Pumpkin the musher

I did not brand you personally as a troll- I branded a particular kind of post as those of a trolling variety. Nowhere in my post does it say "anne3149 is a troll". That it is my [u]opinion[/u]that a particular type of topic is trollish is just that- my [u]opinion[/u]. Opinions are allowed on a debate forum, are they not? Or only those that you agree with? The factthat you have already made up your mind on the subject then begs the question of why it needed to be discussed further, except of course to stir the pot. My first post was also in reply to the original poster, who, I believe, was not anne3149, but cdreid.

This is one of those topics that screams "troll" to me, but I'll contribute my 2 cents anyway. I have sled dogs, 10 of them to be exact. They are chained. However to assume that because that is how my dogs are confined that they are automatically untrained, unsocialized and unloved/cared for is a ridiculous assertion. My dogs "exercised" for over 1200 miles last year through country that a good deal of you only see pictures of in magazines. In the off season they have social time at least every other day, depending on the weather. Being typical huskies, they wouldn't come out of their houses in the rain if said house was on fire. their social time is 1 to 2 hours of free running in there fenced dog yard of about 1/4 acre. They are so "poorly socialized" that all 10 , both males and females, can be together without so much as a snarl. (Females in heat are seperated from the intact boys for obvious reasons... ) My 11th dog is a 5 lb Pomeranian who can also interact with all my dogs with out a problem, even eating out of their dishes. When their social time is over, all of them go back to their houses and lay down, all I have to do is go around and hook them up. The other option is kenneling, which for some reason doesn't work well with northern breeds- they tend to pace-I've gotten dogs from kennel situations that were pacers, and the minute they feel tthey are not enclosed, they quit pacing, even if it means being tied up. The fact that we live in a rural area also necessitates confining them. My dogs are my best friends- they get the best food and care imaginable- if they didn't they would not be capable of doing what sled dogs do.

One Pomeranian- Cricket Ten Alaskan Huskies- Bug,Merlin, Happy, Zeus, George, Bernie, Tynan,Woofy, Gemma and Dot. One Cane Toad- Hazel Two Oriental fire Bellied Toads- Ackbar and Jeff One African Clawed Frog- Claude Whew. Now I'm tired...

:o Yeah, I'd guess joke; or SCAM. I checked out the "Alaskan Huskies" that are supposedly on the island, and one of the pictures was lifted from Joe Runyon's Alaskan Husky/Iditarod web site and one of the other photos show a dog next to a dog truck with booties on. I guess they import snow so the huskies can be true to their nature and pull sleds??! GMAB. :-?

That hasn't been my experience- I own both "kinds" of dogs, 1 purebred Pomeranian and 10 Alaskan Huskies, which are essentially mixed breed dogs- Mine have a bit of Malamute in them, and one is part Border Collie. I haven't once encountered bad vibes. Do you have any recent examples?

This is always a hard decision, I went through it with my first Pom a couple of years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer. When it became apparent that she was no longer happy and in pain we decided to have her put to sleep. Both my husband and I cried for days before and after. One thing that helped me was that in the days leading up to that decision I wrote her a letter, explaining how much I loved her and why I was making the decision that I did. I talked about all the fun things we did, all the bad things she did as a puppy :) and how much we would miss her. The letter turned out to be over 50 pages long, and it still breaks my heart to read it. Whatever you decide, take heart in knowing that we will support you and that there is nothing to be ashamed about in grieving for a pet.

Here is the link to the story... http://www.jsonline.com/enter/gen/apr04/219767.asp[/url]

Black and Tan Coon hound. Definitely.

I have'nt seen the article yet, supposed to be out this week- I'll make a link when I get it.

I got an E-mail yesterday from a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal asking me about my pages on dogster! He then called me today and told me he was doing a story on Wisconsin residents on the site. The article will appear this weekend. Snowfoot is famous!!

conformation is the reason that Alaskan huskies exist. The current show Siberian is a heavily built, even fat dog with short legs and poor back lines- most that I've seen are lower in back that in the front- similar to the way GSD's are built. True, Alaskans are essentially mutts, (Although my mutts have pedigrees back to the mid 1950's) but if you are a competative musher, there are very few racing sibe lines to pick from anymore.

