Snow Dogs Questions

Good afternoon to y'all,

I am hoping to pick peoples brains a little here. I have briefly looked through the forums, so I do apologise if this is going over old ground...

Have been thinking long and hard about adding to the family. Been discussing with She Who Must (love Rumpole of the Bailey) and she's all good with the idea as well. Not something that should be taken lightly, and I will still be thinking 6 months down the line; I need to be absolutely sure that we can commit to a pup, give the time and care needed. As far as I'm concerned, we all have a duty of care to those little furry things that allow us to feed them, play with them and provide a comfy sofa for them.

So I've been looking at, for want of a better name, the Snow Dogs- Siberian Huskies, Malamutes ( Marmadukes as my daughter has renamed them) and the Husky/ Malamute cross.

Now, from what I have gleaned from this site, and others, all these breeds are suitable as family pets with the Malamute being more sociable than the Husky. Is this the case or am I waaaay off base? Apparently the Husky as a feline 'sod you, I'm doing my own thing' attitude to life

So, we have a stable home life- wife stays home with sprog, I work full time, so there will be someone home with pup all day- good for people socializing skills and plenty of fuss

So, in your collective opinion would the Mal ( look at me tring to sound like I know what I'm talking about) be a better companion for our family? I don't really want to mention the crossbreed, because I've read the 25page thread and don't want to get shouted at on my second post on the site

Speaking of that thread, someone said that a breeder in Wales is less than ideal to deal with- all very cryptic. Just to put my mind at ease, I've had a couple of conversations with a firm call Arctic Wolf; are they the company alluded to or am I in good hands?

Please, any links to more info on these gorgeous dogs would be hugely appreciated, comments from forum users likewise.

Hmm...second post, second Wall o' Text (tm)

Ttfn,

Jon

P.S the user name, maybe not so good for a doggy site as someone pointed out already. RL nickname- unfortunate one for a 6'4 rugger chap but hey ho

Huskies= lots of energy, fairly social with dogs and people but high prey drive with other animals. Lots training required to get a good dog.

Mals= slightly less active but lots bigger! Cn be competitive with others of the same sex. High prey drive and lots of training like husky. Some tendancy to food guarding.

Mal/huskie= combination of the above.

Samoyed= Generally a little easier than either of the above, might be a good choice.

Adam

A certain "breeder" who uses the word Arctic and Wolves all over the adverts is known to me particuylarly by dogs we have picked up in rescue.

There is a reputable breeder whose affix is Arcticwolf - breeder surname is Parry - not to be confused.

I can help you find a decent Malamute breeder if that woule help

Do you like lots of exercise as Mals and huskies both require plenty - in all weathers. Are you super house or garden proud as both breeds will redesign your home .......

Muddi, the breeder I've been talking to has a surname of Bartlett and, yes, the words Arctic, wolves and engbull were much in evidence. I found the site, read the testimonials and figured everything was good. I don't want anyone to commit slander, but, for arguments sake, if anyone can suggest a list of reputable breeders and this company is not on there then so be it...

Excersise, well...I walk from the front door to the car atm *blush*. Picked up a crushed vertabrae and 3 prolapses discs 2 years back playing rugby. Have only now got the all clear to start down the Gymn again, and at least another year before I can pick up a ball again. Dog walking will be a damn good way of getting back to where I need to be

House-proud...well we were. Then our little girl turned up. £25 a roll Laura Ashley wallpaper is her canvas, the carpets have never been the same since. I'm halfway to convincing the wife to take Samatha to obedience classes along with the new pup

Adam- cheers for the succinct analysis- thinking a Mal may be the way forward, but will deffo take a look at these Samoyeds

Ttfn, Jon

Hello Kyttens

I live with Siberian Huskies. Family orientated loveable little imps. And at the other end of the spectrum, expert predators and driven working sled dogs.

To do this ancient breed justice I'd advise you to attend a few rallies, get to know the dogs and the folks who dedicate their lives to them. Contact the breed clubs and find out when they have shows or breed seminars you could attend. It's a great way to get to know the breed. Nothing quite like being surrounded by packs of howling sibes

I also live with a Siberian Husky x Alaskan Malamute. We adopted him from Stoke City Dogs Home. He was bred and sold to puppy buyers as a 'Huskamute', the new designer sled dog Jacub is a crossbreed. There is no need for a designer label and no need to lie to the general public. Unless of course your breeding for profit!

The same breeder who floods the pet market with 'Huskamutes' has a website advertising Arctic Wolves. Both in Wales ;-)

My boy was handed into a rescue centre at 5 months old. I contacted his breeder when we adopted him and asked for documentation as to his parentage, as they state on their website they 'strive to keep all breeding records'. The gentleman I spoke to said 'Love, we sell far too many puppies to be able to tell you anything about the dog' Jacub was only 8 months old! Certainly not a breeder I would recommend.

Wish you the best of luck with your research. Fun times ahead

Take care.

Seoniad.

The very folks!

Take care.

