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I'm getting quite desperate for help with my female 11 week old Siberian husky and hope some of you can help. We purchased Kaya from a very reputable breeder and brought her home at 7 weeks. Her parents were both champions, had undergone behavior tests and had excellent temperaments.

For the past 2 weeks, my puppy has been growling, showing her teeth and biting real hard every time we get near her food, toys..., when we try to take something out of her mouth, even when we grab her to take her back inside when she's playing or after she's peed. She becomes a real psycho! We've tried everything from saying "NO" to putting her on her back/side and growling to even closing her muzzle shut and saying "NO" so she won't bite. We've tried every suggestion in the book and we are at our wit's end.

This morning when I gave her food, I tried touching her food and she growled and bit me real hard. I had been touching her food and petting her while she eats since the day we brought her home and she has never once growled at me. Why is she doing this now??? After 4 tries of taking her bowl away and giving it back to her, she kept on growling so I took her food away permanently. I don't even know if this is the right thing to do but my breeder suggested it.

Our breeder says she has never heard of a husky puppy being aggressive especially at that age and she can't help us more than she has and referred me to a behaviorist. This is our first dog and first experience with a dog. We did every research possible on the husky before purchasing it and did not see any mention anywhere about aggressivity, growling or showing teeth. Every book we read and every husky owner we spoke to said they are very docile and gentle animals who should not be aggressive. What is causing this behaviour and what do we do to fix it???

We just want to make sure we've done everything to try and correct her before bringing her back, which is our last recourse.

Sounds like you're having a big problem right now. I remember when I was younger and I got my first Siberian Husky. She was the sweetest dog that you could ever want, but she was aggressive when it came to picking her up or moving her food. She did this from the time she was about 3 months until she was 5 months. Then it all of sudden stopped and never came back.

I don't know if this will end up happening with your Siberian Husky. But I would sure hope so, because getting rid of a dog is very hard.

Giving her up will be the absolute last option but I don't want to wait till she's 50lbs to find out if she will stop, I need to fix this right away. I tried some positive reinforcement techniques that others recommended and it's working well so far. We're still having problems with the food possessiveness but I know it will take time. Thanks for your feedback!

Great news that the methods have been working I'd look up NILIF program if you haven't allready, great way to show you are in charge without confrontation or physical manipulation. You simply control all the elements in the pup's environemtn. I think she has learned that by acting this way she will get what she wants maybe? If you are not already I would start crate training her, it might help with this issue and it will definitely help you to housebreak her. 7 weeks is also a bit young to be leaving mom and littermates, 8 weeks is absolute minimum. That could be part of the problem too, when they leave too early they don't leanr all their social skills.

Hi here are some steps you can try to see if it will help, I'm glad you recognized it early enough to correct the problem good luck!

Step One is to do away with his food bowl for a week or two. Shep will be dining out of your hand, a few kibbles at a time.

Step Two is to bring back the food bowl. It should remain empty until you pass by and drop a few pieces of kibble in it. After those are eaten up, you should drop small handfuls of kibble in at two-minute intervals until the entire meal has been eaten. By now your dog should be practically begging you to approach his bowl.

Step Three is to put a semi-filled bowl on the floor and as you pass by, drop in a few better-than-kibble tidbits. Then add the remaining kibble in your next pass.

Step Four is to put a full food bowl on the floor as your dog holds a sit-stay. Release him with a cheery "okay." Then once or twice a week, call your dog away from his bowl and reward him for coming over to you with a tasty tidbit. Please use your "sit-stay," "wait," and "take it" commands with the dog so it is absolutely clear to Shep who owns the kitchen and the tasty morsels in it.

Each of these steps should be undertaken for 10 to 14 days for both breakfast and dinner. While you are grappling with a food-guarding problem, your dog should wear a leash at mealtimes as a safety measure. Don't use it to correct him unless you are in jeopardy of being hurt. Since food guarding seldom happens in a vacuum and often signals other problems in the dog/owner relationship, a basic obedience course is highly recommended for canines who exhibit this behavior. Finally, if you experience any backsliding, return to Step One. Slow and steady wins this contest of wills.

I have also fork fed, and sppon fed my puppies from a very early age so they know to be gentle when human hands are near, they will not grab food from the utensils as it is akward to them. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for all your advice. I've been feeding her from my palm for several days now but she still growls when I get near her bowl. On friday, while I was feeding her out of my hand, she jumped up, growled and bit me in the face twice. That was the end of the line for me. We're bringing her back to the breeder tonight for an evaluation. She will keep her for a few days to see what's wrong with her and if she can help us correct her, we will take her back otherwise she will keep her. It was a very difficult decision for us since we do love her and are very attached but biting the face is not normal for a puppy especially for a breed that's supposed to be docile.

