Siberian Husky Troubles

[underunden]

My siberian Husky, Nugget, has just recently entered into moulting season and he is terrified of being groomed. He dislikes water, so we dont bath him, but personally i think he needs a bath. He has a morbid fear of any brushes and will not come ANYWHERE near me when i have a brush... Even when treats (his all time favourite thing) are on offer.:shock:

He needs regular grooming as a siberian husky, but i'm finding it extremely difficult.
So if you would be kind enough to give me any hints, tips or suggestions on how to either bathe or brush nugget, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you all in advance.

 

[euphorion]

have you tried a professional dog trainer? maybe has nugget assessed (and yourself) to see if you're handling the situation appropriately. often it is the wrong (or not so good) reaction from the owner that prompts or inadvertantly rewards undesired behaviours in our canine companions. might be worth a shot.

i am a professional dog groomer and i find that dogs that behave like demons when the owner is around are perfectly lovely animals when the owner leaves us to do our work. good luck Nugget!

 

[Troyster]

I agree with shooshoo,it sounds as if you are treating your dog like a human/baby instead of a dog.
There is no need to force grooming or bathing on it and terrify the animal further but at the end of the day you are its master its not your equal.My parents dog HATES being brushed,but when im visiting i can brush her with very little protest from her at all.It all comes down to respect and it sounds like youre not the leader of the pack.

 

[euphorion]

hit the nail on the head there troyster. dogs have to be treated like dogs, not like humans, else they WILL take advantage of you. best command to teach a dog IMO is 'STOP' which means that they must immediately cease all movement/noise/interaction and pay attention to YOU and ONLY YOU. for example, if Nugget is biting at the brush and carrying on, 'STOP' would indicate to Nugget that you want that bahaviour to literally stop immediately. easy to teach too, just need lots of yummy cheese and chicken to get their attention also a good idea to try things like distracting him with other commans he already knows, say if he is being naughty, instead of saying "no" or trying to verbally reprimand him, tell him to 'sit' or 'drop' or 'shake hands' which will cease the undesired behaviour and give him something else to do that will result in you giving him praise (much better than getting told off!) hope that helps a little

 

[underunden]

Thank you all,
Ok, well Nugget isn't nippy/vicious at brush time. rather he cries if i go near him and try to brush him and i'm not hurting him by doing this, i do it ever so gently... or before that he just puts his tail between his legs and runs away and i have no hope of catching him. as i said earlier, treats don't tempt him either. I praise him when i can get a hold of him, and he is ok for about 20 seconds and then runs for his life again.

Thanks

 

[mwloco]

i'd suggest encouraging him at the first part where you can manage to brush him.
do not encourage the crying behaviour by responding to it. he has probably learnt that as a way to get his own way. he knows ur a softy
reward the desired behaviours and do your best to ignore the unwanted ones.
it will take time and patience but the more you work on it he should realise that brushing isnt something which hurts him and hopefully he'll be easier to detangle

goodluck!

 

[Serpentes]

Leashes can be used to hold a dog in proximity to its "master". Radical.

 

[Miss B]

I have Huskies, and mine are used to being hydrobathed, blow-dried and brushed frequently. It sounds like his fear is rather extreme, it might be a good idea to consult a professional dog behaviourist. Perhaps he had a bad experience when younger. How long have you had him?

 

[Miss B]

...

 

[Miss B]

Er, apologies for the double-post. No idea how that happened.

 

[Troyster]

Using food for a reward isnt always a good idea as it can confuse the dog and you will end up rewarding the wrong behaviour.
Call the dog to you and put him in the sit position.Allow him to smell the brush for a few seconds then start to brush him along his spine(most dogs love having their back scratched).Remember reward comes in many forms,how often do you get a schmako from your boss for doing a good job?
Control his behaviour with verbal commands ie:sit stay,keep sessions short but repeat frequently until he becomes used to grooming.You can also incorporate it into dinner time so he learns the brush is a good thing as his tolerance increases.

 

[Lovemydragons]

I have a similar but not as bad problem with my dogs. They hated the bath and brushes and wouldn't even come into the bathroom at any time. I can lift one dog and carry him in but the other one was scared and would pee if I picked her up to go to the bathroom. It took a while to get her to trust me to come into the bathroom. I used food as a reward to make the bathroom a happy place, and eventually it worked, the bathroom is not so scary anymore. Now that she's not as scared of the bathroom I use vocal rewards to keep her in there and this works great!

I think the pack leader thing is great for most situations, but if a dog is scared of something using loud commands with them vocally and forcing it on them wont make them like it. I think they need to know that brushes and baths aren't scary and then they may not love it but will eventually tolerate the process. My dogs now still don't like being brushed or bathed either, and will run away if they see the brush coming (not in fright), but when I tell them to come to me and sit, they will. My boy still bends his back when the brush goes down it, and my girl ducks her head when its her turn. But they're not scared, just don't like it and I think that will be as good as it gets.

I also suggest keeping the brush out more often that just brushing time. Then its not such a bad thing when it does comes out to brush. Try keeping it with you when playing with the dog, or just sitting with the dog. So he/she will eventually not associate the brush as a bad thing.

 

[underunden]

In reply to all those who answered me,

Thank-you for your help.
In reply to Lovemydragons, i will definatley try the whole 'constant vision of the brush' process when playing or sitting with nugget.

And, in reply to Miss B, we have actually owned nugget from birth as we had previously bred huskies, and he was pick of the litter. We have never scared him, or hurt him via the brushing/batheing processes, but he just has an unexplained fear that i am trying to help him obliterate.

Thank-you.