Mazz

Dear God:

Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reversed?

Dear God:

When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story?

Dear God:

Why are there vehicles named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a Dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! How about renaming the 'Dodge Ram' the 'Dodge Beagle'?

Dear God:

Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

Dear God:

Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good Dog.

1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.

2. I will not roll on other dog's poop just because I like the way it smells.

3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.

7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'.

8. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.

9. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt.

10. I will really try not to sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch.

P.S.

Dear God:

When I get to Heaven may I have my testicles back?

First off, I'm no expert on DNA. All I know is what I have seen on PBS and the like. But it is my understanding that DNA will distinguish a dog from a rat, but not a Chow from a German Shepherd, unless DNA samples were available for the parents as well. Like I said, I'm no expert, and maybe there is a test that is beyond what the PBS documentary I watched went into.

I have never seen a black and tan Husky. Our black and white, however, does have some tan on her rear legs between the black and the white. Our breeder told us Huskies come in all colors.

I recently learned from this PBS documentary (wish I could remember the title), that the Timber Wolf of North America and the domesticated dog, now share the same scientific name. Which would indicate they are considered the same spiecies. This, I believe, was determined from DNA sampling, and the fact that wolves and dogs can be bred, and their offspring are fertile.

I got 9, but then I used my US influenced attitude. So, I won't be making any big moves in the near future.

I have to agree with smeagle. If the breeder can't tell a female from a male, they most likely know nothing of the genetics involved with breeding and probably don't care. You may end up with a dog that is great, but you could very likely end up with a dog that has problems. I know it's difficult, especially if you have your heart set and if you've seen them. Whatever you decide, good luck.

Cathy - What a gorgeious pair! Wow, sixteen. That must be some kind of record. It shows you've taken excellent care of Nikita. Welcome and enjoy.

We've used brewer's yeast with garlic tablets for years. It has helped a great deal with dead spots. Never had a "smell" problem, so don't know if it works for that or not. I don't know if this works for all dogs, but it has worked well for ours.

Wow, that's terrible. I don't know what the environment on dogs is in the UK. Here in the US, in some communities, if an attack like that took place, those two dogs would be impounded, the owner would most likely find himself in a bit of financial straits with fines.

Welcome! Your Huskies look beautiful. With all your years of living with Huskies, you've probably got a wealth of experience that would be so helpful to others. We are on our second Husky. I'd like to get another one, but right now our son has moved back home, and his Aussie is living here as well.

I saw the video. Pretty cool. Right after that, is when I took these shots of Zoya. There must be some kinetic connectin these Huskies have when it comes to digging.

Welcome. This site is simply the best. Our first Husky, Elke, almost became a rescue, because we did not do our research before taking on the responsibility of having a Husky. We somehow made it through those first hair raising months of ownership. It was terrible, or so it seemed at the time. But now that Elke is gone, we are so glad that we stuck with it. You'll not find another breed that is so endearing as a Husky. Despite the things that can go amiss, there is so much love within them, that it's impossible not to respond to them. Good luck, and there are many here who will be a valuable resourse for you.

We do have to clean Zoya quite frequently due to her pension for digging. However, we confine this to her feet and a short way up her legs. Giving a Husky a complete bath with soap and water, should be done no more than three times a year. Twice a year is better, and once a year is great. Every two weeks, or even once a month is far to frequent. Elke, our last Husky had three baths her entire life of over 14 years. Once when she was sprayed by a skunk, once when she got into some horse puckies, and once when we had her professionally grommed. She never got smelly (well, there was that one time with the skunk and that other time when she got into the neighbor's horse barn).

Zoya has been busy the last few days. She is so intense when she digs a new hole. Her latest endeavor is about 18" deep. I'm going to have to fill it in or I'll end up busting an axle on the tractor.

Gotta love these Huskies!

