#if you are a musher your dogs are your lifeblood

[darkwood-sleddog]

kinda snowballing off that post and also bringing in what my vet said a few months ago about being surprised that my dogs are so nice and easy to handle 'for malamutes'

the idea that working bred dogs cannot be friendly with people (to their breeds ideal bc let's be honest golden friendliness is different than collie friendliness is different than husky friendliness etc.) is such a weird perception to me and a troubling position to see my fellow working sled dog peers take.

Like "oh they didn't do well at the show because they're working dogs." you say in a ring full of other working dogs and it's not even the question of "is this dog socialized to this or not?" because certainly my working breeder (whose dogs are highly titled in work in the breed) does not prioritize some of the situations my working pet dogs are put in by me, but they did not need to be heavily socialized to these situations to navigate them.

They have never been even remotely wary of a stranger and even though they have no show experience and never will I know that the only thing they'd struggle with in the ring would be stacking for long periods of time. Not being around other dogs of the same gender even though they are selective, not the poking and prodding. Yes, even my dog that is too naturally anxious to be breeding quality.

My dogs are a primitive breed and modern expectations of dog behavior doesn't often line up with their naturally occurring behaviors. They're loud, they wrestle too hard for many other dog breeds, they prefer a strict routine of respectful behavior and body language from other dogs -and yes the modern expectation they should act no differently than a golden is ridiculous- but despite not meeting these societal expectations i can bring my dogs to a restaurant or to the hardware store with me, my dogs greet children gently even though they've had limited exposure, even when they don't love what's being done to them at the vet they are able to be safely handled and none of that takes away from their working ability.