Hello all,

?My question for you experts is if white huskies and/or Isabella whites are leaner and larger than other huskies?

I serve a big ole Isabella white husky.  He is a big guy.  We brought Lars home from a Santa Cruz rescue at about 10 to 11 months old (according to our Vet) and is a tad over one year now.  He comes in at 60 pounds and is really tall.  He is still growing and is really lean and still doesn't look like an adult.  So, in essence, he kind of looks like a year old Siberian but...bigger and taller than the adult huskies he plays with.  

I'm curious because this is not my first husky and he seems to dwarf every other husky at the park or when we are out and about.  Full grown huskies seem shorter and with more girth (could be the hair or the body) while he mostly looks like them he is taller than every single husky we have had him play with (a lot in our area actually).  

As well, the physical descriptions by two vets and most people we encounter claim that he may have some wolf or something because of his size.  Truthfully, sincerely, I could care less if he was a pure husky, a wolf hybrid, or a chiwawa mixed with an ostrich.  My wife and I rescue based on personality rather than dog breed or appearance (and lucky us we got a huge, awesome, handful when that personality was a husky!) but I am curious.  

He also acts JUST like a husky, general characteristics, with the way he vocalizes a lot (howls and talks ALL THE TIME), his bright and alert demeanor and his general reactions to things.  Though, lol, he is a big baby (and I don't know if that is a trait of most huskies) and will get his feelings hurt by us or our other pup pretty easily.  As well, he kind of likes to play with dogs but seems mostly aloof around them. When we go to the park he hangs and runs on his own. He is always eying up everything and is always, always, on high alert.

Though we have not seen another white or Isabella (I had never even seen one before we met Lars) I did some rough exploring, I wouldn't call it 'research', and I have found many images and descriptions of white huskies and most seem to be leaner and larger.  Any insite or conjecture would be welcomed!  I apologize that many of the images are UPSIDE DOWN   .  I couldn't seem to get them to come out  right when I downloaded them to the forum.  THANKS!!!!

1.  Lars in one of our spare bedrooms the day we brought him home.
2.  The rest are of lars and his sister at about one year old on one of the patios.  

Sadly, my personal computer decided to go into retirement so I only have images of the first day we brought him home and a few that aren't great but more recent.




.com/view/19803334/8][/url]

I wonder if one of the mods or admins can create 2 separate threads for you, think that may be more interesting to stay on one topic or an other. Answer to your first post, imho, I don't think whites are larger, tho in honesty the whites I know are, lol. At his age he more than likely is done growing height wise, and many huskies take upwards of 3 years to fill out and finish his end weight. Genetics plays a role, but from some studies I have read early spay/neuters can affect growth plates, and these dogs tend to be taller than standard. Is Lars neutered and if so do you know at what age? I do not see any wolf in this boy, however, I can lean towards Malamute, his ear placement is very wide for a husky, I could also guess possible gsd, but again ear placement seems to wide for a gsd, or he could be a mix of all 3 or a pure husky, lol. Embark dna test is the premier dog dna testing out there right now. It also does health tests (MDR1 stand alone test for example runs $65-80), so you could do the test to find out.

Very interesting stuff on your dad, have to look that up. Lars is a great name, <3 My girl was named Maya after the Mayan calendar, you know the world was suppose to end at the end of 2012, she was born in November, when the world didn't end we changed the spelling to Miya.

I moved the name question to its own topic. I have a white male and he's big as well. He's around 75 pounds and we wondered if he didn't have a little world in him too but I did an embark DNA test and he came back pure. I kinda wonder if breeders who are breeding specifically to get white dogs aren't to blame for why you see so many large ones if you see them at all. Some view them as "rare" and so you will get breeders doing whatever they can to develop them taking no account to what they are breeding and what else might happen in their quest for a color they will attempt to charge more for.

I had a pair of silver and white huskies, a brother and sister, who's mom was a white on the very low end of standard in size, for a female. She was about the size of my current little girl. After my huskies passed away, and I searched for a new breeder, I wanted silver and white huskies again, it's my most favorite coloring on a husky. The breeder I found, I chose because of her health guarantee (8 years, which is a lot compared to others) and although she has produced silver and whites, they weren't common for her. I had asked why she didn't have white huskies (it was my understanding, probably incorrect though, that a white parent was needed to produce a silver and white) and she laughed. She (and many other breeders) told me it was THE most requested color for a husky, and that they must have blue eyes. They turn away those potential clients. My current breeder said that she can't offer her health guarantee if she had a white parent simply because it's extremely difficult to find a "quality" white. So, I think, that when it comes to white huskies, the vast majority of them will be out of standard, and either on the larger side, or the very small side. I'm not saying you won't see quality whites, my past huskies mother was stunning, I'm just thinking that there is a market, so to speak, for white huskies with blue eyes and many many byb's/puppy mills have capitalized on that market and breed out of standard huskies to produce an easy to sell, white husky, so the ones we most commonly see, will be those that may be larger, and/or have other out of standard features, i.e. large ears, narrow faces, etc. .

