How to Train a Husky to Not Howl

Hello Amber, In your case I strongly recommend a high quality sound activated stimulation bark collar, such as "Dogtra YS-300". Most high quality bark collars are activated by vocal cord vibration to prevent them from going on at the wrong times. Howling doesn't cause the vocal cords to vibrate enough to make the collar correct. You need a collar that works on sound but one that is high enough quality that other sounds besides your dog won't set it off. I suggest calling Dogtra and confirming that their YS-300 collar will work for howling before purchasing just to make sure. A second option is a remote controlled e-collar. This requires you waking up first to teach him with it though, but unlike your verbal reprimand it is a lot more likely to prevent future howling after he has learned to pair his howling with the correction. Dogtra, SportDog, Garmin, and E-collar technologies are all good brands. Read reviews and be careful what one you buy. A high quality electric collar has at least 30 levels so that you can use as little stimulation as is needed for your particular dog to response - called his working level. I also suggest playing recordings of sirens during the day and rewarding him for staying quiet when he hears them and interrupting him if he starts to how - to help desensitize him to them. This will probably need to be combined with a collar correction to deal with the night howling though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Marria, There are a couple of routes you can take with the separation anxiety. The first step is to work on building his independence and his confidence by adding a lot of structure and predictability into his routine. Things such as making him work for rewards like meals, walks, and pets. Working on "Stay" and "Place," commands while you move away or leave the room, and teaching him to remain inside a crate when the door is open. I absolutely suggest crate training - at least until this improves. Change your routine surrounding leaving so that he does not anticipate alone time and build up his anxiety before you leave - which is hard for him to deescalate from, and be sure to continue to give him something to do in the crate during the day (such as a dog food stuffed Kong to chew on); this is the general protocol for separation anxiety. Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O75dyWITP1s Crate manners: https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-the-crate/ Down-Stay: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/train-your-labrador-to-lie-down-and-stay/ Working method to build confidence and respect: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-doberman-to-listen-to-you Heel: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Another protocol involves teaching the dog to cope with their own anxiety by making their current anxious go-to behaviors unpleasant, giving them an opportunity to stop those behaviors long enough to learn something new, then rewarding the correct, calmer behavior instead. This protocol can feel harsh because it involves careful correction, but it tends to work much quicker for many dogs. If you go this route, I suggest hiring a trainer who is very experienced using both positive reinforcement and fair correction. Who is extremely knowledgeable about separation anxiety and behavior issues to help you implement the training. Building his independence and structure in his life will still be an important part of this protocol too. First, check out this video from SolidK9Training on treating anxiety. It will give a brief over-view of treating separation anxiety more firmly. This trainer can be a bit abrupt with his teaching style with people but is very experienced working with highly aggressive, anxious, and reactive dogs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5GqzeLzysk Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Ashley, If pup is just bored, something like an automatic treat dispensing device that is programmed to release a treat periodically after it detects pup being quiet for a certain amount of time could help. Some models of AutoTrainer and Pet Tutor are such devices. For anxiety, first, pup needs to be crate trained to help build independence. Check out the Surprise method from the article linked below and work on that method to get him used to you being out of the room while he is crated. https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate He also needs to build his independence and his confidence by adding a lot of structure and predictability into his routine. Things such as making him work for rewards like meals, walks, and pets. Working on "Stay" and "Place," commands while you move away or leave the room, and teaching him to remain inside a crate when the door is open as well as closed. Give him something to do in the crate or on Place during the day while they are out of the room (such as a dog food stuffed Kong to chew on). Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg5DVPWIWo Another protocol involves teaching the dog to cope with their own anxiety by making their current anxious go-to behaviors unpleasant, giving them an opportunity to stop those behaviors long enough to learn something new, then rewarding the correct, calmer behavior instead. This protocol can feel harsh because it involves careful correction, but it tends to work much quicker for many dogs. If you go this route, I suggest hiring a trainer who is very experienced using both positive reinforcement and fair corrections. Building his independence and structure in his life will still be an important part of this protocol too. First, check out this video from SolidK9Training on treating anxiety. It will give a brief over-view of treating separation anxiety more firmly. This trainer can be a bit abrupt with his teaching style with people but is very experienced working with highly aggressive, anxious, and reactive dogs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5GqzeLzysk