I moved up to Fairbanks in 2005. In 2006 I got a husky. “Why”, do you ask? Because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you move to Alaska, get a husky. And it’s not very hard to do, almost every dog in Fairbanks has husky in them, and there are a lot of dogs in Fairbanks to choose from. So I did it, I went to the pound, picked out a 3-month-old female, with brown eyes, not blue, took her home and named her Dasha. I’ve had her for 12 1/2 years now, and she is a wonderful, wonderful friend. But I’ve got to be honest, she is hands down, the worst farm dog ever.
Dasha has many wonderful qualities: she’s quiet, gentle to people, she tolerates my kids (mostly), stays out of the kitchen, loves to go for walks and car rides, to go camping, and she’s pretty good in a canoe. Dasha is also very good at paying attention to wildlife, she growls when there is a bear and barks when there is a moose. She watches out for my kids when they are outside playing and for all of us when we are camping. You can throw her outside at -40F and she’ll be fine. She also does not run away, which for a husky is amazing. I don’t have to tie her up at all, although I used to when we were gone for the day, just in case. I’ll tell you why in a bit. Dasha also does not kill cats, which is saying something considering what she does kill, more to come.
Two of Dasha’s worst qualities are that she loves to fight other dogs, especially other females, and she liked to kill small animals, ok all animals, except cats. A good brawl just gets her excited and I’ve lost track of the number of times me and my husband had to pull her off a dog, and yes we did put her on a leash (mostly), she just was very sneaky, which is why we tied her up when we were gone. As for small animals…..she is a killer at heart. There were a few memorable killings when she was young. She darted into a neighbor’s yard and killed their goose. She somehow got into Jessica’s goat pen, and when we ran to the sound of goats bleating, Dasha was running in circles trying to escape, knowing she was caught, and somehow the goats were not dead but just heavily slobbered upon. Whoo! Or there was the time she chased a deer while we were going for a walk and was a half mile up the hill before she decided she couldn’t catch it. Squirrels and snowshoe hares are still fair game. Basically, anything smaller than a moose is fair game. I’ve tried training it out of her, I have, but she is hopeless.
So my dog was/is a killer, I know this about her. Yet, when she was about 6, I bought a house, had a kid, and decided I should homestead, with animals. So in the following years, I acquired chickens (for eggs), turkeys, and meat rabbits. Now as luck would have it, Dasha has caught two rabbits in her life and none of them have been mine. She’s horrible at catching rabbits, unlike Jessicas’ dogs, b
One random summer day when Dasha was 10 and I thought her chicken killing days were done, I let my chickens out to free range and headed into town to the farmer’s market. Now you might think maybe that wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but I had been letting my chickens out for weeks while I was home and Dasha had not looked at them. But the joke was on me. Returning to my house a couple of hours later, Dasha was heavily panting on the porch and not showing any signs of remorse or acknowledging the fact I had returned home in any way. Now history told me that that behavior meant she had killed something. Looking around I saw no sign of any chickens scratching in the yard as I left them; although there was one chicken hiding under the porch step. Long story short, she killed 13 of them in two hours. 13! There were dead chickens all over the yard. You could see how she joyfully galloped around the yard chasing chickens, biting them, and then chasing down the next, it must have been the best day of her life.
She also likes to kill turkeys, only when she’s bored, and she can break through poultry netting like nobody’s business. Strangely enough, she never kills my chickens when she breaks into their pen, she just wants to eat meat scraps I put in there for the chickens. It must be the
One good farm dog trait she has is keeping away foxes. I’ve never lost a chicken to a fox, except the one time I free ranged my chickens (after the killing spree), locked Dasha up (obviously), and had a fox stroll right down my driveway and steal two of my chickens! I can’t win. Dasha used to be able to smell or hear a fox from inside the house in the middle of the night and wake me up. Dasha would charge outside, quiet and intense, and I’d see a busy fox tail dart into the bushes with Dasha hot on its heels.
Now at 12 1/2, Dasha’s eyes and ears are not the best and her hips are stiff in the morning. I haven’t been woken up in middle of the night for a fox raid in over a year. I keep thinking it might be time for another dog soon, to keep an eye out for my kids and keep the foxes away. Dasha can snooze away the day, until its time for a walk that is. What type of dog should I get though, another husky? I shouldn’t…… but I probably will. But in the end, it’s not quite time for another dog. Old as Dasha may be, I know deep in my heart if a chicken innocently walks in front of her, she’s still young enough to kill it.
Thank you April for this tribute to Dasha. It reminds me of how much I enjoy her company and depend on her protection when out walking together. Her quiet demeaner is lovely.
I too love Dasha. She is fun to spoil her with treats when I go to visit.
Jessica may have your new dog. A Newfoundland would work in that weather.