Possible to train a Siberian Husky not be aggresive towards cats

[LucarioDawG]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum but am looking into getting a Siberian Husky. Here's the scenario. I am the am a teenager (almost to be 16) and the youngest in the house. I have a brother, sister, my parents in the house. My mom has a cat also. We also live in an area where the summers are hot and winters are cold. I know what I will need to do for the dog (if I get one) during the summers and winters. If you would like to comment on how a Siberian Husky might work in my scenario, fine but here's my question. I heard Siberian Husky have a hostile motion towards cats or any other small animals. Would it be possible to train it (Punish if they disobey, Reward if they obey) to not be hostile? If I got a Siberian Husky, we would look into getting a pup at first. Please let me know so I may update my parents on how things would work. Thanks for the help.

-LucarioDawG

[skoolwiz89]

it is possible and even somewhat easier than most people may think. what you have to do is introduce the husky to the cat. have someone hold the husky and someone else hold the cat. allow the husky to investigate the cat, i.e. smell it and even lick, while at the same time watch it closely for any hostile body language. if at any time the husky acts hostile towards the cat reprimand it immediately. if the husky goes to bite it, smack the muzzle. since a human will be holding the cat the husky will be much more cautious about what it does. it also depends on how old and mature your cat is. the husky will be very curious about everything, but once it learns that the cat is part of the family and the husky isn't allowed to hurt it, things will calm down considerably. you will also have to watch the cat because the cat may react defensively to the husky, which is actually ok if you are holding the cat because it reinforces the notion to the husky that no matter what the cat isn't to be harmed. i have done this with two different huskies. one was around six or seven yrs old when we got a cat. he never really became comfortable with the cat but he understood that he was to leave the cat alone, of course that didn't stop him from letting us know when the cat was in the house, he would howl for a little bit. the second husky we got two years ago (the first husky died at the age of 15 like 4 yrs ago). we still had the same cat, who has always been a mostly outdoors cat. this time we had the cat when the husky was puppy so we were able to more thoroughly reinforce the notion that the cat was to be left alone. now whenever the cat is in the house our husky loves to go and investigate and will even lick it. if you have multiple dogs you might have some trouble with one egging the other one. i also have a pomeranian who isn't big enough to go after our cat so she will actually rile up our husky to do it for her. with enough patience you can teach your husky almost anything you want.