Run, Run, Run...

[Glacier]

Originally posted by Aspen and Misty
I LOVE the eyes on the last pup!

Do your pups ever run away??

I have a friend who had the most reliable Husky I had ever seen. If you even mumbled his name he came runnin!! But then one day he didn't and he hasn't been able to find him since (it's been 2 years). Poor lil guy

Lovly pics!

Ash

That's Founder in the last pic.

Some of them are prone to running away. I don't let those ones run loose. It helps that most of mine are mixes--tends to make them more reliable than a purebred siberian. Plus many of them have abandonment issues. I just have to walk in the opposite direction and many of them will follow out of fear of being left behind. I also always carry treats with me in a bag that makes noise. Funny how sometimes they can't hear their names, but they can hear the treat bag from 500 yards away!

Bandit is the husky they write books about. He vanishes if he's let off lead. In his last home, he always ran here. He's gotten away from us a couple times (not recently). He's always come back on his own. I can't chase Bandit or he just runs farther away. Muskwa disappears on me, but stays around fine for my husband. Pingo used to go back to her old owner's place, but she's realized that the couch is better than a dog yard!

The timid boys are never loose--Franklin, Pacer, Mac, Ozzy, Antare. They all stay on leash, in harness or on the Springer.

I have a friend who lost his husky a year ago when Kodi decided to chase a bull caribou on an isolated mountain. He was never seen again. When I asked him about it, he said that he found comfort in the fact that Kodi died doing what he loved best--running and exploring. I know I'd rather go doing something I love.

I suppose it's a calculated risk. I live in an area where the worst thing they are likely to run into is a porcupine. Not much traffic or other human threats to them when they are loose. Running loose makes them happy and takes the edge off the summer/fall boredom--Summer is really boring for a sled dog! I try to minimize the risks as much as possible and also try to let them have some fun at the same time. They work their butts off for me all winter and I think every once in a while they deserve to just be dogs, not working dogs.