On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:03:20 -0500, "Jen R."
wrote:

Thanks. People are saying you can't obedience train that dog. Is it true?
She is very hyper, has short attention span and pulls on the leash. I know
she's a pulling breed but can she be taught to heel for regular walking?
She doesn't even care that I put a choking collar on her. She still pulls
and chokes. She's proved already that she's very smart.

No, it's not true that you can't obedience train Siberian Huskies.
However, as you already know, they're very intelligent and quite
independent, which means that they generally bore pretty easily. You
need to make training fun and interesting for her. I would suggest
that you take her to an obedience class that can help teach you how to
train her. Prong collars often work better than choke collars on
Siberians, because the dog self-corrects when it pulls. Be warned,
though, that the pulling instinct is so strong in some Siberians that
they will pull in spite of a prong collar. If you haven't used prong
collars before, make sure that a qualified obedience instructor or
other knowledgeable person shows you how to properly fit the collar.
Also, a prong collar is for training and/or walking only and should
not be left on the dog in the house.

She knows to leave
the birds alone already, but she has high prey drive and sometimes forgets
herself and runs toward their cage. She gets up on the couch for this
because they are on the table. I don't care if she's on my couch but I
want her to not pester the birds.

Good luck with that. Almost all Siberian Huskies have high prey
drive. Many are not safe with cats and other small animals. How old
is your Sibe? She may never learn not to pester your birds. Praise
and/or otherwise reward her for ignoring them, tell her "no birds" in
a no-nonsense voice when she pesters them, and make absolutely certain
she's never unsupervised with them. My wonderful female Sibe, Tasha,
ate my first pair of guinea pigs when we weren't home - - she knocked
over the cage, opened it somehow, and all I found were a few spots of
blood. It's the nature of the breed. However, she left subsequent
pigs alone, and I think that is because she eventually understood that
they were mine, and were pets, much as she understands that our indoor
cats are my pets but that cats or other critters outside are fair
game. I think that sort of understanding depends on your dog having
more training and a clear view of you as the leader.

She's a small husky weighing only about
40 pounds. I'm wondering what would be a safe weight for her to pull (will
ask the vet, but also would like to know from experienced husky owners).

I don't know anything about weight-pulling and will leave this to
someone else. Melinda, are you reading this?

Her exercise needs seem to be beyond my just walking her and I'm not
allowed to fence my yard here

Egads, yes, a young Siberian's need for exercise is beyond
leash-walking. It's too late for this now, but just curious: did you
research the breed at all before getting her?

so I'm thinking of getting/building her a
cart for summer and skijoring in winter.

That would be great for her.

If I weigh 155# is that too much
for her to pull? If so, how much weight could I put in the cart and then
walk beside her? How do I teach her commands so she doesn't drag me all
over on the skiis?

First thing is to get her into an obedience class where you'll learn
how to teach her normal, everyday life commands. Then you can either
read up on how to teach her pulling-type commands, or you could look
for a Siberian Husky club in your area or perhaps some other group
that does carting, sledding, etc. There are also numerous online
discussion lists on subjects such as this that would be helpful.

Other things...I had to leave the house for a very
short time today and she went nuts. I put her in the crate, told her I'll
be right back then quietly left. She howled and cried and scratched her
bed. When I got back all I heard was panting and furious scratching. I
opened the door and looked at her and she was like another animal: eyes
wide, tongue hanging out and drooling, panting furiously. I tried not to
make a big deal of it and just took my coat and boots off and went and
opened the crate without much fuss. Once out of the crate she was fine,
but at night she sleeps in it just fine (I put it near my bed at night so
I can reassure her). She also paces back and forth for hours on end. I
live in a trailer so it's long rather than square. She runs from one end
of the trailer to the other crying and panting. Sometimes she stops by the
door and scratches at the bottom of it. Sometimes she stops and looks out
the window. Sometimes she jumps on the couch to look out all the living
room windows. Then she goes back to pacing and crying. She has toys but
unless I'm directly interacting with her and them she doesn't play with
them much. I ordered a bike thing (http://www.springerusa.com/) so
hopefully I can run her on the bike and not get pulled over by her. I'm
guessing all this pacing is because she needs more running? The pacing and
crying really doesn't bother me much, but I want to know if she's in
distress or just hyperactive or what? Anyone who can help me understand
her better I'd appreciate it.

Again, how old is she? A young husky has enormous amounts of energy,
and living in a trailer without a fenced area where she can run around
is probably pretty difficult for her. Yes, she needs more running - -
this is a breed that is bred to run, and pull while running to boot -
- and she's probably bored. The bike thing is a good idea and would
help her expend some energy. Training would be helpful too, as it
would at least give her mind something to do, but she needs physical
exercise. As to the crate, it doesn't sound as though she has crate
anxiety if she sleeps in it at night. You didn't mention whether she
does this every time you leave, how often and for how long you're
normally gone, or how she behaves when you're out of her sight, so I
don't know whether it's true separation anxiety. That's something to
talk to an obedience trainer about, and if you both think it's SA,
Patricia McConnell has a good book called "I'll Be Home Soon" which
deals with SA.

You have a breed that has many positives and negatives - - - highly
intelligent (sometimes scary smart) and with a joy of life that's
contagious; affectionate and outgoing but not clingy, usually good
with other dogs and kids, they can also be very destructive (but they
don't charge for their landscaping services), easily bored and often
stubborn, extremely talented escape artists, and energetic. Owning a
Siberian Husky in your current situation will be challenging!

Mustang Sally