For Mike: Puppy pix
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Sunday, December 20, 2009 18:19
VIEWED: 8874
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Okay, guy, you DID ask, so you have only yourself to blame. I've always had rescues all my life. I'm 61 now, and decided to treat myself to a breeder husky, as I've always Sibes. My last dog was a husky cross, and my oldest friend in the world has alway had huskies, which is where I came to love them. And to know what I'm getting myself in for!
So I got Tashi(short for "Tashakur", which means "thank you" in Dari, Afghanistan's Farsi). He's magnificent, handsomest husky I've ever seen...tho' yeah, I may be a BIT prejudiced. Also got him because pups are virtually impossible to find in shelters or rescues, they go too fast! I had hoped that if I got him early, he'd be okay with my dwarf rabbits. Unfortunately, he was already bigger than them, and his idea of "playing"...well, two didn't make it. We're now very careful only to let them out in the living room when I'm there. Tashi as a weeber before he came:
and once here:
and now:
He'll be two next month. He's everything good AND BAD about huskies (never get one unless you know what you're getting into!), but pretty damned special too. He's not a digger, only escaped once and hasn't even tried once I fixed the easy spot he found, and hikes/runs with Jim off leash. All the books and every breeder tell you never to have them off leash, but I've always firmly believed that ANY breed can be trained to off leash, if you're willing to put the time and effort in.
He's wonderful; one of the reasons he can be off leash is I've been with him virtually 24/7 since he came, which created a real strong bond. He came from Canada, and is bred from working dogs, not show dogs, and turned out to be a monster: 75lbs, when husky males should top out at 60lbs. He's not a "kissy" husky, but somewhat more aloof--gives kisses, but isn't one of those ones that approaches you wagging with "oh, a human, what FUN, lemme kiss you!!". Fine with me, and I did something I haven't done since childhood--I let him bite and rassle with me. Only dog I ever had that did that was the Shephard my parents bought in Afghanistan and shipped home (smuggled her out, it's illegal to take them out of the country).
Recently we went to a "Cart Day" up in Napa, sponsored by the Northern California Siberian Husky Club. One guy brought a few carts and we could try our dogs out on them...I've been interested in carting for quite a while.
Not the kind I wanted, but interesting...we have no snow here, so I wanted something that would give him the exercise he craves on dirt. The bug had bit, and I have a "dog sulky" coming from Australia once I pay it off in the next few months:
So. My husband always said no to any more dogs, which I accepted. But I've always wanted a second (the saying is Sibes are like potato chips: You can never stop with one). At Cart Day Jim was amazed at how people-friendly the other dogs were--the other kind of husky, the kissy-lovey kind (he hasn't been around Sibes much, except Paula's, and hers are back packing dogs, more like Tashi). To my shock and amazement, last week he said I could have a second Sibe for Xmas!!! So I hunted all around, but the kennels in this area don't have any litters, so I resigned myself to waiting until March or April for the next ones to be available. Wanted a little girl I could meet beforehand and see her temperament, 'cuz I was determined to get a kissy one this time, for Jim. Bumped across a kennel down in Fresno that had a litter
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Adorable. 
I use to have Husky. Max ( Maximov ) was quite a character. Well, he was a husky, so that goes w/ out saying. Sometimes I'd hop on my skateboard, and he'd tow me up and down the street. He loved that almost as much as going for a ride in the car. What a dog. 
The T.Rex they call JANE!
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Don't get me started with dog pics....
Rose and I used to do Rescue (Mostly German Shepherds) until our financial situation precluded it. Also had three of our elderly dogs pass away in the last year and a half from age.
Anyway, we're down to three now.
First off is Cadence. He's a Shepeagle (GSD/Beagle)
Then there's Koko. We've had her the longest. Got her at 9 months and she's turning ten this year. Still acts like a puppy though.
She's our Shepalute. Half German Shepherd and half Alaskan Malamute.
That shot was when I caught her trying to dig under the house
Last but not least is Hope. She's got some chow in her but the rest is up for grabs. She looks like a little red fox.
I have more pics but those are the only ones online.
