Seperation Anxiety

Question
Hi,

My daughter has a Siberian that was given to her by a lady who had the dog since an eight week old pup. Nikko is now 2 and half years old. My daughter has had her for 2 weeks now. She is a beautiful dog, fairly well behaved and appears to be a nice pet for my daughter and my grandaughter.
However, there are a couple of concerns. When my daughter leaves for work and my grandaughter is in school most of the day, Nikko is left in the house alone. I check up on her during the day a couple of times and have noticed her behaviour to be very anxious and exitable. It appears she does not want to be left alone, doesn't eat much and jumps up on the door and front window when you leave her. She has already damaged the front window screening and curtains. That is the only thing she has damaged and I don't think it was intentional. They just happen to be there. She has not damaged anything else in the house. Because she has been with the previous owner since a puppy and for the last six months, since the lady had a baby and stayed at home, Nikko was not left alone or in a kennel, is it possible she is suffering from some sort of anxiety and, if so, what can be done? Nikko appears to accept my daughter as her new owner as she is really happy to see her when she comes home from work and settles down quite well. One other major problem is that when you take her out for a walk, it is not so bad on the leash, however she doesn't heel well, the problem is off the leash. She just takes off like a shot. You can do all the calling you want, she will only come back in her good old time. Ofcourse, this can probably be solved with some good old obedience training?
Would appreciate your comments.
Regards,

Paul  

Answer
Dear Paul,
Firstly the easy question,your husky will probably NEVER BE GOOD AT HEEL.Remember the husky was bred to pull sleds and that is what this breed does best PULL.So it would be a really big ask to change this.Perhaps you do not know but it is a recomended practice that YOU NEVER EVER LET A HUSKY OFF LEAD EVER,she will do just what you have described not listen to you at all off lead.She will chase things and in general just not come when called.Even obedience training stands a good chance of failing to teach your dog to do this.So you will just have to accept that this is really part of the breed,huskies that heel and recall off lead do exist but they are very few and far between.I personally do not trust mine to do this at all.
The anxiety you speak of is a trickier thing to solve.I once knew a girl who had the same problem with her female sibe.She completely chewed up an entire leather lounge while her owner would go out.There are alot of behavioural books around that deal with this problem.So a bit of reading would be advised.There are a few things you can do however.Firstly how about not leaving her inside.A good secure dog run outside would help.Try not to make such a fuss of her when you leave and also apon returning home.Desensitise her to the situation by leaving her initially for a few minutes then returning,then leaving her for progressively longer and longer until you can be gone for a few hours at a time.Do this over a weekend and you should see some results.If she fails to cope for a certain amount of time,go back to a shorter time that she can cope with.If you are patient you should get results.Give her a yummy and challenging bone or toy before you leave that will help take her mind off of being left at home.Lastly i shall also mention that these dogs are very pack oriented and are often unhappy on their own,a second dog would probably also fix the problem.However this may not be what you had in mind.I hope i have at least pointed you in the right direction.Do not hesitate to contact me anytime if i can be of further assistance.
Love Faye and Husky Crew.