Found the dog bite stats. Scary!

In the UK, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has info about dog bites . if you google the name and add dog bites it will come up . The recent stats show that more dog bites occur in deprived areas.

Hi Myrsky!

Training with treats: yes, it is perfectly fine to train with treats, especially as he's so little and you're just starting out. Of course you don't want to overfeed him, but you have a bit of leeway with a puppy. If you find you have to use a lot of treats, just substitute a bit more veggies or apple in his regular food. It's also fine to use very, very small treats-- you can break them up into tiny bits. The point of the treat is that he is getting a reward from you! Two of the things he likes best in all the world-- rewards, and you.

With leash training, I wouldn't worry if he isn't focused on you all the time. Bear in mind that Huskies and Malamutes are both working breeds, and the work they are bred to do involves being exquisitely aware of their surroundings. They are bred, trained and trusted to look out for danger and to use their own judgement. They are also pack animals, and it's natural for them to want to know where everybody is and what they're doing, all the time. This is fine! Go ahead and let him look around while leash training, so long as his main focus is on you, and so long as he learns not to pull you around like a hapless squeaky toy on the end of a string. He's going to get strong-- very, very strong-- soon! You can use that good pack instinct to your advantage. Your voice is your best tool here-- you can use gentle reminders that he's to walk with you and gentle corrections when he's going off somewhere. Use words that come naturally to you, since you'll end up using them without thinking: I use 'with me' and 'Atz!'.

I'm so glad that he hasn't become fearful as a result of that incident. Meeting more nice dogs will reinforce all his positive experiences. I'm also glad your neighbour seems to be contrite about it-- you certainly don't want it happening again and if they're genuinely sorry it probably won't. Hopefully the language barrier won't be too much of a problem... many of us doggy people seem to speak a language all of our own. I once held a conversation with a lady for over half an hour, and she spoke only German, me only English. It worked okay!

That said, it might be a good idea to train Myrsky bilingually for basic commands like 'sit'. For the most basic commands it won't confuse him-- it's a bit like learning an accent. A Californian dog can easily learn a Scottish 'sit' even though the two words sound wildly different.

This is because you want other people to be able to command your dog. Let me illustrate with a little story:

Soon after my very first dog, Berkeley, had finished his vaccinations, I took him out to play in a very large, very popular park where dogs are allowed to run around off lead. He was still a very little puppy, all long legs and fluff, with not a lot of substance to him (we don't know what kind of dogs are in the mix, but he looks like an apricot-coloured Irish Wolfhound shrunk down to Collie size). All of a sudden this Dalmatian came barrelling over. He was probably not more than a year old, full of energy, bright and friendly and STRONG and he wanted to play! Right! Now! With Berkeley! So he kept barreling into Berkeley, throwing him to the ground and stepping on him, not to be mean, but just because he had that much energy. I tried to catch him, but I couldn't. So I took a gravy bone out of my pocket, held it aloft like a sceptre, and declaimed:

"SIT!"

The Dalmatian sat. Butt hit the ground instantly. Everybody got treats, Berkeley wasn't tossed around like a rag doll anymore, and the Dalmatian's owners were able to catch up.

By contrast, a friend used to walk their friend's dog while they were away at work. The fiend's friend had made the weird decision to train their dog only in Welsh (even though they themselves spoke English). Could anyone do anything with this dog if they couldn't speak Welsh? Nope.

Hand signals are a good idea too-- my eldest is now almost completely deaf, but since I've been using hand signals since he was little, it's okay-- so long as I can get him to look at me. Different people use different ones, so when you go to your vet, ask them what ones are common in your area-- they might be able to tell you, or you can ask a local trainer.

All the best to you! I do admire you for sticking with this thread through all the... well.

...aaaaaand I find I must continue because I forgot something... It takes a while catching up!

You really will have to curtail the nipping and tugging clothes thing. Does he do it only with your boyfriend, or does he do it with you, too? He might stop it on his own in time, but he might not, and you don't want to risk him not stopping. I'll give you my own take on it.

You will probably hear people tell you DOMINANCE!!!. In my own humble opinion, this is crazy. Your puppy is far too little to be exhibiting dominant behaviour. What he wants is a game. Your boyfriend getting up and moving may be signalling to him 'Oh boy, game time!' Shoving him away, telling him off, or trying to distract him with a toy might not be helpful-- you might be unwittingly teaching him the rules of a game that you're evolving. Pants tugging --> shoving (fun) --> being told off (attention! Yay!) --> toy... you see the pattern.