Bri
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Beautiful dogs Niki,
Post as many pics as you like, I myself can never get enough of Dogs in general
My wife used to have a Sibe when she was young and loved your pictures, even though I have her hooked on Labradors now lol
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Thanks, Niki - they're gorgeous! Glad to hear Tashi's got a new buddy and playmate. Looks like they're having a GREAT time together, and they sure seem to bring you lots of joy, which is the number one thing in the world that a dog really wants to do. Keep putting up pix - I want to see how big Kochak gets!
Mike
Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde
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Briglad - I'm going to hazard a guess and say Hope is around 42 pounds, give or take? Reason I ask is because she looks like she's got a LOT of Belgian Malinois in her.
I'd never heard of the breed until I went digging around, looking for some idea of what my li'l Jeepie and Swee'pea were. Swee'pea got hit and killed by a car when she dug out under the fence one night, but I've still got Jeepie, who goes to work with me every day.
So it turns out that they're an offshoot of the German Shepherd family, which fits right in with your rescue efforts! They're smaller, but share all the same traits as the larger Germans, but are usually colored like yours, with the black "mask" and gold/blonde coat, with a "vest" of lighter coloring above and below the shoulders and a white undercoat. The ears should stick up at attention per the breed standard, which might be one big reason why Jeepie and Swee'pea were dumped - the ears on both of them flopped over, as you can see in Jeepie's pix.
The U.S. Secret Service is phasing out German Shepherds in favor of the Malinois, since they offer all the benefits of the shepherd in a package that's easier to move around and cheaper to feed, since 40-45 pounds is the average weight for a full-grown adult.
Mike
Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde
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Think you're right on the Belgian Malinois. Hope is about 40 pounds. She has a partial Blue tongue, hence the Chow part. And she acts like a small GSD.
Bri
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Oooo, shephards! My favorite (after Sibes now); we got our first in Afghanistan, as I said, and had to smuggle her out to ship her home. I adored her, and smart? Wow!
My next was a shephard/sheltie, and after that Kiya, my beloved shephard/sibe. Part of the reason I got her was to see if I could handle Sibes, and she was, in Jim's words "the best dog we ever had". I know neither Tashi nor Kochak will beat that, much as I adore them and he's in love with them. Shephards...verrry special dogs, and a LOT easier than Sibes!!!
Raptor, yes, they're all characters; huskies are a breed unto themselves, in more ways than one. I was told the independent thing is because they were bred by the Chukchi tribe (where they originated) to sense things, so if the driver indicated "go right" and there was a fissure or other danger there, they'd go left or straight. Too damned bad the genetic trait remains in "domesticated" huskies and mals!!!
But I admit, I like a challenge, and shephards were never the challenge huskies are, to say the least! LOTS of pack behavior, and behavior we see all the time in wolves on Nat Geo and other programs, and they're entirely too sneaky-smart for their own good. But I'm in love with them, so I have nobody but myself to blame!
Kiya used to love to grab onto our feet when we were on the bicycle, put her head down and RUNNNN. They do adore to run…I’m dying to get my sulky, tho’ I’m going to have to endure some stuff when he sees a rabbit or something, I know (no brakes, they’re another $600, and putting your feet down works better anyway). Will always be able to give them the exercise they need, that way, which has been tough recently, between broken wrist, Achilles tendonitis, knee surgery, etc. I’m really too old for sibes, or puppies (!), but these’ll probably be my last, so it’s my final hurrah…
Briglad, oh, my heart goes out to you! I’m SO sorry, the pain of losing one is almost enough to make one not have a dog, but I couldn’t be without. In my opinion, cats are a luxury, but a dog is a NECESSITY! Kiya’s full name was Keine Trane Mehr, which is German for “no more tears”, as we’d just lost two litter mates after 14 years within six months of each other…lost ‘em “hard”, too, if you know what I mean. I won’t go into details. But I had to have a dog, and soon; I can’t be without one, so by sheer luck I found a litter of shepherd/sibes at the SPCA across the Bay. So Kiya helped stop my tears...but losing her 14 years later was sheer hell. Otherwise, dunno what I’d have done. The three months I had to wait for Tashi were sheer hell. I’m so sorry; may the pain pass soon and all you be left with are the wonderful memories.
