The ultimate snow dog – a Siberian Husky! If you’ve brought home a Husky puppy you’re in for a whirlwind of fun! Huskies tend to be friendly dogs, but are also known as being a little bit mischievous, so understanding how to train them properly will be important.
Let’s get going and get you reading the ultimate guide to Husky puppy training!
What age can I start to train my Husky puppy?
You can start training your Husky puppy as soon as you bring them home. Puppies learn from birth, take advantage of those early learning opportunities while your Husky is still young. If you begin training your puppy before the age of six months, your training will be much more successful.
What do I need to train my Husky?
Training your Husky will require some equipment, so what should you buy? Here’s a list of some items you’ll find useful when training your Husky puppy, and they will help you to be organised when you bring them home.
- A long lead – we’ve put this first on the list, as you’ve probably heard the myth that you can’t let your Husky off the lead, it’s not true but a long lead is going to be a useful thing for you to have.
- A treat pouch – Huskies can be a bit picky with their food, but you’ll still want to use it to train. Having a treat pouch means you’ll be able to get high-value treats nice and quickly.
- Treats – find a range of treats your Husky loves. High-value treats tend to be soft, small and sorry-not sorry but a little bit smelly. Training with positive reinforcement is the best way for dogs to learn, and we’ll want to start out with food as it makes training easier.
- A soft collar – Although collars might get lost in your puppy’s fur it’s a legal requirement for them to be worn in many countries, along with an ID tag.
- A harness: No, a harness doesn’t teach your puppy to pull – that’s another myth. A regular (non-sledge pulling!) harness that doesn’t pull or tighten when it’s on your puppy, will be perfect.
- A 2-metre training lead: this is a good length for lead walking training and also gives your puppy a bit of room to sniff and explore.
- A piece of non-slip vet bed or a soft mat – helping your puppy to style when out and about will be easier with this – teaching a place cue can also stop counter surfing or other nuisance behaviours.
- Two identical toys: Huskies are playful, and will enjoy playing fetch with you. Choose two the same so you can focus on swaps and the toys will be the same value.
- A soft slicker grooming brush and a comb – Yes Huskies shed and will not only need quite a bit of grooming to get the dead fur out, but they enjoy the feeling too.
A crate and playpen: These are optional, but useful for a new Husky puppy as it helps to stop them from getting in trouble. It will also give you a puppy-proofed place to put your little snowdog when you can’t watch them.
Good to know about training Husky puppies
What are Huskies bred for?
Huskies or Siberian Huskies to give them their full name, are a sledge-pulling breed used by nomadic tribes of northern Asia for thousands of years. Compact in size, they pulled goods and belongings for their people across long distances. Huskies are prized for their athleticism and stamina.
What does this have to do with how I train my Husky?
Understanding that you have an active breed of dog, who has a lot of energy and needs a lot of exercise is important when thinking about their needs, and making sure they get the required amount of physical and mental exercise. They are not couch potatoes!
Overview of the training programme and topics we’ll cover
In this guide to Husky puppy training, we’re going to cover basic obedience or manners training so that your Husky puppy develops into a well-behaved dog. We’ll also be covering socialisation so that they’re emotionally prepared for life and talk about husbandry so that things like vet visits and grooming are no biggie.
You can expect to learn how to teach your Husky puppy to:
- Sit – one of the most basic cues, all dogs should know this one, and your Husky puppy might come with sit ‘installed’ already. Lucky you!
- Lie down – this is often an easy one for Husky puppies, and sometimes they find it more comfortable to have down as their default position. Experiment and see if your Husky puppy seems to favour a sit or a down.
- Learn their name – so important to teach a dog their ‘give me some attention when I say this word’
- Come when you call them – we’ll be going into DETAIL into your Husky puppy recall training.
- Walk nicely on a lead – Huskies don’t need to pull when you’re doing regular walks, we’ll teach you how.
