On 24 Jul 2003 11:50:53 -0400, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
sighthounds etc. wrote:

There are actually two mushing mailing lists specifically
oriented towards Siberians, believe it or not. There's
SHMushers, which I mentioned in another post, plus there's a
mailing list specifically for one line of dogs that's also
being registered as "Seppala Siberian Sleddogs" with the
ConKC (don't get me started). The thing about the mushing
mailing lists are that pet-type questions are specifically
disallowed.

I think that's understandable. They are, after all, mushing lists.

I occasionally take some of my dogs down to the dog park and
I let Emmett, who's got an excellent recall, off-leash. The
park is huge, however, and it's well away from the road and
bordered by water on two sides (it's a very pretty place).
Still, it's not uncommon to hear stories about dogs with
"100% reliable" recalls who one day take a notion to go
a-roving.

I've not done it with any of ours; just not brave enough. I probably
could, except that no matter how often we do it, Going Somewhere is so
exciting for 3/4 of them that I wouldn't trust them in an unfamiliar
environment. Mine aren't the worst wanderers in their breed, to be
sure; Tasha occasionally escaped from our first fence, but she was
either easily found or came home on her own within a couple of hours.
Nakita, while a foster dog, also escaped from the foster yard a couple
of times, and after a couple of hours, came back and crawled back
under the fence! Neither Boomer nor Mukluk have ever made even the
slightest attempt to escape. (Both lived on the streets at one time;
I wonder if that matters.) But under the right circumstances, they
might. The first day promising winter, perhaps, or a squirrel that
really needed to be eaten...

Mustang Sally