I used to, but I wouldn'tanymore.
I figure even when I'm old andgray, they can pull me in my
wheelchair or whatever I'm in.
Speaker 02 (29:25):
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
You're gonna go mush and offthey go.
You know what?
Thank you so much, both of you,for joining us.
Huskies, a beautiful, brilliantbreed, and a breed that so many
people do not understand.
So share this podcast far andwide.
Thank you so much, both of you,for giving up your time uh to
be here with me and all of ourlisteners worldwide to share.
Hopefully, this one does getworldwide, and hopefully, so
(29:48):
many of you take this lessonalong to your classes, your
students, your friends, yourfamily, anyone who you know may
own a husky or maybe owns ahusky right now or might in the
future.
That was this episode of theThe Sexiness Girl Podcast.
We will see you next time.
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sexier than a
Squirrel podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers, and it's my
mission to help owners becometheir dog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Hello and welcome to the Sexyin the Squirrel Podcast, the
(00:31):
podcast that gives you real-lifedog training results.
And today we are talkingHuskies.
They're a breed I absolutelyadore.
I think they are the mostbeautiful thing on the planet.
I particularly love blue eyes,but you know what?
Some of them do not have blueeyes and they are still
particularly gorgeous.
I'm joined by two wonderfulHusky owners, both Loveday and
Shelly.
And I know we're going to gettwo possibly very different
(00:52):
insights into Huskies and Huskyownership or maybe being owned
by a Husky.
Shelly, tell me a little bitabout your Huskies.
Welcome here.
And most of all, inspire peoplethat are listening and talking
Husky ownership.
Shelly K. (01:07):
Hello, everybody.
Thanks for having me on thepodcast.
So right now I've got twoSiberian Huskies, Sila, who is
eight and a half years old, andSuka, who is five and a half
years old.
Sila was initially started onclicker training because that's
where I started my training withuntil he was about two, I
guess.
And then I converted over togame space training.
(01:27):
And Sukka has been completelytrained on games.
And so they're very active.
I do a lot of fitnessactivities.
We candy cross, we ski juror,we scooter.
We also sled in the winter.
And I do, I don't believe inlimiting my dog's capabilities.
And so we've done obedience.
We've done like we've competedin obedience and scent work and
(01:50):
tracking.
They've got theirchampionships, grand
championships and trick dog,stunt dog, canine fitness.
So I'm pretty much game.
We do weight pulling as well.
So I pretty much don't limitwhat they're able to do.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink this is a husky, it only
does this.
And you can't train a husky.
I probably have heard that evenfrom breeders.
(02:12):
You can't train a husky.
You can never have your huskyoff lead.
All of my huskies have been offlead when we hike.
And I think one of the things Iwould say to new owners or
people considering getting oneis start training right away.
Start playing the games rightaway.
Because so many people contactme and they're six months in.
(02:32):
The first four months, they'vetaught their dog a lot of bad
habits because they're so cute.
So, you know, the first thingthey do, they put a leash on
them and then they let them runand see everybody and see every
dog.
And then at four and a halfmonths old, when they get some
strength and ability to pull,they're wondering why their dogs
are pulling and they can't,they don't walk nicely, they
don't come when they're called.
So I think that's probably mybiggest thing would be as soon
(02:55):
as you get your dog, I let themsettle for a week or two, and
then I start.
So there's no waste of time.
Speaker 02 (03:01):
I think that's mega, Shelly, because I have an owner
coming here tomorrow, actually.
She's got a very, very birdydog and not a husky, a gun dog.
And this dog is really birdy,but for the first nine months of
its life, it's been allowed torun around the woods.
And so now she's struggling toget the dog to disengage from
the birds and come back, and shewants a recall.
And the dog's already rehearsedit for nine months.
(03:23):
Nine months.
I also saw a really great videoof a trainer yesterday, a
trainer who I really respect,actually.
Um, I really like, really greatperson.
And her little spaniel's on alead, and the other dogs are all
up ahead.
