Does This Mean You Shouldn’t Own a Siberian Husky?
By no means am I trying to scare you away from owning a Husky. The intention of this article is merely to inform you of the possible risks associated with this breed.
Most Husky owners love their dog, and have never had a violent incident. As with all breeds, the most important thing when it comes to controlling the dog’s behavior and mitigating risk is proper training. However, based on the stories I’ve shared with you, I would not recommend leaving even a well-trained Husky alone with small children or other small pets.
Energetic Personality Can Unintentionally Hurt Others
According to the AKC, Huskies are outgoing and mischievous. Combine this with that fact that they were bred to pull sleds for 100 miles a day, and you have an “ultra-hyper dog breed.”
These dogs are Iditarod racing dogs, meaning they compete and run about 1000 miles within a span of a week – even with one mandatory 24-hour rest.
So now you have a good idea of how energetic these dogs can actually be. They have a seemingly unlimited amount of energy at times.
One owner from Reddit describes her Husky, saying:
The problem with a dog that has too much energy is that they can potentially release all that pent up energy on humans or other animals.
If you can’t provide your Husky with the recommended amount of physical and mental exercise, aggressive and destructive behaviors can show.
“Before the race, the dogs’metabolic makeup is similar to humans. Then suddenly they throw a switch—wedon’t know what it is yet—that reverses all of that,” animal exerciseresearcher Dr. Michael S. Davis told the New York Times.
“In a 24-hour period, they goback to the same type of metabolic baseline you see in resting subjects. Butit’s while they are running 100 miles a day,” according to thisarticle.
But the days of pulling loads and sleds are over for Siberian Huskies.
These days Siberian Huskies are often companionable pets living in apartments. If they don’t get enough walks and exercise daily, they may create a mess inside your home should you leave them alone.
Acknowledge the Aggression in the Husky
The worst thing that you can do as a husky (or any dog) owner is to ignore aggression. This is especially common with owners that have young dogs (puppies).
Because Husky puppies are small and “can’t cause serious damage,” some owners are likely to ignore this type of behavior.
The problem is, Huskies grow extremely quick. Once they reach adult-size, they can cause real damage.
If they’ve been conditioned to think that behaviors such as jumping on people is “okay,” then it’ll be rather difficult to train this behavior out of them as an adult.
Any sign of aggression should be addressed and stopped immediately, despite the age of the dog. It may be cute while they’re small, but not so much as a 60 pound canine.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Siberian Husky
Huskies might look intimidating, but are they actually dangerous? In this article, I dive deep into the recent statistics and bring to light the true nature of the Siberian husky, while remaining neutral in my judgment!
Although huskies are often perceived as dangerous, they do not hold the typical traits of a dangerous dog. Huskies are responsible for about one fatality per year, much less than many other breeds.
Training and providing the correct lifestyle are crucial in raising a well-behaved husky. If done right, it’s extremely likely your husky will be fun, loving, caring and affectionate to you or whoever greets him.
Some of the most recent data is from a 13 year period, 2005-2017 where “433 Americans were killed by canines”.
Pitbulls and Rottweilers were responsible for 76% (329) of these deaths. Huskies contributed to 13 out of 433 in those 13 years, just 3%
Labrador Retriever is the world’s most popular dog. A breed that never resembles aggression or is regarded as dangerous. Labrador retrievers sit at nine fatalities, four less than huskies over the 13-year period. Should huskies, as a general dog breed be considered dangerous when they are so close to the number of fatalities from Labrador Retrievers? A breed that never is regarded as dangerous.