Originally Posted by
Gnasher
Absolutely please do not get husky. He will not be suitable for living outside 24x7. Huskies have a very strong pack instinct, and will not understand why you are banishing him to live away from his pack.
Secondly, you just cannot leave such a dog for such long periods of time alone. Leaving him wandering loose on your 6 acres is not an option because huskies are escape artists - they can climb out of a tennis court by just climbing up the wire mesh and over the top. It would be terribly expensive to securely fence 6 acres for such an escape artist. They dig for the Olympics --- so unless the perimeter fencing was concreted well into the inside of the compound, he will tunnel out.
They have massive prey drive instincts. Your cat and the chickens will most likely be killed and eaten. You cannot reliably train any northern breed to ignore livestock when you are not there - it just is not going to happen.
You cannot allow a husky to roam at will - because of their prey drive they will devastate the local population of cats, chickens, even pigs and sheep. They will not deter coyote ... they are close relations of the coyote and most likely he will chum up with one or several and you will never see him again. Coyotes can mate with dogs although the offspring will be sterile ... you do not want to bring hundreds of unwanted half coyote half huskies into the world, you would have no wildlife left in your area.
I have owned wolf crosses for 20 years - a mix of malamute, siberian husky and wolf ... and if anything a husky would be even worse than one of my wolfie guys in terms of prey drive and escapeeism.
Please do not even consider getting a husky - you are condemning yourselves, the dogs, your pets and local wildlife to a hellish existence.
Why you do you describe deer and coyote as pests? Your son's cat is far more of a pest - killing hundreds of birds and harmless voles, shrews etc every year.