“You need to hook that dog up to a sled, and let it pull you along!” I’ve heard that a lot, particularly over the last few months when snow has been plentiful on the ground. The suggestion has usually come from the neighbors I’ve passed while my youngest dog Sasha, has been taking me for my exercise. 3 years old and with husky blood rampaging through her veins, she races back and forth along the length of the extend-a-leash with an energy level I’ll never see again.
She’s always enthusiastic when it comes to running, but more so in the winter months when every few days brings a fresh blanket of snow. This is her element and in her mind she’s racing across the tundra, running with her pack. When she’s not racing at full belt, she digs in her back legs and hauls with astonishing force. Then something will catch her attention on the other side of the street and away she goes to check that out. I wonder if I’m setting myself up for future arthritis in the elbow, because every few seconds I get a jolt up my arm as 50lbs of fast moving fur, bone and muscle hits the end of the line.
All our previous dogs have understood the “heel” command and while they may have let their enthusiasm get the better of them at times, they were regularly complimented on their obedience. Not Sasha. She understands the commands perfectly and when it’s in her interest, will obey with a precision that would make a border collie blush. However, like most northern breeds, if she doesn’t see the advantage in obeying, it’s hardly worth giving the command.
When we took her to training classes at the local Humane Society, from which I might add, she graduated with honors, we quickly learned that this was not food-oriented animal. Per the instructors, our fellow classmates were busy rewarding their dogs with slices of hot dogs. Sasha would take a couple, mostly I think to keep us happy, but after that would either do what we wanted, or not, there was no telling which. “Try microwaving them” said the instructors, “that enhances the smell”. Sure enough, it did, my fingers smelt of hot dogs for hours after each lesson, but Sasha still didn’t eat them.
In the 2 years she’s shared her life with us, we’ve only found one food to which she reacts. Marshmallows. Unhealthy, nutrient free, not found in any pet store, pure sugar, marshmallows, she loves them. We discovered this on a visit to a friend’s house, where Sasha, always the free spirit, decided the fence was no obstacle to her wanderlust and in moments had pushed her way underneath it and was off. Fortunately our friends live on 5-acres of property and the neighbors are used to dogs roaming free. However, it was time to leave, so the question of course, was how to induce her in.
Our friends had no hot dogs, microwaved or otherwise. No dog biscuits, no liver treats, nothing that would bring even a normal dog back to the fold. All we could find was a bag of marshmallows. I can’t believe Sasha could smell the marshmallows, or even hear the rustling of the bag, but she was back to the doorstep in a heartbeat, sitting in front of Dear Wife and wagging her tail fit to burst. Eat your heart out Oscar Meyer, ours is a Stay-Puft dog.
Other than marshmallows, it’s not entirely clear where she gets her energy. It can’t be from the dog food she eats because as she’s repeatedly shown, this is something she can take or leave depending upon her mood. To make matters worse, she has the most delicate of stomachs, which means that even the slightest variation from the routine requires days of work with the carpet cleaner. After months of trial and error, we finally got her settled onto a premium, very expensive brand of dog food and things were going swimmingly when the manufacturers changed the formula and once more I was treated to the joys of standing calf deep in snow multiple times through the night while she made the most disgusting noises and smells on the far end of the leash.
Nonetheless, energy she has, in abundance and one of my biggest challenges in life is finding the time to work it out of her. Quite often I’ll drive the car around our neighborhood at 10-12 miles an hour holding the leash out of the window while Sasha trots along happily besides. We usually do between 3 & 5 miles and for most of that, Sasha is straining at the leash wanting to go faster. Even when her initial energy rush has burned off and she settles into the pace, she still has a huge grin on her face. Once we’re done with that, I hook her up to her regular leash and take her for another couple of miles round the neighborhood, walking this time, just to cool off.
This seems to keep her happy and if we do it on a regular basis, prevents her from getting too nutso in the house. However, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of hooking her up to a dog sled and seeing what she can do. She isn’t pure husky, apparently there’s some collie in their too although if Timmy falls down the mineshaft again, he’ll be in a bad way before Sasha thinks about fetching help. However, most of the best sled dogs aren’t pure husky either, they’re mixed breeds like her. Apparently someone once ran the Iditarod with a team of poodles, and completed a good portion of it too. Also, there is a Colorado musher who runs local races with a team of Irish Setters which must be just plain surreal.
To get us started, Dear Wife came home from a garage sale with a child’s plastic sled the other day. Unfortunately the only harness we have is designed to prevent the dog from pulling so there’s not much point in attempting to teach her with that. However, a couple of experimental hauls along the street, with no weight in the sled showed that she has no problem understanding the commands. A friend of a friend knows some real dog mushers and she’s agreed to ask them if they have an old harness they’d be willing to give us. So if the next time you’re watching the Iditarod, look to see if there’s a happy looking husky-collie mix dragging a red plastic sled. You never know, it might be us.
