My new winter hobby (well maybe next year)

[Samnooshka]

We went down to Ringwood in the New Forest today to watch some friends compete in the ABSA (Sled dog championship). Although a little chilly we got to meet some more Malamutes and Huskies and it ended up being a fantastic day out. Now sitting on the sofa warming up under a blanket, waiting for my feet to thaw out a bit.

Jester and Lacey (Brother and Sister 12 weeks old) muddy puppy play

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Woody.... came with Golden Tinsel and special effect lights for eyes lol

http://static.flickr.com/141/325011620_b7d8937af2.jpg

Lupo (13 weeks old) and Jester (12 weeks old) Playing

http://static.flickr.com/139/325007678_9e5e68c967.jpg

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And some more....

Woody and Lupo

http://static.flickr.com/135/325033722_fd676fdd6a.jpg

Woody

http://static.flickr.com/144/325031567_ebc6240d23.jpg

Some more Huskies

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Lupo and Kemo (16 weeks old) (sp?)

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Lupo and Kemo (sp?) again

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I have a load more but got to work through the rest, and don't want to bore people with it lol

[husky03]

welcome to a new mad world then-soon the dogs will take over your life and that'll be it-everything else will be put second(quote-the wifes words)-brilliant hobby :D !

husky :D

[Samnooshka]

He has really changed our lives, and no way would we be without him. It was nice to see so many Malamutes and Huskies. And our friend Kirsty one this race today so i expect they are still celebrating, her quote to us when she came over to givbe hugs to Lupo was... "yeah it was a good run, and Fin wasn't really pulling, just running alongside"... when we saw the results she had won!! just how fast do these dogs run if they run flat out.

The noises they made were amazing too, at one stage most of them were howling to the sky, and it only takes one dog to set them off too. Even Lupo had a little howl hehehe.

[Coddy_SV1000Z]

lovely dogs in those pics

[kwak zzr]

Woody looks a bad a$$ :wink:

[Samnooshka]

Woody looks a bad a$$ :wink:

Hahahahaha, yeah right :wink: they are such soppy dogs. You get to know which ones are ok and which ones to avoid.

[netsurfer]

I want one :D

Pete

[Biker Biggles]

Great aren't they?
How can anyone not like dogs?

[philipMac]

I saw packs of these lads, out in this town at the end of Patagonia called Calafate.
They were all working dogs I think. They had these mad blue eyes, really piercing icey blue. When I saw them first, I went over to have a look, and maybe pet one, but they were not interested in that in the slightest. The packs were very anti human it seemed, not interested at all, and even a little menacing as a group.
I learned to stay away from them, like all the locals did. They wouldnt bother you, if you kept clear of them.

Your lads have a more chubby, friendly look about them. I suppose the lads I saw were on their summer holidays away from the sledges, and got rounded up again when the winter rolled around.
Lovely looking animals though. Glad to see you are giving them the exercise that they are used to as well.

[Samnooshka]

I saw packs of these lads, out in this town at the end of Patagonia called Calafate.
They were all working dogs I think. They had these mad blue eyes, really piercing icey blue. When I saw them first, I went over to have a look, and maybe pet one, but they were not interested in that in the slightest. The packs were very anti human it seemed, not interested at all, and even a little menacing as a group.
I learned to stay away from them, like all the locals did. They wouldnt bother you, if you kept clear of them.

Your lads have a more chubby, friendly look about them. I suppose the lads I saw were on their summer holidays away from the sledges, and got rounded up again when the winter rolled around.
Lovely looking animals though. Glad to see you are giving them the exercise that they are used to as well.

The pack you saw were huskies. Huskies are very different to Malamutes which is what i have. They have blue eyes where as mals have brown. Huskies are very slim and a lot smaller than a mal, huskies are used for their speed due to there light frame. Malamutes are very powerful and used for their strength they are very heavy set. Seeing Lupo standing next to a husky he is already wider than one and about 2/3 the size. Average weight of a husky tends to be under 40kg and up to 61cm at the shoulder. Average weight of a malamute is over 40kg some of the boys there yesterday were 52kg, one puppy was only about 9 maybe 10 months at the most and he weighed over 9st.... they don't stop growing until they are 18 months old, malamutes are also on average over 71cm at the shoulder, so my boy is going to be huge when he's grown.

http://www.icetrax.com/Photos/dreamer.jpg
Husky (also the dogs pulling the rigs above were huskies, we missed the malamute runs as we got there a little late)

As for the aggressiveside of them, in a pack it is best to avoid any dog tbh, and the owner should have the common sense to tell people not to come too close. We go walking with 3 other malamutes at the weekend as well as our little one, and they are fine as they don't all live together but common sense tells us to leash them all back up when passing another dog or people.