Oh Kate, that sort of stuff really makes one worried. The plastic bag would be the big issue. But you say she threw up most of it. I'd give her plenty of water, watch her close for the next day. Make note if she eats normally or turns her nose at food. If she seems full of energy, chances are, she's OK. Watch her stools. If she does not poop or if she strains when she tries, then I would get her into the vet. That could indicate there may be a blockage. I don't think the butter would hurt her, other than to give her the Hershey squirts. If it was salted butter, the salt would not be good, but it's probably not concentrated enough to have any long lasting affects, other than to make her puke (which she has done). The butter itself could do that as well. Her digestive system will probably be well lubricated for a day or so.

Huskies are pretty crafty creatures. They are able to figure things out, that other dogs can't. I hope Finn has learned a lesson (probably not). Give her some added hugs and kisses. She'll be fine.

At the risk of being redundant, I'd say the match. But I usually just flip the switch and turn the lights on first.

Oh what a lucky Husky! Welcome to the pack. Yes, we can't wait to see pics. All Huskies are beautiful, but there's none so beautiful as your own. And kudos to you for rescuing a Husky.

We had a Cairn Terrier that had convulsions (same as a fit). We had her checked, then went back with the information to the breeder. Found out in our Cairn's case, it was genetic. Over her life span, she had four attacks. They would come on without warning, and lasted for no more than five minutes. It's awful to see your dog go through these. Our vet gave us the option of putting her on meds, but really steered us away from doing so, due the infrequent occurance.

Salt water? Not heard of that one. Did it sting? (rhetorical question) Elke was bitten once by a possum, in the leg. We cleaned the wound with warm water and anti-bacterial soap, and then rinsed well. We applied Neosporin, which is an anti-biotic ointment, to the wound, applied sterile gauze, and wrapped some masking tape around the gauze. We changed the dressing twice a day for a few days until we noted the skin had healed. Of course, we took her to the vet once we had the wound initally dressed.

A bite to the foot that puncured both sides, may be more difficult to keep covered. They do make socks or booties for dogs, to keep a clean dressing in place on the foot, but finding them is not easy. We've used baby socks as well.

Keep an eye on it and keep it clean.

We considered putting in a run for our last Husky, but she was a jumper, a climber, and a digger. She could climb chain link fencing with ease, so if yours are like that, you may need to put a cover of some sort to prevent escape. It would also provide shade.

Burrying the fence several feet below the surface, or putting a mesh horizontally a foot or so down and several feet out on the inside deters escape from digging.

Some Huskies can jump a five foot fence, so if yours can jump, that may need to be considered as well.

As far as size goes, we were going to put in a 10 ft by 15 ft (3 M by 4.5 M).

We instead, put in an underground fence inside the perimeter of our already fenced yard, since we had given up the garden.

The way I checked our last Husky, Elke, when I thought she was going deaf, was to put my head behind hers, and say her name real loud. She did not flintch. I tried several times. Nothing. I then had her checked at the vet, and he confirmed. Of course, Elke was 13+ years at the time. So it was simply old age.

smeagle - I think there are a lot of issues we agree on on this topic, a few we don't. And that's OK. It's what makes things interesting.

Not all large kennels are bad, many of them are reputable. Same with small kennels. Here in the US, we have more puppy mills, backyard breeders, and gold diggers breeding puppies. With the economy, it's a growing industry. The largest puppy mill in the country was recently busted up in Georgia. The primary breed? Siberian Huskies. Those are the breeders that are without question, bad. The good thing in all of this, is I think most of us here are reputable owners. We are the check to keep the breed in balance. Forums like this enlighten, entertain, offer differing views; but most of all provide a wealth of information.

For a reputable breeder to produce four liters per year, every year, would require a minimum of eight females in the kennel. A bitch comes in season twice a year (on average). Having a litter of pups, drains a lot of resources from the mother. A reputable breeder should take a female that has had a litter, out of the loop for a year to enable the female to recoup and get back in shape. Continually breeding a bitch every time she comes in season is detrimental to the animal, and to the breed. A reputable breeder will also not breed a female or a male, until they reach two years of age, so they can be medically certified for hips and eyes. A reputable breeder will also stop breeding a female once they reach seven years of age, unless the animal is medically determined to be fit for pregnancy.

