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My view of the sport with Siberian Huskies

The Siberian Husky is a sleddog, and should be used as such. They want to run and pull, unless you deliberately ruin these abilities through breeding. We beleive that the Siberian Husky is the most Fascinating working dog in every way, and it gives us such pleasure to work with them.

Running abilities in Siberian Huskies.
This means first of all, that the dog has 1) the right anatomy to make the long distances 2) in very cold weather conditions. However, if this is not the case, there is a risk that the dog will either sustain itself injuries over the long distance, or not complete at all. The Siberian Husky, is used for both distance and sprint races. It is the same dog that can do both races, however the way of training the two different type of races are different. We train our dogs to race in Open Class sprint races, which in Europe is normally 3 days x 20-23km in full loop. Middle Distance races in Europe, are most often 2 days x 50km, which is something we train our dogs to do, after the sprint races are over for the season. This distance is something we need to know if they can do, before we consider them as being part of our breeding program, along with 10 other things we make sure of. Long Distance in Europe is seldon. However we do have a couple of races in Sweden which are considered such races. The distance is 500 km in the "Femund" race, and less than 200km in "Polar Distance". Also you may have heard about the Finmarksloppet in the very north part of Finland. This trail is 1000 km.

The mental strenght
The dogs mind must be strong. It must not let itself be distracted by other animals or smells, while training. It must run no matter what crosses the road or trail. We have seen dogs, that are unstable in their mood through more than one season, and at some point you have to declare this dog unfit as a sleddog or a teammate, or reconsider the way you plan your training. There is always a reason why the dog doesn't work in the team. It can be of genetic reasons but it could also be that the training is not right for this particular dog. The dog can easily have a bad day or period, but if he has enheriated stubernness and moodiness through breeding, this dog is useless in a team.

It is a great advantage, if you can place your dog anywhere in your team. You could be in the situation, where you would have to replace your usual lead dog for some reason. If you participate in competitions for example you would need another lead dog, and therefor it is good to try that in training. To run as lead dog is a very big pressure for the dog. Less pressure is put on a team dog, but a wheel dog has as tough a job, as the lead dog.

The paws play a very important part of training. No feet = No dog! George Atla, a guru from USA wrote that in his book already back in 1974. A dog can have fragile paws because of genetic reasons or because of the training procedure is wrong for that particullar dog. A dog whos paws always are injured, can mean a whole season waisted for the dog. After each training with the ATV (dirt training 2 months before the snow arrives) we check all the paws on every single dog, and sometimes just to prevent injuries we put socks on their paws while training.Training on snow can also do some damage, so better check one time to much than one to litle.

The fur is also unique in Siberians. To little fur will cause that the dog need much more energy (food) to keep warm. Not excactely a wishfull situation, and not a contribution to this fine registered polar race. The fur is really unique. There are two layers that are practically laying across of one another. In between there is a layer of LANOLIN which keeps the dog warm but also prevents dirt from coming near the skin.

There are alot of other things than the ones above, which we think about before using a dog for breeding. We will try to write a little chapter about this soon. Alltogether we have 11 requirements in a dog before using it in our breeding program.

Our dogs live in big fenced kennels/yards. Optimal size for a dog kennel depends on the size of the playarea, and how often you train them on the trail.
It is our opinion that Siberians must have a playground. It stimulates them to be let out of their kennels, and they can maintain their good relations among each other. We think that every dog should have their own doghouse. Many people say that they like to sleep together in one house, but having the choice is better we think.

Nutrition is hard to be definite about, as there are more ways to feed a sleddog, than there are mushers. A sleddog diet must contain the right scale between protein, carbohydrates and fat! Besides that there are tons of other stuff, which must be found in the content of the dogs diet.We use Royal Canin dryfood. It has all our dogs need, so we don't feed them extra of any other energy source. We are working on a nutrition information for you. Stay tuned!

We train our dogs from September-May. We never train them, when the temperature is more than +12 degrees C or if the humidity + the temperature exceeds the number 80. The dog might disturb it's natural heat valve, and that might be irreparable.

The vet is seldom visited if we keep our dogs in their normal surroundings. But often we bring them to training camps or competitions, and here the risk for catching worms, caughs, Curona or worse is unfortunately high. A cure with antibiotics is an expensive thing, and having sick dogs is not a nice experience at all. It is very important, that everyone remembers to have all proper vaccines done on their dogs every single year, and never bring sick dogs to places where there will be other dogs. That is just so unfair to other dog people, to expose their dogs to virus or other ilness.
It can be very difficult to find a vet, who really knows the Siberian Husky well. The Husky is a tough dog. Therefor one should be alert and react everytime there is the least sign of any behavior that is unusual. A situation where a Husky has diaria for more than two days in a row, the vet should be contacted. If the dog looses it's appetit for more than two days, never hesitate to call the vet. Any unusual behavior is to be taken very seriously. The Siberian Husky might not show you any signs of illness, untill it is too late. And that is not beeing dramatic at all.

Some might say that it must be difficult to get to know so many dogs closely. But by choosing this sport, we have made a commitement. It is a lifestyle, and can hardly be combined with the wish of many summer holidays to exotic places. Most of our time is spent with our dogs. There is nothing we would rather be doing, so we can actually say, that we are very close with each and every individual dog.