The better thing to do is to refuse the game and make it absolutely clear that you are not playing it. This has worked for me, so you might try it: put a flat hand right in his face, but don't otherwise look at him, talk to him, or engage him in any way. Just make that flat hand a barricade between you and him and walk away. There. Game over. Later (even, like, a minute or two later) you can offer him a game you do want-- squeak or ball or rope or whatever. That way he learns that yes, you do like to play with him! You just don't play the pants-tugging game. Pants-tugging only gets you boringness. Boooor-iiiiiing. Others may (certainly will) have some different suggestions for you but this worked for me with some very problematic behaviour from my Akita... I won't bother you with the details, but it worked. Good luck!

@ strangechilde, thanks we do think too it will work with your method, because as you said, he just wants to play and the other things like showing toys would only encourage him. AND YES it only happens with my boyfriend not with me and I suppose its because he knows now how I like him to be, but my boyfriend can spend only a little time in the morning and the evening with him, and thats why the puppy has to learn also the rules of my boyfriend. (my thinking) and also good idea with the bilingual commands, who knows if I will need it once. And we do work with hand signals too, because I think he gets it way faster with that.

@ Myrsky, I think your thinking is right! He does have to learn the rules for your boyfriend, even if they can only spend a little time together. He'll also be able to generalise to other people who might come over. Just be consistent-- consistency is the key!

Good on you for working with hand signals. Many dogs respond very well to them. Yours must be one! I'll bet he's smart as a whip. You'll have a boatload of fun with him.

You chat good sh1t strangechild ... and that is truly meant as a real compliment. Excellent posts from you and from myrsky who is doing everything right.

Oh damned ! Just went out and we saw the dog from the attack, this time nothing happened but myrsky shut down and wanted to go home... I will try in one hour again, hopefully then he likes to walk outside.

My advice would be to try not to reinforce his fear by taking him back home. Obviously do not drag him past the other dog, but keep him focussed on yourself with titbits, toys or just a calm, soothing voice. Have him sit if necessary, with his back to the other dog if possible, although if he wants to turn to see what the other dog is doing that his fine, but make him feel safe by having him pressed up against your legs. Encourage him in every way you can to stay calm ... he may want to yap at the other dog, but discourage this if you can.


Under no circumstances pick him up! If he is that scared, then turn around and take him home, but he is a strong little chap, I doubt very much that would be necessary; try to always reward and praise the p-ositive behaviour, ie sitting and ignoring the other dog, and keeping quiet, remain calm but in control if he displays any sign of fear or agression.

Hope this helps ... good luck xx

If he's ultra scared, take him home. No point in him beginning to associate the fear of the dog with being outside by being forced to stay in a terrifying situation. If he's not just ultra scared, stand with him and reassure him.

I agree with Gnasher about picking him up. It bothers me to see owners picking their dogs up and carrying them off with the dogs head bobbing up and down. Dogs are ground animals and usually can't stand being lifted, why are they picking them up?

In any case, trauma such as this can permanently affect a young dog, so be sure to reassure him when needed and help him build his confidence. He's going to grow into a big boy, so he'll need his confidence.

oh dear, bad timing . If he was that upset I would leave it a bit longer before you go out . If a dog is stressed than its body is flooded with stress hormones and it takes a while for them to wear off or dissipate. If you go out too soon and something else happens then that will increase the amount of stress hormones even more and could then really over react.

Agree with Gnasher and mjfromga , treats and toys , let him hide behind you and if ultra scared , remove him from the situation.

My two little uns are fear reactive, and kick off easily . If I see the dogs that have attacked them in the street, I simple turn around and go the other way or hide behind a car or even in someones front garden once .


If they dont take a treat from me I know thay are too anxious to eat and therefore too close to the other dog for comfort.
*(though dogs from puppy farms and/or have been been starved or underfed will often take or eat food despite being very stressed. )

ETA , if this guy always keeps his dog under control then your pup will have a good chance of over coming his fear with counterconditioning with the treats and toys as suggested by gnasher.

Puppies go through fear periods so as Maria said , a trauma can permanently affect a pup , it doesnt even have to be that traumatic for it to affect the puppy.
A sound or noise can cause fear , where as a few weeks older it wouldnt react so much . I think the second fear period is about 8 to 11 weeks but it varies according to the breed. I'm dont think they call them fear periods now so best to check that on line .