Huskamute? Why? Controversial

Again, I'll say I have a problem with the breeders, not the dogs they produce, after all, they didn't ask to be born did they?

I support breeding that intends to improve on something, wether that be purebreeding or crossbreeding, I gave some examples of that. I don't feel breeding just for the hell of it, or for money, is for the improvement of anything. Byb, who breed with little regard to health and temperament, have done far more damage to breeds then the handfull of today's show breders, who take the competition to seriously.

What do sib x mals improve? what do they have, that the parent breeds don't? what is the reason for breeding them as aposed to just breeding sibs or mals?. The only thing I can think of, is an increase in heterozygosity, but strangely, I don't think most huskamute breeders are thinking of genetics when they're breeding, and I doubt if these x breeds would find their way into any diversity projects sib or mal breeders may undertake in the future. When I say these x breeds, I'm refering to the byb and puppyfarmed huskamutes, not the few responsibly bred ones that must be out there.

im with you on this one .....mind u i still cant see the reason to breed 'responsibly bred' ones either i just see ££££££:-(

I was trying to be a bit more diplomatic? but yeah, £££ is most likely, though I'm quite prepared to be proven wrong.

So lovely to see pics of Nanuq again Ingi. I agree he is a stunning laddie

SSHC Welfare are concerned about the amount of calls we are getting from owner asking us to take in husky x mals they can't cope with. Not one breeder was interested in taking the dog back. All have ended up in rescue centres. There is no safety net in place for these guys and never likely to be. But the deliberate crossing of these northern breeds will continue with one intention.......£££££

Spot the Siberlaskan Huskamute ;-)


Woo Woo's for Auntie Layla


Take care.

Seoniad.

Totally agree..the amount of older "Huskamutes" crosses for sale or to good home is scary, also rescues and the like assuming they are breeds or new breeds when they are not.. they need a safety net for the unfortunate cutey pies that grow into a handful of naughtyness as they havent been trained or stimulated properly by the owner who went for cuteness rather than nature.

As with all dogs crosses pedigrees there will always be folks who do it solely for money, and those who do it for improvement.... again another reason why it should be law that ALL puppies are microchipped by the breeder then they are responsible for the outcome of the pups and might be a bit more responsible who they sell to etc...there are far too many rescues out there because the owner didnt expect the bahaviour of the grown up puppy, and also the fact that they are only interested in fashion and looking good....not interested in taking time to house train, socialise etc...

sad but true :-( :-( :-(
ma boy !!! woo woo's to woo too handsome

SSHC Welfare are concerned about the amount of calls we are getting from owner asking us to take in husky x mals they can't cope with. Not one breeder was interested in taking the dog back. All have ended up in rescue centres. There is no safety net in place for these guys and never likely to be. But the deliberate crossing of these northern breeds will continue with one intention.......£££££

Actually I think all these x's and the purebreds are facing this, not just northern breeds...my friends run a private rehoming husky and malamute service, and they are getting inundated with purebreeds too, they have a cute little boy at the moment that might have hip dysplacia, and he is only 18 months old and undersized due to poor nutrition...infact my husband was walking Tikaani when a lady came up and said oh I had a husky but gave it to the RSPCA because it got too big and too boisterous, one of the carers said the same thing to me...I think people see the cute cuddly puppy and forget how much work the dog is going to be. The other breed that seems to be being dumped because their a fashion breed and a status dog is staffies..look at most rehoming centres and most of the dogs will be poor staffs.

I agree with you here, unless like was said earlier it was to breed out a genetic fault in an animal, and I do have friends that are involved in just that. Breeders that do take the show dog thing seriously, IMO aren't just doing it because they want to breed the perfect show dog, because if it were just that reason, then the dogs wouldn't be costing so much... That being said, it's expensive to raise these pups and provide the fist vaccination and all the other things we as perspective owners want...

To underline what has been said above, Sibe/Mal crosses are increasingly being referred to Breed Welfares as none of the breeders seem remotely interested in taking back dogs that they have bred (one of the crucial indicators of an ethical breeder).
There are signs that the bottom has fallen out of the puppy farm/BYB market and lots of litters are now advertised at much lower prices than a year ago. While this is a good thing longterm, it is putting incredible pressure on welfares. As far as the Siberian Husky Welfare Association is concerned, so far in 2010, our rate of intake has almost tripled over 2009 figures. This coming week we will be taking in up to 40 adult dogs and puppies from one kennel alone!!!!
Because of this enormous pressure on our resources from purebred Siberians, there is simply no way we can address the needs of crossbreds as well. The result of this is that "Huskamutes" etc simply do not have a breed specific safety net and generally get rehomed privately or through less than breed-savvy general rescues, which inevitably might result in the dogs being rehomed to an unsuitable situation yet again.

Mick

I was actually on a 'Huskamute' rehoming site, someone who used to work for a Husky charity, because as you said Husky and Malamute associations will not take on crossbreeds, which is their perogative, especially if so many purebreeds are being dumped, which as I have seen is happening across the board, and it's not a problem with one breed...it's all dogs unfortunately, I am also someone who takes in rehomed reptiles etc and yep same thing happening there too! I have friends that do this as a charity as well, they have knowledge of both Sibes and Mals and are trying to get the message across about them, think there are more people getting involved and trying to educate people about these dogs and the purebreeds as so many just see the cute puppy and not the dog it will turn into. I think if I remember rightly that the Engbull and Newforset Huskies (which breed huskamutes) have clauses that they should return the dog to them if they do not want them any more.

However that being said I am sure there are a lot of people breeding these dogs that will not take back, I too know of professional breeders that are reluctant to take back dogs, and ones that will in a heartbeat, and because they say they will doesn't always guarantee someone that they will. I guess one has to rely more on word of mouth, which leaves a lot of people on a hit and miss course of where they get their dogs from.