OMG, I'm so sorry to hear that, are you alright?? I'm sure that was extremely scary for you. Hope everything works out. Take care!

Yes I hope you are allright! This is not good behaviour for a pup at all. Yes, siberian huskies should be very docile!! Not aggressive at all. I hope the breeder can figure it out. Best of luck let us know how it works out.

Another site, it has good info on being a good alpha.
As said to another with similar problems, maybe you need to learn how to be a good alpha, the dog will learn from an alpha, until she views you as such she will keep challenging you.
My husky Duke was food possesive, and of bones, but I just tested and took the food away when he got defensive of it, then gave it back, tried agin, if a negative reaction occured I took it away. Also the cat wanted to share with him on one of the first meals they hung out together for, he grabbed the cat and shook him in the air. This was easily solved by making him sit and watch the cat eat supper, then allowing him to eat afterwards. This went on for 1 week, after 2 days he went into the cats room and layed down to watch the cat eat on his own, waiting his turn, never has he been possessive since. Now I can sit there and pick food from the dish and add it while he eats, as well the cats walks up he moves aside to let him share (I chase the cat off now, to his own food).
If you hesitate and let the dog intimidate you she will learn that she outranks you.
Make sure she eats after you, walks through doors after all humans, sits a waits her turn to eat, sleeps on the floor or her own bed, do not allow her on the furniture, if not she will assume she is allowed and this fights against what you try to stop.

When I read your e-mails about Kaya, I thought I was reading about our first Siberian Husky puppy. We picked out our puppy when she was 2 weeks old. We went to see her about every week. I noticed her growling with her littermates when she was about 4 weeks old. We didn't know any better and thought she was just playing with them. The breeder we got her from no doubt loves all of her Siberians, but she is breeding dogs with temperment problems, bushy coats, she does not have their eyes and hips checked. This should have been a red flag to us. Just like you, we had done alot of research, but hindsight is like they say 20/20. We brought her home when she was 6 weeks. Now we know that was way too young. Kyra was our puppy's name. She was growling and trying to bite us too. We tried to correct her by gently hold her mouth shut until she was submissive. We contacted one dog trainer who told us that we should not be correcting her, that she was just playing. We knew that wasn't right. We contacted another dog trainer who has been training dogs for over 25 years. She has been referred to as the "Dog Whisperer" in our city. She said a good puppy exemplifies 5 good qualities and that Kyra didn't display any of them. She worked with us and Kyra for over an hour and within 5 minutes she told us we would be crazy to keep her. You could have knocked me over. I wasn't expecting her to say that. It never crossed my mind the possibility of having to take her back. She said she was dominant aggressive. Like you said, not a quality a Siberian should exemplify. She said we could put Kyra in puppy bootcamp classes to see if that could help. But in her opinion, she would not be successful. Luckily for us, she knew the breeder we got her from and she called her for us. Our choices was to return her and get our money back or we could get another puppy. Neither my husband or I could even think about bringing another puppy home to replace her. We were completey heartbroken, but we took her back!!!!!! It is amazing how quickly you get attached to them. We have taken several months to re-think things and we have decided we wanted to give it another try. So the dog trainer we dealt with encouraged us to not give up on the Siberian idea. She gave us some names of some reputable breeders this time(not a back yard breeder!). Long story short, we have gone through a long process to get another Siberian puppy. We actually are getting to bring him home this weekend. We are extremely impressed with this breeder. Her kennels are extremely clean. All of her Siberians are very friendly and loving. She has had all of their eyes and hips checked out. She had someone come in and do temperment testing on the puppies. All of the puppies did well. This breeder keeps the puppies until they are 10 weeks of age. They are well socialized with all of her dogs and children as well. In fact, she is keeping one female for herself to show and she also wants to show our puppy, Ace is his name.
Anyway, I just wanted you to know, that we went through a similar situation and I know how hard a decision you are facing. I wouldn't want to wish that on anyone. I know how hard it was for us to give Kyra back. In the long run, it was better for her and better for us as well. Kyra spent a couple more months with the breeder and she sold her to a family that had already gotten one of her littermates. I hear she is doing well. I think it boils down to us getting her at such a young age and the breeder not doing all of the right things.
What happened after you took Kaya back to the breeder for evaluation? I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.