For The Dogs: NorSled Husky Rescue What does

NORSLED HUSKY RESCUE

By Carie Broecker

It’s happened before, it’ll happen again. The unwitting consequence of a particular breed being portrayed in a movie or television show often leads to the popularization of that breed. This in turn, leads to the overbreeding, overbuying, and subsequent abandonment of the breed.

It happened with Dalmatians when 101 Dalmatians came out, it happened with Chihuahuas after the Taco Bell commercial popularized the breed, and now it is happening with Huskies all over the country due to the popular show Game of Thrones.

The show features dogs they call “direwolves” that look like Huskies. Since the show came out in 2011, rescues and shelters have seen a steady increase in the number of Huskies being abandoned and surrendered, and by 2017 the average number of Huskies entering shelters had doubled.

According to Gail de Rita, the rescue/adoption coordinator for Northern California Sled Dog Rescue (NorSled), adopting a Husky is “not for the faint of heart.” Gail has been doing Husky rescue for 23 years. She fell in love with the breed after adopting her first Husky, Juno.

“Huskies have charming personalities,” says de Rita. “They are smart. Smarter than most people! In general, they are friendly, they bond to their pack, they are great with children, they enjoy the company of other dogs, they are cuddly, affectionate, loyal, and exquisite to look at.

“But, they are also challenging if you don’t know what to expect. They are active, energetic, they can have prey drive with smaller animals, they can be escape artists, learning to open doors, jump fences, and dig under fences. They are inquisitive and need both mental and physical stimulation. They aren’t necessarily obedient. They like to think for themselves and can be stubborn. They are not good guard dogs. They are typically too friendly for that. And they are not couch potatoes. You better be up for exercising a Husky if you adopt one.”

What happens too often is someone buys an adorable eight-week-old Husky puppy. When the dog gets to be 18–24 months old, they can be too much dog for the average person to keep. If the dog has not been properly trained or exercised, they can become destructive and unhappy. Then they get surrendered to a shelter or rescue group.

NorSled has been inundated with Huskies. They also rescue Husky mixes. They often have as many as 10 Huskies at a time enrolled in “Husky Boot Camp,” which is a board and train facility that helps give the Huskies a foundation of basic obedience training to make them more adoptable.

One of the amazing positive consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that with more people working from home, adoptions of all dogs across the country have been on the rise—and that includes Huskies.

Belle had been with NorSled for three years. Gail says she was an “opinionated” dog. Belle was adopted in July during shelter in place. Gail said Belle finally found an adopter who accepted her unconditionally. Their personalities meshed!

For more information about NorSled, go to https://www.norsled.org.

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