Siberian Husky Rescue/Referral of California

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Lykke

Lykke is an Unavailable Siberian Husky


This is Lykke

She is a spayed Female, 11 years old, Housetrained, has Obedience training, good with Large Dogs, has Rabies vaccinations, microchipped.

Lykke came into our lives in February 2012 after losing another pet to an incurable disease. She was at a small non-profit shelter in SF and had been found running loose in Kings County, CA. Before we adopted her, she had already been adopted from the same shelter, but was returned when the owner lost her job. She was one year old when we adopted her and have had Lykke for 4 years. Lykke hadn’t had much time to be around a stable life and hadn’t really been trained or disciplined. She was a bit energetic and full of her own unique personality and needed a hefty dose of training, stability/consistency. After adopting her we worked with a very calm and experienced husky trainer who helped us smooth out some of her dominance. At daycare, she went from being a cause of trouble to being a favorite amongst the staff. Over the years she completely mellowed out to be a husky who loves to be with you, whether she’s sleeping in (which she loves to do), chewing a bone or going on a scent adventure through a park.

Lykke is a wonderful companion with many great qualities: playful, energetic, affectionate, and very intelligent. She has bursts of energy during play-time and walks followed by naptime and rest at home. She loves being chased around the house, going on long on-leash walks in nature settings or parks, and watching out for our neighbor’s cats from the window.

She has an amazing personality and develops strong connections with people close in her life. She’s very intelligent and loves to test any newcomer, but once you tell her a strong “NO” she learns and respects the boundary. She knows commands to sit, lie down, stay, shake with both paws, speak (softly howl), wait before entering or exiting our apartment, get ready (sit and stay while getting a leash put on), find treats, retrieve her toy, go to her bed, and a few others. She needs to be walked on-leash as most huskies need to.

Lykke has many wonderful qualities but also a few quirks which we have been unable to remedy. She suffers from separation anxiety preventing her from being at home alone for more than 1 hour. Past this time she progressively gets more hyperactive and every now and then chews on items in our home, mostly clothing or our bags. She doesn’t damage our furniture. We attempted to kennel train her but she would bark nonstop within 5 minutes and pull on the kennel with her teeth trying to escape. We suspect much of her anxiety stemmed from her environment during her first year which we had little insight into when adopting her.

This has been our biggest challenge with Lykke since she needs to be driven to and from daycare Monday through Friday often creating challenges with our demanding work schedules. Unfortunately after years of effort we must admit that we are unable to put in the time and resources needed to really give Lykke what she needs to be in a happy and stable home. She really needs a person that can spend the majority of the day with her or has more time to take the steps needed to reduce her anxiety.

In addition, Lykke shows signs of fear aggression and high prey drive when around younger, small children and small animals. This mostly comes out with her lunging at children or small animals during on-leash walks, keeping us on high alert. There has not been an incident but this poses as a risk each time she is outside in our neighborhood that we are not comfortable with. That said, she has responded well to older children who are confident, calm and able to give strong vocal commands.

She is not aggressive but her tendencies do require the right environment for those around her to feel completely comfortable. Deciding to find her a new home as been one of the most challenging decisions we’ve made but ultimately we think a home that supports her specific needs will be much better in the long run. She’s good with other mid-size to large dogs that are more mellow at daycare so potentially a friend at home could help with her anxiety being alone.

Overall, Lykke is a very intelligent, quirky and delightful companion. She loves to be with you and is up for any adventure, large and small. An ideal home for her would be living with an attentive, assertive and loving companion somewhere closer to nature, colder in temperature and more quiet than San Francisco city life.


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