[jswez11]

One of my roommates has an 18 month old female huskador. She's been tearing/chewing up stuff for the last several months and it is becoming a huge problem as it's amounting to hundreds of dollars worth of items. He feeds her once a day about 2 or 3 cups. He only takes her on walks maybe once every two weeks. I thought she needed to get out energy, but one time she tore the couch stuffing out right after we got home from a 20 minute walk. Help!!

 

[jswez11]

Edit: My other roommate got a cat about 6 months ago and they wrestle all the time. I feel like she gets a lot of her energy out that way. Also, she only has like 1 chew toy and it's a super hard one. My roommate says that he won't buy her anymore because she hides them or tears them up. I feel like she needs more variety.

 

[LeoRose]

She sounds a young dog who is under stimulated both mentally and physically, and who is probably bored out of her mind while simultaneously bouncing off the walls with pent up energy.

Stepping up the physical exercise is the first step. Huskies were bred to run, hard and fast. Labs were bred to spend hours in the field working birds. A walk every two weeks just doesn't cut it. She needs to get out every day. A half hour walk is nothing to a high energy dog. Playing on the yard with a flirt pole or playing fetch are both good options.

She also needs way more mental stimulation. Multiple short training sessions a day will help take the edge off. One of the most exhausting things my dogs do is nosework, where they are trained to find certain odors (it's like the training police bomb or drug dogs do, only for legal stuff).

 

[Knute]

I'll be blunt like a 16 lb sledgehammer.

The roommate with the dog, should not have a dog.
The roommate with the cat is doing ok, but needs to open his mind. Cats are like that.

To the dog, seriously...1 walk every 2 weeks for a Husky mix. Yes, this dog needs multiple walks each day for much more the 5-10 minutes per walk. He also needs to have training on something; behavior, nose, running, walking, flyball, disc........

As an example: I have a 13 lb miniature schnauzer, we are out for walks at least 3X/day. Total walk time is anywhere 90 minutes to 4 hours each day. Saturday and Sunday are the long walk days. Weekday walks total 90-120 minutes. We frequently will walk over 100 miles in a month. Our peak month was 135 miles.

Your roomy needs to do more than just feed and pet the dog.

 

[DaySleepers]

Yup, seriously understimulated dog here. You can tell your roommate it's kind of like giving a kid a single Rubrix cube (the chew toy) and a 20-minute recess once every two weeks and expecting them to be well behaved. If the walks are basic on-leash around the block type walks, that's like if the recess is in an empty parking lot.

I agree that training sessions are a great start to get this dog's mind working. There's a lot of cool ideas for canine enrichment out there too - basically games, puzzles, or novel experiences you can set up for your dog to work on that changes up the boring day-to-day. There's a good facebook group all about it, if you want a veritable treasure trove of ideas.

And I'd significantly increase the exercise. Humans walk super slow compared to dogs, so 20 minutes of walking on a 6-foot (or shorter) lead in the same boring neighborhood is barely anything, even if it was happening daily. If possible, I prefer to go to fields or wood trails and use a long line - waaay more interesting and stimulating, and giving dogs a chance to be dogs out in the 'wilderness' goes a long way towards helping a worked up dog chill out and slow down. Jogging, biking, or taking up a dog sport are also good exercise for a breed mix like this, but if your roommate isn't going to change his lifestyle, he could at least hire a dog walker. If he's not willing to do that... it's obviously not really in your control but it sounds like the current situation is a pretty miserable life for a dog. And for you.

 

[jswez11]

Thank you for the feedback. This is what I've been assuming and trying to get through to him. Hopefully he can see that it's not just our opinion of her needing more from him.

 

[Alfie2]

She sounds a young dog who is under stimulated both mentally and physically, and who is probably bored out of her mind while simultaneously bouncing off the walls with pent up energy.

Stepping up the physical exercise is the first step. Huskies were bred to run, hard and fast. Labs were bred to spend hours in the field working birds. A walk every two weeks just doesn't cut it. She needs to get out every day. A half hour walk is nothing to a high energy dog. Playing on the yard with a flirt pole or playing fetch are both good options.

She also needs way more mental stimulation. Multiple short training sessions a day will help take the edge off. One of the most exhausting things my dogs do is nosework, where they are trained to find certain odors (it's like the training police bomb or drug dogs do, only for legal stuff).

Thank you