Nothing could be more fun!

I think most mushers would agree that springtime is the best for puppy raising.

It gives the little guys all summer to grow and play in the warm weather before the cold sets in and they have to focus more of their energy on staying warm.

Plus... in a lot of places summer means fish! And there is nothing better in the whole wide world for a growing puppy than good, wholesome FISH!

But... Just how do mushers decide what dogs to breed together to get the kind of puppies that will improve their kennel?

First, though, let's clearly state the objective!

Breed 2 dogs together to get a litter of puppies that are, on the whole, better than either of the parents by themselves... sounds simple but is in truth, very tricky!

Here's an old adage: "Breed leaders to leaders!" or better "Breed the best to the best!"

But what is the best?

Every musher must decide that for her or himself! Based on the kind of mushing they intend to do the most of, but here are a few of the basic (more important, in my opinion) traits a musher looks for:

Conformation: This has to do with how the dog looks... the shape and proprotions of the bones, how the muscles and tendons attach to the bones, and the overall muscle mass the dog carries naturally (i.e. prior to training) These things will have a lot to do with the overall speed and endurance of the dog.

Eating Habits: This is all about the question... How does the dog eat? Must mushers want a dog that will simply devour all food put in front of them. Sleddogs have a really high metabolism so it takes a lot of food to keep them energiezed when they are running a lot. So you need them to eat a lot! And not all dogs do. Then for those dogs the musher must always be working bard to keep them at a healthy weight... not always easy when there is 18, 19, 20, or more dogs to take care of

Husky Origins!

Genetic Endurance

Puppies

Egill Ellis Hounds

General Breeding

Chinnok's

Learn to Breed

Feet: Sleddogs are runners! They love it the way a Lab loves to play catch...they will do it all day! And that means they need to have good strong, tough feet! Otherwise, they won't be able to run... just like us when we spend all day walking and our feet get sore, we get cranky and grumpy... so do they! Even more so though, because the can't do the one thing they love to do the most in the entire world....Run!

Every musher has a different idea about what a "good" set of feet look like, but they end result is always the same... do the dogs feet get sore at the end of the day?

Fur: This is a tricky one! The dogs fur regulates the dogs tempeture...duh! :) But, as a musher, what do you regulate that to? Thick fur so the dog doesn't expend much energy staying warm when it's cold out? Or, thin fur so that the dog doesn't overheat if you need to run her when it's warm out (say 10-20 deg F)? Every musher has to answer this question... and just like all the other breeding factors, it really just depends on what each musher is trying to do with his or her dogs!

When a musher is deciding which dogs to breed he or she will look at the above traits (and probably a few extra that are individual important to each musher) to determine who is the "best of the best" and then make their breeding choices from there.

There is soooooo much more to it!!!!!!

If you want to know more follow the "breeding" links on the side bar... you'll find more than you ever wanted to know (maybe!)