And this spaniel's reallypulling and screaming and trying
to get with the other dogs, andreally like, and I think what
sometimes happens is we thinkwe've got one dog under control,
(03:43):
but actually they arecompletely, whilst you might
have them on lead and you've gotthem like captured, you have
not got one part of their brain.
Like their brain is all outthere.
And so I love what you saythere.
Now, Love Day, I know you'vehad a different experience
potentially with huskies, but Idid hear something that Shelly
said that I thought was very,very tangible.
You've got a dream with yourhuskies to do some agility at
(04:05):
some point, right?
And you want to do someagility.
Speaker 01 (04:08):
Yes, yes, definitely.
I mean awe, Shelly, of all thethings you've done with uh with
with your dogs.
So, yes, but I I completelyagree.
I think because huskies are sointelligent, they can literally
turn their paw to whatever youwant them to turn their paw.
And Shelly, I'd definitely loveto have a conversation with you
about sledding because I wouldlove to do that with mine too,
because I think they would loveit.
And and yes, I have also beentold that dogs are untrainable
(04:30):
or that you've got to be reallyharsh to them, or that they will
get dominant and aggressive ifyou don't put them in their
place and you don't teach themthat you're alpha.
So when I got my first husky,my first ever dog, I that that
was what I had read on theinternet.
And definitely if you readabout huskies on the internet,
you will never get one becauseeverything is so negative about
them as a breed, I think.
And I think that's such ashame.
(04:51):
I think that's such a shame.
Speaker 02 (04:53):
I also think just listening to you, Love Day and
Shelly, I also think both ofyou, you're very good advocates
for the breed, but both of youhave really worked hard on
getting your dogs on board.
And I know that, Shelly, that'ssomething you do.
So I don't know if you couldtell our listeners about how you
get them on board.
And I know Love Day, we couldtalk as well on this.
How have you got them on board?
(05:13):
Because I think that's probablyone of the biggest things
initially.
And like you said, you mightwait a couple of weeks to let
them settle in.
I might not even wait them thatlong.
I'd be like, the sooner you canstart playing games and the
sooner you can cut startonboarding them to your way of
like training, how do you getyour huskies on board?
Speaker 00 (05:29):
So I just want to add one thing that I forgot to
say.
Another thing I commonly hearthat drives me crazy are huskies
are stubborn.
Oh, because I hate the wordstubborn.
And I think a big part ofhaving huskies in any dog for
that many, any working breed forsure, is getting people to
change the way that they thinkand how they refer to their dogs
(05:49):
because I think of them asthey're perseverant.
When I was a police officer andI was training as a police
officer, my coach officer waswriting up a review on me, and I
said to him, I bet you're gonnawrite that I'm stubborn because
I just worked on a certaincase, and I really stuck with it
like a dog with a bow.
And I solved the case.
And he said, No, he said, neverthink of yourself as stubborn,
(06:12):
think of yourself asperseverant.
And that's really stuck withme.
And I really see that in mydogs.
I never see them as stubborn,they're perseverant, they're
independent thinkers, which Ilove.
They're active, which I love.
So I think it's finding thatmatch with your personality as
well, makes it easier or harder.
If you're not an active personand you get a husky, you're
(06:32):
gonna become active.
Speaker 02 (06:34):
I love, I love what you say there.
And I also think just quicklytouching base with both of you,
because the husky does have thatlook more more wolfy.
So they are more wolfy looking,they're more uh they they've
just got that great look.
I mean, they are beautiful,they are one of the breeds that
you just for me, they're likejaw-dropping.
Like I just think they'regorgeous and they really are
gorgeous.
However, I think people arequicker to go to pack mentality
(06:57):
with them.
I think quicker to go to a sortof a dominance theory with
them.
I think people are quicker tojudge them along that sort of
and the people that own them aswell potentially can go down
that route quickly.
So, as in, they can fall downthat route because that trap is
there and ready for them.
It's like the path is laid out.
Here's the route you go on.
Dominant alpha sort of space,isn't it?
Like, so I just wanted to touchbase on that as well.
