The more people use it the confuse I get about it. I only know one type of husky, but once in a while i will hear Alaskan Husky. My vet and research agree theres no such thing as an Alaskan husky. What's the different between them and a Siberian Husky if they Do exist?

The difference between an Alaskan and siberian Husky.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/huskyalaskansiberian.htm

Siberian Husky is a pure breed of dog. Alaskan Husky is a mix breed with Siberian Husky in them to create a better sled dog. Alaskan Huskies are mutts that are good at sledding. Some don't even look like huskies and some kinda do. Basically you can think of them as sled dog mutts with a dash of Siberian Husky somewhere in the mixing that were created in Alaska- so they were nicknamed Alaskan Huskies. Doubt you will ever come across one outside of Alaska sled teams.

Actually...Alaskan huskies have been around for a very long time. They aren't new.

The Alaskan husky of today is a mix of scent and sight hounds and herding breeds for different various functions/reasons. Speed, more biddability, drive to work etc.

It doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet, but Alaskan huskies can include mixes which don't even resemble Sibes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurohound

I guess the real question is what do you mean by "exist"? There are some breeds which just aren't recognized by major organizations (Tamaskan, Labrador Husky, etc.) and then there are those terms which are applied to grouping of dogs, but don't constitute actual breeds (McKenzie River husky, Alaskan husky, etc.). Alaskan huskies "exist" in the sense that I could find for you a dog which meets the criteria for the term and you could touch it (race it even), but they don't "exist" in the sense that we can't take 10 mutts with husky lineage and say some subset are Alaskan huskies and the remainder are not with any degree of certainty because the term is defined in a fuzzy way.

Panzer, owned by Eric, is an Alaskan Husky, so we even have them on the forum!

They are mixes. The word "husky" means native. So they are native to Alaska. Everyone else explained.

I know this thread is a little older, but I wanted to drop in and add a couple pictures from our trip to Alaska over the summer. We had the chance to go to a training camp and hang out with several dogs and pups. It was a BLAST and I'd highly recommend everyone doing it if you have the chance!

While at the mushers camp we got to talk with Greg Sellentin, of mushing.com, about the variations within the breed and found out that each musher breeds for different reasons; strength, speed, endurance, etc. It was AMAZING!

Anywho, here are the pictures...

I suppose I should chime in a bit, as an owner of an Alaskan husky, and mixed breed working dog advocate.

Everyone has posted a ton of great information. Alaskan Huskies are just sled dogs. They aren't a breed. Their standard is to be sleek, fast, and have a lot of endurance. A lot of the time they are bred and maintained in the 100's, and the breeding programs focus is on producing what is basically gaming livestock, not a pet quality dog. As such, Alaskan huskies make very difficult pets. They can have anything from Border Collie, to Siberian Husky, to Malamute, to German Shep, to German Shorthairedd Pointer, to Viszla, and more in them. I believe mine is Siberian and Border Collie, mostly,

They certaintly exist, and in the sledding world, they excel. Siberian Huskies are a breed standard that, I may be incorrect in this, are bred to conform to the teams of Leonard Seppala and that guy who owned Balto and got all the credit for the Serum Run, Instead of leonard and Togo.

K9_Eric wrote:

I suppose I should chime in a bit, as an owner of an Alaskan husky, and mixed breed working dog advocate.

Everyone has posted a ton of great information. Alaskan Huskies are just sled dogs. They aren't a breed. Their standard is to be sleek, fast, and have a lot of endurance. A lot of the time they are bred and maintained in the 100's, and the breeding programs focus is on producing what is basically gaming livestock, not a pet quality dog. As such, Alaskan huskies make very difficult pets. They can have anything from Border Collie, to Siberian Husky, to Malamute, to German Shep, to German Shorthairedd Pointer, to Viszla, and more in them. I believe mine is Siberian and Border Collie, mostly,

They certaintly exist, and in the sledding world, they excel. Siberian Huskies are a breed standard that, I may be incorrect in this, are bred to conform to the teams of Leonard Seppala and that guy who owned Balto and got all the credit for the Serum Run, Instead of leonard and Togo.

I thought Togo was a Seppala bred dog too?

Edit: never mind, re-read your post and realized what you were saying.

Togo was leonard seppala's lead dog, and the more impressive, more enduring, and less celebrated dog. Balto and team are better known.

K9_Eric wrote:

I suppose I should chime in a bit, as an owner of an Alaskan husky, and mixed breed working dog advocate.

Everyone has posted a ton of great information. Alaskan Huskies are just sled dogs. They aren't a breed. Their standard is to be sleek, fast, and have a lot of endurance. A lot of the time they are bred and maintained in the 100's, and the breeding programs focus is on producing what is basically gaming livestock, not a pet quality dog. As such, Alaskan huskies make very difficult pets. They can have anything from Border Collie, to Siberian Husky, to Malamute, to German Shep, to German Shorthairedd Pointer, to Viszla, and more in them. I believe mine is Siberian and Border Collie, mostly,

They certaintly exist, and in the sledding world, they excel. Siberian Huskies are a breed standard that, I may be incorrect in this, are bred to conform to the teams of Leonard Seppala and that guy who owned Balto and got all the credit for the Serum Run, Instead of leonard and Togo.

i would have to say i have several friends with alaskans and they say their temperment is better than that of your average husky. more biddable and trust worthy. a couple live with cats and have no issues. i guess its how they are raised. my friend is even planning a litter this spring/fall to add to her team of alaskans and the lineage of them is amazing and her dogs are just everything i would want from a dog. the parents do look more husky, but the previous litter ( the mother came to my friend already pregnant, unknown to anyone) none of them look husky like, they look more bully breed and several of them have proven themselves both amazing work and home dogs.

Its definitely more to do with who raised them. They aren't typically bred for temperment, andd majority of the racing specific breeders I am acquainted with wouldn't release one of their dogs to a typical family home, because of what difficult pets they make, especially as they get older and more used to their kennel.