- Play fetch – this is going to be great for your Husky’s fitness and general well-being, don’t underestimate the power of play when you have a Husky puppy.
- Sleep in their crate – crate training gives your puppy somewhere to sleep that’s safe.
- Cope with being left alone – separation-related problems can be found in all breeds, but worth paying attention to when you have a breed like a Husky.
- Go to the toilet in the right place – let’s save your carpets and rugs!
and much, much more!
How we build this programme: Push Drop Stick
One more thing before we get going with training is ‘how’ to train a Husky puppy and to train any dog effectively, really.
It’s really easy to get stuck at a certain level of training or what we might think of as difficulty so the push, drop stick method is going to help you with that.
What is the Push, Drop, and Stick method of dog training?
In simple terms, the Push, Drop, Stick method increases the difficulty of the behaviour gradually.
If training is always made too simple, dogs will continue to complete them correctly in order to be rewarded with treats, but they may progress more slowly because they will become stuck at this level.
If the training is too difficult, they will most likely get frustrated and give up because they’re not getting rewarded.
‘Push Drop Stick’ can help avoid both scenarios by maintaining enough momentum: It will keep your puppy interested and keep them from quitting, but not so much that they aren’t thinking about how they can be rewarded for trying harder.
How does it work?
By doing 5 repetitions of a training exercise, we can keep track of how many our puppy gets right. Based on how well they do at this, we’re going to choose whether to do which of the following:
Push – Get harder!
Drop – Get easier!
Stick – Stay where you are!
For more information, please see the table below. We’ll refer to Push, Drop, Stick throughout this guide to training a Husky puppy, but keep it in mind for the rest of your training days.
| How many out of 5 did your puppy get right? | What should I do? | Why? | |
| Push | 5 out of 5 | Make it harder | Good work! They can move to a more difficult level since they can manage the current one. |
| Drop | 0, 1, or 2 out of 5 | Make it easier | Your puppy might be close to quitting – this level is too hard for them right now. Let’s try an easier one. |
| Stick | 3 or 4 out of 5 | Stay where you are and do another 5 | Looks like your pup just needs to stay at this level for a few more practice runs. |
Week 1 – Training your Husky puppy
Week 1 of training your Husky puppy will be a busy one! They’re constantly learning and you have a lot to teach them in their new home, and your habits and routines. Don’t forget to enjoy them and learn about their personality, they’re not so small for long.
In the first week, we’ll dive straight into socialisation exercises, training and husbandry tasks.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Let your puppy explore the garden – Teach your puppy about surfaces | – Name – Sit – Recall – Retrieve – Crate Training – Toilet Training – Alone Training | – Brushing – Hand Touch |
Sleep training
Don’t expect your Husky puppy to sleep through the night for a while, they need to know where you are, so sleep with them in your bedroom, either in a crate or in a bed on the floor. You’ll probably need to get up several times in the night as they’ll need the toilet.
Grab a coffee (you’ll probably need it with a new puppy) and read our full guides on how to have a successful Puppy night-time routine, and how to get a puppy to sleep through the night.
If your puppy is crying at night, we have a guide for that too! Night times as a new puppy parent can be hard, don’t forget you can reach out to the puppy coaches in the Zigzag app for help when you need it.
Alone training
Huskies are social and want to be around people, just like any other dog breed and need help to adjust to being on their own. Try not to rush the process of twitching them to be alone, as you can undo a lot of good work and healthy attachment if you let them cry it out or leave them longer than they can cope with. . Read our full guide to puppy separation anxiety for more information.
Toilet training
Toilet training a Husky isn’t usually a problem, they’re clever dogs and like to stay clean. Get them into a good daily routine, and teach them where you want them to go to the toilet by going to the same place with them each time. Read our full guide to puppy toilet training to learn how.
Socialisation exercises to do this week
Some huskies are quite sensitive and can be a little shy as puppies. It’s important that you gradually expose them to things positively so that they have good experiences. This is particularly important when they’re in a fear period.