I have a male wooly that is way over sized for the breed (he's 25" at the whithers and 70 pounds (a good weight for him, he does drift up if I don't watch him like a hawk.) He's a dilute red.

I do know a white husky female who summers down the road from us. She is tiny, a bit smaller than Z'ev at 45 pounds.

I do know the Amish breeders just south of us in PA breed larger huskies because that is what people want.

MiyasMomma, thanks for the information, and what a wonderful name for you pup. We have a big Maya calendar sitting in our living room. Not one that I would expect. Very cool. I'm really interested in doing the genetic testing, I actually studied genetics in hominid evolution at ucla and, love that stuff, obviously. More for my little black mutt with the heart of a lion and the touch of a hummingbird. Thanks for the suggestions!

TwisterII,

Thank your for splitting the topics. I'm new to this so I may break norms and protocols; if I do, just let me know and, well I won't. Ha ha.

As I do more research I am starting to see what you were writing about with regard to the perceived highest value colors and the search for it. Agouti and white, for example. From my own experience working with human DNA I know that hair color can be really tricky. Then, these dogs, have two coats. Asking an old colleague for her opinion she stated that because of the dual coat they may have different aspects for each coat, making every husky extraordinary in their own right. Which we all know is the case. So you think some of those who want to make the extra money on white on white do what they can have that come out?

For information that was asked about. Lars, our Isabella white husky was found wandering around Santa Cruz. We were visiting the pound, he and I hit it off so we adopted him (after doing a pet test with our other pup). He was one year old, aprox, still had his baby stomach, and was 50 pounds when he was snipped. He has continued to grow up and out but more people are asking if he is a GSD. Strange. You know? I think his ears might be a bit on the wide side. Maybe, as you were thinking, he may be part Malemute

How interesting. I didn't even know there were Amish breeders. Your pup is pretty big then? 70 pounds!


I love the way that long haired breeds look. I have never seen them here.

Artic_Wind,

First, those two huskies running side by side like in your picture? That would make me smile every time I saw it. So I looked at it a bunch of times; thanks.

My White "Lars" is probably off of breed standard. In fact I know he is, he is huge. Acts just like a sweet, goofy, lovable Husky. Aside from the fact that my wife is a little small (tough though lol), it works out.

That gray and white is stunning btw. Do you live in Cold Climates? We do and don't but are thinking moving colder.

Atlasheld wrote:

Artic_Wind,

First, those two huskies running side by side like in your picture?  That would make me smile every time I saw it. So I looked at it a bunch of times; thanks.

My White "Lars" is probably off of breed standard.  In fact I know he is, he is huge.  Acts just like a sweet, goofy, lovable Husky.  Aside from the fact that my wife is a little small (tough though lol), it works out.

That gray and white is stunning btw.  Do you live in Cold Climates?  We do and don't but are thinking moving colder.

Thank you so much! The pic is pretty special to me, I had just gotten home from work and Kohdi and Mishka didn't know yet, they were in their own little world out in the backyard, haha. So...I got my camera, went out back and said "I'm home! " they both turned to look at me and both just came running to greet me I am so glad the pic turned out! Action shots are hit and miss with my camera (could be me though, lol)

When I looked for huskies after my last two passed away, I think I was very thorough. I contacted many many breeders, and there were some who had whites, and the parents hardly ever looked like a husky. Some were obviously poorly bred, but I think when a husky lacks markings, it throws us off. To me, most white Huskies have a GSD look (unless they are of high quality) and I don't know why, lol. I think when we have grey/whites/red/whites, black/whites, their coloring S/markings add a certain depth to their coats, and also highlights certain aspects (eyes for example) just having a mask can make a snout look longer or shorter, but when you have a white, it's like the husky has been stripped (can be said for some other breeds as well) and why when we see one, we start thinking of other breeds they may look like, cuz we don't see that "husky" in them, only certain things that look husky, so we start thinking mixed. My last husky girl was a very very light silver and white, but she had just enough shadowing and markings to her coat that she looked husky even though many many people thought she was a white husky. I'll post a pic to show you what I mean. Lars is beautiful! And fits your family, it's all good!

This was Anuschka, she was very light but as I said, to me atleast, she has just enough markings to say "husky"...her heaviest weight was 46lbs.



And no, I live in San Diego, California. Can be pretty warm here, pretty cold too! But not cold like others climates. Mine are just fluffy by genetics, haha.