Upping the supply to meet demand can negatively affect a breed. In the US, it happened with Golden Retrievers, Cocker Spaniels, German Shepherds, just to name a few. A reputable breeder does not go for quantity, but for quality.

There is so much more to breeding than producing puppies. The study of genetics and bloodlines is both time consuming and critical to quality pups. Just putting a female and a male of the same breed together does not always produce the desired results.

It is impossible to tell from the website whether they are "good" or not and there is very little information on pedigrees etc. One thing which would make me pause is that including the litter they have planned for October 2009, that makes FOUR litters in a 12 month period. To me that screams commercial breeder at the very least. I cannot see any justification whatever (apart from money) for anyone to breed at such a frequency.

We have imported several dogs from Europe - two from France, one from Hungary, three from Romania and one coming soon from Spain. We imported those dogs because we specifically wanted dogs from the particular bloodlines. Without pedigrees it is difficult to see exactly what the bloodlines of this breeder's dogs are, but from the photos they don't look worth the investment of time, effort, money and worry that importing involves. Just my opinion!

Mick

Ditto that!

It's pretty hard to determine if a breeder is a good breeder or not, just from a Web site. If I see a Web site that touts Champion after Chanpion, litter after litter, I get real turned off real quick. When we were looking for a Husky late last summer, I came upon several sites. Initially, they had a lot of glitz, looked pretty slick. But you sometimes have to read between the lines. One breeder had about 12 Champions out of his large kennel. He also had a memorial page for all the dogs from his kennel that had passed on. I called the breeder and we spoke for about 45 minutes. His dogs were drop dead gorgeous. I was that interested in purchasing a Husky from him, until through our conversation it came out that his dogs average age is 7 to 8 years before they die. He was so intent on breeding for a specific characteristic in his Huskies, that he completely ignored genetic weakness and health issues.

Another Web site that I visited, was located in one of the northern plains states in the US. They had brand new kennels, with air conditioned and heated buldings. Separate building for the males, separate building for the females, separate buidling for the moms with pups. This breeder's Web site is awsome, but reading between the lines, it became real apparent, this was nothing more than a high priced, high class puppy mill. They planned numerous litters in a 12-month period. They'd even take deposits on upcoming litters. Deposits were non-refundable. I don't have a problem with the non-refundable part, but not to crazy about putting a deposit down for a yet-to-be-born puppy.

The Web site the breeder we bought Zoya from, was not glitzy, some of the pages were off center a bit, but the wealth of information on Huskies, the problems you have to be prepared for, the issues that are unique to the breed, was great. They did not have any champions, in fact, they don't show. But they really made an effort to inform about the breed. I had to provide a letter of reference from our vet in order to purchase Zoya. They were that concerned that their pups go to homes where they will be well cared for. That's the kind of breeder to me, that is a good breeder. One that is genuinely concerned more about the breed, than any show, or making a quick buck.

I was under the impression, that the standards between the US and the UK were similar. Maybe not. I know the Canada standard is very similar to the US standard. Also, without knowing if the photos depict males or females, it would be unfair to draw any comparisons, since the standard for females differs for weight and height, from for males; in the US anyway, again I'm assuming so would the UK standard.

I don't care who you are, now that's funny.

Called the vet. Tape worms galore on the rabbits in our area. So, Zoya is due for her HeartGard on Sunday. Of course, it does nothing for tape worms. I had two options, go with a wormer in three weeks for two doses at $11 per dose, or switch to Iverhart Max, which takes care of heart worms and tape worms and some others.

Here's a link:

http://www.iverhart.com/Iverhart-Max/

I talked with the vet this morning when I stopped in, and he said if it were his dog, and it ate a rabbit, he'd feel better about having the dog on Iverhart Max, then trying to time the wormer doses.

Zoya spent all day today sitting and watching for rabbits. None to be found.