Try these exercises from the Zigzag app this week.
- Letting your Husky puppy explore the garden
- Teach your puppy about surfaces
Read our full guide to Socialising your puppy to learn more about Husky puppy socialisation.
Training to do this week
Your first week of puppy life skills training will be about teaching them the basics and that learning is fun.
Click the links for the full training guides.
- Teach your Husky their name – you’ll need this to get your Husky puppy’s attention and it’s the first step in getting that all-important recall!
- Teach your Husky puppy to sit – puppies often come able to do this, but sitting will also help with jumping up, something many Huskies will do later as it’s fun!
- Recall – How to teach your Husky puppy to come back when called is essential for off-lead fun.
Retrieve/fetch – they’re not natural retrievers, but can be taught to fetch, and retrieves are a great way to get some energy off of them, and teach them to drop.
Preventing resource guarding
Husky puppies are not a breed that is predisposed to possessiveness or resource guarding. However, they are cheeky and will steal items. Make sure this doesn’t turn into a fun game, or aggression by not chasing them! Read our full guide to resource guarding to learn more.
Husbandry exercises to do this week
This first week, you’ll want to teach your puppy about handling. Puppies need to learn that hands are a nice thing that will touch them and that they are not just for mouthing and biting. Handling your puppy – use food in one hand and pop it on your puppy’s nose (if your puppy is particularly nibbly, you can also stuff up a kong and hold that instead) use the other hand to start touching your puppy all over so that they build up positive associations being handled.
Week 2 – Training your Husky puppy
We hope the first week of Husky puppy training went well, let’s crack on training your little sledge dog in week 2.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Fireworks – Watch the world go by outside your house – Play dress up – Sit in the car – Invite friends over | – Alone Training – Crate Training – Toilet Training – Name – in garden – Recall – cue word – Fetch – Drop -Sit – add a cue word – Lead walking | – Grooming |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
Socialisation will be a process that you continue to build on, both during the sensitive socialisation window and after. Teaching your Husky puppy about the world will involve exposing them in a positive way to sounds, surfaces, smells and animals.
- Fireworks – Look at the Zigzag Spotify playlist and teach your Husky puppy that Fireworks noises are no big deal.
- Watch the world go by – have your Husky on your lap and sit outside the front of your house, giving them a treat every now and then for just watching the world. Do a little of this every day so they learn the big wide world isn’t so scary.
- Play dress up – that’s you, not your Husky puppy! Some Huskies can be a little suspicious of people, so you’ll want to teach them that people come in all shapes and sizes and wear unusual clothes. Try things like hi-viz jackets, or fake beards and carry on as normal so your puppy is happy with the novelty.
- Sit in the car – invest in a puppy car carrier so that your Husky is safe travelling with you. Use plenty of treats to teach them to like the car, no need to go for a drive just yet, just build up positive associations.
You’ll find full details of these exercises in the Zigzag app.
Training to do this week
Remember to use plenty of treats when training your puppy, you can buy commercial dog treats, or why not try making your own, homemade DIY dog treats are often well received by Huskies because you can make them so tasty!
This week let’s focus on the following and get training your Husky puppy! Click the links to learn more.
- Alone training – making your puppy feel safe is going to be important to avoid separation anxiety. Try using food toys like Kongs and other puzzle feeders to encourage independence while eating.
- Crate training – teaching a puppy to LOVE their crate takes time. Use the puzzle feeders we mentioned above to build up positive associations and read our guide to avoid your puppy whining in their crate.
- Teach them their name in the garden – this will be similar to indoors, but it’s made more difficult by all of the distractions outside! Use plenty of treats and train them when they’re able to focus.
- Recall training: add a cue word – as your puppy starts to come to you, say your recall cue, and teach your puppy to come when called.
- Fetch and drop– keep on practising this, use two identical toys so the swap is no big deal.
Introduce lead walking training – a well-fitting harness will be useful here, and no it won’t teach your Husky to pull if you teach them the right way from the beginning.
