What type of work, I do not know of many areas in the UK where we need sled teams to transport cargo or get to remote areas, I am guessing you are talking about recreation. I am not trying to get peoples backs up but there is a distinct level of hypocrasy in this thread. The people with the pedigree Mals ans Sibs looking down on the other owners. I have a so called Huskamute, to me he is just a crossbreed dog that we wanted and love to bits. We did not pay over the top for him in fact less than a pedigree Mal or Sibe (as should be expected) which was one consideration for us. At the time I did not even know he was classed as a 'designer dog'. So please give us a break unless you live in Alaska or Siberia and need your dogs to get arround we all have them for the same reason, because we love them for what they are.
Crossbreed, why say "Huskamute" then? I had a collie x Jack Russell, I didnt call him a Jacollie! Thats why people get cross, bunging names together "creating" a new breed for the purposes of selling!
I got the name of this site Dawn we bought a Sibe Mal cross. It does make it easier to explain his heritage though.
Fair comment, but you must appreciate why people owning either of the breeds may get cross. We now have the generation of designer cossbreeds, my own breed included in crosses like the "Borderjack" these animals are usually inferior quality to being with but are yet sold for high prices, sometimes more than the breeds themselves. Most of these types of dogs are sold by people wanting to supply the pet market, rarely have any of the parents had any health tests. I board 2 "Huskamutes" myself, one is quite a dominant, very pushy dog who has bitten his owner, he was told by the breeder that using a Sibe and a Mal, would reduce the want to run off as mals dont do that like Huskies and also they are heavier so dont have the stamina, YES REALLY!!! Thing is, one looks like a very poor Malamute and the other looks like a coarse ugly Sibe, you cant say they are one or the other. Not for one second saying yours does, but this is the type of thing that riles folk when their breeds are abused in this manner.
I normally stay out of these threads but you've got my back up big time firstly Greyhawk is the most knowledge and interesting person to talk to about Mals from colour genetics, mal diseases and lines/breeding of Malamutes she is a fountain of balanced information and an extremely nice person to boot. Maybe listen to her and not try to slate her and you might learn something........ This comment just shows how naieve you really are. Regardless if the dog is bred here or its country of orgin it should capable of doing its job weather thats pulling, herding, protecting etc. Yes I love my dogs but I also love the fact that they are capable of doing what they are bred for I didn't choose owning a malamute lightly. Sadly there is no demand for a sled dog to work in Scotland but dam sure I'll still harness her up and get out on the trails because we love it.
I was not slating any one but just because I am not an expert on all things Mal or Sibe I do not wish to be made to feel like a second class dog owner just because I have one of the hated 'Huskamutes' (this by the way has not come from Greyhawk) I agree that Greyhawk and Louise13 have a great and vast knowledge of the breeds and have asked Louise for her opinion on things in the past, but that still does not mean I wish to be looked down upon (neither of the above mentioned do this it seems to be some of the other contributors that like to do this) I also agree that a dog should be able to do what it is bred for but don't confuse recreation for real work. Recreation is for your satisfaction. Work is a necessity.
The quote you made about basically getting real that unless we live in alaska and work our dogs etc that to me can across as you slating Greyhawk and Louise. If this was not your intention then I apologies I have never ever slate huskamutes check my previous posts, I do not like what they stand for pure and simple a money making exercise this is my experince of the kennels that I have come across that are breeding such a crossbreed. The dogs are not to blame and I've seen one or two that I'd happily take home I still completely disagree with the comment below Please tell me how a dog tells the difference between work and play. My girls don't know the difference prime example is my Neela a border collie plays at agility and flyball but has just as much fun and enjoyment when she is out working for my friend who is a real shepherd (i.e. does it for a living and Neela is working for her). People forget that dogs are breed for different purposes and we should channel those traits regardless if it is true work or play. A malamute is a malmute weather it is a working dog in alaska or pet dog pullin her momma along the trails of Scotland.
