I need help with my dog
I’ve had her for about a year and a half now. She’s a husky Rottweiler mix. I love her a lot but her behavior is a problem. I’ve tried reading dog books and watching Cesar Milan, but she just seems so much wilder than any of the dogs I’ve seen him handle and I’ve tried some of the things he’s talked about and they don’t seem to be working.
Her most persistent problem is not listening. I know huskies are known for escaping and running away, but even when I manage to catch up, she won’t stop when I call and most of the time she actually runs away faster. I end up having to follow her until I can corner her and grab her collar, but even then sometimes she dodges me and starts running again.
I give her a walk almost every day and some days I even give her two, or just go for one 5 mile walk. But it doesn’t seem to touch her energy at all.
I would really like some advice on how to get her to listen to and respect me. She’s not a traditional dog. I’ve tried forcing her to sit until she calms down and I’ve tried calling her in a calm but firm voice when she’s starting to run off, but neither do anything. Once I get up she just starts pulling on the leash again and once I call her name she just tries to get away faster before I can catch her.
Her intelligence is scary. I’ve gotten a gps tracker to track her escapes and just tonight as I was looking for her, I thought I saw something moving each time I moved closer on someones porch, and stopping each time I stopped, mimicking my movements. I didn’t think at all that it could be her so I shrug it off as my eyes playing tricks on me or a little kid messing with me. Turns out it was her because I followed the gps right up to the porch and she jumped up and ran into their backyard with “Catch Me If You Can” gleefulness.
My mom and dad tell me I’m too soft on her, which I agree. I’m not afraid of punishing her, but I’m not into the harsh alpha dog type training either, and I only smack or hold her down when she’s bitten me (which isn’t very often, and only happens when she’s guarding a bone or hiding under something cause she knows she’s done something bad) or is getting too dominating of another dog. She’s very stubborn and independent. She loves to cuddle at night sleeping, but during day time she likes to do stuff in the yard on her own and only comes inside to see me if I call her or if she sees I’m grabbing the leash.
She seems to love me, but it’s like she doesn’t respect me. Almost like she thinks I’m dumb, which I’ve read is common in extremely intelligent breeds like huskies and malamutes. I just want to know what I should do and how I can make her obey and actually want to obey.