A little history behind the Siberian Husky

The Siberian Husky: a densely coated, compact sled dog of medium size and considerable endurance, was bred to work in packs, pulling light loads at moderate speeds through miles of frozen expanses. Their ancestors were originally bred in northeastern Asia by the Chukchi people and were kept as companion dogs for their families as well as endurance sled dogs. The Chukchi people, isolated from the rest of the world, developed their perfected, ideal version of a sled dog and were able to maintain that purity in their sled pack for many generations.

Huskies first started getting noticed by the public when they began winning sled races in the early 1900s. But in 1925 they made huge headlines when a sled team lead by Leonhard Seppala covered 658 miles in only five and a half days to deliver lifesaving serum to Nome, Alaska during a diphtheria outbreak. The leaders of the sled dogs were the legendary Togo and Balto. There is a great movie called Togo that is based on these true events.

Flash forward to the present...

Oh! You're not a musher? The Husky will still act like a sled dog and make their own decisions. It will be curious and want entertainment. It has a need to get out and run. It is intelligent enough to figure out ways to occupy itself (whether you approve or not) and it WILL find a way to run even if you are a couch potato. They are masters of escape artistry. You now understand where they get their tendencies from. This is not a breed of dog that will blindly follow commands. The lead dogs were specifically chosen for their ability to assess situations and make their own judgement as to safety - regardless of what the mushers may have directed. That trait could very well keep you and the team alive if you make a mistake at below zero temperatures. This is why Huskies can be stubborn :)

Physical traits of the Siberian Husky

Pictured above is the breed standard set by the AKC. The Husky has erect ears, a double coated, compact body and a furry tail. Males are between 45-60 pounds and females are usually between 35 to 50 pounds. They can have blue, amber or brown eyes. They could even have a mixture of either of these in their eyes. This is called bi-eyes or parti eyes.

Coat Lengths

Huskies come in three different coat lengths: short, plush and wooly. Plush is the only one that falls within breed standard. Woolies are considered a "fault" when it comes to the conformation show ring for a couple of reasons. One being that it's harder to see the body lines with the fuller, denser coat and the other reason being that snow collects on the wooly coat making it a fault for working purposes. Just because their coat is considered a fault in the show ring does not mean they won't make good pets. Wooly Huskies are amazing as a family pet. They are big fluffy cuddly bears! In my experience, wooly Huskies have a far better temperament and overall are more relaxed than a standard coat Husky. Their coat does require a lot of brushing to keep from matting so please keep that in mind when considering a wooly. The best tools I have found for brushing woolies is a slicker brush with long pins and a rake brush. Please avoid using the Furminator DeShedding brush as it can damage the coat.