(Sorry for the cross-post for some of you- feel free to gripe even more openly here )

So... I had to have a vent session here. Our trip to Niagara Falls (pictures posted in Off-Topic) went lovely! Koda was such a gentleman, and since it was our first "big trip" with him, we are very excited and it's pretty much a big deal for us

HOWEVER-- I can't tell you how many STUPID parents with small children (I'm talking under the age of 5) allowed their kids to walk up to Koda unsupervised and pet him. Most people had the brains to at least look at us or wait until we said "He's friendly" but I feel that's something that you do with children ABOVE the age of 5. THREE kids under the age of 2 stuck their hands RIGHT in Koda's mouth!

It was so bad with this one family and their little 1 year old, that we started getting our things together to leave so that we didn't tempt fate. However, as we were packing up, she runs up, throws her hands in his face and then dodges backwards. Koda, on a short leash thank god, finally thinks she's trying to play and lunges forward quick with his mouth open and the grandmother (or mother?) FLIPS OUT, but SAT ON HER A**. That's when I finally took Koda and let John pack up the stuff (we were breaking for a picnic).

It just made me so mad! What is wrong with parents?? Thank god Koda was exhausted and happens to be very mellow in public, but seriously?! Stop letting your kid wander around a strange dog and teach her some MANNERS. I don't care if she's only 1... all the more reason not to let her wander around!

Another little girl walked up to Koda and literally SCREAMED in his face before we knew what happened. (Literally, we were walking on the sidewalk and they were passing us. We hadn't spoken to them at all). Her parents at least had the decency to grab her and tell her "No" half-heartedly. Then let their 5 other children walk up to Koda and pet him.

I just... I was SO annoyed at parents today. We did the best we could to correct the kids or walk away from these encounters, but this seriously happened SEVERAL times.

Oh- and we also got our first: "Is that a wolf-hybrid?" question today. LOL. What a day. Koda was a star!

I know how you feel. Our dog trainer for our doggie class told us a story of someone getting mad at him. He was working 1 on 1 with an agressive dog. They were working on him staying calm at a park. A lady and her child walk up and go to pet the dog. The trainer jumped in between and was like, "please don't touch him....we are in training" And the lady got all mad at him and walked away mumbling under her breath and how they were to good to let her kid pet there dog. And the trainer was just like, "the dog would have bite the kids hand off with one wrong move."

I don't see why people insist on Huskies being wolves or wolf hybrids. They are similar yes, in terms of body shape and structure, but the coloring of the coat and eyes should give it away. Wolves are more blended in their coats, not like a sibes. I think malumutes look more like wolves then huskies, since there colors are all blended together like a wolves.

I had a mom and son at the park today agrueing over whether or not Sirmiq was a wolf. The kid was right, but mom didn't want to believe either of us.

Interesting topic!

Jen- I KNOW! I mean... certain huskies DO look a lot like wolves (remember back to Heather's Koda-- he has more similar wolfy coloring). But Sirmiq and Koda are black and white... they really don't look anything like wolves! They look like huskies!

And in regards to the trainer: I wish I had reacted quickly enough to jump in front of a few kids. But they had to bother us when we were eating... so we were sitting down with food in our hands. I was like: come on- let us relax for a minute!

Yea some huskies do have coats similar to a wolf coat. What really gets me though, when people ask if Sirmiq is a wolf, is that one of the first things they notice about him is his piercing blue eyes. I have never seen a wolf with blues eyes, only yellow or orange, not sure if a wolf can have brown eyes or not, I have never seen one. I grew up about 3 miles from a place called Wolf Haven.

My best friend and I have a saying: "Everyone is dumb but us." I think that very much applies here.

The only huskies i think look some what like wolves are the Agouti Huskies...they have more of a blended coat...i absolutely love Agouti's they are so stunning...

Couple things:

Koda what side of Niagra Falls did you go to? I went to the Canadian side almost 4 yrs ago, it was beautiful.

One difference between wolfs and siberian huskies is in the chest. A wolf will have little to no chest at all to in order to run faster. Learned this at a wolf preserve.

I have a pair of wolf-dog mixes or wolf hybrids, which ever term you prefer.
One is a male that is 75% Timber wolf and the rest is Husky. And I have a female that is 50% Sherpard, 45% Wolf, and a smidge of Husky. (or there abouts.) I got the male from the preserve mentioned above and I rescued the female and her mother is from the same preserve. My male Chief, has teddy bear brown eyes and my female, Hiawatha has gold eyes.


Chief





Hiawatha

Wow- they're beautiful. I hope you'll share your stories of your hybrids. I've heard a lot of things about how they can be very dangerous past the age of 2. I'd be very interested in your experience with them.

We went to the Canadian side The pictures are in off-topic. I've been to the American side and it's really not as "bad" as people say, but the Canadian side is definitely gorgeous

wow thats awsome...I almost got a wolf hybrid before I got Ruger. They are very unique looking dogs. Hows their temperment?

They are really good..for the most part.

Hiawatha was a rescue and her story is almost tragic. I used to volunteer at a zoo and we got a call about someone wanting to donate or see if anyone wanted to adopt her. These people also called the wolf preserve, but at the time they had no room for her. The zoo gave me the information on her and come to find out, if no one came to get her that night they were going to shot her.

Appearently she had got out and attacked another dog causing like $1,000.00 worth of vet bills and they were worried because there where $50,000.00 horses that lived in the area as well. Now I do have to say that yes she did get out, but no one knows for sure if she injured this other dog.

So Parry and I drive out to get her in the middle of the night, because the guy could not wait until the morning. She was so scared that she had to covered in a blanket to be put into a kennel so we could take her home. Also come to find out, this guy beat the living crap outta her that afternoon as well. Parry could not touch her for the first 6 months we had her she would not even take raw turkey legs from him. She took to me that first night.

That was 2 years ago and as I count the day I got her as her birthday, she just turned 4. She is the most loving dog and very loyal and worrisome. Only my husband, myself, and my youngest step-daughter can just go up to and pet her. My other step-children have to visit with her for awhile before they can pet her. Beyond that no one else can pet her. She just paces back and forth and stresses out.

I can say that she keeps Chief butt in line and they make pretty puppies together. Believe or not, these two produce white pups!


I will post Chiefs story tomorrow here. On a side note, if I want to post pictures of puppies my dogs have had, which topic would be the best choice to do so???

Tall Tails

Dang... cool story!