Our malamutes are very friendly and love people but all of them have been raised around many different people and children. As for the sledding, the dogs are worked all year round, but just not for so long in the summer. We use the 3 wheeled rigs which were also used yesterday. We are going to ket a kick bike (large scooter) for Lupo when he is old enough, and then he'll be a year old at the start of next season so i'll be able to compete, hopefully looking at running him alongside Ranger as they are best mates at the moment (ranger is onnly 10 or 11 months old so still a puppy himself). Then maybe in about 18 months time we maybe able to look at getting him a sister so we can train them together when she is old enough (I'm still working on Rigor for this hehehe). But we'll see how lupo takes to it.

Ok so i've rambled on a bit, but i love these dogs. Lupo is very friendly too, but i want to socialise him as much as possible, so expect to be seeing a lot of him when we are at meets.

[husky03]

hello-huskys don't just come with blue eyes :shock: -common misconception that one I'm afraid-
proof of the pudding below-


http://upload4.postimage.org/1946063/CNV00069.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1946063/photo_hosting.html)

and

http://upload4.postimage.org/1946105/pics812.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1946105/photo_hosting.html)

but some do-

http://upload4.postimage.org/1946141/Picture136.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1946141/photo_hosting.html)



http://upload4.postimage.org/1946151/kodabiggerjuly010.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1946151/photo_hosting.html)

just like people eh?-all different types and colours :)

husky :D

[Samnooshka]

hello-huskys don't just come with blue eyes :shock: -common misconception that one I'm afraid-

husky :D

true hehehe i meant to say is that malamutes don't have blue eyes, or they should't have :lol: gorgeous dogs by the way, do you work yours?

[husky03]

Hi sam-lost conection there-cheers for comment on my dogs-yep work them-on rig and scooter-scooters more fun in my view-bigger sense of speed.The pup at the bottom is koda,he's now seven months old and is the strongest husky I've every came across for his age-still a midget compared to the mals-wife wouldn't let me get a mal when I started with the dogs,but when I managed to get bigger house and more room for bigger kennels i'm gonna get me a few mals.I think they look adorable.

husky :D

[Samnooshka]

Let me know when you're at a rally if you go, would love to meet your guys :) Lupo met loads yesterday and loves them :D but then he loves anything and everyone at the moment lol

We are mainly going to the ones around south of england at the moment as we can't compete for another 9 months :(

Going to get a scooter to start off with and we have some friends near by to try him on the rig. Just got to wait anoth 2 or 3 months before we can start training.

Good luck with getting a mal, they are lovely dogs. We got ours from icetrax (http://www.icetrax.com) also get signed up on the icebay forum (http://www.icebaymals.co.uk/forums/), they have some great advice for both mals and huskies.

Sammy[/url]

[husky03]

will do-good luck with his training-devotion is the key

husky

[Kelly]

Wow looks like you guys had fun, lots of puppy hugs there too.

[philipMac]

Samnooshka... Ahh. I see, Malamutes are not huskies. I thought this was the same animal but with a sort of Inuit name. I getcha.

Your lads definitely have a more stocky look about them than the boys I saw, I assumed that since my chaps were roaming around the back end of Patagonia, seemingly by themselves, they were just lean.

I have to say though, its very impressive to be coming back from the grocery shop, and have a pack of them potter past you, for all the world giving you the impression they are just off down to the snooker hall. With the occasional look off one of them, "Yeah? Got a problem human? I am on my holidays, now bugger off".

[Samnooshka]

:lol:

[dirtydog]

Lupo is very friendly too.

A few of us at the Guildford massive can vouch for that statement :lol:

[Tara]

Lupo is very friendly too.

A few of us at the Guildford massive can vouch for that statement :lol:

and very cute

[zobo]

:D :D :D Oh my lord they are some beautiful dog you guys of got there...I sooo would like dog now I've changed my job...well I now walk dogs for a living which is lovely when they behave.. Is it true about Huskies..they are very hard to train..?

[Samnooshka]

Not that hard :) within the first week or 2 of Lupo being home he knew all the basic commands... don't know whether that is just persistance from me or from him being intelligent. Huskies and Malamutes are intelligent and rank one of the most intelligent of dog breeds. They are however stubborn and this is where the difficulty lies with their training... they need a reason to obey a command and you just wanting them to do it doesn't suffice... if they feel that their decison is better than yours they will not do as they are told.

They are nautral born runners and needs constant training to the come command followed by food rewards constantly. I wouldn't say that they are hard to train, you just need to be willing to put a lot of time into their training and be very strict in your training methods, and be willing to follow through with a command, if you say sit, you must get the dog to sit.

These dogs are not very responsive to shouting either and shouting at the dog will get him questioning if you are coping with being a leader and will most likely challenge you for it.

