I'm with you on this one Zac. Kathleen and I have had a rescue Siberian husky for a year now. He loves to run. When we first had him, we would unleash him about once a day. He generally hung around, and always came back after bursts of short sprints. And then one day he didn't. Was gone for two to four hours, often at night. So we quit unleashing him.
But he loved to run. And it was exciting to see him run. So we started letting him off about three hundred yards away from his house, just before his supper time, at about 4:00 pm. He sprinted back and forth between his house and us, before finally sitting down at his house. This worked great. Until one day it didn't. Saw some deer, and instinct took over. Off he went. Thirty minutes later we saw him chasing a coyote up by the grid road, about a quarter of a mile away. He came back about 90 minutes later. So we stopped unleashing him.
But he loved to run. And it was exciting to see him run. So powerful and athletic. So we started training him to a dog whistle, while out on the trail, with a thirty-foot line. He always sprinted back at full speed to get his treat of liver. Then we started letting him off when we were about 500 yards apart. He always ran full speed back and forth to get his liver treat. We had succeeded.
And then last week he sprinted up to me, took the liver treat, and bolted across the open field toward the bush. We both blew our dog whistles. He didn't even slow down or turn his head. He was on the trail of deer, and instinct had taken over. He came back about thirty minutes later. He is well trained, I think. But he can not be trusted completely. I have seen it written that Siberian huskys should never be unleashed in unfenced areas. I am not an expert, but our dog supports that recommendation. We could not take him on wilderness trips.