I myself would like to get into fostering dogs and helping to rehome, but it will be a year or two in the future as right now with studying and looking after mum I don't think I have the time to put into it.

Hi Mis-Red

These are the folks who bred Jacub. We rescued him when he was 8 months old from Stoke City Dogs Home, he had been in the centre for months.

I traced his breeder and as their website states that they 'strive to keep all breeding records' I assumed they would be able to give me information as to Jacub's parentage. Bearing in mind that Jacub was only 8 months old, their response to my question was 'Love, we sell so many puppies there is no way we can tell you anything about the dog'. No concern that a dog they had bred ended up in a dogs home and without doubt they were unable to back up the claims made on their website.

I had been made aware, while doing research into the growing number of deliberate husky x mal's flooding the market, that a 'Huskamute Rescue' was to be set up with the help of Dogs Trust. I have since learned that this was once again false information given to the public.

The breeding license that appears on the website is out of date and was issued to breed Malamutes. As far as South Wales Council are aware the premises has not been checked since then.

It would be lovely to think that Jacub had been bred by people who would take responsibility for him for the rest of his life. Definately not my experience with this breeder.

Take care.

Seoniad.

Oh no, that's just horrible, they also breed purebreds too, I know...so they are selling purebreds with an out of date license? Does the KC do nothing about that either then?
What about Newforest? Does anyone have information on them? How many are being pedigree Mals are being sold to people in this situation? I have talked to a few people on forums and what not that can't speak highly enough of them so this is quite shocking??? Going to put some feelers out to see what people have found with them.

The huskamute rescue I was talking about has nothing to do with the Dogs Trust, they actually have one that a couple of males on there site at the moment needing rehoming...they also have a FB account, and this is all recent developments, the other one is for more than one sort of sled dog, sibes, mals and huskamutes..

I would love to see more dog shelters put up that aren't breed specific but perhaps animal specific with links to those that have experience of breeds...so that we don't have the situation where people who want a dog can get one without having to go to X, Y and Z before getting something that is suitable. To be honest how many people would realise their is an association that rehomes just specific breeds? They would think the RSPCA first, blue cross second...and probably wouldn't get any further. Which might mean that you get rid of the time wasters or people who know jack all, but you could also be depriving a dog and owner the chance of a very happy relationship...

Kismet is from Newforest huskies. They are not a huskamute breeding kennel as such, but more 'Back Yard Breeders' They have only two dogs Ash and Amber, both family pet Huskamutes. They have only had two litters with these dogs, one in 2008 (Kismet's litter) when Amber was 2 and one the following year, as far as I am aware they are not planning to breed her again.

They have always made it clear that they would take Kismet back if anything should happen and I could no longer take care of her, this is part of the puppy contract and they have a rehome section on their website for any other huskamutes in trouble. However all the puppies from the two litters they have had have all gone to good homes and they have not been put in the position to have to take one back, so whether or not in practice they would be able to has not been tested.

I have heard this happens quite a lot with these particular breeders but I suppose when you are breeding as a business, and pumping out so many pups its must be difficult to know one dog from another I personally wouldnt give a business like this the time of day.

Mo

Totally agree Mo.

Husky x Mals flooding the market with no responsibility taken for the future welfare of the dogs produced. How many more out there like Jacub?

Take care Mo.

Seoniad.

Hi Mis-Red

Yes they have a similar website displaying the same license selling KC registered Mals.

Take care.

Seoniad.

here's a picture of my "huskamute" Maya. She's 3 months old in this picture... has learned the basics relatively quickly.

I think its all done for money, without much care for genetic inputs, health screening, onward support. Therefore these dogs and owners get a raw deal.

On a personal note. I do often prefer the conformation of a huskamute to SOME sibes and mals, simply because some sibes are bred too light and kept underweight for the show ring and some even more daft breeders are breeding mals so heavy that they would expire in anything above -20C.
Its the fit for purpose thing again. Show salukis are also incredibly underweigt. These dogs are naturally lean unless overfed so we don't need to tinker so much.

It may be more by accident than design but kismet has turned out perfect for me. I love her broader face and big eyes. She's small but strong is steady enough to pull at a trot when I'm running and build to a good canter when on the bike. She has a super long tail that she waves like a flag. She rarely barks but woooogrrrooooofs and wooooooorooooooos all the time. She's cuddly and friendly to people. By all accounts her litter mates are the same, nut then her breeders have two huskamutes who they have mated twice all puppies from both litters share kismets looks and temperament more or less. It's not something the breeder has given much thought to reproducing consistantly. They have no intention of breeding again and have not kept a pup back from either litter. All the pups went to pet homes and all that came together at the meet up last year were neutered... So this huskamute line stops here.

The only bad trait she inherited from both sides is a hatred of small pushy dogs! She just won't take any crap and if you start it she will not take the moral high ground and ignore you. She'll fight!

Aww, I am lucky in the fact Tikaani loves all dogs and all people, especially the little kind! But then she has been brought up with a tiny JRT and a Cavalier King Charles...her biggest problem is she thinks everyone wants to be her friend.

She is doing really well with the dog training club, her recall is getting excellent and I couldn't ask for a better tempered dog.
I have made a lot of connections with people who own huskamutes, or crossbreeds of the sled dogs and the majority I have to say have nothing but good things to say about them. The husky rescue my friend fosters for has been getting an even amount of all sled dogs coming in, I think this recession and the fact we had such a dire winter are all factors...(fairweather walkers).

But in bad comes good I suppose, becasue those that can't handle these dogs then give the dogs a second chance by going to people who know how to handle them, and they are all neutered..so no accidental puppies. I hope to rehome myself in the future, as they are beautiful dogs.