Second, purchase a Pet convincer. DO NOT use a citronella collar, buy the additional unscented air canister if the collar comes with the citronella and make sure that you use the unscented air. (Citronella collars are actually very harsh and the smell lingers a long time so the dog continues to be corrected even after they stop the behavior). Next, set up a camera to spy on him. If they have two smart devices, like tablets or smartphones, they can Skype or Facetime them to one another with pup’s end on mute, so that she can see and hear him but he will not hear your sister. Video baby monitors, video security monitors with portable ways to view the video, GoPros with the phone Live App, or any other camera that will record and transmit the video to something portable that you can watch outside live will work. Set up your camera to spy on him while he is in the crate, and your sister leave. Spy on pup from outside or another room. Leave however they normally would. As soon as you hear pup crying or see him start to try to escape or destroy the crate from the camera, quietly return, spray a small puff of air from the pet convincer at his side through the crate wires, without opening the door, then leave again. Every time he barks or tries to get out of the crate, correct, then leave again. After five minutes to ten minutes of practice, as soon as your dog stays quiet and is not trying to escape for five seconds straight, go back into the room where he is and sprinkle several treats into the crate without saying anything, then leave again. Practice correcting when he barks or tries to escape, going back inside and sprinkling treats when he stays quiet, for up to 30 minutes a session at first. After 30 minutes -1 hour of practicing this, while he is quiet, go back into the room and sprinkle more treats. This time stay in the room. Do not speak to pup or pay attention to him for ten minutes while you walk around and get stuff done inside. When he is being calm, then you can let him out of the crate. When you let him out, do it the way Jeff does is in this video below. Opening and closing the door until your dog is not rushing out. You want him to be calm when he comes out of the crate and to stay calm when you get home. That is why you need to ignore him when you get home right away. Also, keep your good byes extremely boring and calm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5GqzeLzysk Also, for longer alone times give him a food stuffed Kong into the crate/room with him. Once he is less anxious he will likely enjoy it even if he didn't pay any attention to it in the past, and that will help him to enjoy alone time more. First, he may need her anxious state of mind interrupted so that he is open to learning other ways to behave. Once it's interrupted, give him a food stuffed Kong in the crate for him to relieve his boredom instead of barking, since he will need something other than barking to do at that point. Regularly practice him staying on Place and in the open crate while you are home and leave the room as well. Finally, teach pup the Quiet command to make communication with him clearer. Quiet method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Check out Jeff Gellman on youtube and his videos on separation anxiety to learn more options also. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Redisa, The desire to wander is much stronger in dogs who aren't neutered, and if there is a female in heat somewhere that could be making him want to get out even more, so unless you have a reason not to neuter him, I do recommend doing that. A lot of huskies will also howl at night in general though if left outside. I would recommend crate training him and crating him inside overnight. He should be able to hold his bladder during the night if crated, then can be outside more during the day. If he is not already used to a crate, expect crying at first. When he cries and you know he doesn't need to go potty yet, ignore the crying. Most dogs will adjust if you are consistent. You can give him a dog food stuffed hollow chew toy to help him adjust and sprinkle treats into the crate during times of quietness to further encourage quietness. If he continues protesting for long periods of time past 3-5 days, you can use a Pet Convincer. Work on teaching "Quiet" but using the Quiet method from the article linked below. Tell him "Quiet" when he barks and cries. If he gets quiet and stays quiet, you can sprinkle a few pieces of dog food into the crate through the wires calmly, then leave again. If he disobeys your command and keep crying or stops but starts again, spray a small puff of air from the Pet convincer at his side through the crate while saying "Ah Ah" calmly, then leave again. If he stays quiet after you leave you can periodically sprinkle treats into the crate to reward quietness. Quiet method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Since the howling is happening when you aren't outside to train, at night, you will need something to automatically reinforce quietness in your absence, so you would need to use an automatic stimulation based bark collar. Check reviews for one that is sensitive enough to correct for howling too. Another option is to teach the Quiet command, and once pup knows that practice Quiet during the day, correcting on low level stimulation whenever pup barks or howls and doesn't obey Quiet, and rewarding when pup obeys Quiet. At night when pup is outside and howling, you can use the vibration setting or tone setting as a reminder to be quiet, then use pup's "working level" stimulation level to correct remotely from inside. Only use high quality collars like dogtra, e-collar technologies, garmin, or sportdog for safety and reliability with training. Quiet method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Remote training collar working level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cl3V8vYobM Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden