A friend posted the following on another forum I frequent and I thought her message was a good one so I got permission to post it here:
"We rescue dogs (and sometimes cats) as a hobby. After 101 Dalmations everyone wanted a dalmation. Right!! That is until you learned how much it would cost to feed it, what is involved in caring for it, etc. I cannot tell you how many of these
beautiful dogs were abanded or just plain sent to the pound. Enough about dalamations.
First of all the movie dogs that you see are mostly computer generated. Real Huskies would not be able to "perform" the way these dogs do.
If you think snow dogs are beautiful, I agree. We have rescued several of them, and we have only kept one. Think!!! have you ever seen a movie about Huskies as house pets?? NO! Have you ever seen Huskies as a pet for children? NO! Huskies have a reputation of being "Natural Born Cat Killers". This does not mean they are vicious, it means the play ruff....very, very, very ruff. This means anything smaller than them is fair game. Cats, small dogs, small children, anything. They can hurt a child. Seriously hurt a child. These dogs are only a step away from wolfs. They are very, very intelligent. But not in the way you would expect dogs to be. Yes, they will "perform" for you, but they also are stubborn as a mule. And they need to be penned (we have a little over a 1/2 acre penned for digging and jumping dogs) because when they get the scent.....they run.....and they run....and they run. They are not like hunting dogs that will come back. In their native environment, they are kept on large leashes, they are not allowed to run free, they can get lost very easily. And they defy cars. They will stand in front of one and look it down as it runs them down. They are very, very hyper. They jump and run and play and don't stop. They can will drive you up a wall. You think children exhaust you, that is nothing compared to a Huskie. They need to run, to exercise, to go, to do, to wear you out.
So, if after seeing this movie, you child wants a dog, please go to your
local shelter and get them one. Do not buy them a Huskie. These beautiful animals were not meant as house pets. If you know anyone who is interested in getting one, please have them call their Veternarian and ask them about what is involved with these beautiful creatures.
Can they be loved?? Of course. Can they be good house pets? Sometimes. By the way, the one we have kept, is brain damaged. She was beaten so bad by her owner because she wouldn't "Do what a dog should do"...play..do tricks, etc. She is soooooo beautiful, but we couldn't find anyone to take her because of the brain damage, so we added her to our growing list of "kids"."
