Animation Source Forums

In Balto1 a lot chows are sleed dogs, but in Balto3 ANY chows pull sleds!

Well, the breeds of the individual dogs were never officially established...at least most of them. While I do believe that Nikki is a chow, I just think the artists and animators did a lousy job of drawing background huskies excessively fat.

I agree with BaltoSeppala. Some of the dogs are probably fat huskies.

Nikki,Kaltag,Star,Kirby,Ralph,Dusty,and Kodi are probably well fed huskies.

I don't beleive any of the dogs are Chows

Becasue Chows don't pull Sleds

some chows probably do pulls sleds, just not a whole lot. I think that nikki is a chow. Not kaltag or star. Kaltag I can tell he is a shiba inu or something related to that breed, and star is in my opinion probably a husky.

ANY dog, including Chows (which are related to huskie and malamutes), can be trained to pull a sled...and history has demonstrated that many different types of dogs were used back then to do so (it's just that there are certain breeds, like the Siberian Husky, the Chinook, the Alaskan Husky, the Seppala Siberian Sled Dog, the Alaskan Malamute, the Samoyed, the Greenland Dog, etc.).

As Citrus suggested (and many others have as well), Nikki might be a Chow.

You're right. What's ironic, though, is that huskies and malamutes which are used on dog sled teams (instead of just as pets) are definitely not fat...or even "well fed" (heh heh). They're thin. This is a failing of the artists and animators of the first Balto cartoon. (Pff...and people complain about Balto 2 and 3...)

Yes,but if all 7 of them weren't well fed,they wouldn't be able to pull the sleds in Balto 1 and 3.

Eh...I don't know. Of course, I'm not a musher (like Coaster and HalfBreed), but I'd say it doesn't matter in that respect.

I am not a musher at the moment. I have had to the opportunity to take a guided dog sledding adventure where I did pick up some first-hand experience driving a sled dog team. I consider myself to be a fan of mushing with mostly book knowledge and some first-hand experience. That said, I am hooked on this sport and have made plans to get into it in 2-3 years.

From what I have picked from books, websites, mushing forums, and most importantly conversations with mushers, a working sled dog should be fit and thin. This does not mean that the dogs are not well fed. A working Siberian Husky needs to consume about 5,000 calories a day during the winter. A working Alaskan Husky needs to consume 10,000+ calories in the winter (that is not a typo).

Thanks for clearing that up, Coaster. Great to hear from you again, too!

maybe they are not chows but fat malamutes or VERY HAIRY huskies
lol

Yeah,I think they are chows..not sure yet.