Back in 2006 I had a very interesting dog training case that involved a Siberian Husky. The owner of the husky was a heart surgeon and during his initial call I could tell this would be a client who needed things done quickly and well, the first time! I set up the appointment and went over a few days later to do my behavior assessment.

I was only 27 years old at the time but had trained hundreds of dogs at this point and several dozen of those dogs were husky or husky mixes…a fairly common breed in my area due to the brutal winter.

As I pulled up to the house, I could see it was in a very wealthy area. Gated community and I needed to get buzzed in with permission from the homeowner. As I made my way to the residence the owner was standing outside waiting for me. The first words out of his mouth were “I don’t care what this costs, I need this dog fixed today!”

A dream come true to most business owners but not to a dog trainer. Any reputable trainer knows it’s not that simple and it’s never going to be that simple with a very high energy dog like a husky.

I responded, “understood sir, can we sit down and do the assessment so I can figure out what is causing the issues?”

We made our way inside and I noticed that the dog was nowhere to be seen but I could hear him very well! Howwwwwwwlllllllllll, howwwwllllllllll…is all I heard in the background. The owner then explained that the dog is so wild he can’t be loose in the house.

“What about your yard sir?” I asked.

“He jumps the fence and runs; animal control has already fined me twice!” the owner responded.

I could tell this was going to be an action-packed assessment and there would be lots of venting from the owner.

As I made my way through the assessment one of the owner’s biggest concerns was the husky was still not potty trained at 8 months old and would even go #2 in his crate and make a massive mess that would take hours to clean up.

As the assessment got near it’s end, I looked down and saw that my pen was on fire! I had written down more things on this assessment than any assessment I had before it. Some of the details were;

*nearly zero exercise everyday due to work schedule and leash pulling

*crated nearly 15 hours a day

*destructive chewing on anything it can get it’s mouth on (including the crate)

*potty training issues, with accidents 2-4 times a day in the house

*jumping on the owner and any guests he had over

*nipping and mouthing the owner and any guests he had over

and the list went on…

I then asked the owner his work schedule was so I could devise a plan to make this situation get better.

“I am a heart surgeon and I normally work 18 hours a day and I am on call 24 hours a day…I could get called in as we are speaking now…”

The life of a heart surgeon didn’t have much free time. This dog needed free time from SOMEONE whether the owner had it or not. The good news was that the owner had the money to hire people to fulfill some of these needs and his daughter lived close by and was willing to help.

My first step was creating an exercise regimen that would attempt to fulfill a huskies needs. Not an easy task by the way. I helped the owner find a reputable dog walker in the area that would walk the dog properly (leadership walk, no pulling) for AT LEAST 1 hour per day. I also trained his daughter to come and do the same at a different time during the day. We now had a husky that was properly walked 2 hours a day…a big step in the right direction.

Next, I taught the owner how to do short bursts of training during whatever free time he had. This was important. The owner needed to establish his own leadership with the dog and that can’t happen with hired help or his daughter. He needed to do it as well. I also spent time showing the owner how to respond to the nipping, mouthing and destructive behavior and finally I showed him how to praise the dog properly without treats.

In just a few short weeks the dog had come a long way and the owner was so impressed by the changes he asked me if I would help train his dog for therapy work at the hospital! A very challenging situation with a great ending.

Are you facing a challenging situation with your dog that you need help with? Contact your local Always Faithful Dog Trainer and get real training with real results from one of our certified trainers today.