can mating a whippet with a husky make a faster sled dog?

Answer 1

Actually, many mushers believe that you *can* "improve on a husky by creating a mutt" -- thus, the modern-day Alaskan Husky.

The Alaskan Husky was developed using Siberians, Native Village dogs, and anything else that would make it faster. Winning times for the Iditarod continue to shorten every year, due to the fact that mushers are trying to make faster and faster sled dogs. With average temperatures much warmer than they used to be, coat is no longer as important -- in fact, some of the heavier-coated dogs are now at a disadvantage because they overheat. Plus, you can always throw a Cordura jacket on a sled dog (BLASPHEMY, IMO!) and keep it running if the weather gets colder. Look at Jeff King's dogs. They are Alaskan Huskies with Greyhound and Pointer blood. They have no coat.

http://www.huskyhomestead.com/Jeff_King_Dogs-For-Sale.htm

As for feet, many of the breeds incorporated into the Alaskan don't have the feet to run 1000 miles on ice and snow. Modern day mushers don't worry about this -- technology has given them cordura booties and specially designed salves/glues to deal with bad feet.

In the lower 48, sprint races are common due to the fact that the distances for longer races just aren't there. These races have produced "Houndskies" and "Eurohounds", sled dogs that fall under the heading "Alaskan Husky" but are more than 50% hound and short-haired hunting dog (usually pointer). These dogs run 4, 6, 8, 10, or 15 miles at a time, and are built for speed over all else. They don't need good coat, good feet, and only enough trail sense to know when to take a turn. Examples:

http://www.egilellis.com/
http://www.fastestreeperkennel.com/galerie/kennel

These dogs are very often crossed with Whippet and Greyhound to produce speed. Endurance is not a requirement. As I said, all of the trail sense/pulling desire they need comes from the Northern breed cross. If sprint mushers could figure out how to make sighthounds run and pull sleds without something to chase, I'm sure they wouldn't bother with a northern breed at all.

As you can see, simply crossing a Whippet with a Husky would more or less be reinventing the wheel.

Sled dog racing is not what it used to be. I am a purist, and I run Siberian Huskies...no longer considered the fastest sled dogs (as they were in the early-mid 20th century), now that money and technology have become such a big part of racing.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Apparently the whippets lack of coat is dominate so the offspring would freeze. Also the traditional whippet race is a 200 yards sprint , with a 400 yard race considered a endurace run- while they can do that several times a day they need a rest in between. The sled dog mushers consider 12 MILES a sprint race.

Answer 3

Good grief - have you see the size of a whippet? Just how much to you think they could pull? Have you seen their lack of coat? Do you think they could tolerate pulling a sled through snow for even 2 minutes? Not to mention the fact that yes, whippets are fast, but they are sprinters. Huskies are not sprinters, but they can trot all day. Totally different, aren't they? No, you can not improve a husky by creating a mutt.

Answer 4

LOL! Whippets are short coated SPRINTERS! I suppose as long as you only go out when it is above 60 degrees and plan on just going up the road a mile or so...

But the you run into the problem that Whippets will only want to run if there is something to chase. You could just wait around for a rabbit to appear and hope it is going in your direction, but then I can assure you it will be a VERY interesting ride, especially when the rabbit goes into the woods!



Loki - " technology has given them cordura booties and specially designed salves/glues to deal with bad feet"

Well that is just sad. Maybe they should think about breeding for better feet!

Answer 5

It wouldn't be likely to make a good sled dog..the action of the whippet foot isn't very good for snow..As the whippet puts his foot down, it slopes back, (for more spring/leap) and the huskie's stays straighter down..The slope would interfere with traveling in snow..Also, you would have a weaker pulling husky ..the best way to get a faster sled dog, is to cross breed with the Alaskan husky >> http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/runyan_husky.html
This dog has been bred to the perfect balance of speed and strength...
My sister bought a retired Iditarod team, and her son was an international champion at skijourning with those really fast, strong dogs.

Answer 6

would not think the whippet would enhance a dog for actually sledding. You would lose "power" and likely endurance, and coat, and the persistent temperament.

Answer 7

just on the grounds that huskies are a pure bred dog bred for a specific reason I would be bold enough to say that you will not be able to easily improve the breed that simple....or it would of been done before now

Answer 8

Nope,that would be an utterly USELESS & really STUPID cross since the whippet is FAR *TOO SMALL* & lightly built & *NAKED*!!!

Nothing to w/it's GAIT,ya dimmy!!! TOO SMALL!!!