Alaskan Husky - History

History

The base of The Alaskan husky sled dog in Alaska and Canada is the Native Village dog. The Interior Village dog is a leggier, rangier and taller dog that the coastal Eskimo Village types. Many mushers prefer the true husky dogs that they call: "Villagey", and although there are no pure native dogs left, some dogs still throw back to those looks. These fully domesticated dogs arrived with paleo Indians and Eskimos thousands of years ago. Today, Alaskan Sled dogs may be hound crosses, husky types, or a combination of both. They also range in size and build depending on the use of the dog, such as for racing or for working. A working sled dog may be 50 to 80 lbs or a racing sled dog may be 35 to 60 lbs for a male or female. The old time village dogs were indeed bred to imported Siberian dogs and also more recently to European dogs.

Racing sled dogs vary greatly in type, and may be anything from a purebred pointer or hound to the modern Eurohound, a sprint dog that is unmatched for winning sprint races and is a predominantly black-colored combination of husky and German Shorthaired Pointer. There are also distance dogs which can race from 50 to 1,000 miles, and mid-distance dogs which race from 20 to 250 miles. Sled dogs are a combination of bloodlines developed by and best suited to the mushers who run them. Many of them retain the much-sought-after thick, beautiful coat, balanced bodies, and tough feet of other northern breeds. Yet many others have too much hound or pointer for the northern climate and must wear booties and coats and sleep in heated barns. Many dogs are both racing and working dogs and are small and tough. Some are larger, depending on the type of work.