Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am the owner of a 4-year-old male Siberian named Bandit. Bandit, like most of the Siberians I have met over the years, is a sociable, friendly dog, comfortable and amiable around people of all ages and dogs of all breeds and sizes. Hey...he can even do cats.

Last summer I was looking for a place to live, checking out apartment complexes in my area, and I was told by at least three complexes that Siberians were not allowed. These complexes did not have size restrictions; they had breed restrictions. When I asked WHY Siberians were not allowed, I was told, "Because they're aggressive." Since my entire family has been around the breed now for almost 15 years -- my brother currently owns 4 Sibes, I own 1, and my parents own 1 -- I knew that this assertion of aggression does not match at all the basic temperament of the Siberian.

Research on the internet has disclosed that the CDC includes Siberian Huskies among those breeds most likely to offend in biting injuries. But I question the validity of that claim, primarily because it simply seems so difficult to believe. Siberians are enthusiastic, playful, independent and energetic, but they are also loving, pack-oriented dogs who want nothing more than to be with their families.

In the time I have been reading up on Breed Specific Legislation, I have come across a few places -- Siberian-oriented websites -- that encourage Sibe owners to refer to their dogs as Siberians or Sibes, not simply as "huskies." "Husky" is a class of dog. It's not unreasonable to include in that classification any northern-breed dog: Sibes, Mals, Samoyed, etc. And today there is another type of "husky", not quite a breed: the Alaskan Husky. Alaskan Huskies are mixed-breed dogs, often resulting from crosses of Siberians or Malamutes with hounds or gun dogs. Because the Siberian or Mal strain is quite significant, Alaskans often look a great deal like those breeds. But an Alaskan Husky is NOT a Siberian Husky.

Siberians have a rather distinguished look about them, as we all know. And a lot of people will look at a Siberian-looking dog and label it a Siberian, even if it's not, simply because they don't know the difference. (Seriously...how many people were able to watch Eight Below and immediately identify which dogs were Sibes, and which were Mals? I'm a Sibe-owner and I found it difficult to tell.) Or they'll see a dog with blue eyes and say that the dog must be a "husky", or at least part-Sibe. And typically the the label IS "husky." We Siberian-owners do it all the time, too: we call our dogs "huskies." So does the public, who know very little or nothing at all about our particular breed, and what makes them so special, so challenging, and so rewarding. But again..."husky" is a class or type of dog, not a specific breed.

Given the current state of affairs regarding Breed Specific Legislation, I think it's better for our breed if we begin to try to distinguish it from the "husky" stigma and identify our dogs as Siberians. We need to do everything we can to advocate for our animals and educate the public about their true temperaments and personalities. Will Siberians bite? Certainly, in certain situations, although none of the ones I know has ever bitten anyone. But they are NOT an aggressive breed, and this seems to be the opinion that is out there, held by the misinformed who are willing to label as "husky" anything with a clover-leaf or a blue eye.

I can imagine owning no other breed than the Siberian Husky. They are, in my opinion, the perfect dog. But it worries me that I may face difficulty in the future with finding a place to live -- or getting homeowners' insurance, because I guarantee you that THAT was the root of the apartment complexes prohibition of Siberians. Because there seems to be this idea that Siberians are aggressive, biting dogs, I feel that it's my duty as a proud Sibe owner to tell people no...that's not characteristic of the breed at all. And maybe one way to start informing the public is to start identifying them not as their class, but as their breed. Maybe it doesn't seem like much, but maybe it could eventually have an impact on the general public perception of Siberians.

Sorry this is so long and soap-boxy. I'm passionate about my Sibe, and all Sibes, and I think the threatening Breed Specific Legislation is rooted in large part in general misinformation and incorrect assumptions on the part of the uninformed public.

