Modern Dog (Canada)

Huskies: The “Close-talking” Telemarket­ers of the Dog World

- BY SONIA JONES

Will your dog like my pack of Huskies? Probably not so much.

At least once a week I have the same interactio­n with a fellow dog owner: they yell from a distance, “ARE YOUR HUSKIES FRIENDLY?” Then I freeze, and depending on my mood or read on the situation, I answer accordingl­y.

“YES!”

“No…”

“…ummm, maybe the three of them are a little overwhelmi­ng for your one dog?”

But regardless of how I respond,

I’m never really SURE how to answer the question. I feel like I need a small pamphlet to hand out... or maybe a video of them cuddling my cats. I want to yell back, “yes, of course!” Because they are—they LOVE everyone and everything SOOOOOOOO much. But, at the risk of insulting the breed, they’re also socially oblivious and kind of annoying.

Sure, you and I see an adorable ball of fluff, but to another dog I imagine the ear-forward, in-your-face-ed-ness of a Husky is a little much. To dogs, Huskies are that person you don’t really know at a party that are just… too close. You know the type: they’re touching you for no apparent reason and are close-talking you so aggressive­ly that you can smell what they had for lunch. Pretty soon without even realizing it you find yourself physically… backing… away… UGH! Close talkers are terrible.

So are my Huskies (to other dogs). Now imagine THREE close talkers with the persistenc­e of telemarket­ers.

It's like the human equivalent of if spiders could fly—maybe we just burn the whole world down and end it now?? Believe me, as you’re walking your dog into Armageddon, blissfully thinking “OMG!! New dog BFF’s,” I’m watching your dog like a hawk and they’re going, “OH HELL NO!”

Dead serious. Watch their face.

There is one exception. Have you ever stopped to consider who loves the close-talker? Like, how does a closetalke­r get married, start a family? Who could possibly handle that?? (Yes, I stay up late at night and think of the most ridiculous things). It's got to be another close talker.

Huskies LOVE Huskies.

For some reason, without fail, Huskies love other Huskies derpy behaviour: the yipping and woo-woo’ing, the tail pulling, the pouncing, the hurdling, the play bowing… the literally BULLDOZING each other over at high speeds. Huskies LOVE it. I love it. But I can tell you who doesn’t: your dog.

So, next time YOU get a Husky crush, imagine your mom setting you up with that obnoxious boy or girl in high school who smelled like olives and talked your ear off. Envision lighting yourself on fire and running into a wall just to get out of the conversati­on... and do your dog a favour:

Passing glance, polite hello…. and RUN!

*FLYING SPIDERS*

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