I would agree with the making money from giving incorrect info about what a Huskamute is and will do IS wrong. Our lad came from a home (not a breeder) that had a Sibe and a Mal that mated (whether the owners should have made more of an effort to prevent this is up for argument). He will be neutered as soon as he is old enough and then live a happly with us running our life As a by note; I would love to be able to run him along the trails of Scotland. My comment about recreation/work may have been a bit naughty but I was being a bit defensive. Sorry
LOL another can of worms think we'll leave that one closed you better believe it you'll be in for some fun times I'm just as defensive over my princess don't worry about it :mini: and if your ever up Scotland way Lou and I would happily show some of the trails
You may find us taking you up on that, be warned there's alot of us tho. Along with the dogs I have 3 teenage daughters that also run my life
Awww thanks guys Yes, as has been said, I do run my dogs in harness. If you can't imagine it then think of it in human terms - if you had two people running together, completely different builds - one built for speed (lighter, more athletic) and the other much heavier boned, capable of pulling heavy weights but not at speed. What would happen if you ran them in a race? The lighter, more athletic and one built for speed would win. Now what would happen if you tied these people together - would the faster runner force the other to run faster? Possibly over a very short distance but they could not keep it up, they would stumble or fall. This is what would happen to a dog, if you put a slow dog with two fast dogs then if you are not careful they can end up being dragged (necklined). If they could not catch their feet then they could fall. Similarly you also can get dogs who cut their pads up by resisting being pulled forward faster than they can comfortably go. The reason you (normally) run your faster dogs at the front is so they don't 'run over' the slower dogs. If I had a fast two at the back (and my brakes weren't working to keep them back) then they would overtake the dogs in the front (and you would get a tangle). By putting your faster dogs up front they always stay ahead of your slower dogs however they can not force the slower dogs to go faster than they can actually go. I hope you can make sense of my rambling and see why you can not go faster than your slowest dog. It is not a case of looking down on other owners at all, it isn't the dogs themselves people have problems with, it is the people who choose to cross breed the two purely for profit Ok, you're making me blush now I just have a lot of interest in the above topics so have spent time researching them. Not so sure about the nice person bit though ... This is a very good post and also fits in nicely with another thread that is running at the moment, where someone has asked if show and working lines should be split. As DC said, our dogs should be capable of doing the job they were bred for (unfortunately you see some in the ring that couldn't ) and no, we can't run them for hundreds of miles like they would be in Alaska (over several days) but mine have done up to 12 miles before (in one day) and loved it
I have been off line for a while and havent caught up yet, but I just want to correct this misinterpretation of my post. Yes it is down to my poor wording for those that can not interpretate things easily As I was trying to say... I do not think it is right to cross breeds purly for eye colour OR even breed purly for eye colour or ANY cosmetic reason for that matter full stop.
Sadly,IMO, it is the show ring that has destroyed many if not ALL breeds, many of these dogs are now unable to do the job they were intended for cos people took it too far, and we have ended up with mutants that are good for nothing, and suffer for it!! Sorry off topic maybe? But this is one of the reasnos I want a natural built and looking dog, I believed at the time I had found that. As we all know this is not the case at all.
Get it right Dawn, the crappy byb`s who churn out BC x JRTs for bank balance boosting, they call them `Borderjacks` as the fake designer name, not jacollie ;-) My BC x JRT, however, is what she is - a crossbreed/mutt/mongrel
Yep you're right! Had a Pugrussell too, mouth so undershot it was like a shovel! They only paid £800 for it too, healthier than normal Pugs. (apart from the fact it cant pick food up!!)
NI arent natural built Cheyenne, they have been designed (in a VERY short time) to look like they do. Apart from some construction faults (looking at the standard) many health faults have also been bred into them because of bad breeding practice, whats "natural" about that? Its a type of dog destroyed by bad breeders.
Yes I know that, what I meant was a natural looking build, but as I said "I believed at the time I had found that." I also believed they were a healthy breed about to be KC recognised. Sorry for going off topic again.
I may not work my dogs like they do in their original country, but, they can still do a days work, they are a freighting breed and as such should be able to freight, eg not a sledding story but the power of a malamute that is bred to haul heavy loads, I helped out today at work with my dogs, we had some VERY heavy large trees cut down, and I hooked my dogs up and they HAULED those trees into an area to be cut into smaller chunks, only dogs that are built for that purpose could have done that job, just because we dont live in the snow and cold does not mean that we cant WORK our malamutes. Mo
After watching the 'weight pull' at Aviemore last week I can just see your guys now, and they love it My concern with our Husky x Mal is how best to work him. He will never be able to keep up with his sibe team mates (they go like rockets ) and I don't want him doin solitary work :-( He's still a young lad and just started training so hopefully this time next year we will have a better idea of what he is capable of. Right now we are moving our dog run and he is helpin his mummy move the heavy stuff. The laddie loves it Hope this finds everyone well. Seoniad