Nanoq - the second

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Nanoq - the second We had yet another shock when we got our next Siberian Husky. The first one had been easy to handle as a puppy. There had been no damaged furniture, destroyed plants or other calamity with him, so that was the way a Husky-puppy behaved, we thought. But we were seriously wrong! Our number two Husky came into our lives during a winter vacation in Norway. He was born on the holiday center, where we stayed, he was 8 weeks old, and seemed like a quiet, shy type without being frightened. After a bit of negotiation within the family and with the owner of the kennel, we agreed on the terms, and so Nanoq came into our lives. It was by no means a head-over-heels decision. Our old dog, Chuk, was close to six years old, and we had been talking for some time about the possibility of getting him some company, which we felt he missed being a very social breed. So Nanoq was very welcome into the family. He was a pure race-breed, his parents beautiful with typical Husky-characteristics, and so he had to be a good choice. But soon we had to realize that Chuk did not agree with us. In the beginning, he totally ignored the puppy and Nanoq was seriously rejected every time he tried to make contact. It took six weeks before Chuk was ready to accept the presence of the puppy - and six months before the rest of us were. Nanoq was extremely destructive. He clearly missed the rest of the litter and his frustrations struck everything that could be destroyed, including electric wiring, furniture, clothes, books and you-name-it. And it was really hard to face a completely ruined home every time we had been away for a few minutes. After six months his destructive ways faded, and his last attempt was a carton of cherry sauce on the living room carpet. After that he was content by moving our things around. Especially clothes and we could find it in the strangest places. Once, for instance, we found some underwear in his doghouse in the garden. It wasn't destroyed, except for the fact that it was rather damp-stained. Nanoq started pulling cart when he was three years old and he simply loved it. He used to pull together with four other Huskies in a shared team. But the four others had better training opportunities, and so they got in better shape than Nanoq. But we didn't want to give up riding, so we acquired a small cart for two dogs, and this gave Chuk - our oldest Husky - an opportunity to resume his old sled dog career. For a couple of years we met with the four other Huskies and their owners in the forest - had coffee and chatting - but we trained separately. Some years went by this way, but eventually we had to give up sledding due to Chuks aging. And Nanoq wasn't getting any younger himself. He gradually developed the same problems with his back as we had experienced with Chuk, and at the age of 14 we had to take the toughest of decisions. December 2nd 2008 - almost exactly on his birthday - was a sad day, but it was somewhat comforting to know that Nanoq had a good and rich Husky-life.
  • Snowbath

    Our second husky, Nanoq, is entertaining himself with a refreshing snow bath in lovely winter Norway.

     

  • On the loose

    It is on rare occatiopns we have our huskies running free, but when it happens the enjoyment is obvious. Here Nanoq is having a ball in a large fenced area.