(07:19):
I think you own breeds, both ofyou, that people are quick to
take on that route.
Speaker 00 (07:23):
Yeah.
To answer your first question,though, how I got them on board,
Suka was easy because I startedwith him right away.
So he was very food motivatedas a puppy.
So really easy to get himengaged.
Sila was more difficult.
Sila's a redhead, and his hisbreeder would always say he's a
redhead.
And that was her reason for whyhe is the way he is.
Uh, I can't tell love day ifyour hair is red or not, but no
(07:45):
offense if it is.
Speaker 01 (07:46):
No, it's no, no, no, it's fine.
There are red highlights inthere that are natural, yeah.
Anyway, that makes meforthright though.
Not right.
Forthright, yes.
There you go.
Speaker 00 (07:57):
But Sela was really difficult because he was not
motivated by toys.
He was not a food-motivateddog.
And so finding things to gethim to engage with me took me a
while, probably took me about amonth.
And what I found out with himwas it was how I animated food.
It wasn't about animating it,it was very specific.
So when I played airplane game,this is where I figured this
(08:20):
out.
When I did the airplane game, Ihad to really move it around
and fast and slow and up anddown.
And I had to put sound effectswith it, but it engaged them.
And once I figured out thatpiece of it, it became more of
me looking at what am I doinghere?
And what does he need?
Because he's so different fromSuka, Suka wouldn't care.
(08:40):
Suka, I don't have to doanything with the food, right?
He'll just he'll react for it.
So it took me a while to getSila engaged.
And plus, I would have to usehigher value with Sila.
Suka, I could just use kibble.
What Sila got into it though, Inow I just use a like kibble
for the most part.
I do take higher value stuff.
Like if I'm off leashing and Iknow I want to practice recalls,
(09:01):
I take higher value stuff withme.
Toy motivated, Suka's more toymotivated.
I get about a minute of playout of Sila.
And I I kind of know becausehe'll just leave.
He'll just walk away in themiddle of play, he'll just drop
the toy and leave.
So I have to be really, reallycognizant of the fact that I
don't want to play too long withhim.
So that's probably my biggestchallenge was with Sila, but he
(09:24):
does both now.
He's food and toy motivated.
Speaker 02 (09:28):
How about you?
How have you managed to getsome of yours on board?
Speaker 01 (09:32):
Yeah, well, I'm I'm I'm impressedly, you had 50% of
your dogs were were foodmotivated and play motivated
because none of mine were.
I mean, I had three of themfrom small pups, and one was a
rescue, and none of them werefood oriented.
I mean, I remember when I gotthe rescue, he he didn't know
what anything other than kibblewas.
I gave him a bone and he lookedat it and went, What am I meant
to do with that?
So that was a very long journeywith him.
(09:54):
But all of them, it's somethingthat we've had to grow.
We ditched the bowl, we ditchedthe bowl in the right way.
Yeah, I mean, ditching the bowlmakes such a difference.
It really does.
And exactly as you say,Shelley, movement, movement,
movement all the time, all theway is the way that you keep
them engaged and keep theirattention.
So, yeah, I mean, the way I gotmy dogs to be foodie was to I
(10:15):
set myself the challenge ofthree weeks of them taking all
their food from my hand.
So, you know, like you wouldmove my hand around and I would
I would play with it, we'd playgames with it, they'd work for
their food.
But after a week and a half, Ihad foodie dogs.
It worked, and it worked sofast, and I was amazed at the
shift that it that it made.
Speaker 02 (10:33):
Love day, I have to say, Shelly, when I first met
her, I was like, dear lord, whaton earth is this?
And I'm gonna say that in areally straight way because she
turned up in the car park,there's dogs hanging out of the
car, literally, and they're justlike, Oh, like literally any
opportunity.
And I'm like, what has actuallyhappened here?
She's come for a holiday, andI'm like, what's happened here?
(10:53):
Like, who is this crazy ladywith four huskies hanging out of
the vehicle?
I love you to bits, lovely.
You're one of the best likepeople that that we train in the
sense that you're so open,you're so up for it.
