My husky is scared, how can I help him?!?

[MandM!]

Hoping for some tips from you fellow dog owners.

I have a Husky adopted from SPCA and the previous owner was abusive (prosecution case). The dog came home with me last December, about 1.5 years old. Now the dog is approaching 2 years old, male neutered. We adopted a second HK dog (puppy 2 months in December) shortly after and they get along well, the HK dog is very outgoing and like a normal dog. The husky has since improved slightly but it's like a roller coaster. The husky started to raise his tail into a circle which I'm happy about and some dogs he will play with and he loves to run very fast. But at some parks, he will just hang out in the trees or behind rocks. Why isn't he out there more running and playing.

At home he likes to sit in his bed (we don't crate them) and he doesn't play with any of his toys. Sometimes he plays when we are not around but usually he just sits and lays around. He doesn't have any emotion after we get home from work whereas the HK dog goes crazy to see us. We have a helper and she takes care of the dogs while we are at work. There are two ways to get the husky excited. The first is saying its time to eat and lets say on a scale of 1 to 10, he is about a 6 on the excited scale. Then when we say who wants to go outside, he is a 9 or 10 and even sometimes howls/barks which is cute. When we are outside he is very serious, sniffs around, and then if we go to a loud area sometimes he will just want to pull back home (which he is doing less now).

He is pretty playful at the beach and sometimes at dog parks (unless there is a place for him to hide then he just hangs out back there). Is this normal for a husky, or do I need to give him more time. I just hope he can be a little bit more happier at home and more outgoing at the park. I would be very happy if he can play with his toys or ball at home and/or at the dog park.

Appreciate your tips. Thanks!

[Cho-man]

Not being happy to see you home from work is definitely not normal for a husky or most other dogs. Most dogs will wag their tails and come forward to greet you when you step through the main door. Huskies can become aloof, but not to their owners. Under normal circumstances, they would not display "no emotion" when they see you home after a period of separation.

Huskies not playing with other dogs may imply fear of other dogs and lack of socialization when he was young. Although by nature huskies tend to be somewhat dog aggressive if not properly socialized.

There are some dog classes at SPCA which may help, you can consider taking your husky to those classes?

[rani]

@wtbhotia is the Husky guru. Hope you're able to help your doggie

[Jennywollitz620]

We also have an adopted husky and she was 2 years old when we got her. She was very similar to yours - doesn't play with her toys (no idea what is fetch!), very scared with new people, when she is at home, she does absolutely nothing unless you leave her by herself for many hours she will start finding your beloved items and rip them apart. Over the years (now we have her for 4 years now), She has gotten much better with new people and she would even go to them to sniff around (to learn about them) when she sees them though she still does not play with any of her toys, still doing nothing when she is at home...
On a scale of 1-10 on excitement with food and going for a walk, she is a 10 for both! When we come home she would wiggle her tail like crazy and howl at us to express that she is super happy. When she is out in a dog park (where she can be let loose), she would go immediately to other dogs and socialize though after half an hour also, she tends to come by my side and just waiting for me to go.
I am no trainer but just have had dogs for many years - sounded like either she does not think she belongs to your pack or he never liked the ex-owner (coz he was abusive) so he never get excited when he (someone) comes home and somehow this condition got stuck in him. For the first assumption with the pack issue, I could share with you about my helper who comes in the morning, my husky does not really get up and bothers greeting her. We treat our helper more like friends but somehow dogs must pick up the hierarchy thing between us and so she does not bother greeting her since she does not see her as "boss".
So I suggest you can be more "boss" with your husky, there are many ways e.g. walk through a door first before your husky does; eat first before you feed your husky; don't go to him but have him come to you when you call him etc. and see if this would change it around.
In addition, I think you can have some treats with you when you come home (and you can practice coming home - i.e. just leave your home for 1 minute at a time and pretend to come home), when you walk into the house just call his name excitingly and if he comes to you, give him a treat and praise him with a high excited voice. This might undo the condition he developed with his ex-owner.
I can't guarantee this would work since I haven't seen your dog but it's worth a try I think! Wishing you luck!

[Proplus]

Some background questions:

1. I'm assuming your the head of the family?
2. Who spends more time with the husky, you or the helper?
3. Who normally does the feeding routine?
4. Who walks the husky more?

Dogs are pack animals, and they will automatically figure out who the leader of the pack is and show more emotion to that person. If you are already deemed as the pack leader, then your husky's emotional problems may stem from his abused background which is going to take a long time to figure out and remedy.

Use tonal encouragements a lot to stimulate and encourage your dog. It may well be you need to find small bits of time with just you and the husky, away from your other dog, so that the bond between you and get stronger.

[MandM!]

Thank you. I'm going to try that. I just want my dog to be a bit more happy. The treats and calling for food is hit or miss. The other dog kind of dominates all of the attention and rushes anytime food is being made so even if the husky gets excited about food, he comes and then goes back into the living room when the other puppy is in the kitchen and the husky will pace back and forth in an effort to go in the kitchen but when seeing the HK dog, that's what is stopping him.

[Jennywollitz620]

Just to add - it's probably not the best idea to have a second dog around since your husky is still adjusting herself but since you already have the HK dog, will just need to deal with the situation. I have also a small dog (a Chihuahua - a tiny but dominate dog who has been around long before the husky arrived) so I always take care that the husky is not intimated by or get pushed away by my Chihuahua at every situation. Can try separating your HK dog while you try to call her to come / doing the bonding time as Proplus also suggested.
Also it took us a good year for our husky to get better with strangers and trusting us. For the first year she was never around us e.g. if we were watching TV, she will be somewhere in the corner on the other side of the living room. With abusive/ neglected dogs, you need a lot more patience to see improvements. But you know there are never bad dogs, just bad owners who do not treat or know how to treat dogs. It's all up to us! =)

[MandM!]

Yeah good point. Got the second dog from HK dog rescue. They said a second dog would help. That's why I went for it. I'm happy with both dogs. Just want them to be taken care of the best I can.

[mrgoodkat]

The Husky not playing with anyone is normal. Huskies aren't social dogs, they just weren't bred for that. They are a breed that gets chained up outdoors in the Arctic. My Husky doesn't give a flying f*** about most other dogs or people either.

As to not playing with toys and lying around: That's also not abnormal for a Husky. How much fun would you have running around in 30 degrees weather wearing 2 down parkas? Huskies aren't the right breed for the tropics. He'll probably never fetch a ball or play as enthusiastically as a for example a Labrador.
Try to teach him to swim, slowly or he will be afraid of the water. That way he can cool down a bit during summer.
Be careful: Huskies aren't a breed that do well off-leash. They tend to not come back when they are running after something. They just love running too much. You could also get a dog scooter and have him tow it, during the cooler times of the day.

[Cho-man]

The Husky not playing with anyone is normal. Huskies aren't social dogs, they just weren't bred for that. They are a breed that gets chained up outdoors in the Arctic. My Husky doesn't give a flying f*** about most other dogs or people either.

As to not playing with toys and lying around: That's also not abnormal for a Husky. How much fun would you have running around in 30 degrees weather wearing 2 down parkas? Huskies aren't the right breed for the tropics. He'll probably never fetch a ball or play as enthusiastically as a for example a Labrador.
Try to teach him to swim, slowly or he will be afraid of the water. That way he can cool down a bit during summer.
Be careful: Huskies aren't a breed that do well off-leash. They tend to not come back when they are running after something. They just love running too much. You could also get a dog scooter and have him tow it, during the cooler times of the day.

But not greeting its owner returning home is definitely not normal. Yes, they can be aloof and reserved, but not to its owner who returns home.