tangled-musher

Hi, as HP said, unless your picking to cooler days and out at first light or last thing at night, i would consider not running at the moment. It is too warm and humid for the Dogs to be working in harness and this being a critical time of the dogs development one bad run could turn her off for good from Working in harness. Some dogs dont pull at all, some take time to mature intomthemselvesmfirst, some want to pull from day one. It can be specific to each individual dog dispite bloodlines etc. You also mentioned running in her harness, while having her headcollar on? By this i take it you are also using a halti (?) So your in effect asking the back end to pull but youve trained the front end with her headcollar on not too. Being that the brain is at the front end, that could be one problem lol. If youve trained her not to pull with a headcollar, i would say, ditch it, just use a harness and encourage her to pull as much as she likes. Ok, you might have a harder time walking her, but you got to think do you want to exploit her natural desire and breeding to pull? Or do you want to trainer her not to, it gets confusing for her. You can in some cases train both, as per a working dog that shows well. Use the collar for walking, leave it at home and use the harness for working/pulling she should with consistant training get to understand the difference. Personaly i hate seeing haltis etc on sibes. If you dont want it to pull, then dont buy a sled dog breed. The biking before the dog works, get someone the dog likes to ride just ahead and to encouage it to chase, putting her with a well trainex older team after their run for a steady short run helps as she will hopefuly learn its fun to run and she will learn from the other dogs. I would however make sure its a smaller, older hence slower team that she might hAve met before So it doesnt freek her out. And do Consider that humidity is as important as temperature with these guys! So Maybe wait tilll autumn and use summer to work on her gee haw Commands. Matt

personaly too early, as other have said before, those 2 weeks are very important weeks in a pups life for many reasons. being sceptical, just wondering as you said shipping... does she breed a lot? and also i would be wary that the whole mums getting aggressive thing is just a ploy to get pup gone to you earlier than you'd like. is the pup kc reg'd? were parents hip scored, eye checked etc??? just wondering.... good luck.

semi slips should be fine as long as adjusted correctly, or the adjustable standard webbing collars sold by many sled dog sport outfitters. try country hounds, culpeppers or snowpawstore, dont use the chain half checks as not suitable for dogs staked out. as for harnesses, try the manmat distance harness. excellent, padded, solid and designed for working sled dogs. matt

pups advertised on the internet are often by puppy farmers, as you have found out, will sell for money, the highest bidder etc, theres also a lot of scams out there. just out of interest... pm me the answer, was the pup who went to the folk who sold the day later from swindon area. we have someone here that we know has been taking in welfares and rehomes then selling on for £400 or more! just wondered if this was the same person up to their tricks again? as others have said, why not talk to shwa or shcgb welfare as they are overflowing with dogs looking for homes, you have the support they offer once you have taken one on from them and all the advice you could ever need as well. they will have checked the dog out for any potential problems and will make you aware of them so at least you have some idea of what you are getting. dont rush in! take your time and find the right dog for you, dont just jump at the first one to come along and dont be tempted by internet ads for pups for sale. especialy the ones that say you will need to pay them for transportation, someone has died and left them the dog to rehome etc etc. often these are overseas scammers who will take your money and guess what... the dog never arrives! please consider going to a reputable welfare organisation like siberian husky club of GB ( shcgb - the official breed club ) or to siberian husky welfare association (shwa). personaly i would avoid the 'huskamute' adverts as well or rather siberian x alaskan malamute, many are puppy farmers or back yard breeders. hope that helps, matt

Well maths never was my strong point! Lol.

Ahhhh just remembered who you two are! Doh! So Sorry guys!!! Being blonde and a bit thick today! Haha hows you guys anyway?

Managed to edit some mistkes in the above reply so deleted the corrections i posted her, trying to reply using iphone.... Bloody thing hahaha

Thanks for the corrections GMK was going from old memories of stories read and digest past. I read cruelest miles when it first came out and was trying to remember the facts haha. Was chatting with barbara fisk, juliet trent and a few others at our annual get together last weekend about the history of the seppala sibes, the bloodlines, dogs etc, facinating! Aunty barbs knew alot of the dogs way back and showed her working seppala dogs under dorothy page's husband whos name i forget, shes very knowledgeable with almost encylopedic memory on the lines, individual dogs and the seppala line, knows/knew doug willet, wheelers and jj bragg very well. So much history and goings on in the breed. Between us we all have some sepps, good as always to see so many together when we meet up - sorry folks its a private bbq between family and friends- but you can see some pics of some of the dogs on my facebook photos. 'Matt hammersley' Qonos - are you uk based? Trying to remember who you are haha. Can send pedigree info on our lines privatly if you like? Kazachye lines out of juliet and vinces kalyk and our Bitch lolly.

might just be he doesnt like towels, or is just being vocal rather than growling? ours do the same, one is very foot shy and will winge at you full volume when she has to have booties on for racing or feet cleaned after a muddy time in the garden. how old is he? does he have arthritis as determinded by a vet? you could try 'joint aid for dogs' by gwf nutrition. amazing stuff that we have all our dogs on as precautionary as well as to help with recovery after working.

hey dygo, ah we know that one all to well lol! thanks for the official welcome!!! ive been keeping and eye but not posting or just occasionaly for a good year or so and joined while ago now to defend a post about how evil us mushers are and on the request of other members to help offer advice and information to others, i have been an active member of other boards for many many years, we ve been intrenched in the sport of mushing and the breed for 12 years or so and know the usual arguements and what will cause heated debates, and certainly arnt here or do not want to cause trouble or start arguements, but to offer help and advice to the many new owners of the breed and those looking into working their sibes. if it helps just one person in the breed, or stops one irresponsible breeding, thats good enough for me! you have to ask though, why do people get so heated and defensive about them breeding non kc dogs/back yard dogs if they dont have a good reason for doing so. looking forward to reading other posts and will help when and if i can. best wishes - matt

dotn applogies, good post and interesting to hear what your sepp is like.

