Husky Pictures

Here's a post devoted to Jack, starting with a picture of his mom.

This slender dog is the mother of our new puppy, Jack. Her coloration is nearly identical to Jack's. Supposedly, the dad looks just like this, too. The owners apparently never brushed out her winter undercoat. However, this was a very gentle and nice husky, so we were encouraged about the probably (and normal) friendly behavior that Jack would (and does) have. I'll post pictures of Jack's male siblings at a later time.

Jack's life is... hard. NOT!! Here he is, chilled out on the couch after a hard day playing with the older dogs.

A couple of play scenes. Let me set them up - though this won't be complete until get a video of Jack running through the living room and using the leather chair in the middle as a "safety island" to vault from. Usually it's either Lobo (chocolate color, dark) or Jack that initiates the play. There will be posturing, pushing, barking, or "tag" play to start the festivities. Soon the two of them are playing "who has the largest jaws" to try intimidating the other. Our ferrets used to do this with each other as well (the ferrets are now all over the Rainbow Bridge). This picture, which I finally caught the right time and angle, is typical of the snarling, open mouth posturing. There is typically some growling and barking accompanying this - but not too much. Willy, the shepherd mix, will join in, but her style of play is definitely different!

Another thing that Jack likes to do is to catch Lobo by his harness and hang on. I guess he started this because a) there's always a harness to hang onto, and b) Jack was much smaller that Lobo so gained a mouthhold using the harness. Scruff of the neck or shoulders for hang on are nearly as good, lately, but the harness does get a lot of abuse. One of our daughters caught this picture of Jack hanging onto the harness with both dogs nearly in her lap! How cute... When these dogs play, they play HARD!

Husky puppy added to family

When my husband came home one day in August this year and announced that he had driven past a "husky puppies for sale" sign, we knew that this might be the time to add the puppy we had talked about for around two years. Our thought was that we wanted another copper red Siberian Husky, but then... who can be too fussy? And, no, the choice of a puppy should never be based on color.

The home where the puppies were for sale had five dogs left. The "backyard breeder" is much maligned in most professional breeder websites, but happily we found out that this was the family's first time breeding this female. See this website http://www.cracarsiberians.com/2005/All%20About%20Siberians/whattolookfor.htm for some great reading about picking a breeder and a puppy. Hopefully this family does not make a habit out of breeding the female, partly because they ended up keeping three of the puppies that people "reserved" without downpayments. Sadly, most of the times when we go past this house now, the four dogs are all in a 6' x 6' kennel. The kennel has a dog house and cement floor, and the dogs are sprawled around, bored. Not good.

So, here's a picture of the puppy that our daughter picked. We call him Jack (short for Jack Daniels). He is the same color as his mother.

The other pups varied from one that was nearly all white to one that was copper red. Three of the five males left were pale blonde/brown like Jack. We were told that the father of the litter had the same coloring as Jack - and his mom.

I'll make several posts out of this puppy story. Some of the continued portions will include socialization of the new pup with our current dogs; puppy teeth and chewing; and just plain fun and pictures.

Jack is now nearly 6 months old. We've had him neutered, shots updated, and microchipped. The vet bills have exceeded his initial purchase cost by two times. Consider this, also, when getting a pet! That is something we discussed when considering the addition of a third dog.

So, more later!