She’s always enthusiastic when it comes to running, but more so in the winter months when every few days brings a fresh blanket of snow. This is her element and in her mind she’s racing across the tundra, running with her pack. When she’s not racing at full belt, she digs in her back legs and hauls with astonishing force. Then something will catch her attention on the other side of the street and away she goes to check that out. I wonder if I’m setting myself up for future arthritis in the elbow, because every few seconds I get a jolt up my arm as 50lbs of fast moving fur, bone and muscle hits the end of the line.
All our previous dogs have understood the “heel” command and while they may have let their enthusiasm get the better of them at times, they were regularly complimented on their obedience. Not Sasha. She understands the commands perfectly and when it’s in her interest, will obey with a precision that would make a border collie blush. However, like most northern breeds, if she doesn’t see the advantage in obeying, it’s hardly worth giving the command.
When we took her to training classes at the local Humane Society, from which I might add, she graduated with honors, we quickly learned that this was not food-oriented animal. Per the instructors, our fellow classmates were busy rewarding their dogs with slices of hot dogs. Sasha would take a couple, mostly I think to keep us happy, but after that would either do what we wanted, or not, there was no telling which. “Try microwaving them” said the instructors, “that enhances the smell”. Sure enough, it did, my fingers smelt of hot dogs for hours after each lesson, but Sasha still didn’t eat them.
In the 2 years she’s shared her life with us, we’ve only found one food to which she reacts. Marshmallows. Unhealthy, nutrient free, not found in any pet store, pure sugar, marshmallows, she loves them. We discovered this on a visit to a friend’s house, where Sasha, always the free spirit, decided the fence was no obstacle to her wanderlust and in moments had pushed her way underneath it and was off. Fortunately our friends live on 5-acres of property and the neighbors are used to dogs roaming free. However, it was time to leave, so the question of course, was how to induce her in.
Our friends had no hot dogs, microwaved or otherwise. No dog biscuits, no liver treats, nothing that would bring even a normal dog back to the fold. All we could find was a bag of marshmallows. I can’t believe Sasha could smell the marshmallows, or even hear the rustling of the bag, but she was back to the doorstep in a heartbeat, sitting in front of Dear Wife and wagging her tail fit to burst. Eat your heart out Oscar Meyer, ours is a Stay-Puft dog.
Other than marshmallows, it’s not entirely clear where she gets her energy. It can’t be from the dog food she eats because as she’s repeatedly shown, this is something she can take or leave depending upon her mood. To make matters worse, she has the most delicate of stomachs, which means that even the slightest variation from the routine requires days of work with the carpet cleaner. After months of trial and error, we finally got her settled onto a premium, very expensive brand of dog food and things were going swimmingly when the manufacturers changed the formula and once more I was treated to the joys of standing calf deep in snow multiple times through the night while she made the most disgusting noises and smells on the far end of the leash.
Nonetheless, energy she has, in abundance and one of my biggest challenges in life is finding the time to work it out of her. Quite often I’ll drive the car around our neighborhood at 10-12 miles an hour holding the leash out of the window while Sasha trots along happily besides. We usually do between 3 & 5 miles and for most of that, Sasha is straining at the leash wanting to go faster. Even when her initial energy rush has burned off and she settles into the pace, she still has a huge grin on her face. Once we’re done with that, I hook her up to her regular leash and take her for another couple of miles round the neighborhood, walking this time, just to cool off.
This seems to keep her happy and if we do it on a regular basis, prevents her from getting too nutso in the house. However, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of hooking her up to a dog sled and seeing what she can do. She isn’t pure husky, apparently there’s some collie in their too although if Timmy falls down the mineshaft again, he’ll be in a bad way before Sasha thinks about fetching help. However, most of the best sled dogs aren’t pure husky either, they’re mixed breeds like her. Apparently someone once ran the Iditarod with a team of poodles, and completed a good portion of it too. Also, there is a Colorado musher who runs local races with a team of Irish Setters which must be just plain surreal.
To get us started, Dear Wife came home from a garage sale with a child’s plastic sled the other day. Unfortunately the only harness we have is designed to prevent the dog from pulling so there’s not much point in attempting to teach her with that. However, a couple of experimental hauls along the street, with no weight in the sled showed that she has no problem understanding the commands. A friend of a friend knows some real dog mushers and she’s agreed to ask them if they have an old harness they’d be willing to give us. So if the next time you’re watching the Iditarod, look to see if there’s a happy looking husky-collie mix dragging a red plastic sled. You never know, it might be us.
