in the recall..
Alright so some friends of ours recently acquired a Husky.
They have read in books and the internet and are being told by a "trainer" that you cant train a Husky (and some other breeds) a good recall. That they will always, no matter what you do, try to run away and will never come back...
opinions, experience...rebuttals?

If they never try, then the dog FOR SURE won't have a recall.

I think that if you want a dog that will be 100% reliable off a leash, you shouldn't get a husky expecting that. I would never EVER let a husky (or a select few other breeds) off leash in an open area no matter how much I trusted them.

I grew up with a terrier, for her entire life she was on a drag line. Because despite the fact she knew her recall she would always ALWAYS choose a squirrel over us, no amount of correction or treats, or anything would solve that.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

If they never try, then the dog FOR SURE won't have a recall.

I agree .... you train the recall, period.

I also agree that there are dogs you never trust in an open space.

I agree, I think the only thing that advice has done is make them give up before they even started trying. So its kind of a self fulfilling prophecy.

Well I have had two huskies (honestly in our shelter there is not much else but ?xhuskies)

Both (1 was a foster and has moved on) have amazing recalls 99% of the time. Our male never runs away, but may take a moment to sniff something and you may have to say the command twice, but really...

The female who was adopted out, has an AMAZING recall, that she has never blown once (not even at 3 months old). She has never run away, never taken off. You say "in" and she spun on a dime to come in.

The difference between their temperaments were night and day, with the male being trained with "old school" techniques because he saw no need for food or a toy. Once he was put through his paces, he "decided" that marker training was in fact the easier way, and since two years old he has blossomed!

The female was much softer and had that natural willing-ness to please, that I don't see often in the husky breed.

The trick with huskies, is the motivation. For each dog it will be different. For the female, she loved the reward for coming "in" and that made training the recall a breeze. For the male, he did not want to be corrected on a prong, and that was his motivation for coming in when recalled.

It will totally depend on the temperament of the dog and whether or not the owners are brain blocked to different training techniques. (Meaning some people will NEVER correct a dog, and thus are limited by the motivation only technique with a dog that requires discipline.)

Hopefully this helps some!

I've seen some huskies with great recalls and a lot more with lousy ones. I think that you need to put in more work with a husky but it's all about technique that works.

They did it on "MythBusters" Myth Busted

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Michael_Wise

If they never try, then the dog FOR SURE won't have a recall.

I agree .... you train the recall, period.

I also agree that there are dogs you never trust in an open space.

Leashes and collars can break, doors do get left opened, I think recall is the most important thing to train a Husky. I have fostered them, and my brother owns one. Harder to train.. yes, Untrainable...no.

I don't believe there are "breeds" that are untrainable although I would put certain breeds low on the list it's a matter of figuring out how to get response from the individual dog.
I've had 5-6 different terrier breeds and I've never seen any of the "traits" that people attribute to them. Stubborn, hard headed, spiteful, etc are human terms that we use to describe situations we find ourselves in when our training fails.

Max Von Stephnitz said it much better then I can but in essence;
When my dog fails to do as I ask, fails in it's performance, fails in it's training I must ask myself "What did "I" do wrong".