Of the most common sled dogs, what type would Balto have been?
There are many differant dogs which can be used for pulling sleds, but the most common for long races are the Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, and Alaskan Huksy.
Of the three, Balto would PROBABLY fall into the Alaskan Husky catagory. Alaskan huskies are mutts that are a mixture of high stamina dogs and dogs that can easily indure cold weather, and most have some wolf in them. They are the most common dog used in the Iditarod.
Next most popular is the Siberian Husky. Steele wuold most likely fall into this catagory, though it's hard to tell whether he's a malamute or a husky. (Forgive me if it says in the movie, I haven't seen it in years) Though they are slightly bigger than the Alaskan Husky, they are, for whatever reason, not as popular among the big racers, such as Martic Buser or Lance Mackey.
Last but certainly not least if the Malamute, whether it be Alaskan, Mackenzie Valley, or whatever. They are the largest of the three, and also the stockiest. For whatever reason, mushers don't use these very often. They are more commonly used for weight pulling.
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People just call
them that because they are mostly found pulling sleds in alaska.
Just a SIBERIAN HUSKY!!! And if you go on line and look up a picture
of balto's stuffed body, in the corner it says: SIBERIAN HUSKY and
his birthday and when he died. And the 3 most popular dogs expert
mushers use are Alasken Malamutes, Siberian Huskys, and Eskimo dogs
wich are not registered by the AKC ( American Kennel Club) but are a
cross between Siberian huskys and Alasken Malamutes. The Eskimo's
bred them for the Siberian huskys speed and the Alsken Malamutes
strength. And like Banshee said it is VERY RARE for expert mushers to
use dogs that have wolf in them because they probably don't want their
sled dogs to be wild and tempermental. And the " Alasken Huskies" in
that pic do not look like sleddogs. They have very thin fur that would
not protect them very well from the cold, long legs that look like
they have basically no muscle, and small paws that look horrible for
gripping snow. They look more like greyhounds or whippets built for
running and speed, not for pulling sleds.
) I
probably would have had my dog trained. Some mushers just accept mixed
breeds who are fast, strong, around 55 pounds or so...you get my
drift. But overall it was a nice article!
Incidentally, referring to a couple of past comments:
Emmajudy - even though you'll probably never see this, this is as much for everyone else who reads your comment: there most certainly ARE such things as Alaskan Huskies. And they are not actually Siberian Huskies. At all. Though most of them have Siberian Husky blood in them.
Vikki123 - as MightyBalto1925 accurately pointed out, Balto was never, ever sold to Gunnar Kaasen.