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Brushing your Husky puppy will be important, as they have a lot of hair! it doesn’t get knotty like some other breeds, but teaching them to like brushing will mean less hair collecting in the corners of your lounge!
Week 3 – Training your Husky puppy
3 weeks into training your Husky, we hope you’re managing to keep up with your daily training practice. Dogs learn through repetition, so although it might feel like you’re doing things over and over again, it’ll be important for your Husky puppy to learn effectively.
They’re worth it!
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training Exercises to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Scent Trails – Go for a drive – Invite Friends Over – Write a puppy socialisation checklist | – Recall – outside in the garden – Four Paws on the floor – Not Jumping up – Down – Generalisation – Alone Training | – Harness fitting |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
How are you getting on with socialising your Husky puppy?
Different dogs will find different things scarier than other dogs. Listen to what your puppy is saying to you by their body language, don’t be surprised if they sit down on walks, it’s often just them assessing the situation.
- Scent trails – Huskies have a better nose than you think! Lay out a Hansel and Gretel trail of treats for your puppy to follow along.
- Invite friends over – take it slow and let your Husky say hi when they’re ready.
- Go for a drive with your Husky puppy – have a friend with you if you can so they can keep your puppy calm.
Write a puppy socialisation checklist for your Husky puppy – this will be individual to you and your lifestyle, but it’s worth socialising your puppy around livestock so they can be calm around when they’re older. Oh and cats, yes cats are quite important, read our full guide to introducing your puppy to a cat.
Training to do this week
Your Husky puppy’s personality is probably starting to come out and as their confidence grows, training will be even more important so they know how to behave.
- Recall: Teaching your Husky puppy to come when called, outside is going to be soooo important so you can have wonderful off-lead times later on. Practise in your garden this week, rewarding them frequently.
- Stop your puppy jumping up – Huskies can get rather excited and jump up at people. Teach a sit-to-greet and read our full guide so that they learn how to greet visitors in a nice way, and not with muddy paw prints left all over them!
- Generalisation – teaching your Husky puppy in different locations will help them to understand what you want from them wherever you are. This week just try training in three different parts of your house.
- Teach your Husky puppy to lie down – Huskies often find lying down from a stand easier in the early stages, so if you struggle to get them to lie down from a sit, try that.
- Alone training – see if you can move around this week while your puppy is eating, and open and close your front door too.
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Harness fitting for a puppy, Yes, we admit, sledge-pulling Huskies wear a harness. Is it the Harness that teaches them to pull? Nope, it’s the musher! So if they can teach them to pull, you can teach your puppy to not pull on the lead.
You’ll also find pulling harnesses are much longer in the back so a totally different design to your regular harness.
Week 4 – Training your Husky puppy
A month in, hope your Husky is picking up things well. Don’t forget we discussed those puppy fear periods, so when you feel like your puppy might be giving you a hard time, remember they’re actually having a hard time, and give them some leeway and understanding.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Meet another dog – Find a puppy class | – Settle on a mat – Lead walking – Recall games – Push/drop/stick on known exercises | – Grooming sensitive areas |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
- Meeting another dog – have a friend’s dog come over who is fully vaccinated and friendly with puppies, and sit in your garden. Keep both dogs calm by giving them plenty of treats, and keep an eye on your pup’s body language to see how they’re feeling.
- Find a good puppy class for your puppy – puppy socialisation classes will be a good idea for your Husky puppy as it will help you to continue training in a more challenging environment, and give your puppy the chance to meet other dogs in a safe and controlled way.
Choose a trainer who uses positive reinforcement training, from an organisation in the UK Dog Charter.
Training to do this week
- Settle on a mat – teach your Husky puppy to lie calmly on a mat so you can go to a pub or nice dog-friendly cafe soon.
- Lead walking – if you’re now going out for walks with your Husky puppy you will find that lead walking can be challenging! They either pull on the lead or sit down on walks teach them that walking next to you is the place to be and reward all
- Recall games – Play tennis with your puppy! Your Husky puppy will be the tennis ball!
