So you’ve decided to invest in a Siberian Husky. Or better still you already have one. A wise decision. At least it is a wise decision if you understand our needs and how to relate to us. Unfortunately many humans just don’t. Call it a character weakness if you will but some people have no idea about what goes on inside the mind of the husky or how it sees your world. But don’t worry-help is at hand. Bela Husky is here to assist you.

Throughout this article I will talk in terms of positive reinforcement. It isn’t rocket science really. Look at it this way. If your employer gave you these two choices which one would you pick;

a) To be yelled at in front of your peers for doing something they didn’t approve of (or worst case scenario be hit with a rolled up newspaper at morning coffee break).

b) Every time you do something well (including just turning up at work on time-a big move I know for some) you are rewarded with great praise and cash bonuses.

I think I know you humans well enough to presume you picked b). If you didn’t read no further as difficult tasks like dog ownership may be beyond you. So let’s start to think that rewarding your husky for doing well is a lot better than just going berserk every time you think your husky did something wrong. From my angle I like to positively reinforce desired behavior in my owner by this method. Smile (and flash those pretty eyes). Kiss! And reward! Good boy! So every time I refer to good human behaviour-remember. Smile! Kiss. Reward! I know it works for me.

You must understand that to the husky is very easily confused by human behavior.  Take gardening for example. The husky sees its human spending endless time digging around the garden trying to do some horticulture. So they think. Well-I like a spot of gardening. Let’s see what I can come up with in flower bed design. But when the owner appears and finds the agricultural Siberian at work what happens? No-he doesn’t compliment you for your hard work. Instead they turn various shades of red and start undesirable displays such as shouting loudly and waving their arms. Confronted with this the intelligent Siberian (you know you didn’t buy us just for our cute eyes) cannot encourage this anti-social behavior so they must ignore you and wait for you to calm down. There now it’s only a bit of dirt. Don’t worry. After all a petunia bed can’t give you affection and companionship. You can’t walk your rose bush can you? All calm now? That’s better. Smile! Kiss. Reward.

And now another concept. Working dog. Say it again. Working dog. The Siberian Husky has a noble heritage of helping man and having a task in life. Think in positive terms like exercise.Walkies. Stimulation (if that’s not too big a word for you). Hopefully you bought your husky with the single-minded determination to run with them and give them the exercise they deserve. We aren’t some little toy dog who sits on the lounge and yaps incessantly every time someone knocks on the door. Our heritage is as a working dog (Got it? Smile. Kiss. Reward. Good Boy!). So don’t get upset if you leave me out the back all day and I get into recycling- such as recycling your newspaper or the shoes you left out there. You were warned. You knew what you were getting into. Don’t blame me. Calm down. Think about it. Reach for the lead. Nice long walk. You feel better already. Smile. Kiss. Reward. Good Girl!

The trouble is you may have bought your husky because of some romantic image of the dogs running across the tundra (personally I’m not in to tundra). But then you can’t appreciate it when they see an open gate and go on a long distance run. It’s in our genes. Running comes easily with me. Our favourite movie is “The Great Escape” (go Steve McQueen-you can make it!) so don’t blame us if you won’t secure your yard properly and then have to send out a search party (warning to Siberians-don’t try this at home-escaping can be dangerous unless you know how to use zebra crossings). So let’s relax and take that deep breath. I have a husky. I will secure my yard and lock all gates properly. I can do it. There! That’s better! Smile. Kiss. Reward.

A word about pack leadership. I’ll never know why you humans encourage your children to have ambition but get annoyed when your dog does. What’s the matter? Don’t you want me to improve myself? It’s just a fact that given weak leadership I will naturally aspire to a leader’s role-I just want to get ahead in life. After all, I can hardly imagine that you would respect your boss if they are always groveling to you and who can’t set any sort of example at all. So don’t be surprised when I look at taking over the home when no one else will. I’m not into chaos theory and if you won’t take charge then I’d better save this ship. So remember-if you want my respect please act like a leader. And remember I have my own personality just like humans have their own little quirks. Don’t be upset if I am a little cheeky at times for example. Got it? Good! Smile. Kiss. Reward!

And a word about prey drive. Nothing hard to work out here. You humans have have been shooting, spearing and blasting defenseless animals for centuries so don’t blame your Siberian for wanting a bit of sport as well. Nothing like a bit of rabbit (as long as he doesn’t resemble Bugs Bunny) for dinner or scaring eight lives out of the whining local cat. We’re used to this. Learn to work with us on this one. Be sensible. Be the pack leader. Calm down. You can work through this one. Good! Smile! Kiss. Reward.

One final word. Be consistent. Don’t think that it is cute for me to be on the furniture one day and an outrage the next. We’ll think that you need therapy. We genuinely love your company and want to understand you so don’t make it difficult. We can have a wonderful time together if only you’ll commit to some training and learn how to do things properly. And-oh! Never give us commands in Russian-we still haven’t forgot what you did to the Chukchi people.

That’s enough for now. I find that the human attention span is somewhat limited at times. A few minutes of reading should be enough. But nice attention for getting this far. Smile! Kiss! Reward!

  BELA HUSKY