"In the time I have been reading up on Breed Specific Legislation, I have come across a few places -- Siberian-oriented websites -- that encourage Sibe owners to refer to their dogs as Siberians or Sibes, not simply as "huskies." "Husky" is a class of dog. It's not unreasonable to include in that classification any northern-breed dog: Sibes, Mals, Samoyed, etc. And today there is another type of "husky", not quite a breed: the Alaskan Husky. Alaskan Huskies are mixed-breed dogs, often resulting from crosses of Siberians or Malamutes with hounds or gun dogs. Because the Siberian or Mal strain is quite significant, Alaskans often look a great deal like those breeds. But an Alaskan Husky is NOT a Siberian Husky."

I dont fully agree with this statement, alaskans aren't all that new, and I do believe them to be a breed, they often do not resemble anything but a mutt, and are not just a simple sibe/mal/coondog/pointer mix they are very well developed as a "breed" and are often the best dogs for running long distances.

First, a lot of people are ignorant. Sibes are the sweetest, friendliest dogs around.

Second, I think the real reason is that any dog mixed with a Sibe or any Wolf or Wolf/Mix gets categorized as a "Husky". So, you can have either a wild mix or an aggressive breed mixed with a Sibe and the offspring can be aggressive.

This is almost impossible to fight, as long as the insurance companies run the show. They're the ones dictating the "aggressive" breeds, and the apartment complex is following their determination to cover themselves and maintain their policy. Otherwise, if they allowed "aggressive" breeds, their insurance company would drop them. You can't really blame the complex. People need to correct the misconception with the insurance companies ... GOOD LUCK!

Walt

The reason sibes are so high up there on the bite list is people are more likely to have more than one than with other breeds. this may not be as true anymroe but it has been in the past. dogs in packs are more likely to bite. Beofore pits sibes were what people were scared of. I've always wondered how a dobe oculd be on a breed ban list and not a husky though. Honestly while huskies are big babys I think they are "mouthier" than most other breeds. I do not think there should be breed bans-ever. But if my dobe is going to be on one you better beleive my husky should be to. I also blame it on bad owners. IF you do not socialize a husky you oculd very easily end up with a bitter,same with any high prey dog.

It took a while to get with a good home owners insurance place becuase of my husky and dobe. We have had them say they are more worried about the husky than dobe. I cna see why but I don;t think any of the breeds deserve it. But you have to look at it and realize they want to make money not loose it if something does happen.I don;t know if they are right in describing it as aggressive but they are high prey drive and that can be a problem at an apartment. I would never imagine keeping one in an apartment anyway. They may even say they don't allow them becaue of aggression jsut because they do nto want them there anyway.
-----

Actually siberians do have a higher bite record then any other dog if memoery serves. The difference is the sevarity of the bite... Husky and all it's types(note this does not include Malamutes) are responsible for around 20 deaths from 79-98...whereas a breed like a pitbull has about 100 more(this is in the US). The difference is all in the damage done, but the husky does actually have a higher bite record.
Now you have to take into account factors like the rather large number of husky owners, and the fact that most people who own huskies, own more then one.
Huskies are found at all dog shows at which you would find a pitbull, but are also at other venues like sledding, skijoring, cannicross and so on, at which pitbulls are not present, giving the husky that much more exposure to the public and therefor that many more chances to bite.

Although dogs, even very aggressive dogs do not bite on random occasions without giving warning signals first.
The problem with almost all dog bites is the humans lack of ability to read these signals and avoid a very preventable bite.
It's when we ignore these signals and the dog learns that the only way to get you to stop doing something is to bite and skips all the other warning stages etc. that it moves right to biting does it become a problem.

So it's not that Siberian owners need to educate the public on there dogs... it's that dog owners in general need to educate the public, or the public simply needs to be more educated on dogs as they become an increasingly larger part of human life in both rural and urban settings.

A couple of things from the post:

#1 Alaskan Huskies are not a new breed at all. They tend to be the "game" version of the siberian (mixed with other breed of course), while the siberian tends to be the showier version. Nothing wrong with either and I'm not saying that a purebred siberian can't be "game" enough to run a race, etc, but in general the alaskans are bred for use instead of looks. Just as an american pitbull terrier and the American Staffordshire Terrier are technically the same breed, the staffy the show version of the gamier apbt.

