Interesting article that was posted in Siberian Husky : This is definitely well worth reading. By Matt Hammersley I won’t apologise for its length or if youve read it before but it saves me typing the same thing out on this topic. I have to agree with the many experienced sibe and mal owners posting here on the off lead topic. I would in no way shape or form recommend letting a sibe or mal off lead! I have owned, trained, bred, worked and raced sibes for 12 years, not long compared to many others, but along the way I have come across this argument countless times and I mean countless. The advice we were given by friends and everyone in the sport and the husky/sled dog community way before we got our first dogs was Never Let a Husky off lead... Period! When you have advice from people who have had 30 years plus experience and have owned trained worked and bred dozens of sibes all say the same thing, you take their advice. Of course many folk love their dog to bits, think hes loyal, think he can be trusted, think their sibe is different, think well maybe just this once or just plain don’t know or ignore the advice given by those with infinite more experience in the breed than themselves may go years with no problems until the day their beloved dog gets a whiff of something and is off! And their life and heart just stops! Their dog has done the unthinkable, he has done a runner! Their Dog they thought was different, their dog they thought was 100% dependable off lead, never run away in the past 2,3,4 years, has just put his head down ears back and gone! Just like that! The sick to the core feeling in your stomach is not one I would wish on anyone! the folk who say it’s just a matter of training, they are just like all other breeds, these people commenting are just lazy or know it alls, because they think they have perfected it with their sibe will always promote off lead. Let them! But do what’s right for Your dog. Have the courage to do what’s best for your dog and don’t let the instant experts sway you with the it’s cruel, what do the so called experts know, they are happier off lead argument. Why wouldn’t they? To see your dog running about, full pelt smiling and playing is fantastic, but what’s crueller? Having your dog shot, run over, stolen and used for breeding then dumped, used for dog fighting or baiting? Lost cold and hungry till picked up by rspca and rehomed? Is that possibility crueller than on lead exercise? Before I owned sibes I trained and competed in agility with my welsh border collie for 7 years. She was hardly ever on lead. I put in hours of work every day. I consider myself a patient and experienced trainer. Those same techniques I have tried and used with my sibes, just in case they ever got off lead, they work great in an enclosed area with 6 foot plus fences, lock gates and people on guarding case. Outside of it, I wouldn’t stand a chance!!! So I never let them off lead outside of an Enclose secure area... Ever! It’s a breed trait a husky thing 3000 years in the making, whitemans only been involved with the breed for 100 years or so, 40 years in this country, do the maths, were not going to change those in bred traits! I had a brass clip snap on my trusted lead dog of 10 years. This dog is a near telepathic command leader, I used our normal recall technique and command... Guess what she did... Nothing... She put her ears back and ran! 7 miles down a beach, non-stop, didn’t even look back. It was 7 hours before she eventually came back escorted by the local coastguard! That was 7 hours of hell for me!!! This dog has saved my bacon more than a few times, has led my team in over 125 races, will react at the mere hint of a command in harness and is super loyal, yet I would not trust her 1 second off lead even at 10 1/2 years old!!! A friend who was a professional RAF police dog handler and trainer for over 30 years, has raced and trained sled dogs for over 20 years at the highest levels off the sport says the same thing. To quote him when I got into sled dogs I had to throw away everything id ever learned about dogs and training dogs and I mean everything, they are just so different from anything else! he says Never let a husky of the lead! Friends who have trained showed bred raced sled dogs in the UK for close on 35 years say the same thing, the breed clubs, kennel club, show judges, mushers, and sled dog clubs worldwide... The list goes on! These folk are all incredible dog trainers, extremely experienced in the breeds and spend hours training their dogs every day, guess what they say... Never let them off lead. A friend who is a very well-known dog behaviourist and trainer who has owned countless breeds and trained thousands of dogs and a huge number of sled dogs says never let a husky off the lead she has a secure area at her training facility for use with sibes, So, I have to ask, when will it sink in? Why won’t people listen to them? Is it some kind of ego trip? Some kind of oppositional defiance disorder? Some kind of mistrust of those more knowledgeable and experienced than themselves? I have had 3 sibes I have known personally killed this year through accidents leading to the dogs getting off lead. 2 shot, one run over. Over the last 12 years in the breed I have heard countless accounts from friends, of sibes getting killed, lost, stolen, shot, run over etc. etc. etc. Each time it fills me with sadness as many were accidents, not deliberate off lead exercise. Pet and working dogs. But we hear many many more nowadays of dogs that were off lead against all the advice by pet owners and folk who won’t listen or believe whats being told to them. my own personal experiences of having my dogs let out of our secure garden by school kids I admonished for Teasing them over the 6 foot gate with food, resulted in 4 of our 8 dogs being let out the gate, a sheep being killed, a £400 cheque to the farmer, police harassment, and eventual eviction from our home with 5 hours notice thanks to the police and local busybodies!!! I lived in my van with my dogs for a week till we could find another property and should have prosecuted the school kid and the police officer for harassment! Several years earlier we had a builder accidently let my two of my leaders out of the house by mistake. Off up the garden, past their open run door, up and over 6 foot wall they had never even looked at before. It resulted in them running down the road and getting hit by a truck in front of a bunch of school kids and our local butcher. Kirra made her own way home in bits. Bruised, grazed, frightened and cut and injured a dash to the vets made sure she was ok. We mobilised the local husky fraternity to search for lolly. The sight of a grey husky looking dog laying motionless in a back street close to the scene is one I will always remember, I was sure it was lolly. It scares me to death even now 9 years on. Luckily for us it wasn’t lolly but a neighbours snoozing dog (not a sibe). Some Local lads out looking on bikes found lolly 4 hours later with friends close behind running our local training trails over and over in a state of severe stress, exhaustion and dehydration. Bruised, cut and hair missing but otherwise ok, another heart wrenching 4 hours of my life I don’t wish to go through again. Both dogs were ok, just! The butcher nearly suffered a heart attack, the school kids traumatised and the lorry driver distraught and crying thinking he had killed our dogs. Nothing they had done to cause it, but did have to witness. I’m sure they will like me never forget it! So, you think your sibe or mal is different? He goes off lead and always comes back? He’s one in a million? You’re an expert dog trainer? Everyone else is lazy, being killjoys or elitist? Its Ok, it’s your dog, your choice, do as you see fit with your own dog you know him best. But ask yourself the question... How would you feel and could you cope with the feeling of losing your dog through your own stupidity/naivety/ego/over inflated confidence or denial? And the effects it might also have on others? Their state of wellbeing at the experience. if so many experienced sibe owners, trainers, breeders, mushers, clubs and organisations within the breed spend so much time and effort drilling it in to people do not let your sibe off the lead for very good reason.... Are they right? Do you really want to find out at the expense of your dog? Is your dog and you any different in the end? I personally would not want to ever take the risk of having to experience any of those horrifying moments of my dogs or my own life ever ever again....or having to ask myself why didn’t I listen. So please, folks, ask yourself..... Huskies off lead......Would you risk it?
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:05:45 +0000
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