Puppy Days: The Beginning of Our Journey
Stud came from a bad breeder who had already done damage before we even got him home. Conventional training failed completely, he didn't respond to discipline, he responded to love and patience. It took six months to a year for him to fully trust me, but once he did, nothing could break it.
I said no a thousand times when she said she was getting a puppy. I already knew. I would become extremely attached, and this new friend would be my life. My family always had a dog growing up, but they never came first. We didn’t treat them bad, but not the best.
I fully understood in my early twenties that a dog only has its owner. That’s it. Its life entirely depends on one or two people.
People have friends, family and freedom to do what they want. If they need to go to the bathroom they open the door, if they want to walk outside they do so. A dog does not have that freedom.
The Breeder
I’ll start where it all began, the dog breeder. Stud was treated poorly at the breeder. I didn’t like the breeder or her sack of shit son. My ex had already put the money down. I saw the son drop a puppy waist high on the hardwood floor. If he wasn’t a child, I would have kicked him in the head. She was horrible at raising her son, but also puppies. I’ll bring this up later in the stories.
Stud was perfect across the board. He was beautiful, his body was shaped perfectly, his coat was highly functional, he was astute, and his demeanor was astounding. I have never seen such blue eyes.
There were four crates full of puppies. Out of 20 plus puppies, he was the only one not trying to get out. He was in the back of the crate, almost as if he had given up all hope.
He was so damaged at that point that he probably knew humans were capable of being pieces of shit.
I reached into the back, picked him up from the crate, and put him down softly on the floor. The little puppy ran behind a box fan to hide, and when my ex got him out, he had dust all over his head.
Stud was scared of box fans for the rest of his life. He hated them, which showed me his memory was intact at that young age.
True Love
I remember the drive home like it was yesterday. He sat in my ex’s lap the entire way home. The breeder was an hour away. When we got closer to home we stopped in the store to pick up bowls, harness, leash, some food and bells to be potty trained. I never did take away his water and we never did crate him. I always looked at it as if that were me, would I like that?
He slept right next to us. It is hard waking up several times during the night while having to go to work early in the morning. Puppies are hard work and Stud was not making that case any better. From the day we brought him home I would treat him the best I possibly could.
Getting to Understand Each Other
So the training begins, disciplinary actions. I followed the ordinary training techniques that most would perform with a puppy.
You know with all the dogs I had grown up with and come across, it is one of those things where you tell them no, if they do it again, you punish them.
All of my family dogs growing up, when they peed or pooped in the house, you would yell at them, if it was a second or third offense you smack their butt, not hard, more so like “hey, don’t do that”, and then take them outside.
Well with Stud, it was more so if you punished him, he would do it again and not only that, he would go fully rogue.
He wouldn’t listen to anything. I would get a piece of steak or a treat and say come here. He would give me a hard, “fuck you”. “You hit my butt and you are no longer my friend, actually fuck you get away from me, I don’t want you in my life”.
I am talking a week later, geez, two weeks later, absolutely wanted nothing to do with me. He hated me. He wouldn’t even acknowledge me.
Huskies are notorious for not listening, mostly because they are smart. I did a lot of research before picking him up, reading two books and watching movies on huskies and wolves. And he showed characteristics of both.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, I started to grow on him a little. Not a lot, he still hated me, but a little. That didn’t last long though, because I went right back on his shit list after this next stunt.
A few months in, he pooped inside my ex’s dad’s house when I was at work.
I feel bad putting a puppy in a crate, but I couldn’t have him poop inside. When I saw it, I looked at him and said “what the fuck man, because of that you have to go in this crate, can’t have you shitting in the house.”
I put him in there and he lost it, absolutely full meltdown. I walked back 15 seconds later, opened the crate, and said, “Fine, don’t shit in the house again.”
Side note, remember the breeder? Since he was so young when they stuck him in a crate there, I thought he wouldn’t remember. But damn, he remembered like it was yesterday. He didn’t want anything to do with me for another three months. However, he didn’t shit in the house after that.
Stud was out of control when he was younger. Life was a game for him and he enjoyed it to the fullest. Before moving into my house I was at my girlfriend’s. I was going out the door on my way to work when he snuck through the gate. It was snowing, and that’s when I learned, when the seasons changed he would turn into a complete nut job.
He was playing games as I tried to chase him. He ran to the neighbor’s yard where there were chickens and I about had a conniption. I thought the neighbor was going to kill him or me. No chickens were harmed and I finally caught him. I was mad, but looking back I laugh. He was just an innocent puppy loving life and wanting to play games. Props to the neighbor for being so chill.
We walked and biked the neighborhood so frequently that people started to recognize us and say hi.
Time Together, Exercise, Love and Communication
Looking back, the solution was simple: time together, exercise, love and communication. I want to take credit for it, but the truth is, he trained me how to treat him properly. Can you imagine a relationship built entirely on dominance? That isn’t a friendship. It was important to treat him how I would want to be treated.
Everything was great as long as I communicated clearly with him about what I wanted or didn’t want him to do.
He was smart enough to understand without constantly yelling, force, or repetition. I had not experienced this before.
For the most part I just had to explain it and show him once: no or yes, bad or good.
I think most huskies are like this. They are just too intelligent for conventional training. It took four months of failing before I figured that out.
The relationship wasn’t based on dominance. Not “I own him and he listens to me.” Not “do what I say.” I had a lot to learn. I was young, and dominance is hard to let go of, especially when someone pushes back. Humans have a tendency to abuse it. Part of the ego. I still see it in adults all the time.
He was incredibly stubborn, but it dawned on me, doesn’t that make sense? It was a mutual friendship. And he turned out to be exceptionally well behaved. It was built on love and communication. Long story short, he trained me not to be an asshole.