Talk:Sled dog

From Academic Kids

Shouldn't this be at Sled dog? RickK 01:35 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

"Sleddog" is pretty much the preferred usage among sleddog people. I was aware of the potential ambiguity but just posted the article and hadn't had time to look for the alternative usage. If you're concerned about it, perhaps you could do a redirect from "sled dog"? Ditkoofseppala 02:05 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Actully non users of American english call them sleigh dogs. FearÉIREANN 02:13 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

As "an unarmed American with health care" (yeah, I'm Canadian actually) I have heard that usage occasionally in Canada — but only among people either not part of the sleddog subculture or bush-rats who maybe had a dog team but rarely saw another dog driver. Within the active dog driving community (maybe I should say "mushing" these days but that word's one of my pet peeves), the "sleddog" usage is pretty much universal. Sorry if this offends anyone's "Queen's English" sensibilities, but you know how it is, one has to move with the times . . .  ;-) Ditkoofseppala 02:48 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

According to google, the most popular term is sled dog at 169,000. The next is sleigh dog at 53,300. Sleddog is by far the least popular at 14,800. So this article should clearly be at sled dog or sleigh dog, but clearly not at sleddog. So this article will clearly have to renamed. FearÉIREANN 23:05 21 Jul 2003 (UTC)

All right, but let's be complete then and include the Europeans; I've added "sledge dogs" to the alternatives, which I yesterday discovered to be very common on the web, I suppose due to the many references to Antarctic expeditions and the like. Tell me something, FearÉIREANN (is it okay if I just call you Sinn Fein?) -- how does one access these obviously very useful and informative numbers for various search term requests from Google? I just did a cursory check but couldn't see any obvious tool or link for that kind of thing. How does one do it? Ditkoofseppala 00:42 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Eurasiers

Hello Elf, please note that Eurasiers should not be mentioned here, as they are NOT sled dogs. Eurasiers are a German breed and they are a family and companion dog. Cross check with the German Wikipedia for "Schlittenhunde" and you will see that Eurasiers do not belong in the category of sled dogs. User:80.201.80.220

The information I have says that they were developed in the '50s to be similar to a russian sled-pulling dog (probably "The Canadian" mentioned in various places). One book says that they are used for sled pulling although companion pet is their most common use. (The New Encyclopedia of the Dog, Bruce Fogle, 2000). Another book doesn't specify but classifies it as a working dog. This site (http://www.eurasier-online.de/eurasier_geschichte_e.htm) says "The Canadian was, according to Wipfel's characterization later, a perfect sled dog type, " which he wanted to emulate in his new breed, and later says his spec included "It should be a dog of polar type, " which as far as I know are all classified as sled dogs. This site (http://www.dogs-in-canada.com/breeds/eurasier.html) says "Activity level: A robust breed with sled-dog capabilities... " This site (http://www.everythinghusky.com/dogseurasier.html) bills itself as "The home page for this new European breed of sled dog".

So, whether many people use it to pull sleds now or not, it certainly seems to fit into the classification of a sled dog.

Elf | Talk 19:55, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Hello Elf, with "polar type" Julius Wipfel meant the construction of a dog, not the utilization. Julius Wipfel aimed to create a family dog, that is reserved to strangers, but with a strong bond to its family. According to the FCI Standard No. 291, the utilization of Eurasiers is "Companion Dog". In Germany, the Eurasiers country of origin, and in the FCI, Eurasiers belong to the spitz-type group. That makes sense, as European and Asiatic spitz-type dogs (Wolfsspitz females, Chow males and, about twelve years later, ONE Samoyed) were used as foundation breeds. All in all, there are three Eurasier Clubs in Germany in the VDH (EKW, ZG, KZG) and they (and not only they) follow very strict rules, of which some were set up by Julius Wipfel himself; his "Mindesthaltungsbedingungen für Eurasier" = "How to care and keep a Eurasier" make clear that Eurasiers were meant as a family and companion dog. And, because Eurasiers can be reserved towards strangers due to their Chow ancestry, the German Eurasier Clubs in the VDH/FCI take great care to place Eurasier puppies into loving homes where they live indoors with their family, participate in family life and family activities, get moderate exercise and where they are a treasured member of their family - for all their life. Compared to that, some sled dogs might be kept in large numbers, in a kennel or chained in an outhouse and/or might even be exchanged against better runners ... Those are just not the conditions anybody would wish for a Eurasier.