But the biggest thing is you'vehad a mega transformation.
You had a mega transformationbecause those four dogs, I would
say, Shelly, are probably I canunderstand why people would say
stubborn.
(11:13):
And I understand that that'snot what we want to call them,
but they are so independentthinking that you could have no
thinking in your direction.
So, uh, Shelly, tell me any ofthe struggles you've had with
yours.
Speaker 00 (11:28):
So Sukka's main struggle is fear strangers.
And he's been that way since uhprobably around eight months
old.
He was fine as a puppy, andthen around that eight months,
he started displaying FearStrangers.
And I think part of that wasdue to I at the time was showing
him in confirmation, gettinghim ready for confirmation, and
the way that the people in thatare there, there's a different
(11:50):
mindset in how you handle dogs.
And I think that hurt himrather than helped him.
And so his biggest struggle isfear of strangers.
He's much better now, but hestill doesn't like people coming
up to touch him.
I can hand his leash tosomebody and he'll walk with
them and no problem.
So he's very uh very specific.
Selah.
I guess with Sila, it would behe still has that independent,
(12:13):
he'll think about it.
You know, like when you're whenhe's gone.
And I remember when he wasyounger and he was running a
free on a trail, and I calledhim and he stopped and he turned
and looked at me.
And for that split second, Ithought, he's not gonna come
back.
But then he did.
So so Sila is more of that.
I'm just that Suka, 99.9% surehe's coming back.
(12:37):
Sila, 90% sure he's coming backwhen I when I ask him on the
first call.
And I'm very big on I set mystandards for my dogs really,
really high.
And you probably do as well,both of you, because they're
working breeds, and I have, youknow, I want my dogs, I want to
know that 99.9% of the timethey're gonna do what I ask them
to do the first time.
(12:58):
I don't like repeating cues.
And I think that's probablysomething too I would recommend
with people that are gettingpuppies is get a really good
positive trainer that knowsabout not putting those cues in
too early because I think that'ssomething that people do too
often.
They want to get a recall cueright away, they want to have a
loosely schwab cue right awaywithout building up the behavior
(13:21):
and getting that behavior theway you want it first.
The cue is easy, so I thinkthat's a big part of it too, is
not rushing it.
Speaker 02 (13:28):
I was training with um a trainer last night,
actually, with um Eliza.
Eliza has online lessons.
I am definitely not hertrainer.
I am not going to be hertrainer.
Training your daughter is not athing.
And so in agility, I can, buthe'll work some music if I
don't.
Anyway, the trainer was wasgiving Eliza words, and Eliza
was like really deciding.
She was like really thinkinghard on the cue.
And I said to Eliza, really,it's not the cue, and it's it's
(13:49):
mostly the timing of the queueand the consistency of the cue.
The cue itself doesn't reallymatter.
You can call it apples,bananas, or pears, pink, blue,
yellow.
I mean, sure that tone can helpand pitch can help, but you can
change the tone and pitch onmost words.
The big thing I really think isimportant is what you said
there is actually you don't needto put the cue in too soon.
And I think too many trainersdo that.
But at the same time, I dothink huskies have some typical
(14:11):
problems, and I do think they'vegot, like, for example, I was
giving you before you before youwere on the podcast, I was
giving the example of myyoungster running off and
chasing a bird this morning, andshe literally was bird-brained.
And when I when I say that, Imean bird-brained.
Like it's like the lights areon and nobody's home.
So, can you both give me anexample where you've had that
with your huskies in somescenario?
And I would say, my Spanielstypically, it would be in hunt
(14:33):
territory, and it would be whenthey have seen something, they
think they're hunting.
And I've seen it a few times onher.
I've seen it where she'sliterally middle of hunting,
middle of sort of workingthrough like a tennis ball, and
then something's changed in it,like the ball's been hidden or
the ball's been moved away, orsomething's happened, and you
can see her lose her whole head.
(14:53):
But I actually think with aninexperienced handler, I do
believe you could really mess upthere.
And I really believe you could,you could lose her because she
would really be trying hard tolook for that ball or that thing
or that bird.