Hope that answers your question :wink:

[zobo]

Yeah thanks I take a Husky and a part Huskyxwolf out on my walks..the Husky I need to keep on the lead...no recall as the owner hasn't trained him but the Huskyxwolf as been trained by reward on his return..it's such a same when people have these when they don't have the time to spend with them... the Husky owner as gone and got another pup too and they're out ALL day :evil:

Is there anymore events like the one you went to in the south east..?? would luv to see these dogs in action...plus it'd be a good chance for me to see what i'd be letting myself in for if I ever got one :D

[Samnooshka]

Yeah thanks I take a Husky and a part Huskyxwolf out on my walks..the Husky I need to keep on the lead...no recall as the owner hasn't trained him but the Huskyxwolf as been trained by reward on his return..it's such a same when people have these when they don't have the time to spend with them... the Husky owner as gone and got another pup too and they're out ALL day :evil:

Is there anymore events like the one you went to in the south east..?? would luv to see these dogs in action...plus it'd be a good chance for me to see what i'd be letting myself in for if I ever got one :D

I don't mean to stick my nose in here, but with the huskyX that you walk, it is very unlikely that it is crossed with a wolf for the following reasons, 1 being that a wolfx is illegal in the UK without a license and it needs to be kept muzzled and on a leash at the least, if not caged in some way. I would question where this dog originated from. it is most likely to be crossed with an Alsatian or some kind or Nordic breed... Husky03 what is your view on this? Not only this but sled dogs have a very high prey drive and not recommended for keeping with small pets. A husky Wolf's prey drive will be even higher, i would just keep your eye on him and if he is off the lead then i would advise keeping him in an area that is fenced off, find a large park or something so he can't run far.

My other advice too is to get signed up on the icebay forum, it is mainly aimed at malamutes which is what i have, but a lot of owners own huskies too. Do a lot of research around the breed and make sure they are really what you want to get into, they are hard work, i am lucky in the fact i am more stubborn than my dog at times but he would drive anyone less stubborn than me up the wall.

If you want to go to some events look on the snopeak website (all links i'll list in a minute), they have all the major events listed there. however all the events are in winter as during the summer these dogs just can't cope running in the heat, so wear your woolies etc.

I would also buy a couple of books about huskies or malamutes once you have decided which breed would suit you. bear in mind malamutes are bigger and stronger than huskies but i think they require a little less exercise (and that is still a lot hehehe).

Ok so i have preached on a lot here, but we are new to the world of sled dogs and i want to share my experience and knowledge i have gained, baring in mind i have been researching the breed for a long time before making the final decision. Another piece of advice is to research the breeders, call them up and ask them questions even better would be to arrange a visit and ask to see the parents of the pups, look at living conditions and general condition of the bitch and her pups. Keep an eye open for puppy farms or unethical breeders. Ask to see the pedigree certificates to see if the dog is a genuine malamute / husky, if you are looking at competing with your dog when it is older, some classes of the working dogs require pedigrees.

If you have any more questions just pm me, i'll be happy to let you know or find out from someone who does know.

Links:

snopeak for events (http://www.snopeak.net/events.asp)
icebay malamute forum (http://www.icebaymals.co.uk/forums/)
dog training (http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Teach-New-Dog-Tricks/dp/1888047062/sr=1-1/qid=1166549758/ref=sr_1_1/026-7912084-9601237?ie=UTF8&s=books) i think this one would have been good for you if you are walking the dogs anyway :D
Malamute Book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alaskan-Malamute-Love-Thomas-Stockman/dp/1902389034/sr=1-2/qid=1166549822/ref=sr_1_2/026-7912084-9601237?ie=UTF8&s=books)
B.A.R.F (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Your-Pups-Bones-Eliminating/dp/0958592500/sr=1-3/qid=1166549908/ref=sr_1_3/026-7912084-9601237?ie=UTF8&s=books) This book is really good as an introduction to feeding your husky / malamute, we feed Lupo on raw chicken wings, turkey wings and raw chicken carcasses as well as raw fruit and veg once a week. But worth a look if you wanted to get started.

HTH

[zobo]

Thanks for the advise..
I know what you mean about the Huskyxwolf...that's what the owner says he is, but I've seen a real Huskyxwolf while I was in Canada in a wolf sanctuary and they're were alot bigger...so I think your right

Good luck with your future events more pic's espesh of Lupo :D :D

[Samnooshka]

No problem, as i said if you want any more advice or you have a question, just pm me i'll be happy to help. i have a flickr page where i dump all my Lupo Photo's (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rigor_photos/) but i'm sure i will add some on here from time to time especially as he grows, he's only 15 kgs at the moment so a fair way to go yet lol

[zobo]

P.S if you've not already read this book I recommend its called Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat :D