How to Train a Siberian Husky

A beautiful breed of dog, Siberian Huskies are independent, athletic, and intelligent. Despite their relatively gentle demeanor and affectionate behavior, they are not easily trained. Because Siberian Huskies are pack dogs, they will challenge your leadership and test boundaries. They will become destructive if not exercised. In order to avoid an unhappy experience with a Siberian Husky, it is important to understand their temperament in order to properly train them for all experiences and situations.

Training Your Siberian Husky

Establish yourself as the “alpha.” Siberian Huskies are notorious for being difficult to train. They are a pack dog with a hierarchical order of leadership and, therefore, are stubborn, strong-willed, and independent. Because huskies have natural behavioral traits that can be destructive if not properly trained, it is important to get an early start on minimizing bad behavior in order to establish a foundation for a well-behaved dog.

It is important to have knowledge of a Siberian Husky’s temperament. Confidence and a strong-will are important qualities to have as an owner in order to establish obedience in your dog. Huskies will only respect or listen to commands coming from an “alpha.”

Treating your husky as an equal is not a good idea because huskies are hierarchical pack dogs and only follow leaders. You must demonstrate yourself as the leader at all times, whether that is eating first, entering doorways before your dog, or making your husky move out of your way, it is important to establish this tiered relationship.

Sometimes huskies become aggressive in an attempt to establish a pecking order of leadership by biting, posturing, or engaging in other violent behaviors. In this case, demonstrating your dominance as the “alpha” is imperative to curbing this behavior. Permitting your husky to continue this behavior or not addressing will only encourage stronger aggression towards other people and dogs.

Siberian Huskies sometimes engage in behavior that is very natural for them but unwanted by people. The alpha position will also provide you the authority to train your husky not to engage in bad behavior such as jumping, digging, biting, and chewing. A Husky will only obey the alpha.