Call your puppy between you and a friend or family member. Make sure to reward your dog every time they come to the other person. Then, try calling your puppy back and treating them…your Husky is going to love this. Any kind of training game that turns recalls into a fun sport will be great for your Husky. The more work we do on engagement and recalls the better so we can ignore the haters who say you can’t let huskies off the lead. You can, but they need training!
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Grooming a Husky puppy – focusing on sensitive areas this week, brush a bit that your Husky likes, and then go to a different area, the legs are often tricky to do, us plenty of treats or a stuffed Kong to prevent them from biting the brush.
Just a tip here – You might find grooming in the garden a good idea if you’re getting a lot of fur out of your Husky!
Week 5 – Training your Husky puppy
You’re halfway through this 8-week guide to training a Husky puppy, but you’re nowhere near finished. Kidding, Huskies aren’t really wolves at all, but it’s not a joke that you’ll be training for a while longer.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Go to the pub – you deserve it! – Tick 3 things off your personal socialisation checklist | – Alone Training – Recall – outside using a lead – Lead walking – outside – Push/drop/stick on known exercises | – Pretend nail clips – Grooming |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
Keep up with the exercises you’ve been doing already as each new day can present with new experiences for your Husky puppy. Keep them positive!
Go to the pub/dog-friendly café – you deserve it! Bring along your settle mat or pup’s bed, and a puppy chew or stuffed Kong to keep your Husky busy.
Choose a quiet area out of the way to give your puppy a chance to relax, away from the oohing and aahing of people! While it’s lovely for people to say hello to your puppy, constant attention from people can be hard when you’re trying to relax with a coffee and it can take a while to teach your puppy to calm down afterwards.
Tick 3 things off your personal socialisation checklist – what might it be this week? Perhaps go on a train or a boat? Exciting!
Training to do this week
- Alone training: increasing time alone will be important for your Husky puppy, and you so you can pop out to your Zumba class, or just the supermarket!
- Recall – When teaching your Husky puppy to come back when called outside, it can be an idea to use a long lead. Long leads give you a degree of safety, and prevent your puppy from forgetting they are with you and running over to distractions!
- Lead walking – outside, loose lead walking will still need lots of practice. Each week you’ll find your Husky puppy is getting better at walking nicely, and you’ll be doing more steps between treats. Yay!
- Push/drop/stick on known exercises – it’s your Husky puppy’s time to shine! Now you can start making exercises more challenging for them. Try the down cue in different locations, or add some distance. See how many out of 5 they get right and decide whether to push, drop or stick.
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Start pretending to clip your dog’s nails – this is important for Huskies. Read our full guide to nail clipping, and this week just condition them that the nail clippers bring about fabulous rewards, no need to actually cut their nails yet, that will come soon!
Week 6 – Training your Husky puppy
This week is a big one, in terms of training. Let’s get going, no time to lose training your Husky puppy, to GO OFF LEAD! Eek! Don’t worry we’ll help you through it all.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Tick 3 things off your personal checklist | – Following on walks – Push/drop/stick on known exercises | – Check puppy’s mouth |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
Tick 3 more items off your socialisation checklist – what new things can you give your Husky puppy positive exposure to this week? Use treats and they’ll have a blast.
Training to do this week
Following on walks – don’t listen to people who say ‘you can never let a Husky off lead’ it’s not true, but like any dog, they need to be trained from it. Teaching a husky to follow you on walks and playing the ‘follow me’ will help give you confidence, and track your Husky puppy that you are the best thing to pay attention to in the park.
You will need
- A treat pouch with lots of tasty treats that your Husky puppy likes.
- A quiet corner of the park, away from distractions, we recommend this is fenced in to be safe
PRO TIP: If you’re concerned about letting your Husky puppy off lead or if the area isn’t completely secure, use a long lead (or what we call a recall line – one that’s about 10 metres long is ideal). FIRST AND FOREMOST, SAFETY!
