A discussion on dogs evolved on another thread that was not quite topical. I quote some of it here.
Having friends with a huskiy I have to advise against. The thing is super hyper-active and very difficult to control.
Prob. Faerie can weigh in with more heft tho.
Huskies and gardening dont go well together. They do need a lot of space to run and they are strong and heavy dogs and love barging through stuff. Your garden would likely be destroyed. That said, they are lovely companions, they hold conversations with you and are extremely affectionate. They dont bark and they dont howl for nothing, rather they announce themselves with a talk-like howl-whine.
THEY ARE USELESS GUARD-DOGS. They love people and company and everyone is a potential buddy. If you arent home during the day, get two, they play rough and it helps with the first years puppy destructiveness (which can be daunting until you have them trained to your liking).
Extremely intelligent, they will manipulate you like no child can. STRICT training is recommended, they need to know who is boss as their pack mentality is more defined than other dogs. They tend to land up in shelters because people dont realise how big, strong and active they are, not to mention intelligent.
If you keep them stimulated, they are fine though. Mine goes to the dog park three times a week for a run for around 90 minutes at a time and I have an arsenal of things on a rotational basis to keep them from mischief during the day. All this takes time and effort though and most people expect a dog to fit in with their routine, a Husky wont do that, it needs the stimulation or they get bored and destructive.
As Im sitting here, I have one laying by my feet resting his head on my feet and the other with his head on my lap, treat them right and make the effort and you will consider yourself the luckiest person in the world…
Ps. They love water… your pool will be used extensively and they will occupy a bath full of water if you happen to leave the bathroom to go grab something.
Thank you for your comprehensive reply, Faerie. I need to weigh the pros and cons. Good luck with your dogs. And Strelitzias!
I'm a fan of the Africanis, which will only damage your garden if you have--and I hope you haven't--moles, in which case he'll turn your manicured lawn into a building site before proudly presenting you with a corpse or two.
They evolved here, which means they are adapted to the climate and are disease resistant. They love being with people and don’t bark unnecessarily. We’ve had the pleasure of our Doofus for nearly eight years now, and he has brought great joy into our lives.
I did not know about Africanis; it did not come up as a breed while I read up on dog breeds. Them being adapted to our climate is an advantage. Unfortunately I do have moles - both the small ones (kruipmol) and the mole rats (duinmol). My recently deceased dog had a number of mole rats to his credit, but they often burrow very deep where dogs cannot reach them.
This is our dog. It’s called Mitty after the absent minded character in the James Thurber short story. She is nominally a Jack Russel terrier, but her legs seem short and considering that she was sourced from the canine bargain bin on Gumtree, I suffer no delusions of pedigree. Compared to our late boxers, she is an anti-dog. She mostly hangs out with the neighbour’s huge German Shepherd, chews up her bedding, and pees herself when she gets petted. A weird little thing for sure, and proof that humans are capable of irrationally loving almost anything.
I have four cats in addition to the two Woewe. My life would be rather dull without their very distinctive personalities. They do rule the roost in a dictatorial style. My persian waits for me to get home in the afternoons and attacks the dogs as they try to enter the house ahead of me. To see two 35kg dogs retreat before 3kg furball never fails to amuse me. My Siamese has a standard agreement with the dogs, they groom him (which in kitty language means he’s in charge) and he will rub against them which they misunderstand as submission. Works fairly well.
@ Hermes, they are good with little pets as long as they grew up with them, they do have a strong prey instinct which could be fatal to next door’s japping teacup poodle.
Faerie, you claim that your Huskies are useless guard-dogs, but maybe they will become a bit less playful and more aggressive whey they grow a bit older?
Its the breed Im afraid, Huskies are very rarely aggressive,they are extremely sociable, their looks and size puts people off but they love everybody in equal measures as well as other dogs. I suggest you go visit one of the Husky shelters and just go interact to get a sense of the breed. There is a big one with 80 odd dogs on the West Rand.
Also keep in mind that they are escape artists as well, high walls is a must.
Im trying to upload pics of them but struggling a tad with the size limitations…
You jest, there are people out there that hold kaskar races with these dogs and the dogs love it. I am training mine to carry my groceries in saddle bags into the house. They are very trainable.
Mutts have less medical issues… they also are much cheaper to come by than a specific breed. I do have to question why people find teacup dogs so appealing. The dogs yap and if you step on them they get squashed and everybody cries and blames you for a wasted R3k…
And I was just reminded when I got home. The breed sheds it coat more or less constantly and twice a year have what is called a coat blow-out. It looks a bit like this:
My S/O “accidentally” allowed the dogs to escape the yard on Monday afternoon and they took to the roads like bats out of hell. Twenty minutes later we realised their absence and he took off on foot with leashes in hand whilst I dashed out with the car to go look for them. An hour later we got home empty handed with only one sighting from a pedestrian, they were just gone…
My s/o admitted to sending up a prayer to help us find the mutts (he’s an outspoken and aggressive atheist), and was sitting huddled up in front of the empty dog house feeling absolutely crappy about himself. He prayed for the dogs to be found and returned safely and if they were, he would be willing to consider “believing” again…
well, Karma is a bit of a bitch, and half hour after his confession, I got the call that they were found (social media can be quite useful, the local CPF has an audience of 2000 households on whatsapp).
Now he’s is open to all sorts of abuse from me because his prayer has been answered… >:D
