McCracken's Huskies

The pack would like to know, "Where is winter???!!!"   The weather has been cool but certainly not "winter cold" nor have we seen a flake of snow yet.      Perhaps it's just running late?   Regardless, I hope it arrives soon.   There is nothing more beautiful than a snowy day with huskies running!   And the kids are excited to go sledding with the juveniles we have now (Heaven and Tamara).   I don't know who has more fun on these ventures, the kids or the pups but considering the smiles, laughter and racing puppies, I'm thinking it's all involved.

We are currently in the process of building new doghouses, as nobody is impressed with any I have tried.   The girls like to lay on top of them and I wanted some that seemed more functional (with the opening not too large for heat to escape in the winter, nor low enough that all their hay bedding ends up outside of it).   Thanks to a wonderful breeder in Canada who was dealing with the same issues, we now have a complete hit!   I will post pictures soon!  

Nanook, Shalimar and Sasha are enjoying their pups that we still have here.   Nanook must positively be the best mother I've ever seen.   She will still give her food up to Lobo and Tamara first before eating herself.   Her patience and dedication to motherhood have been a true joy to watch.   I liked the spacing of these litters, considering I had three at the same time.   It really seemed to work well.

Currently, we have Miracle due with a litter of puppies sired by Yuri.   This will be his second litter and I am so excited over it.   His first litter with Nanook was incredible and the easiest litter I've ever raised.   I have filled notebooks on observations of this litter and am so pleased their new owners are so informative with updates and pictures!   I will be watching Miracle's litter just as closely.   She is spending most of the end of her pregnancy sprawled out across my bed and the living room couch.   She generally does not go to her whelping box until right before delivery.   She is eating wonderfully though and besides craving the occasional spaghetti dinner, I am not seeing any differences in this pregnancy!   Puppies have dropped back some and I can definitely feel and see them moving.   She has also lost the hair on her belly, and I am wondering if she might go this coming weekend.

We have started a program with Walmart and Quest Recycling to get our meat for the pack (which are raw fed) and it has been working out wonderfully!   Our pack gets plenty of beef, chicken, lamb, salmon, and turkey.   Variety is important and I am really pleased to be able to now afford to give them salmon and lamb on a more regular basis.   In the winter I also add oatmeal and warm beef broth as they truly enjoy it.  

We have finally finished our future breeding list for the year (which you can see on our website) and I am truly looking forward to several of these breedings!   Akuma is a new addition to our pack, our first agouti siberian husky and I am so thrilled with him.   His intelligence matches Yuri's and Leo's and although he is still young enough to have plenty puppy in him he's extremely well mannered.   He is currently being bred with Beauty and their puppies will be arriving in January!  

I am considering posting a page on my website showing "before" and "after" pictures of adult siberians we have taken from a kibble fed diet to a raw diet as the difference is just incredible.   Hopefully I will have this up within the next month.  

Training-wise, I am considering and researching clicker training once again.   We have used this training in the past but as I do not always have a clicker handy, I have gone back to hand signals and verbal commands.   I would like to start a litter of pups early though with some clicker training to see the results of this.   All of our training is done with positive reinforcements and I cannot stress the importance of this enough.   There are many wonderful books on this subject and also trainers who use it, so if you would like some references, please ask!  

For now I would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!!!   We will have more updates soon!