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Assistance with an adult husky

X3M

Tourist
Greetings. I recently agreed to provide shelter to a husky, turns out it had some caveats. Is there any experienced K9 trainer who can help with a dog (a 2 year old husky) rescued from a war zone? I can't understand if his mind was affected by the constant sound of explosions or if he is just too young and dumb.
 
What is he doing?
Humping on me if I try to go beneath him, resulting in frictions, erection, and bite attempts (but it's rather chewing), plus his nails are quite rough (but not sharp enough to lacerate). I guess it may be because he spent 2 years in extreme conditions (constant explosions), so he might try to relieve his stress in this way.

We can give you opinions from experienced owners. If you want advice from an actual trainer I didn't know of any around here. Plus there is no certification to call yourself a trainer so even finding one doesn't always lead to "professional" advice.
It's ok, I would appreciate any help since all K9 trainers are being drafted or moved to other cities
 
If he's not neutered, this is pretty typical male Husky behavior imo. And in my experience, male huskies don't really "settle down" until about 3 years old. The three that I've had throughout my life were puppies at heart right up to that 36 month mark give or take, at which point they mostly mellowed out and just became vocal assholes, but they were mature about it haha.

My advice: Make sure he's getting a LOT of exercise EVERY day, he's being mentally stimulated (tug of war works for both, but I have found a lot of success with puzzle toys with working dogs) and outside of those high-energy moments, calm time with you as he learns to adjust and trust you. Patience is key with working dogs, but Huskies in particular since they're so hard-headed. Sounds like he's been through a lot, he deserves to settle in at his own pace.
 
If he's not neutered, this is pretty typical male Husky behavior imo. And in my experience, male huskies don't really "settle down" until about 3 years old. The three that I've had throughout my life were puppies at heart right up to that 36 month mark give or take, at which point they mostly mellowed out and just became vocal assholes, but they were mature about it haha.

My advice: Make sure he's getting a LOT of exercise EVERY day, he's being mentally stimulated (tug of war works for both, but I have found a lot of success with puzzle toys with working dogs) and outside of those high-energy moments, calm time with you as he learns to adjust and trust you. Patience is key with working dogs, but Huskies in particular since they're so hard-headed. Sounds like he's been through a lot, he deserves to settle in at his own pace.
Thanks a lot, this is my first husky ever. Indeed, he's not neutered and I don't want to do it as I won't be able to do, say, a blowjob and I feel it's horrible. Plus all females in our yard are sprayed, so no accidental pregnancy shall occur. A lot of exercise is an issue, tho, as we have no dog parks here, so what can you suggest?
 
I used to work in shelter/rescue. Lot of pit bulls with issues. Your anecdote here reminds me of a tuxedo pit I was once tasked with rehabbing for a collar sensitivity: he would get happy when he saw leashes come out, but as soon as you try to clip the lead onto his collar, he'd snap defensively and try to bite, even if he was just wagging with excitement at the prospect of a walk the moment before. Similar to how yours is happy he's being masturbated or invited to mount, but then flips 180 to bite aggression when some other unknown provocation is happening.

Do you want him to mount and hump, or are you trying to discourage that behavior? If you're here at all, I'm going to assume you're on the encouragement side, that you want humping/mounting without biting. Normally, trading food treats and positive reinforcement for sexual behavior would be a slippery slope on this forum, against the rules. But since you're trying to correct a legitimate behavior problem that only manifests on that stimulus, introducing some basic operant conditioning training is warranted here, imo.


Standard desensitization, redirection techniques. Start introducing whatever you're using for obedience treats as a way to disarm him and associate reward with you diving under him. And if you haven't already started basic sit / stay/ lie down commands, you're going to need to backup a step and begin there first instead -- train the trainer, train the dog to know what a session is, then and only then do you start working on the problem behavior. Once you've got some basic obedience into him, now you're ready to revisit the problem behavior. Set up your desensitization training like any other session: closed room, 1:1 focus with no distractions, just you and him. Short sessions, 5-7 minutes a day, that end on positive notes even if they don't do well in the beginning, same as you'd teach commands. You begin by repeating whatever motion gets him reacting and biting but hold a treat to his nose this time while you're doing it. The idea is that the food distraction should stop him biting while allowing you to (slowly, gradually) progress more and more into doing the thing that causes this biting.

For example, in the case of my collar-grab sensitive dog, in the beginning it was using the treat just to be able to get my hand near his collar without a bite. I didn't try to touch the collar, just put my hand behind his ears toward the neck while using the treat as a focus. Give treat when no bite reaction is present. Repeat this several times in the session, then end the session. Do this a few days in a row. Gradually begin increasing the provocation over the coming days, while offering the treat but not allowing him to actually eat it til you can get a few repetitions in without a bite reaction. When enough day's sessions have passed with good results, go a step further. Again using mine as an example, by the second week I was able to actually get fingers into the collar, tug on the collar, even pull the dog toward me by the collar -- all with my arm right next to his mouth, and all without any more bites! None of that was possible before they brought him to me. So when we reached the point of being able to tug him by the collar, I considered his desensitization finished successfully. You should be able to modify this technique to desensitize your guy from trying to bite when you go underneath him.

Hope that helps.
 
