Not a Resuce but a Bad case poor Training

This famous sled dog is renown , in the sled dog
sprint racing circuit he lives up to his name Chucky.
17 fights in his life, now mind you let me give you a little info on dog fights before I get into his story.

EVERY time two dogs fight it's the owners fault NOT THE DOGS. I'm sorry I really am but it's true and in truth it's always easier to forgive a human for an accident or a bad day but not the dogs. Yes there are the occasion case were an inbred dog was sold to an unknowing person I've never personally met someone who's experienced this but it has happened, those are one in a million. Every other time it is because the owner or owners don't know their dogs, and sometimes they don't know dogs in general. Knowing what your dogs going to do before they do it is key, everything they think is readable in their body and face. When they consider even thinking of fighting their hackles have been up for over 5 straight minutes at one specific dog or pack if that is the case, if they respect you they check that your far away and they drop their head to protect their necks your got less than 30 seconds before they show full teeth and less then a minute before they fight.

The first time I saw Chucky fight was my first training run with a fellow musher.we had his team all lined out with the 4wheeler.
Now there were eight dogs running to the team and with those eight in pairs Chucky was in the third row back from the leader which put him two rows up from me on the 4wheeler.
With that picture of the eight dogs in your head put my self a girl about 23 at that on the 4wheeler and my friend with with the lead dogs.
The 4wheeler wouldn't start so he was giving me ideas as to what it could be and when he was looking at me my eyes were on the dogs and while my eyes worked on the 4wheeler his eyes where on the dogs and Bare is a natural in lead he'll pull anything you give him and turn a corner on a dime but some how as I got the 4wheeler started (my fellow musher didn't tell me he hit the off switch on to the engine) just by blinking we both missed Bare turning around going right past the male behind him and at Chucky before Chucky knew what happened. I had the 4wheeler off and was off of it just as Bare took his first snap at Chucky and my friend at the same time, recovering with only a scratch on each dog we took I unclipped Bare to take him to he truck unfortunately I forgot the the break on the 4wheeler and the rest of the dogs took of in neutral it was quite comical to watch me with put the latch lock down with my chin while holding the break in one hand and a dog by the collier in another to stop the team from running away with the 4wheeler. Sorry went off topic for a second there the end of that story of a funny memory to me and a bond of trust with Bare.
Now this was no random incident with Chucky every dog and I mean every dog in my friends yard disliked Chicky, the reason I will never know, but I can tell you it was part my friends fault he did favor Chucky when he was a pup and the old dogs remember that. Chucky nine time out of ten was attacked first and just defended him self, on occasion he has been known to attack those who have attacked him in the past, it really was a whole revenge cycle in this pack of dogs.
when my family took Chucky it was after 2 years of knowing this dog and not only had I run him on trail but I'd also taken him home with me while he still belonged to my friend and I figured out that Chucky was very calm.
Unfortunately, my family and I had just gotten our first unfixed female and Chucky also happened to be intact and we didn't watch for her going into heat which nearly caused us the lose of Demon. Chucky with his what he's always known believed if he wanted to be alpha for the female he had to fight. The only one to fight was demon so he did. now we never leave or dogs loose unattended unfortunately when you have to pee accident can happen, and it cost 40 stitches in our precious like the one ring is what he is to this family.
Chucky needed to learn and unfortunately it hurt Demon but for some reason stitches headed cone after he woke up all Demon wanted to do was go outside to play with his buddy Chucky. Once the cone was off I put Demon on a leash and took him to what he wanted for weeks to see Chucky. Demon's a good dog and smart as could be if he could talk he'd put half my house to shame so i told him to stay close and just take it easy and he did. When we approached Chucky's circle I couldn't read him very well he looked confused but he looked defensive, Demon was happy to see him so I could tell Chucky wanted to be happy to but I think he was still afraid the Demon was going to attack him. But letting them get nose to nose and showing Chucky that Demon knew what happened and that they were still buddy's, it was like to male best friends getting drunk at a bar knocking each other out but the next day it all good. Men never going understand human or dogs. 2 years later Chucky and Demon have never fought again and they play together all the time. Chucky had one more fight 3 months after that again it was human error but since then he's learned there's no reason to defend from whats not going to attack him.

For everyone you loose there's one you can save

With the painful lose of Chinook it was a few months before the family took on another dog. With a phone call from a friend who fosters dogs fro OSPCA we were asked to take on a rather rambunctious husky that was coming from another foster home in Montreal. When Tucker arrived in our home he was so drugged up his eyes were crossed and he could barley hold himself up. The last thing the poor guy needed was a bunch of people standing all over him so taking him out side we put him in the back yard on a chain and showed him his house. From there he just dropped down and slept. So here we were with a dog so overly drugged we were wondering if he'd have brain damage at 7 o'clock at night, luckily it was a weekend cause poor tucker was going to wake up in the middle of the night in a strange smelling and looking place after a long confusing day. Tucker was an interesting case, this high energized husky escaped from a kennel near Ottawa as a puppy freshly weekend and sauntered his way to Montreal in a few months. It was there that he was found near a set of train track and brought to the animal care center where he was quickly sent to a foster home due to his overly hyper destructive attitude of the kennel. Within the year We were called to take him, now tucker had never bit anyone but then again he'd never been given the option to even try. So here we were with a dog that had little background in his history other than knowing he needs a good solid run to take his energy out, we knew he was aggressive as well, but we were at a loss. Then he woke up, knowing he'd never been abused we knew we were safe from his attack, there was no fear in his eyes only confusion. Glenn approached him first and was fully sniffed for his effort, with his nose to the underside of Glenn's hand all the breaths we'd been holding let loose as he started to pet Tucker.

