Hey, from the great U.P.!

[gerzetich]

Hi, this is Jake and Lacy. We are very interested in the Tamaskan dog breed for us and our two children. We are from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S.A. We have a nice home with two boys (Jaden, almost 6, and Tristen age 16 mos). We like spending time in the woods, taking walks, going to the beach, and just spending time with the family. Our oldest son has been asking and wanting a dog for a such a long time now. Tristen is only one but loves animals especially dogs and cats.

My wife and I have been researching Tamaskans for quite some time, and it seems like the perfect dog for the family. We are a huge fan of wolves but don't want an actual wolf as a family pet. We were thinking of a German Shepherd because I grew up with them, but the hip dysplasia is a big concern for Shepherds. The Tamaskans have great health and rigorous testing from what we have heard, beautiful looks, they seem extremely intellegent and highly trainable, and I believe it would be the perfect dog for our family.

We are really excited to get a puppy, but don't know where to start exactly. If anyone has any advice we would really appreciate it! We would like to get a Tamaskan around Christmas time. If you have any suggestions we would be more than happy to hear them! We don't want any breeders that are not TDR approved. I have called one in the US (RightPuppy) and they seemed very shady, almost like a puppy mill. We were unhappy because they said they got kicked out of the TDR and started breeding the dogs when they are pups and currently they are breeding 15 different dogs. They complained about the strict standards and regulations of the breed and all the many health tests they had to undergo. They also said they are trying to start Tamaskan of America, which is useless and not good for the dogs in our eyes. We want a healthy, happy dog to take home, not a sick, inbred so-called "Tamaskan Wolfdog".

So if anyone can help us finding our perfect family pup, it would be a blessing. Any info would help. Our email address is lacys_email@yahoo.com
Thanks
Jake, Lacy and the boys

[Rahne]

Welcome

[MoirAran]

Welcome

[Sylvaen]

Welcome to the forum!

Please don't take this the wrong way, but since you touched on a couple of issues that ring warning bells to me (as a breeder) I figure I may as well address them!

Our oldest son has been asking and wanting a dog for a such a long time now. Tristen is only one but loves animals especially dogs and cats.

It's great that your children love animals, really wonderful. However, you need to ask yourself... are you getting a dog just to make your sons happy? You see, a puppy is super cute at first (though also a lot of hard work) but eventually the novelty will wear off. It's good to teach children to be responsible from a young age, but you have to be ready (and expect) to step in to walk and feed / properly care for the dog for it's whole life, even as the children become interested in other things and the dog becomes less important to them. As the responsible adult, you have to keep in mind that the dog will need daily exercise for up to the next 15 years (when your sons will be 21 and 16) and that, while the children are younger, you can't rely on them to care for the dog without supervision. The only reason I bring this up is because I've seen it happen, countless times, that a family gets a "cute puppy" for Christmas and then 3 years later (if not sooner) it is dumped at the animal shelter because it is too much work and the kids have lost interest.

We would like to get a Tamaskan around Christmas time.

This is another warning bell. As the saying goes: "a dog is for life, not just for Christmas" and usually the holidays are a very busy time organizing visits to friends and family, cooking and preparing big meals, going out shopping for last minute presents, decorating the tree, wrapping presents, collecting Aunt Sally from the airport, etc. Trying to squeeze in a new puppy around this time might not be the best idea. The ideal time is a calm, quiet period during which everyone can bond with / care for the puppy.
http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Dog-is-for- ... &id=282815
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/homeless_pets/50243

However, it simply may not be possible either: keeping in mind the long waiting lists for a puppy and the fact that the TDR only allows each female to only be bred once a year, the timing might not be possible. Moreover, pups are normally born in May/June/July or September/October/November so it would only be a litter born in October that would be ready in time for Christmas. Which means the female would have to be impregnated in August, which means she would have to go into heat within the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure which breeders have a female that will go into heat around this time, which is ready and meets all the criteria to be bred and has a suitable male lined up to be used. So, logistically, it may not work out according to your schedule. My best suggestion would be to establish contact with a breeder and to be placed on a waiting list. Maybe you will be lucky with regards to timing, but it's not really something you can count on... since it all boils down to biology.

