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Honoring the bloodlines of a rescue mutt

Tricia

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If I were to write an article on this it may be titled; honoring all of the bloodlines of a mutt/rescue.

When we adopted Gypsy in March of 2020, we were told that she was cattle dog/husky mix, but we later started to learn of her Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog and Kelpie roots. Since joining a group on FB for Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs, I've learned a lot about some of her natural tendancies coming from the ASTCD part of her mix, and have done a pretty good job of honoring those traits while maintaining good behaviorial training.

On our trip to Alaska, we visited the Iditerod Trail Sled Dog Racing Museum and Education Center, where we took a lap on the trail with some sleddogs and watched some videos on the history of the breed and natural instincts of sled dogs, huskies and the like. The minute we got to the area where we took the ride I saw some natural traits that Gypsy exhibits that are similar to these dogs and a light bulb went on in my head. -- This is why Gypsy goes crazy when we get her harness out for a walk!!

I realized that the time we've been working on calming her down before we put her harness on and the training we've been diligent about to try (unsuccessfully) to get her heel when she needs to be on leash are going against one of her bloodlines.
This dog will likely never be calm when she sees a harness and she will likely never "heel" on leash because she sees a harness and gets on a leash and her instinct tells her its time to MUSH! She believes she's pleasing us because she wants to MUSH!

The reality is that she is a wonderful dog and its not important for her to heel. It his, however, important for us to gain a better understanding of what she and her various bloodlines need to do and try to implement good behavior while honoring her bloodlines.
She's a darn good dog and I'm excited to get back home from Alaska and let her "mush"!
 

pete

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You can pick up a true sledding harness and train Gypsy to help you skin up a hill!

maybe cottage business.

Them Huskies have tons of energy.
 

Bad Bob

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Have you ever tried a harness with a chest ring connection. A great way to let a dog pull but you have control.
 

SBrown

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That’s so interesting. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past few years dog sitting a Great Pyrenees who lived in the inner Chicago suburbs for the first 3 or 4 (unknown) years of her life. aka, not guarding sheep and other livestock, as her breed does. Then she moved to almost 11,000 ft above sea level, on acreage backing up to NF, with all sorts of wildlife everywhere. It took her a week or so to get accustomed to walking on rugged terrain, but otherwise it was seamless. She walks her perimeter, barks off bears and bobcats, and completely ignores any smaller animals like the chipmunks and rabbits most dogs chase. Doesn’t come when called, runs away off lead, all the good stuff lol. No, she is a sweet sweet pet 95% off the time.

Now, this situation is different from a rescue where you aren’t sure what you are getting; she is obviously a purebred Pyr, so you don’t have some of that mystery. But damn if she isn’t just exactly a Pyr. I had to start doing a bunch of research, because she is quite different from most dogs I’ve ever had. (She does remind me a tiny little bit of my very first dog as a kid, a Keeshond. Also a working breed, and never wanted to come inside even when we lived in Texas and it was 110 out and she was extremely furry.) But yeah, it’s very easy to research because the traits are so typical. I was laughing hysterically the first time I read a blog about the breed, it was just spot on. So, managing those instincts is what I have been doing, rather than banging my head against the wall trying to get her to not bark, and so forth.
 

David Chaus

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I.Love.Pyrs.
C8C684B8-1987-4AE5-B0FD-0E81CB1E8798.jpeg
 

David Chaus

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If I were to write an article on this it may be titled; honoring all of the bloodlines of a mutt/rescue.

When we adopted Gypsy in March of 2020, we were told that she was cattle dog/husky mix, but we later started to learn of her Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog and Kelpie roots. Since joining a group on FB for Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs, I've learned a lot about some of her natural tendancies coming from the ASTCD part of her mix, and have done a pretty good job of honoring those traits while maintaining good behaviorial training.

On our trip to Alaska, we visited the Iditerod Trail Sled Dog Racing Museum and Education Center, where we took a lap on the trail with some sleddogs and watched some videos on the history of the breed and natural instincts of sled dogs, huskies and the like. The minute we got to the area where we took the ride I saw some natural traits that Gypsy exhibits that are similar to these dogs and a light bulb went on in my head. -- This is why Gypsy goes crazy when we get her harness out for a walk!!

I realized that the time we've been working on calming her down before we put her harness on and the training we've been diligent about to try (unsuccessfully) to get her heel when she needs to be on leash are going against one of her bloodlines.
This dog will likely never be calm when she sees a harness and she will likely never "heel" on leash because she sees a harness and gets on a leash and her instinct tells her its time to MUSH! She believes she's pleasing us because she wants to MUSH!