#2 I agree with many of the previous posters about the siberian husky being mouthier than many breeds and they tend to have a very high prey instinct. I've known several and all have been very sweet dogs, but people learn the hard way not to have them on a farm, etc after their chickens, geese, sheep, goats, etc getting killed. This doesn't mean they're going to attack a person, but it's just a factor as far as the insurance companies look at. And who can really blame an apartment complex to think this way...perhaps the neighbor's cat (who should be indoors anyway) or little dog will be next?

#3 It is factual that Siberians and Malamutes aren't only on the bite list but on the killing list as well. Now bite statistics aren't really a factor and aren't kept up closely because of misidentification of breeds during a bite. However, they closely monitor the breeds who kill people. I read a report not long ago of somebody who studied these statistics from as early as the 60's. I believe it said that 90% of the years for 30 years had at least one siberian, one malamute, and one wolf hybrid on the list of breeds who have killed, most years had multiples of each breed. Where as pitbull's haven't been on the list consecutively for killings, and were very very rare, if not nonexistant for up until the last 10 years. Grant it in general bites and killings have to do with breed popularity.

#4 I know this whole BSL BS is frustrating as anything, and I definitely have NOTHING against Siberians, Alaskans, Malamutes, or any breed really, but just wanted to state some facts. I've been working on trying to change public views on BSL for some time now through my rescue dogs (I prefer the APBT and other Bully breeds) who have turned into therapy dogs, all CGC certified, passed their temperment tests, etc. I can only say the best way to fight the BSL is through the above. Owner's of breeds affected by BSL need to expose their dogs positively through any means available. Most of the public doesn't see a siberian as a muscle bound man eater as they do the other dogs on the BSL list, but it will only be time. The scary dog changes with the decade in general so please just be prepared. Try to educate everybody you meet on not just the Sibe but BSL in general. Also, we need to educate people on how to act around dogs as many people aren't smart about these things. I find that it's a lot of pressure to deal with, but it's something people passionate about their "scary" breeds need to do.

Hi everybody.
First of all, I want to say that I do not own a siberian husky. I simply just work with them on a day-to-day basis. (I am a dog groomer). I am not trying to put the breed down at all, I am just giving an outsider's opinion.

The experience I have had with huskies/mals/northern breeds is that they do not do very well when they are not around their families. Most do not like water and they will do anything that will put them out of danger, no matter who is in their way. The most likely place that we would get bit by a husky/mal would be in the tub. Most who bite are fear-biters who feel they are backed into a corner and must fight for their lives. Most of the time (from our perspecive) this is not the case- in terms of simply bathing or drying them.

They either give a whole lot of calming signals (licking their lips, yawning, or twitching) or they dont give any at all. We have had 3 incidents of serious dog bites that resulted in the groomers having to go to the hospital. One was while in the tub putting the blow-dryer on them, one was when we were trying to brush a dog out.

the third one was a bit too fast of a movement perhaps on the groomer's part? She (the groomer) reached for her comb to the side of her, and the humungus husky clamped down on her hand and didn't let go. The doctors said that if she did the initial reaction that most people would have done in reacting by pulling her arm back, then she probably would have had to have surgery.

I blame the owners on the one above, because he didn't let us know that the husky had bitten the mailman, meter person, and a family friend.

I do understand why they can be labeled as aggressive, but then I've been bitten badly by a chihuhua before too. I don't think that Chis will be banned any-time soon. I do think that it should be public record if your dog has bitten anyone and they reported it- to save us injury.

Hugs!
Laura

Actually Chiuaua(sp?) are pretty mean little dogs sometimes. Perhaps people don't see them as a threat sometimes because of there small size.
But there was actually a police officer here that was attacked by a "pack" of them. I don't remember all the details, this was a few months ago.
I'm not saying they are all like that or that we should ban them... just pointing out that they can be just as agressive as some of the larger known for agression breeds.

Anyways, I don't think we should ban any dog, just make the own write some sort of test to get a pet ownership lisence or certification saying that you do know something about owning a dog etc. After all, banning a breed will not result in irresponsible pet owners sharpening up and realising they need to properly train a pet, it will just result in them buying a different breed which will eventually be black listed by public eye.