Naughty Husky!

Question
I have a 2 year old Husky that I adopted when he was 10 months old.  I trained him loosley, but he knows that I'm the boss.  I have been having problems with him that I just can't seem to fix.  For one, he is a runner.  He could escape from jail, I'm sure.  He got hit by a car 2 months ago, and is fully healed, but STILL RUNS AWAY!  He has a shock collar, and can be off lead when he has it on.  Another problem is that he eats off tables and counters.  He can even open the bread box and devour 3 loafs of bread!  I tried dicipline, but nothing works!  He doesnt do ANYTHING unless he knows there is something in it for him (treats...LOL).  Hes a great dog, and I knew I would run into this problem w/ a husky, but I'm determined to make him obey me.

Thank You SOOOO much!
Gina Marinelli

Answer
Gina,

Well, unfortunately as for the running problem - that is a Siberian trait.  What do have currently to prevent him from running?

As for "counter surfing", that is also very Siberian.  The problem that you are running into is that Siberians are extremely intelligent, very stubborn and have no innate desire to please humans.  Instead, they simply look at humans as fun friends that never seem to get into as much trouble as we should.  The key to realigning any behavior is fourfold:

1) Consistency
2) Negative Reinforcement
3) Positive Feedback
4) Elimination of temptation

This can work for ANY problem if you can find a way to get all four of these things in there.  The first point should be obvious - you have to always make sure that the feedback and reinforcement are there and they are consistently provided to the dog.  Many people believe that Positive Reinforcement is enough, but unfortunately, Sibes are often too intelligent for that.  "Sure, I get a treat if I do this, but I might be able to get to that bread on the counter yet . . ."  Instead, what you want is that the dog has a positive treat for doing something right, and not doing it (or doing something wrong) yields something unpleasant.  It can be anything from a quick pop of the collar to a verbal reprimand, or being sent to a crate, etc.  It just has to be there so the dog quickly removes that thought from his mind.  Positive reinforcement is good and doesn't always have to be treats - use petting, praise, playtime - anything the dog likes doing to reward him.

Finally, Removal of Temptation.  Much like the recovering alcoholic who doesn't go to bars any more with his friends because it's just looking for trouble, Sibes are addicts to it.  Try to "puppy proof" the house as much as possible, as even the best Siberian sometimes succumbs to the evil of temptation.  Just don't give them the chance.  We call our microwave our "food safe" exactly for that reason.  The idea to help preventing counter surfing is the dog should NEVER (there's that consistency thing on there again) be rewarded for getting up there.  Guess what?  The three loaves of bread is a reward that will warrant a few more checks of the counter.

Hope that helps some to at least understand what is going on.  Counter surfing is tough to deal with just because it's hard to catch all the time for the consistency thing.  I do know of some pet stores that sell mouse traps to prevent this sort of thing (they just make noise and are desgined to startle the dog).  You might want to look into that some as well.