Mary Allen
A husky is a bred dog. Originally he comes from the far north. There are two breed lines: the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Husky.
Huskies love to run and have a lot of stamina. For this reason, they have been used as sled dogs for a long time. Today they are also famous for dog racing.
There are also families who keep a husky because huskies are very trusting. The children can also play well with a husky. However, you should go outside with a husky for at least three hours a day and let him run off a leash if possible. This is very difficult in many places today.
What does the Siberian Husky look like?
The Siberian Husky comes from Siberia, the Asian part of Russia. The nomads who roamed around there with their tents harnessed huskies to their sleds. The Eskimos also kept huskies. They are very strong: they can pull up to nine times their own weight, around two hundred kilograms.
At the shoulders, the Siberian husky is about 60 centimeters high. The male weighs about 25 kilograms, the female about twenty. The fur has two layers: on the outside, you only see the top coat, which protects against water. Underneath, however, is a dense layer of undercoat that keeps you very warm.
With this fur, he can even survive a snowstorm outdoors. He curls up and tucks his nose under his tail. When he breathes in the air through the fur, it’s not so cold anymore. You can orientate yourself very well. They always find a familiar path, even if fresh snow has fallen since then.
The puppies, that is the young animals, are raised by the Eskimos like their own children. From the very beginning, they get on well with humans and even obey human children.
What is the Alaskan Husky like?
The Alaskan Husky was bred in Alaska for the sport of sled dogs. Alaska is part of the United States and is located in the far northwest of Canada. The people there took local dogs, also called Indian dogs, and mixed them with Siberian huskies, hunting dogs, and greyhounds. The dogs should always be better suited for racing.
Alaska huskies can be very different: the fur hunters need heavy animals with a body weight of up to fifty kilograms, and for racing, they sometimes weigh less than twenty kilograms.
Even if they are very different in size, they have a lot in common: They like to run and run for a very long time. They have strong paws that can take it well. Their fur keeps them very warm even in the snow. Above all, they get along well with other dogs and with people.
Well-trained Alaskan huskies can do a great deal: they can run up to a hundred kilometers in four hours without a break. That would be quite an accomplishment on a bike. In a long race, they run 240 kilometers over ten days. That corresponds to two hours a day on the motorway.
The European sled dog was also bred from the Alaskan husky. It is also popular with families. But he has short hair and doesn’t look like a husky anymore.