Seoniad.

I will PM you with some suggested breeders as soon as you have PMs enabled

OOhh Samoyeds are fabulous!!!!

I can also give you names of great breeders..if you want/need them..

I have one Malamute girly who was a rescue and one Malamute boy from a breeder..I also have two kids and the dogs have grown with them..

But I woulnd't look past a Sammy..that was my first dog and he was fantastic!!

Another thing to think about is that they will redesign your garden to look like a mine field if not paved or concreted, some siberians can be fence jumpers so 6 ft advisable or may hop over less . Get very bored if left alone or for long periods & get destructive. Very vocal @ times too, especially 2 of our siberians.

I have a Siberian and she's great! I think I might have gotten lucky though, she listens fairly well, my BC x has more of the what ever attitude then my Sibe does. She a people dog and loves to be around me and my boyfriend, I'm excited to see if she's just that way with us or with any one though, I have company coming for the weekend that she has never met so we shall see.

Every dog is different even if it's the same breed so look at the parent's and how their temperament is, and talk to the breeder's and find a dog that right for you. I wouldn't decide until you're ready to get one and then find some of everything and go visit them and see what the pup's are like, you might decide on a Sibe and end up with a Mal...

I certainly wouldn't say that Sibe's are less social, from what I know of them they love their people, mine whines if I leave her in the back yard and am out front doing something, or if she's inside and I'm out side she throw's a fit.

So a Sibe would be a good family dog, if it get's all the attention it needs (a lot!). They need the exercise! I know mine get's in a right state if we don't take her rollerblading for a few days (sometimes we get busy and it's easier to just walk lol).

Hi Kyttens,

We live in London with a pack of Siberian Huskies. You would be very welcome to come and visit our dogs and see what they are like living in a family environment. The more research you do before acquiring a puppy, the better.
We also run the biggest and busiest husky welfare organisation in the UK and so every single day we see the results of people buying poor quality pups from bad breeders on little more than a whim. Buying a pup nowadays is a nightmare. Bad breeders outnumber good ones by about 100 to 1.
This is the advice we usually give to people looking for a sibe puppy (it works for Mals too):

The advice above holds true for Malamutes as well as huskies. As far as deliberately bred husky/Mal crosses are concerned, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. They are being bred for money and no other reason. No ethical breeder of either sibes or Mals would allow their dogs to be used in this way.

Anyway, as I said, feel free to contact us and arrange to visit our dogs. Contact us by e-mail through our website - http://www.dreamcatcher.org.uk

Or, if you fancy a good day out with loads of doggie attractions - come along to a new event "Only Paws and Horses" at the Hop Farm, Paddocks Wood, Kent next Bank Holiday weekend. We will be there with the SHWA(UK) stand and all our dogs. - http://www.onlypawsandhorses.co.uk/

Good luck

Mick

Thank you all for the replies- nice to find a bunch of folks so paaionate about their owners

Mick, damn shame about the weekend thing; we're going away for that weekend; first time off work since Chrimble, so a long weekend lying in a pool sounds the way forward Thank you so much for the offer of meeting your pack though- truly appreciated mate.

One thing that does concern me at the mo is the weather. I'm melting indoors; alternating between the house and garden clad in only in boardies and guzzling a steady supply of margheritas How the hell do I keep a Mal/sibe cool in this weather? I think giving them a crew cut would get me lynched by some people here... Could I ship the fish off to Mom's and turn the fish pond into a paddling pool for them, or just make sure they have a shady, breezy spot in the garden as well as a cool den indoors? Aircon *should* be happening this year, but maybe selling up and heading back to the countryside.

Tbh, not concerned about making any changes that are needed to keep my little dependants happy n healthy; it's that whole duty of care thang again...

Lastly (for now...) regarding excercise; the thought of a 5 mile run makes me cringe. Walking not a problem- helps with the back injury. but is that going to be enough for a young pup? I know that a team can be harnessed and run a buggy, but if I came home, after spending best part of £5k on puppies n kit, the wife would probably kill me. Or at least not talk to me for a while. Hmmm.. I've seen some people advocating hooking up a single dog to a pushbike and letting him pull that; sounds like a recipe for cuts, breaks and abrasions

Any thoughts are, as always, greatly appreciated.