But if you didn't pick her upquickly enough or stop it
quickly enough, I think it couldturn into a behavior you really
don't like.
Shelly and Loveday, have yougot any examples?
(15:15):
I'll come to Shelly first.
But have you got any any anyexamples of that with a husky?
Like I said, I can tell youmine with my dogs.
Um, what would yours be?
Speaker 00 (15:23):
I guess the only thing they really struggle that
I would say they struggle withwould be like they can stop and
watch deer.
And if we're canny crossing, ifwe're doing a running event,
they just on by.
That's not a problem becausewe've done it so often.
But if we're walking, forexample, or they see a deer, as
long as the deer are still ormoving slowly, totally fine.
(15:46):
That hopping, like if you getfour young young deer hopping
around, that arousal level goesup really, really fast.
And if you don't have theirattention before that happens,
it can be difficult.
And usually, though, if I knowthat there's deer in the area,
if I've got them, I'll have themon the line or something.
And then it's just a matter ofif I know, like if I see the
(16:08):
first deer come, I kind of backoff and give myself some
distance just to make sure theirarousal is going to be kept in
check.
I think that's probably thebase.
Oh, and bear for what we don'tsee bear very often, but when we
do, those are like thousandpercent.
Speaker 02 (16:22):
It's how it's how you just dropped in there.
Oh, and bears.
Speaker 00 (16:25):
Yeah, well, I forgot about it, but we we because
we're on the trails so much,there's bear.
There's I love that.
Speaker 02 (16:32):
I love that.
There's that there's just bear.
Um I I really and I and I wantto say here because I know Love
Day, your experience here willbe different.
I'm training an owner right nowwho her dog, she's honestly
away with the fairies, and thedog has been allowed way too
much rehearsal of the wrongthing.
Number one, or number two ishardwired to be more that way.
(16:53):
And I think there's probably anelement of both in some dogs.
Some dogs are hardwired, likeTokyo is hardwired.
His instincts on sheep arereally good, like, really good.
Have I let him rehearse it?
Have I let him go practice it?
Have I let him be a sheepdog?
No.
And he had one sheepdog lessonas a youngster, and I was like,
I really shouldn't do this withyou because I think that the
more I do it, the more thislight will flick on, and the
(17:13):
more you will want to do it.
And I feel like it's almostunfair to turn the light on too
much with a dog like thatbecause he's not that's not his
job.
He's never gonna be a sheepdog.
Love Day, I know you've gotexperience that to be honest,
listening to Shelly there,Shelly's dog sniffing out deer,
sorry, looking at deer orsniffing out deer, they've got
relative control.
I know that yours, even in thepresence of the scent, might
(17:34):
struggle, right?
Speaker 01 (17:36):
I had one incident where where we were walking
along the beach.
So you think beach prettypretty safe.
Um, we're walking along thebeach path, but then there was a
field, and and I had he was hewas a really young dog.
He was only probably aboutseven months old.
He was off lead.
I was confident of his recall,and then he just took off across
the field.
And then I stood there andwatched him as he flushed out
(17:58):
the deer, and then I watched himcrossing two fields chasing
these deer.
Thank goodness he never caughtthe deer.
And I and there were two dogwalkers standing there tuting my
dog off, and then another dogowner came up and said, What do
you do?
And I said, There's nothing Ican do, there's no possible way
I can catch up with him, that Ican't even get into that field.
All I've got to do is wait forhim to come back.
(18:19):
And once he'd finished chasingthe deer, he came back.
You know, and with you know, avery scared deer doubtless, but
no real harm done.
But yet, mine uh do not havethat impulse control.
They see a deer, they seeanything like that, and they are
after it.
Um, and there's another exampleof a challenge that I've had
with Huskies.
The postman left the gate open,and one of mine escaped, and I
(18:44):
I followed him and I called him,and he turned around, looked me
straight in the eyes, and went,you know, and turned around and
kept running.
And I was like, you little.
Speaker 02 (18:59):
Independent mind, persistent, and and I like all
of that.
