How much is that doggie in the window? (Fairbanks: food, dogs)

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by SleetsB

Hello again everyone as some of you know Me my wife and 2 lil ones (3-9) are moving to wasilla in april... we are planning to get a dog for not only a pet than go hiking and things with us but also help to protect or at least alert us in watching after the kids (and possibly save my ass from a bear on my "fishing trips". I am 30 yrs old and never really owned a dog kids have a cat but family is taking it when we move. sry was ranting a lil there lol anyhow what would be a few good alaskan dog breeds for us to look into meaning good with kids protective and loving. Also the indoor or outdoor question i have heared that its better to leave certain dogs that are used to the weather outdoors and can be bad for them going in and out(not sure if thats true) also was wondering about puppys up there or be better to adopt a year old or so young enough to grow up with our girls but bigger and not so much crazyness plus someone said puppys and cats get eaten by eagles (hope thats not true kinda scary) we like golden retrievers not sure if they will fit the bill in alska or not and also thought of a huskie but not sure of them around my crazy girls.
p.s. a dog capable of iditaroding my kids back up the hill when i take em sledding would be a definate plus!
Any info would be GOOD Answering all my questions would be GREAT
thanks again

Well the there is a downside/upside to getting a puppy verses going to the pound and finding a good dog there....

Puppies pee and crap on the floor in the house, most pound dogs are house broken...

Puppies are playful and pound dogs have outgrown playful.

Puppies are always into things, most pound dogs just want to be fed and sleep.

But the most important thing you want to concider about a pound dog verses a puppy are.... When you are out on a hike and encounter a big bear, the pound dog hasn't developed a good bond with you and will run off with the bear following it with the hopes of a quick meal.

The puppy on the other hand will have bonded with you and looks for you for protection and will run in between your feet with said bear in tow!

Go figure....

[Metlakatla]

Some dogs need to be trained to not rush at moose calves or bear cubs. Most dogs won't bother a full grown animal, but some of them will try to play with the younger ones. It isn't a good thing; mine was almost killed by an indignant mother moose.

[Barkingowl]

A standard poodle would be a great companion. I wonder how well they'd mush...

[Nephler]

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

A standard poodle would be a great companion. I wonder how well they'd mush...

There was a guy that use to race poodles in the Iditarod, it didn't last long and they are now banned from racing them, or any other "Non Sleddog type breed".

Seems that they don't have an undercoat like husky mixes do and when they ran a leg of the race and it came time to bed down, they froze to the ground and they had to bring a generator and hairdrier to "Unfreeze" them from the ground without pulling their fur out....

[megensmom]

Please don't think that it is standard practice for mushers to just chain their dogs up and toss down some hay. Yes when they are racing they do this BUT the dog do not live this way every day. We have sled dogs and have friends that run several different races and I have never ever heard of a person allowing their dogs to live their daily lives without a dog house,filled with straw. Also if your going to have a dog outside playing a great amount of time or living outdoors you need to make sure to add some extra calories to their food,they need this even if they are just normal pets to help them stay warm. They need a food with more fat calories not proteins.
We have a labx and she loves the outside and will just plop down on the ground to sleep and we also have a 2lb chi mix that does well outside for a short time as well.
If you want something to pull the kids I really like Malamutes.They are big but everyone I have met so far are just super loving. I would also say to stay away from any thing that has Inuit dog in it. Their temperments are very quirky and they tend to be fighters and really could care less about people.
My number 1 favorite dog is a Mutt good All American Mutt.

[Barkingowl]

Wow Mark! I've been doing some research to see if there's a husky/poodle hybrid out there but so far no luck. Thanks for the photo Ed!

[karibear]

The thing about eagles is that they'll go for anything under about 15 or so pounds, which includes not only puppies and cats, but the small breeds as well, though I do know of one instance where an eagle landed on the back of a 50+ pound border collie mix, then took off again. Foxes and weasels will also go after cats. Most of the dogs I had [around 50+ in AK] were labs, lab crosses, siberians, malemutes, and a few borzoi. Most of them were quite happy to live outside, but they either had separate houses or a big shed to share, with plenty of bedding. As long as they spend more time than not outside, their coats do okay. Labs do well because they are bred to retrieve in fall/winter, and love to swim in icy water - or any water at all, and they seem to have an extra layer of fat that helps keep them from getting too cold. My last lab cross was also half Bernese mountain dog, and he was a moose that very much preferred to be outside, no matter what the weather was like. He'd come in for a treat, then bounce around the door until he was let out again. The borzoi did equally well - they look a lot more fragile than they are, they were originally bred to hunt wolves in Siberia, and I know of some breeders in the southern states who still use them to hunt coyotes. And all that fluffy hair seemed to be pretty much waterproof. If you want to keep a dog outside for any length of time, even if it does have it's own house, it won't bond as closely with the family as you want. And it does need extra calories - those Iditarod racers you see that seem to be happy curled up on a pile of hay also consume around 7-10,000 calories/day! That's impossible to do with ordinary dog food, you have to cook up a lot of supplemental stuff to go with it. I have one now, a golden/german shepherd cross who loves being outside, is affectionate almost to a fault, and is incredibly athletic. In fact, just this morning she bounced over a 6' privacy fence and took a nice long run around the neighborhood for several hours before coming back home.

[akck]

Originally Posted by karibear

I have one now, a golden/german shepherd cross who loves being outside, is affectionate almost to a fault, and is incredibly athletic. In fact, just this morning she bounced over a 6' privacy fence and took a nice long run around the neighborhood for several hours before coming back home.

I'm curious to see what a GR/GSD looks like. We currently have one of each (both fixed). I can attest to a golden being an escape artist and neighborhood roamer. First, she crawled under the wire fence until I staked out the bottom. Next, bears showed her that she could push down the top of the fence, so I had to put up more posts and double the height in one area. Our GSD got out once by jumping off the garage (now blocked), but now just alerts us when the GR gets out.

[New_Horizon]

What you want is one of these well trained lounge lizards. Introducing Grizwald and Eli our trained and honed guard mutts ..