Cricket, my Pom, LOVES Tele-tubbies :o . She'll watch for the entire program, woofing at the little sunshine baby. Weird.

This is the cutest thing since Pom puppies! If you haven't yet checked it out, definitely do so- lots of fun! [url]http://www.dogster.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=8eda55c8c25442679e75b71bddca5e4b[/url][url][/url]

Cricket is there too! :D

Check out my new Avatar- little Cricket, my Pomeranian!

:o Ooops. Forgot about Cricket! She gets a snack in the morning, a small cookie or treat at noon and her main meal at about 5. If she helps me feed the big dogs, she'll push some of them out of their dishes and lick them out. Yes, a 5 pound dog pushing around a 55 pound husky... That's a Pom for ya. :niewiem:

How do I feed 9 Hungry huskies? Lets see- first, fill a five gallon pail half full with kibble, add hot water till soaked. Chop 1 or 2 lbs. of frozen meat, add to kibble till thawed, , then once a week or so, cook 5 lbs of rice, eggs, and maybe cottage cheese(if I can get it) to add parts of thru the week. The other five gallon pail is filled with luke warm water with freeze dried fish meal added to encourage drinking. As we add training miles, the kibble is decreased and replaced by more meat. The meat comes in 50 lb frozen blocks so it has to be chopped up with an ax into smaller bits. I always do this in the kennel so I can let everybody loose after I'm done to clean up all the little bits that fly all over! They love this part- it's like a treasure hunt for them. Oh, and also puppy chow for the little ones !

There is another dog cart called the "Sand Lynx"- more reasonably priced than the Sacco.

I can't recall the web site off hand, but if you go to Sled Dog Central, they have links to equipment providers- also, check out something called a "Sacco cart"- sounds like just what you are looking for. Good luck!

12 Alaskan Huskies 1 Pomeranian 2 Fire Bellied Toads 1 Cane Toad I know, not dogs, but still part of the family!!

I guess I like all "spitz" type dogs- Finnish Spitz, Shiba Inus, and of course, Pomeranians and Alaskans..

:multi: THE PUPPIES ARE HERE!! Happy begin having puppies on Fri afternoon and had only three. A fourth was born a couple hours later but was still-born :( . That was the first puppy I had lost in 20 years of dogs. Poor little guy. I tried rescue breathing and chest massage and all that but to no avail. The other three are just fine tho, two boys and one little girl, all marked alike with white blazes, kind of a reddish brown color and four white feet. The one boy is a whopper, almost wice the size of his sister. I'll try to get some pics together!

Not really- The dog having pups is the Alpha's sister, and when Bug had her puppies, Happy got milk and helped take care of her sisters' puppies. The strangest one of the group is Happy and Bug's brother, a nuetered male named Merlin, who absolutely loves puppies. He fussed so bad when Bug had her puppies that I let him in the kennel (controlled of course! ) to see the pups and was so good with them I did'nt have to worry when the pups eventually came out of the house and could run all over the dog yard. None of my dogs have ever had a problem with pups, but aren't afraid to give a warning growl or nip if they get to rambuncious.

Second update!!! Happy, or as my husband calls her, "Fat-n-Happy" continues to balloon. I was hoping for a litter of 5 to 7, but since she came from a liter of 11 :o , maybe there will be more. She is making nests, and re-arranging her house and I'm thinking that Sunday or Monday could be the day. Her sister Bug, my lead dog and the Alpha female knows something is up too- she'll follow Happy around whining and sniffing, then go look in her house, looking for the puppies. When that fails, she'll look in her own house, just in case. What a goof.

My Alaskans are essentially a mixed breed, the only difference is that the various breeds that make up Alaskans were added and combined with a definite goal in mind- a dog that was faster, had more stamina and loved to pull. My pedigrees go back to the early 60's, a few even a bit earlier. My kennel name is "Snowfoot Kennel", because all of my dogs, no matter what color or pattern they are, have all had at least one white foot.