Read more in our article about doggy long lines.
How to teach ‘follow me’
- Go to a quiet area, away from other people and dogs.
- Ask your Husky for a sit.
- When they sit, say your marker word ‘good’ and throw away the treat, for them to collect.
- When your puppy has almost finished the treat, begin jogging away from them – your puppy should follow you!
- Stop before they reach you and ask them to sit again.
- Say “good,” throw the treat again, and run!
- Repeat as many times as you like, running a little further each time.
PRO TIP: Keep your energy levels high and engage your Husky puppy by making this exercise fun.
- Push/drop/stick – Now is the time to increase the difficulty of exercises your Husky puppy already knows. By using the push/drop/stick method we might ask them to do the behaviour for longer (duration). You can also move to a slightly more exciting environment (distraction) or that you ask them to do something while you’re further away (distance).
Keeping a push/drop/stick diary can be useful to stay on track with your Husky puppy’s training and not get stuck.
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Keeping up the handling exercises is important for all puppies, Huskies included.
- Start checking your puppy’s mouth and their teeth – use plenty of treats and teach them that just touching your hand on their mouth will get them a treat to begin with. As you practise, you can see if you can lift their lip and reward them for being comfortable doing it.
Read more in our teeth brushing article, or check out which toothbrush and toothpaste we like best for puppies.
Week 7 – Training your Husky puppy
The 7-week itch, or is that years? If your puppy is itching or scratching, check that they are up-to-date with their flea medication, and keep a food diary to rule out food intolerances.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Puppy Agility – Tick 3 things off your personal checklist | – Wait – Walk with a friend’s dog – Recall – off the lead – Push/drop/stick on known exercises | – Pretend eardrops |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
- Have a go at puppy agility – teaching your Husky puppy some basic agility can be done at home, or find a club where you can get instruction from a trainer. While dogs shouldn’t be doing the jumping part until they’re fully physically mature so as to protect their growing bones, there are lots of skills that your Husky can learn for later on, while they’re still a puppy.
- Tick 3 things off your personal socialisation checklist – training at the garden centre or farmers’ market this week? Work on your firework sounds practice? it will all help to build your Husky’s confidence with novelty and properly socialise them.
Training to do this week
- Teach your Husky puppy to stay – this is a great one to teach as you can use it in so many scenarios. Stay while I go and get a towel to wipe your muddy paws after a walk, stay while I pick your poop up, and so on! Start off really easy, and remember your 3D’s – Duration – Distance – Distraction. The fewer times your Husky breaks the stay the better as they need to learn ‘stay there, I’m coming back for you’.
- Go for a walk with a friend’s dog – perhaps this will be your friend that came over to see you. Or a new friend you know via the local Husky page? Try some parallel walking so have the dogs on the outside and the owners in the middle, and reward both dogs for walking nicely so that they get used to one another.
- Recall – off the lead – you’ve done some great practice with your Husky pu[y with the follow me again, and recall on lead in the previous weeks.
Now is the time to let them off the lead! Do it somewhere quiet, practise your recalls frequently and most of all have fun!
- Push/drop/stick on known exercises – the stay we mentioned above is an excellent candidate for this method. Add a bit more distance and see how far you can walk away and return, do those sets of 5 so you know when to push, drop, or stick!
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Keeping your Husky’s ears clean is important, but sometimes even with the best grooming routines, they can still get ear infections. To prepare them for every eventuality, let’s teach them about ear drops.
- Pretend ear drops – here’s a fun little exercise to teach your Husky about ear drops, we’re not actually going to put them in, just build positive associations with the bottle.
You will need
- Delicious treats
- For your Husky puppy to stand on, use something non-slip, such as a piece of vet bed.
- An empty ear or eye drop bottle (they both look the same because your dog can’t read the label yet!)