good news joe. well done!

ok im gonna upset the apple cart here. thats a great post, very imformative, full of good info....but..... unless you have planned the breeding, done all the checks on the parents, their parents etc...checked the bloodlines being used for prospective genetic problems, hips, eyes etc etc, had your dog hip scored, eye checked and gonioscopied, dna tested, researched the bloodlines, have excellent examples of the breed that have proven themselves in the working/showing/or both areans, plan on at somepoint in the pups lives, from 8 weeks to 16 years, having those dogs back at a moments notice to you ( yes even at 16 years old some of come back to their breeders!), have KC registered dogs on both sides with no 'R' restrictions, the permissions of your dogs breeders to breed from your dog and a very good reason to breed, be prepared to loose your bitch during pregnancy, loose the pups even after birth, pay thousands in vets bills for any problems during labour and still not have pups or even your beloved bitch and a very very very good reason for breeding and producing puppies....(other than it would be nice for them to have puppies, it would be nice for my dog to sire a litter, its good for a bitch to have one litter - wives tale, its not!!)......DONT BREED! in the strongest possible way!!!!!! DONT BREED! if your dog does get 'caught' by your/another un-nutured dog, then please dont just think, yey! puppy time! consider taking to the vets within 3 days for the morning after jab! the breed is being wrecked, over bred and there are far too many puppies being churned out and bred in the UK at the moment. its not all its cracked up to be having puppies, its very stressful for you and the dog, can be dangerous for the bitch, can add to the thousands of unwanted dogs being bred and ending up in welfare and to do it properly you should have some very good reasons for doing so, as well as being prepared to have some deep pockets. the cost of one breeding that went to plan as an example, we bred our bitch lolly, we wanted to 'further' our already proven working lines. we have been working and racing siberians for over 11 years, lolly has been on my main team for many years, has been instrumental in helping us win many many races, championship placings, has proven herself in the show ring and is an excellent example of the breed. KC registered with lines we can trace back to the 1940's. we deciced to bred from her as our other bitch we felt was to old, even at 7 years old, has irregular seasons, dispite being our all time leader from top lines with an amazing working abilty. it took months of research of lolly's lines and the prospective father of the pups lines, who was a proven leader on his owners championship winning team, an amazing working dog with stunning show results, again with an exemplary bloodline. after extensive tests we got the results, eyes 100% from full gonioscopy, hips 0/0 for the prospective dad, lollys also 100% eyes from full gonioscopy and 0/7 hips, the 7 was awarded due to an x-ray problem that caused an unclear image of her hip joint. the vet performing the test informed us it would have most likely been a 0/0 if the image had been better. you cant get much better than that! so both dogs are exemplary examples of the breed, with incredible, proven abilities on the trail backed up by show results to match. with all this in place along with 2 prospective experienced owners lined up for any pups we didnt plan to keep, we went ahead with the breeding, our reason, we wanted more dogs for our kennel and racing teams and planned on keeping the majourity of the litter and the breeding would result in furthering the bloodlines as the matches on all fronts were perfect for these two dogs. we had 5 pups, 1 absorbed by lolly during pregnancy, of which we kept 3, the other 2 went to friends who we have known and who have worked their dogs for years. the breeding cost us the best part of £3000 with no complications, not including the KC affix and its mainatance or feed bills and fuel bills to vets, dads owners, for the pups up to 8 weeks. the countless sleepless nights and alot of very hard work during and after the pregnancy. the two pups we sold, both being of top bloodlines (seppala/zero etc) we sold for £600 each, so we made a loss monetarily of around £2000, were not bothered about that, it was the last thing on our list, but ended up with pups that have already proved themselves with 2 x 2nd place absa championships (points gathered over the seasons championship classes racing results) over the past 2 seasons racing, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 seasons, several wins and dozens of top 3 places in races over the last 2 seasons. plus some good results in the show ring as well. im my book a good reason for breeding. i know it sounds like a great idea to breed a litter and its nice to have pups and sounds like a nice idea for you to have offspring from your dogs, but unless you are prepared to go to the lengths you should be going through to ensure you are not doing damage to the breed you love, or any breed and cannot back up your dogs credentials with excellent results and KC registrations, especialy with an acceptional and established working breed such as a siberian. then its probably best to not breed from your dog. if you want another sibe, why not get a rescue or research and buy the a puppy from a top established kennel, you wont find these advertising in the free ads, papers, internet, websites im afraid. but honesty, hard work and attending some working rallies or shows will allow you to see and chat to some of these owners who can put you on the right track to a top quality dog. i know its not what some of you wanted to hear and its not like the other replies to the excellent original informative post, but its the way it should be done, not by breeding for financial gain or because you think it would be nice. thanks for reading - matt

you beat me to my post. lol

could have been a bad experience with doors in the past. also coming to a new pack, new surroundings is often very unsettling, they, being very pack orientated dogs, cannot understand why their pack has kicked them out. just be patient, take your time, dont force or get stressed and annoyed and work through it. try leaving the door open fully and seeing if she will eventualy go through on her own accord. remember to praise her when she goes through or even near it so she learns its not a bad thing to be scared of.