I did think for a split secondwhen you said, and I followed
him, I thought you meant thepostman.
I thought you followed thepostman, the postman.
Speaker 01 (19:10):
Believe me.
Speaker 02 (19:10):
He looked him in square in the eye, and I was
like, oh my goodness, she'stenacious.
And I but I do believe thatthat Love Day coming in at it
with especially because you'vecome in and you've got four dogs
and they've they've learnedbits off each other as well.
But I've never seen sometimes,I would say, when I say I've
never seen hunt instincts sostrong, they've got very strong
hunt instincts, but I wouldguess they would be the same as
(19:32):
that little spaniel that I'mtelling you about the birds, the
one that's coming to usactually for a lesson tomorrow.
So she's got a lesson tomorrow.
And one of the biggest thingswe're gonna say to this owner, I
don't know if you guys canguess it, one of the biggest
things is we need to stop thatrehearsal.
And the struggle is all of thepictures that I'm seeing on
social media of this dog are heron the moorland walking and
walking and rehearsing, all ofthe things we're gonna tell them
(19:53):
that she needs to stop.
And that is a huge thing.
Shelly, what do you think?
Speaker 00 (19:56):
Well, I was just gonna say, you know, it's funny
because people think they haveto run their dog, they have they
have huskies, they need lots ofexercise.
And it's a double-edged swordbecause I wave pull, I run my
dogs.
The more fit they are, the moreyou got to do with them.
So I would caution them aboutthat.
And the other thing that I wasgonna say was in regards to the
the deer, just a little story,because there was a deer with
(20:19):
four little ones, which is veryunusual.
And we would stop and we werewatching them walk by.
The little deers were hoppingaround.
A nate, a dog in the adjacenthouse, they've got a little
tiny, like a like a shih tzukind of dog, got loose on them.
It went chasing all the deer.
Mine were standing therewatching.
(20:40):
He had to get on his machine,his forerunner, and go catch his
dog.
Anyway, that was so funny.
I just found that so funny.
Speaker 02 (20:48):
I I do believe though, people don't get that
what they rehearse, they become.
So the more you allow, ofcourse, if you're gonna let your
husky go chasing deer, ofcourse, that's that's sport,
right?
Like that's that's that'sexactly sport and hunt and and
game.
Same as if I let my bordercolleague chase sheep, right?
Or my spaniel chase birds.
Like they are going to becomethat.
(21:09):
And even dogs who are inworking capacities, they're not
allowed free reign to just gooff and hunt.
Like they're not allowed freereign to go off and play with
sheep or work the that go andcatch birds or retrieve birds,
or you don't let them just gooff and do it.
Speaker 00 (21:22):
That's why I really like the game space training,
because huskies have that fullpredatory chain sequence, right?
So they want to kill and eatthings, they want to stalk, they
want to chase, they want to doall of it.
And so I really use uh the gamespace training to really
address all of those aspects.
Like we do control with it,yeah.
(21:44):
With it, yeah.
That's probably been thebiggest, had the biggest impact
on the dogs and self-control.
Nice, huge, nice.
And then I really like doing uhRussian doll cardboard, you
know, the box inside the box andegg cartons, and because the
dogs love ripping the boxes.
I don't care, rip the box, andpeople say, Oh no, because then
(22:06):
they'll rip every box.
And it's like, no, I can leavea box sitting out in the house.
They don't rip it.
And I think it's getting thatunderstanding that you need to
satisfy your dog's instinctualneeds, especially with this
breed, because they want to dothe whole thing.
So you've got to figure out away to let them rip something
apart, eat what's inside it,because it satisfies that
wanting to kill something anddissect it and consume it, and
(22:28):
they can do it safely in yourand they do they they do take
the whole chain.
Speaker 02 (22:32):
So they do take the whole chain, right?
From all the way through fromeye stalk, all the way through
to grab, bite, kill, dissect.
And I think that's a reallyimportant thing to understand is
that a dog that has thatinstinct, like your Labrador
doesn't have that instinct, likethat is not in your Labrador.
And I'm not saying that someLabradors don't do that.
What I'm saying is it's notit's not correct in a Labrador.
Whereas in a husky, it'sactually bred for it, right?
Speaker 00 (22:55):
And here, like I said, because we've got beer,
bear, they can bring a bear backto you.
If they go chasing a bear andthen that bear turns it around,
you can end up like it, it's areal safety issue.
And the deer here, if you know,if they chase a deer with a
young, your dog could getkilled.
So there's a lot of risk that Ithink people need to be a
little smart.
(23:16):
Like, you don't, your huskydoesn't have to run loose all
the time.
And the other thing I'll saytoo is I've left my dogs, I've
gone on vacations for up to twoweeks.
And my sister will take care ofmy dogs while I'm away.
She doesn't play games, shedoesn't have dogs.
She'll come feed them in themorning, like scatter feed them,
and then let them out for thebusiness, put them back in.
And they're not crated in thehouse, they're just left alone.
(23:38):
I know people think that'scrazy, but that's just, you
know, I brought them up that waythat they can be loose in my
house.
Then she comes home at lunch,let them out.
They can go for like two weeksnot having a walk, not having
played games, just having timein the backyard.
And it's just that time I seeit as a big decompression period
for them.
Speaker 02 (23:57):
So I think Shelley.
I love that.
Speaker 00 (24:00):
I think that's another fallacy that you've got
a husky, you've got to run, runthem and get them tired out.
And I'm going, actually,running them can be the worst
thing you do.
Speaker 02 (24:08):
Um I love what you're saying because I do
exactly the same.
When I go on holiday, I'm like,great decompression time.
When I come home, they're gonnabe fresh and ready to go again.
So I'm ready to train thembecause I'm possibly a little
bit like you, I like to trainquite a lot.
So because I like to trainquite a lot, I like to do quite
a lot, I'm quite active with mydog.
Sometimes some decompressiontime is good, right?
Like if we if we're active withthem.
(24:28):
I think that's that'sfantastic.
What do you think, Love Day?
Speaker 01 (24:31):
I I think that's such an amazing point, Shelly,
that you've made because when Ifirst got my first husky, I was
told in no uncertain terms thatI needed to be walking my dog
four times a day.
And I was like, I I don't havetime to walk four times a day, I
won't get anything else done.
I do actually have to work.
Uh, and uh so I was like, it'sgonna have to be twice a day,
and that's gonna have to beenough.
And then and then when I when Ihad the the situation where my
(24:56):
dogs just didn't have the calmand they weren't capable of
settling, and like you, my dogsare loose, they choose to be on
the boundaries, they all theysleep on the floor, you know, we
now have a very calm household.
But the best thing I ever didwas to go down to one walk a day
because my mornings wereinsane, because they were
expecting from the instant Iwoke up, they were expecting,
(25:16):
like, we're going to be goingfor a run, and the best thing I
ever did was to cut out thatmorning walk.
And now I can take them for amorning walk sometimes if that
fits in with my schedule.
I have ditched the routine, butthat's okay, they're still
calm, and then that's and thatthat's okay.
And I mean, today it isabsolutely pouring it down with
rain.
I mean, it is serious rain.
We went for a massive hike onthe moors yesterday.
(25:37):
Today, we are going to beplaying games in the house.
We are not going out in that.
I can't cope with that.
The dogs don't care, I care.
But for many people, that is soshocking.
And I see so much online abouthow many hours exercise.
And when I first started, I waslike, yes, an absolute minimum
of two hours a day.
And now I'm like, actually, no,um, exercising their minds is
as important as exercising theirbodies, and and they they can
(25:59):
get exercise, especially I'vegot multi-dogs, I do let them
run in in my garden, and they doexercise and play with each
other, and and and that's okay,and and that that in fact that's
better for them.
And as you say, if if we skip aday and we don't exercise in
terms of going for a walk,actually that's good for them,
and that's what they need.
And we don't need to justpiling on more and more and more
(26:20):
and building up their fitness,because as you say, the the
fitter your dog, the you know,the more active they are, the
more energetic they are.