I used to work in shelter/rescue. Lot of pit bulls with issues. Your anecdote here reminds me of a tuxedo pit I was once tasked with rehabbing for a collar sensitivity: he would get happy when he saw leashes come out, but as soon as you try to clip the lead onto his collar, he'd snap defensively and try to bite, even if he was just wagging with excitement at the prospect of a walk the moment before. Similar to how yours is happy he's being masturbated or invited to mount, but then flips 180 to bite aggression when some other unknown provocation is happening.

Do you want him to mount and hump, or are you trying to discourage that behavior? If you're here at all, I'm going to assume you're on the encouragement side, that you want humping/mounting without biting. Normally, trading food treats and positive reinforcement for sexual behavior would be a slippery slope on this forum, against the rules. But since you're trying to correct a legitimate behavior problem that only manifests on that stimulus, introducing some basic operant conditioning training is warranted here, imo.


Standard desensitization, redirection techniques. Start introducing whatever you're using for obedience treats as a way to disarm him and associate reward with you diving under him. And if you haven't already started basic sit / stay/ lie down commands, you're going to need to backup a step and begin there first instead -- train the trainer, train the dog to know what a session is, then and only then do you start working on the problem behavior. Once you've got some basic obedience into him, now you're ready to revisit the problem behavior. Set up your desensitization training like any other session: closed room, 1:1 focus with no distractions, just you and him. Short sessions, 5-7 minutes a day, that end on positive notes even if they don't do well in the beginning, same as you'd teach commands. You begin by repeating whatever motion gets him reacting and biting but hold a treat to his nose this time while you're doing it. The idea is that the food distraction should stop him biting while allowing you to (slowly, gradually) progress more and more into doing the thing that causes this biting.

For example, in the case of my collar-grab sensitive dog, in the beginning it was using the treat just to be able to get my hand near his collar without a bite. I didn't try to touch the collar, just put my hand behind his ears toward the neck while using the treat as a focus. Give treat when no bite reaction is present. Repeat this several times in the session, then end the session. Do this a few days in a row. Gradually begin increasing the provocation over the coming days, while offering the treat but not allowing him to actually eat it til you can get a few repetitions in without a bite reaction. When enough day's sessions have passed with good results, go a step further. Again using mine as an example, by the second week I was able to actually get fingers into the collar, tug on the collar, even pull the dog toward me by the collar -- all with my arm right next to his mouth, and all without any more bites! None of that was possible before they brought him to me. So when we reached the point of being able to tug him by the collar, I considered his desensitization finished successfully. You should be able to modify this technique to desensitize your guy from trying to bite when you go underneath him.

Hope that helps.
It does, at least I'd like to follow your guide as much as I can because I might run into an issue if I try to seek help from a non-zoo trainer (he might not get why I want to be mounted). I want my furball to mount me but when I want and of course without any biting. He even tries to mount me when I sit next to him, trying to call him by his name. Should I physically prevent this from happening? Since simple 'stop' doesn't work.
 
Sounds like you need to work on your basic obedience and trust before you get there. You're a dog owner before you're a dog lover. If you get my meaning. He needs to learn that you're to be respected and that comes from consistent training and time spent. Ignore the sexual behaviors for now. It sounds like jumping right into that could just introduce a whole new set of behaviors that you're not prepared to deal with right now.
 
I'll echo that you don't necessarily want to discourage mounting, nor general jump-up behavior toward your face. If you start correcting these, it may thwart future mounts. You can instead use the same kind of conditioning / associative techniques to clarify for him when mounting is OK (when you're receptive) and when its not, similar to how a female will give him aye or nay with flags or growls. And as a cover for now, to any outside obervers, you can simply explain it off as he's young and untrained, overzealous and hyper. Every nonzoo dog owner has been there. Omnifluffer is already spot-on, him and I are using the same techniques, I see. Associate your sex with a place or an object. For my guys, its both: the bed is the place, the lube bottle and its distinctive pop-cap sound is the visual and auditory cue. They all know there is a potential for sex to happen when they're invited into my bed; and then they know its for-certain on when they see that lube bottle come out and the top pops and I go to making a teasing, seductive display of coating my ass in it in front of them while they watch. Soon as I'm done lubing and my knees hit the bed, its go time! Outside of these cues, they never try to mount me. They're the perfect gentlemen -- er, at least in that regard, lol.

Going a step further, from everything what you're describing, sounds to me like he's just a typical young, hyper, and under-stimulated dog. Even the biting may not necessarily be PTSD, could just be he never learned not to get mouthy in play with humans. No worries -- you've got yourself a typical burning ball of furious energy that needs a drain, and such is life with dog ;) His energy demands are more than sex alone can resolve. I always tell people, "A tired dog is a well-behaved dog." Folks with 'problem' dogs are always amazed at how many problematic behaviors disappear when the dogs are exercised well. Its key to quality of life -- for both of you. Jogging, long walks in the morning or after dinner, bike joring, swiming, hiking, whatever. If you've already got a routine, find a way to incorporate him into it, or create one if you don't. Find something (outside sex) you both like doing that gets the hearts pumping! If none of that is possible, look into getting a second dog so they'll wear down each other. They need one of 3 things: a job to do, a strenuous exercise regimen, or another dog to horseplay it out with.
 
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This just sounds like normal behaviour for a male husky, the one I grew up with was quite different due to his issues but because of him ended up around alot of other huskies and most pretty much tried humping anything that they could 🤣 it is particularly down to they are a very high energy breed and need a release. The biting could be another common husky thing where it's redirection, when they get to excited and overstimulated they can get nibbly/bitey you can train them to redirect the biting onto a toy instead of you
 
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