And thank you for your wonderful work in rescues. I got Kiya when we lost the other two, otherwise I'd have gotten some kind of rescue or other. I ALMOST got a rescue when I got Tashi, but thought if I got a pup he’d be small enough to bond with the rabbits. No such luck. Then I got Kochak, wanted a pup so I could bond like I did with Tashi, so she could be off leash. Otherwise would have gotten a rescue I saw at Norsled (Northern California Sled Dog Rescue), she's 1-1/2, closer to his age and almost identical in coloring. Other than that, ALL our dogs have been rescues, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Too many out there needing love…
Boy, strong Shephard genes in Cadence…he looks EXACTLY like my family’s first dog, Tammy, the shepherd we smuggled out of Afghanistan. Makes me misty eyed. Can’t mistake the chow in Hope, tho’ I know nothing of the other breed. Beautiful! Tashi is ALMOST mal size, at 75 lbs., but doesn’t have the thick mal coat…thankfully! It’s enough to deal with when a sibe blows his coat, I can’t IMAGINE dealing with a mal! Did he blow his coat, or was the other half dominant? Kiya blew coat, but NOTHING like a real husky, thank goodness. Gonna have my work cut out for me, staying on top of TWO of them…dunno how show kennels do it!
Wow, Gino…you must be a champ, to h
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Yup, the pricked-up ears generally make the dog look more attentive (one big reason shepherds and Dobermans have them, so that any interloper will KNOW that the dog is listening intently to them!), but with Jeepie's flopped-over ears, it is VERY easy to read her mood, just by looking at her ears. Even my boss has gotten so used to it that she just "reads" Jeepie's mood by what her ears are doing. They are VERY expressive ears. :)
She's been a challenge and a handful. She has NEVER trusted people, and likely never will. She trusts my wife and I implicitly - but only as long as no one else is around! If there's anyone else around, she's a nervous, twitchy dog, and she'll prefer to hide behind me rather than confront anyone else. Very unusual for the breed, since they're usually quite protective of the person or family that they attach themselves to (they view whoever is in their approved group as their "flock", and watch over them quite insistently). Jeepie sees us to bed at night, then lays at the doorway, facing out, to keep us safe within. She was never taught this. And if either my wife or I go to bed early, and the other stays up, she's nervous, going from one room to the other to try to watch over both of us at the same time.
It's been hard to train her, because she has to conceptualize every trick before she learns it. It's weird - she couldn't get the hang of "catch" - I'd toss her a treat, and like George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development, she'd shy away and let it hit her on the shoulder, then pick it up off the ground. Once I finally got it into her head that I was tossing it to her as a reward, and as FOOD, she figured it out quickly. With "roll over", I had to get her to trust me enough to manipulate her body through the motions, and once I did that ONCE and it didn't result in catastrophe, she got the idea and has been rolling over on command ever since - but only on grass, since that's where I showed it to her. She won't do it on carpet or tile. :)
Like I said, it's a challenge, but fun. Once she gets the IDEA of what you're teaching her, she gets it FAST, and learns the trick inside one or two repetitions. She used to run if she got outside or got off the leash, but I just worked with her for a few days with a choke-chain (I hate those things, but damned if they don't work), and now if I drop the leash, she'll stop. If I let her off the leash, she'll run until I whistle, at which time she'll swap ends and run full-steam back to me, and lay at my feet or jump to catch a treat if I toss one in the air.
It's been work, but she loves having the tasks to do, and I only use encouragement to train her, never scolding or spanking. She had a really bad early life, and I'm determined to spend the rest of our lives together making sure she knows that not all people are shit-heads, and that some of us really do love dogs just for the way they are.
Funny thing is, she's made me a better person while I've been trying to make her a better dog. We both won that lottery. :)
Mike
Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde
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Here my guy's The orange tabby is Julius, Stocky is the Norwegian forest cat and the little chocolate girl is Kaylee
I love to travel with my dog, and always had hunting dogs when I was a kid...
Labs made sense for me, I love to swim her, she heels off leash real well, I can turn her loose on my front lawn and not worry about where she is
And my wifes allergys are worse now than when she was younger, strange she is okay with our cats, but she actually swells up over at her brothers house. We played with several breeds when we were thinking of getting a dog and Labs affected her the least with their type of coat.
I almost brought home a rescue German Shorthair the other day... I'm bad for that, unfortunately no room...
Either your with the terrorists, or ... your with the terrorists 
Lets party like its 1939
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