Anyway, please don't take these observations personally...
I just wanted to address these potential issues so that you have time to think it over ahead of time.

[muensterland]

Welcome

[Blustag]

Welcome. Ive just had a booking from a family in Michigan

[claireyclaire]

Welcome to the forum and thanks Debby for replying first! I would have given a similar response

[gerzetich]

i understand where you are coming from. We are not busy around the holidays its just us 4 during christmas. My oldest son dose want a dog but i have been wanting a dog for a long time. i had a german shepherd for about 13 years he went everywhere with me. i am mostly out in the wood and think it would be perfect because the dog would have alot of walking time and excersie. we would love one around christmas but from what your all saying it seems very hard of impossible. how long are the waiting list?

[HiTenshi16]

Hello Jake and family, welcome to the forum

[gerzetich]

Hi, this is Lacy.

We have had dogs before as pets. The kids are constantly playing with the neighbor dogs whenever they are out for walks, or we go to a friend's house who has a dog. I have read those articles about getting a dog for Christmas before, I always thought it was a bad idea because dogs do take a lot of time and effort on top of two small children in the middle of the busiest holiday of the year.

We just want to save up extra money and we figured by that time (all our birthdays are a month apart, November through February) and it seemed almost like one big gift for the family? If that makes sense.

I've been looking at humane societies around Wisconsin, where we just moved from and also some shelters in Michigan now but a lot of the dogs are either really old or just too big. I'm more skeptical to purchasing a pure bred more than Jake is, just because I've done a lot of research and seen many problems with a lot of purebred dogs that really bothers me. When I found the Tamaskan, I thought it was a beautiful dog, but the more I researched them the more I became impressed with DNA profiling and health standards, and it seems so much more reasonable to pay a little extra money to get a healthy dog. I don't care if it's register with the AKC or any of those clubs, because we are really just looking for a healthy, quality dog. Tamaskans seem so much more reassuring than any other dog breed I've come across.

Our family is very active, and I've had four dogs I've raised since they were puppies throughout my life. I'm a pro at getting stains out of carpets more so from the kids really than any of my other dogs when they were pups. I'm also good at training my dogs, too. I had a black lab, who is about 9 years old now (he lives with my mother and step-dad down in Florida though), and I taught him commands in English, sign language, and even some German.

Jake and I were discussing getting a dog around Christmas and I did make sure to tell him about the articles I read. We both want a dog for the family, not just for the kids. I don't want this dog in any way to be a simple present for the kids. I would be perfectly fine getting a puppy after the Christmas season is over.

But anyways, I'm glad to see your concern. I'm sure you get many applicants who don't have the best intentions for a dog, but we would love to show that we are sincerely interested in these dogs and want to have nothing but the puppy be a part of our family.

Oh, and thanks everyone for the warm welcomes!

[Blustag]

Just a note. With a waiting list it is not easy to say exactly when you would get your puppy. I hold the list for the UK exports and we are expecting puppies to be born before Christmas but ready to go after sometime early in 2011. You can mail me for more info at arcticbreeds@yahoo.co.uk

[JoshC]

Welcome UP'ers from Wisconsin

[Amy]

Welcome to the forum

[wicca1]

hi welcome.

[TeresaC]

Welcome from your neighboring cheese head state

[gerzetich]

Oooh it's nice to see some Wisconsinites, we both moved to Michigan from Green Bay, although Jake is originally from the UP :p

Hahaha, it's always fun to meet another cheese head!

[JoshC]

There is at least 3 of us Cheeseheads here. Maybe we will stop by on the sleds this winter

[gerzetich]

Ha, that would be sweet! :)

[mexxhundekumpel]

Hello and welcome to the forum

andrea & yuma

[Tarheel]

Welcome to the Forum.