Ttfn,

Jon,

P.S hope your pups are dealing with the heatwave

Actually something that you REALLY need to consider, with any of these breeds is the desire to pull, unless you are prepared to put a lot of work in teaching the dog to walk nicely you may be in for a LOT more back pain, I myself have just had my third surgery on my spine, its not good when they get excited to get out and tug at the lead, I personally got into northern breed dogs via samoyeds, had them for around 20ish years, love the breed, beautiful to look at require some real grooming to keep their coats looking good, some but not all are a bit yappy, I have had malamutes for about 10 years got 5 at the moment, I truely wouldnt say they are a first time dog owners ideal dog, they can be quite headstrong, shouldnt IMO be allowed off lead, and only exercised in areas that are fully enclosed, are pretty good re exercise, if I cant get out with mine on any given day they chill out, but usually need some form of exercise/activity to keep them calm and as they are a very intelligent animal can get bored, boredom sometimes displays itself in the form of redesigning your home, nice gardens can become a thing of the past as many mal owners find their dogs like to dig "dens" in their lawns, they can have a high prey drive, ie the local cats will have to be on alert, and can be dominant with other dogs especially of the same sex, although this is NOT always the case some mals get on with other dogs very well, but its something you have to take into consideration, if you are not an active person, and not "into" the outdoor life I personally would say northern breeds are not for you.

re the temp/weather, we have a portable air con unit bought just for the dogs, shaving the coat is a big no no, as beleive it or not the coat is there to help regulate the coat in different temps, in cold weather the double coat is an insulator, in the hotter climate cool air gets trapped in the coat to help keep the dog a little cooler, but obviously any dog should have adequate shade, possibly fans, or even aircon, plenty of cool fresh water when the temps rise. re the breeder you mentioned, not a place I would go for a dog thats for sure. you can contact the breed club and ask for a breeders list usually the breeders on their club website, are breeders that agree to abide by the clubs breeding code of ethics, ie not breed from bitches under age, or too often, will only breed from dogs that have clear health tests, will only breed from dogs that conform to breed standard etc. you can also go on my website, there is quite a bit of information on the breed, for you to read.

good luck.

Mo

A pup will be fine with short walk , play in the garden until about 10-12 months then should be ok for gradually longer walks .In the hot weather we take ours out early morning & late evenings for walks, no runs in harness whilst weather is still humid/hot unless we get a nice cool night. In the day ours have a hard plastic kids paddle pool/ sand pit to splash about or lay in or they lay in the house/ shade of garden sleeping. we run ours with the bike , its great fun & can be hazardous if lines get tangled in front wheel so we use a metal antenna to keep lines off front wheel when the dogs slow down. Just make sure you wear a helmet nut sure you would enjoy it, dogs love it too.

Mo, I was/am an outdoorsey type; love camping, taking part in hillwalking competitions, hunting (not in the UK alas) and fishing, just took a bad knock and have been slowed down a bit. Also, since I hit 30 I've noticed that the healing process has slowed. This whole getting old thing can b*gger off :/

Doggie training will happen, with both my wife and myself attending/ participating; don't want the dog responding to just one of us- don't know if that's how it works or not. WIll research more (ty google)

Lastly, the 'landscaping' side really wouldn't phase me= would mean I could stop paying for a company to come and look after everything- win win

Oh, and the shavy thing was *not* a serious thought- but didn't know about the cooling properties; thought it a purely warmth thang. Ain't Mother Nature a smart cookie?

Ttfn

J

hi

four outa my six are currently sunbathing as we speak!! twonks!!;-)

not alot of info but id thought id share lol ;-)

I know we just recently got a gentle leader for our husky pup (10 months) as she wouldn't slow down enough to listen to us... I swear out on walks her ears ore off and all she care's about is pulling... Now she just doesn't pull at all and she listens a whole lot better, so I think that we can start using the listening advantage to teach her how to walk nicely...

Also we rollerblade with her and it's easy because she just follows the track around the park... we're trying to teach her the word "slow down" so i can also take her and have a chance of stopping with out falling on purpose and with out dropping the leash (like I do with my BC x because she doesn't go any where and if I tell her to slow down she stops 2 feet in front of you ) I'm going to try my little scooter next because it has a brake and it's way easier to stop, and if I feel like I'm going over I just step on the ground. Might be safer for you

Also we plan on getting a kitty pool (one of the cheep plastic types) for her because she loves to play around in the water and it'll keep her cool in the summer. We are also going to leave a nice big patch of dirt that she can play in and dig and lay down in the cool earth (right now about 60% of the yard or more is dirt, we're going to try to either grow grass or put turf down soon), it'll give her a place to dig that she's allowed so she won't be always trying to find a place.

Heat isn't a huge problem for these breeds. As Mo says, the coat acts efficiently as an insulator - both against cold and heat. Most northern breeds will cope with hot weather by the simple expedient of sleeping through it. The only thing you really have to avoid is allowing them to exercise too hard in hot, humid conditions as this could, in extreme situations lead to heat exhaustion or even heat stroke. As Brenda Marie says - a paddling pool is also ideal to help keep them cool:







MIck

Love the pics Mick! Such a cute baby (sorry off topic I know, but there's pictures!)

hi. Im a newbie here but I have a beautiful 9 month old Mal Storm who we've had since he was 8 weeks old.
He is certainly harder work than our labrador was but he makes us laugh every day
If you get a Mal you should say goodbye to an immaculate garden, mine looks like a building site in places lol, and be prepared for 'help' with everything you do, from emptying the washing machine to washing your hair Storm sat on my feet for the first 2 weeks whatever I was doing
He does love his paddling pool in this weather tho, and he loves getting us wet too