The reality is that she is a wonderful dog and its not important for her to heel. It his, however, important for us to gain a better understanding of what she and her various bloodlines need to do and try to implement good behavior while honoring her bloodlines.
She's a darn good dog and I'm excited to get back home from Alaska and let her "mush"!
Gypsy is a cool dog.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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Have you ever tried a harness with a chest ring connection. A great way to let a dog pull but you have control.
Yes and she gets crazy excited when we get the harness out. Much of her excitment mimics that of the sled dogs we met today.
The Australian Cattle Dog traits were obvious from the first day, but the husky stuff was not something we were really paying attention to because we were thinking...cattle dog.

Pretty interesting stuff.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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That’s so interesting. I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past few years dog sitting a Great Pyrenees who lived in the inner Chicago suburbs for the first 3 or 4 (unknown) years of her life. aka, not guarding sheep and other livestock, as her breed does. Then she moved to almost 11,000 ft above sea level, on acreage backing up to NF, with all sorts of wildlife everywhere. It took her a week or so to get accustomed to walking on rugged terrain, but otherwise it was seamless. She walks her perimeter, barks off bears and bobcats, and completely ignores any smaller animals like the chipmunks and rabbits most dogs chase. Doesn’t come when called, runs away off lead, all the good stuff lol. No, she is a sweet sweet pet 95% off the time.

Now, this situation is different from a rescue where you aren’t sure what you are getting; she is obviously a purebred Pyr, so you don’t have some of that mystery. But damn if she isn’t just exactly a Pyr. I had to start doing a bunch of research, because she is quite different from most dogs I’ve ever had. (She does remind me a tiny little bit of my very first dog as a kid, a Keeshond. Also a working breed, and never wanted to come inside even when we lived in Texas and it was 110 out and she was extremely furry.) But yeah, it’s very easy to research because the traits are so typical. I was laughing hysterically the first time I read a blog about the breed, it was just spot on. So, managing those instincts is what I have been doing, rather than banging my head against the wall trying to get her to not bark, and so forth.
She isn't very discerning about who she hangs out with. :duck:
BFB55A7B-0D5B-4C41-BBF2-2829406341CF.JPG
 

ADKmel

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my mutt is the same. I found a local place that will help teach me to train her to 'mush. fortunately she has learned to 'heel" but she LOVES when i let her pull and SHE LOVES Snow
20150221_152905.jpg
 

James

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A Husky heeling, that may be an oxymoron. Though some apparently learn to be able to show them. They are suprisingly good hunters, which can get them into trouble.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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A Husky heeling, that may be an oxymoron. Though some apparently learn to be able to show them. They are suprisingly good hunters, which can get them into trouble.
Mix that with the cattle dog in her and we have a dog with a high prey drive who wants to protect the perimeter AND mush.
 

coskigirl

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It really is interesting to watch the breed instincts. Hatch was clearly part border collie and he absolutely had to have a job. That's why I couldn't adopt him. As soon as he started working on search and rescue training it clicked for him. He only had to be shown what to do once, then he had it.

Ginsburg has 20 different breeds in her and the highest percentage of any one breed is 15% and I don't notice breed specific behavior from her other than to say that she doesn't fetch and she only has like 2% retriever in her. As far as heel goes, I'm not focusing on that. I use "with me" which tells her she needs to stay near me. She also knows "wait" so if she gets too far ahead she'll pause and let me catch up to her. I really need to work more on "come" because while she doesn't ever run off, getting her to come to me if she's focused on smells or squirrels is a challenge.
 
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James

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Mix that with the cattle dog in her and we have a dog with a high prey drive who wants to protect the perimeter AND mush.
What did they say at the museum about Husky “teams”. They seem to be individualists, but I guess they’ll follow one of their own?
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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They definitely have a lead dog. Once a lead dog is in place they usually remain the lead dog until they retire or have a medical issue.
The amount of vets they have on hand at various check points during the Iditerod is a testiment to the dedication to the dogs.
In the beginning of this race, they had one vet, now they have 40+. The dogs are the athletes, not the musher, and they are taken care of better than a US Olympic athlete ;)
What did they say at the museum about Husky “teams”. They seem to be individualists, but I guess they’ll follow one of their own?
 

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