Siberian husky behavioural problems.

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my boyfriend recently bought a siberian husky, she is 1 year old and we bought her at an extremely good price from someone who lived close by. My boyfriend is completely in love with this breed and fell in love with her at first sight, due to this he didn't seem to ask many questions about her. All we knew is that she wasn't getting along with the families other german shephard, and she was apparently good with children.
Lately she hasn't been eating, we took her to the vets and had her wormed, but the problem just esculated and now she rarely eats a small bowl of food a day.
When we first got her she was great on the leash and it was even better when we found a great little fenced field close to home that we take her to at least once a day which she loves. She is an excellent dog.
My first problem is, when she is out on a walk she keeps picking up litter and other things such as poop bags (yes used poop bags) we try to take them from her but she just swallows them, we reprimand her heavily for this. My boyfriend is reluctant to buy a mussel for her as we don't want people to be wary of her as she is perfectly fine with other dogs.
My second problem is she has become very very protective over my boyfriend, although she never snaps at me, when we take her round to my mothers house she has snapped at her, and also, whilst she was lied on the couch, my brother touched the back of the couch she went crazy and started snapping at him properly. Moreover, i took her to see my two year old niece a month ago, i was very wary over the situation so at first i kept the dog on her leash just so she could get used to the new surroundings and people. She seemed to settle in well, and we let her off her leash. We thought this would be fine as the owners who we purchased her from had six children!. Lately we have noticed a change in her. Just last week my niece was sat on a chair watching tv and the dog approached the chair and started to bark, i moved the dog away and i thought that was the last of it. As i was getting ready to put my niece in bed i picked her up and instantly the dog started to snarl she ran up to me and jumped up snapping at my nieces hands, luckily she missed. We are unsure at this sudden change of behaviour and since this incident the dog has become very miserable and doesnt seem to want to play. Her behaviour on the lead has deteriorated and is now at the point where she is coming close to choking herself, and now more than ever she seems to be picking litter off the floor (such as sanitary towels!). As we are unsure of the dogs past we are desperate to know if we are doing anything wrong, and if there is anything we can do for her as she is not herself:(
desperately seeking help..ashlea


ANSWER: THIS DOG NEEDS VETERINARY ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY!  She's exhibiting physical signs of possible bowel or stomach obstruction and she may be in pain.  Take her in for a full evaluation (including thoracic x-ray) and repost.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: is this why she is behaving the way she is? we took her to the vets last week and they did a check up felt her stomach etc and they said she was perfectly healthy...
thanks...a very worried owner

Answer
It appears to me that the dog has ingested something that might be causing some of these problems.  I don't see how a mere palpation can determine if the dog has ingested something that is causing a blockage; I think x-ray would be needed.

Regarding the behavior problems: you have no idea what those six children did to this dog, and I imagine they did quite a lot to torment her based solely on the fact that her former owner "sold" this dog with no history of behavior, training, veterinary record, etc.  Year old dogs are not "sold", they are generally dumped on unsuspecting people because they have acquired serious behavioral problems.  The Husky is close to type in behavior and requires calm, structured ownership with positive reinforcement training.  You don't have sufficient knowledge to rehabilitate this dog without help and she is beginning to demonstrate aggression and apparent anxiety and withdrawal. Find a certified applied animal behaviorist for a full temperament evaluation and do it soon.  This dog needs positive reinforcement training and behavior modification before her aggression becomes worse and her anxiety driven destruction of household items becomes worse: you may very well be seeing the reasons her former owner dumped her.