And that's not that you know,never exercise your dog ever,
but there's a there's a balancethere.
Speaker 02 (26:31):
It's reframing exercise, isn't it?
It's reframing exercise for yousaw me um doing what I call
confidence circuits, which iseffectively I I really like to
teach them cavaletti, splittingtheir back legs ready for
running contact training foragility.
I like to teach them lots ofdifferent surfaces, balance
paths really with more purpose.
So I really like doing um thatwith my dogs.
(26:53):
And I know Shelly, you dosomething similar.
And then Love Day, I know thatyou're building up to doing some
agility, but a lot of it'smental work.
I think mental that there'sthere's so much you can do
mentally.
Go on, Shelly.
What were you gonna say?
Speaker 00 (27:04):
Well, I was just gonna say the to me, the mental
part is probably more important.
More for sure.
Uh because they are smart andthey're extremely creative.
Like so many huskies, you hearstories of them climbing fences
and they're skate artists andall this.
They're very creative.
And I that's kind of why I'mI'm glad you mentioned ditch the
routine, because I know so manypeople, they're very set and
(27:27):
regimented.
And I honestly think withHuskies, ditching the routine is
huge.
unknown (27:32):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 00 (27:33):
Because we know it's like, oh good, what are we
doing today?
What are we gonna are we goingout?
Because they're verypredictive, like most dogs, they
all predict everything, right?
So I think that's a big part ofit, is it's more exciting for
the dog that way in terms of oh,what are we doing today?
Oh, we're doing this today.
Oh, good.
We're not well, you don't evengo for a walk, you don't leave
the yard, right?
So I really like that you saidthat piece.
(27:54):
And then regarding agility, Ido do, I've got my a small set
of agility, like the tunnel andjumps and stuff.
So there is hope for agility.
Yes, my dogs do it.
Speaker 02 (28:06):
If I do it, Shelley.
If you need a hand, I'm ready.
I'm ready.
Speaker 00 (28:10):
I I would I don't compete in it, I just do it for
fun and fitness.
Um, and I and like I said, Idon't like limiting.
So I've had dogs that have I'vehad like asset hounds, you
know.
We put the the pole on theground, he's not jumping, but he
loves running through thetunnel.
I think it's more for thatmental stimulation than the
physical aspect of it for a lotof dogs, and variety, variety's
(28:33):
mega, isn't it?
Speaker 02 (28:34):
Like varieties are really, I think it's important
for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
So, guys, Huskies, are they foreveryone?
Absolutely not.
You know what?
I think you need to have theright mindset for Husky, but I'd
say the same with Spaniels, I'dsay the same with my board of
colleagues.
I would absolutely say the samewith a Jack Rossell terrier.
(28:54):
So for me, I think you do needthe right mindset, I think you
do need the right framework, andI definitely think you need to
be the right owner for your dog.
But at the same time, isn'tthat every dog?
Are Huskies trainable?
Love day.
Are Huskies trainable?
Speaker 01 (29:08):
Absolutely 100% trainable.
Yes.
Speaker 02 (29:11):
Shelly, are Huskies a brilliant breed in your life?
Speaker 00 (29:15):
Oh, yes.
I wouldn't have any otherbreed.
I used to, but I wouldn'tanymore.
I figure even when I'm old andgray, they can pull me in my
wheelchair or whatever I'm in.
Speaker 02 (29:25):
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
You're gonna go mush and offthey go.
You know what?
Thank you so much, both of you,for joining us.
Huskies, a beautiful, brilliantbreed, and a breed that so many
people do not understand.
So share this podcast far andwide.
Thank you so much, both of you,for giving up your time uh to
be here with me and all of ourlisteners worldwide to share.
Hopefully, this one does getworldwide, and hopefully, so
(29:48):
many of you take this lessonalong to your classes, your
students, your friends, yourfamily, anyone who you know may
own a husky or maybe owns ahusky right now or might in the
future.
That was this episode of theThe Sexiness Girl Podcast.
We will see you next time.
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