Now with all of our dogs we can walk in to their circles where they eat separately and pet, touch anything even removed their bowls right out from under their mouths if we needed to. Now YOU NEVER take food from an animal not only is it dangerous but it's also cruel. Now we do at times need to remove a bowl, later I'll get to Sawyer who if we don't take it away when he eats to fast he has seizures. Tucker still to this day if you are not myself or Glenn you can not go near him as he eats, not even Glenn's mother has our luck, but that's only because we spend the active time with him. Trust is key but so is companionship, if you don't show him the love you don't get any.

With the first night over and the painful howling calls of Tucker missing his old home at an end we harnessed him up and cut him loose behind the team out on the Forrest trails. He ran hard and he ran fast but within the first month we knew Tucker wasn't a sled dog, he doesn't like to play well with the team. I figured out quickly Tucker is a one man team. a perfect Ski-jor dog or even just a jogging companion Tucker but he doesn't like to run in a pack. Knowing what we know about Tucker he's become a pet at the moment, he doesn't race or run with the team but he does play a jog with Glenn. One day if the right partner is found for him Tucker may one day go to a new home, but for now he's happy and safe with us at BadDog Racing Kennels

Just The Begining

Originally this blog started as a school project but I feel these dogs deserve to have their stories shared.
In the past 5 years I must say I've learned allot more than I bargained for. I've always had a soft spot for dogs but when I met my boyfriend Glenn and his rescued huskies I could see the pain they experienced in their eyes. The old boy Demon (in pic on left) you could see is happy and has never felt more safe but you could see the damage done in hiss actions kisses were a no the second he was taken from his mother. He was from a puppy placed on a chain in the back yard with a choker collar and was never given water or barley feed. if he tried to kick anything when he was on chain the choker would be pulled tight it wore away all the fur on his neck over time. Eventually as he grew he out grew the choker and it slow started to grow into him. so their he was a pup of only a few months with a collar embedded into his neck with no fur to protect from the cold when winter hits no water but his own urine and enough food to keep him alive. he was taken from there and spend along time in rehabilitation before he was eventually given to musher now race Marshall Jim . Over time Demon became a loving companion to Jim although still no kisses or even a hand lick would come from demons mouth. It was at the Kearney dogsled races that Glenn met Demon with Chinook and the two were buddy's from there with Jim saying good bye to a pale he knew Demon have the love and affection he needed to deal with the trauma he still held on to. In his new home demon continued to thrive as he had with Jim the kisses can come now very rare and far between but it's something and taking him as he is, is what make him always the happiest dog in the yard.

Chinook (in pic on right) he was the proudest reddest husky I had ever seen he was beautifull, and I used 2 l's on purpose because he was gorgeous and he knew it. He also knew his first home raised him to shred first sniff second. I could see the violence in his eyes as he would prowl across the yard at me. I swore sometimes he saw food not me, but always when he reached me it was head to hand for pets or paw on my shoulders to give me kisses. Chinook had been beaten and abused to make him the killer he was supposed to be but when he'd been rescued and then adopted by Glenn's family even in the years before I met him Chinook had softened to the family home and learned fighting was never necessary. Glenn turned Chinook's aggression in to productive play. Chinook had learned to use his teeth as tools not just for normal tearing food but for control as well it took a little time for trust to build on both sides but before long Glenn and Chinook were playing tug-a-war using Chinook's k-9 teeth, I know it sounds odd but the dog wouldn't play with a rope tug nope you had to hook your finger around his k9's so he while he wiggled and pulled backwards, I panicked the first time I watched Glenn play with him this way but then I really watched Chinook. Chinook would not only play with dad but would watch Glenn's every move just to make sure no one got hurt. it's like he could calculate that Glenn was going to trip on a rock before it happened and let go just before so that Glenn wouldn't be hurt on his teeth. Unfortunately due to serious injuries before he was adopted Chinook past away in 2009 from liver failure with his family helpless to cure him.

In this next video I'll be showing you the snaps we use on the chains along with puppy paw care and the nail cutters and trimmers for keeping the hair on their pads short.

This short video shows the type of harness we use on the dogs and why we use them.

My Introduction

Hello, My Name is Tasha and I'm a musher for Bad Dog Racing Kennels. In this blog I will be showing you the different tools we use while working with the sled dogs. The different harnesess we use to the nail clippers and pad trimmers.