Siberian Husky Training

Silverdale girl to get constant companion

Soon, through the use of an autism service dog named Bella, Faith, 7, will be able to live her life with a constant companion, something that will help her more easily navigate life with her disabilities, said her mother, Allison Creighton.

"She doesn't like change one bit," Creighton said. "Having her own companion is going to help her cope in different situations."

Animals for Autism is a Springfield, Ill.-based organization that trains Siberian husky puppies to help people like Faith. Training for Faith's dog costs close to $8,700.

It was an amount the family was trying to raise until last week, when Animals for Autism received a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Everything Program. The grant will pay for dogs to go to 10 families with autistic children.

The Creighton family was fundraising to try to pay for the dog's training. The family had received the proceeds from the fifth anniversary celebration of Naturally 4 Paws, a Silverdale pet store. An additional $2,000 in donations came from a Give Forward account, a website that allows supporters to donate funds to certain causes. Now Faith and her family will be able to use the money for an emergency veterinarian account for Bella.

The Pepsi Pups are in training and will be placed with their families in spring 2012. Bella's training may take a bit longer. Creighton says Faith tires easily, so the dog will aid her in climbing stairs when necessary. She also has self-harming behavior in which she picks at her hands. The dog will be trained to nudge her away from doing that as well as detect the peanuts Faith is allergic to. Co-founder of Animals for Autism L.M. Kaydus broke down in tears when the winners were announced.

Some of the basic functions the dogs provide include redirecting their owners, preventing meltdowns and providing sensory awareness.

After working with these type of service dogs for many years, Kaydus believes the possibilities for therapy are endless.

"It's wonderful to watch these puppies establish such a high level of performance," she said. "But it's even better to see the individual and dog flourish together."

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Siberian Husky Training Basics | Husky Training Guide

Siberian husky training should be fun for both you and your husky. When training your Siberian husky it’s important to remember one rule of thumb: positive reinforcement will ultimately train your husky exactly what you want him to do.

Negative reinforcement only works when you can catch your Siberian husky in the act – and even so, no “physical” punishment should be given. Instead, you should only give your puppy negative feedback such as “Rover, No!”. Your puppy will understand that you’re unhappy – they can read human emotions quite well for that matter.

Now that you know that you shouldn’t physically harm your Siberian husky and the best way to train a Siberian husky is through positive reinforcement then I’m going to share some practical ways where both methods will work.

Siberian huskies are quite intelligent dogs and they seem to grasp stuff quicker and quicker the more you train them. Let’s assume you want to train your puppy to stop getting up on the furniture such as your couch. For this one, we might need to use both positive reinforcement and “negative feedback” in order to correct our puppy’s behavior.

First and foremost, you have to realize that your puppy would rather see the world as black and white rather than shades of gray. You have to make up your mind about which “rules” you set and enforce them at all times. It will confuse your puppy when something you’ve previously allowed now gets him yelled at.

Decide whether or not you want to allow your puppy to get up on the furniture (on your command that is). Then, take him through a training session where you give him the command to get on and then praise him enthusiastically. But, whenever your puppy gets on without a command give him a stern “No!” so he understands that you don’t approve.

This won’t be difficult for your Siberian husky to learn as they can easily distinguish positive and negative feedback – and any smart husky would not associate their behavior with something that results in an unhappy owner. And all huskies are smart.

When training your Siberian husky new commands (tricks) you should never use corrections or any type of negative feedback. Remember, tricks are just for fun and it should be done in a manner that doesn’t result in anything negative. Siberian husky training takes a lot of patience but you can easily train your Siberian husky to sit, lie down, roll over, speak, howl, say I love you, shake, fetch, hold, drop it, and many other fun tricks.

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