How to teach it
- Show your puppy the empty bottle and give them a treat right away. Getting them to think drops are treats is a great start.
- Repeat this 5 times – bringing out the bottle should predict something good.
- Now comes the exciting part. Give your puppy a treat after touching their ear with the bottle (not inside the ear).
- Repeat 5 times, then put the bottle away until your next practice session.
If you do this on a regular basis over the next few weeks, your Husky puppy will develop a positive conditioned emotional response. That means they’ll be ecstatic every time they see the bottle because of the treats inside. Yay! This is a bit like us when we see an ice cream van!
Week 8 – Training your Husky puppy
Ok, bad news first….this is your final week of the ‘how to train a husky puppy guide’, but the good news is you still have tons to teach your puppy. Inside the Zigzag app, we have a full puppy programme for you, with all of the exercises broken down into manageable steps, a huge library of articles and handy tips, plus a team of Zigzag dog trainers ready to answer your questions on Livechat.
| Socialisation exercises to do this week | Training to do this week | Husbandry Tasks to do this week |
| – Joggers and Cyclists – Tick 3 things off your personal checklist | – Practice exercises in different locations – Teach a hand target – Introduce nose work – Push/drop/stick on known exercises | – Nail trims |
Socialisation exercises to do this week
Remember that socialisation isn’t something you ‘set and forget’, it’s a process of learning about the world, even when your Husky puppy is no longer in their all-important socialisation window. Learning never stops!
- Joggers and Cyclists – your Husky puppy, may be tempted to chase after these fast-moving lycra-clad humans…either due to excitement or overwhelm! Teach your Husky puppy that looking at you when they go past equals treats will be a great way to help them stay calm
If they can’t take treats around joggers and cyclists, you’re probably too close, and your puppy needs more distance.
- Tick 3 things off your personal socialisation checklist – has your Husky puppy been to the beach yet? Prepare to have a fun time!
Training to do this week
Let’s look at some new topics for your final week of training a Husky puppy guide
- Practice exercises in different locations – have you found that your Husky puppy seems to forget their training in certain places? Well, they kinda have, because we haven’t generalised these behaviours yet.
Dogs don’t generalise very well, so we need to teach them the same exercises in many locations. Pick 3 locations and teach your Husky how to sit, lie down and focus on you in these places.
- Teach a hand target – This is a great one for Husky puppies. It also serves as the foundation for many trick behaviours, such as ‘spin’ or ‘twist.’ All it means is ‘touch my hand for a treat,’ which also works great as a recall because you can add some distance and get them racing back. We know how important a recall is for Husky owners.
Get the full method inside the Zigzag app.
- Introducing nose work to your puppy – while Huskies aren’t considered natural scent hounds, they still have an incredible nose.
Pick some of the scent work training games in our training games library, your Husky puppy will have a ball!
Husbandry tasks to do this week
Trim your Husky puppy’s claws – puppy claws can get long if you don’t give them attention. Fortunately for you your Husky puppy probably has white claws, making nail trims easy as you won’t risk cutting the quick. Read our full guide to puppy nail trims, and check out our reviews of our favourite puppy nail clippers.
What’s next for your Husky puppy?
Your Husky puppy will appreciate and enjoy all of the training you can give them. You could get involved in dog sports like Cani-cross or bikejor and help give them an outlet for all the running that they want to do.
As they go through adolescence training can be sometimes challenging for Husky owners, the teenage rebellion phase can be hard on you, but also remember it’s hard on your Husky puppy too. At this age they have all these hormones and ‘big feelings’ that they don’t know what to do with, so seek out a positive reinforcement-based training class from a member of the UK Dog Charter and keep up with the training to get you through it.
Looking for more puppy training tips? Discover the best places for online puppy training, next. Why not take a look at some of the other training you can do with your Husky puppy in the Zigzag puppy training app? You’ll find more in-depth training, games and socialisation advice – access to a team of experts to help you every step of the way too. They’re awfully friendly too.
(in Google Playstore)