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Frequently asked questions about our huskies - covering what it costs to keep a husky, whether we race, daily distances and speed, whether the dogs know the way on safari, how friendly they are, getting to know your team, and what happens to our old or injured dogs.
- Estimated basic cost to keep a husky: around EUR 2.5 / dog / day (food and basic vet only)
- Huskies need feeding, training, socialising and care year-round, unlike a snowmobile
- Choose your operator on dog welfare and philosophy, not purely on price
- Hetta Huskies has so far raced just three teams - racing is an ambition for the future
What does it cost to keep a husky?
We budget on an estimate of EUR 2.5 / dog / day - and that covers only basic veterinary and food costs, since the dogs live outside, eat more than house dogs and have more occasion to fight and get injured than most pets. It does not include farm infrastructure, guide or sledding equipment costs.
It always amazes me when people compare snowmobiling and husky safaris - snowmobiling tends to be the more expensive of the two - and conclude that husky products are pricey. At the end of the season, snowmobiles are placed on pallets and switched off for a few months. Huskies, by contrast, still need to be trained, fed, pooped, socialised and loved, year-round.
So please don't choose your operator purely on price. Look at how the dogs are cared for year-round, at the company's philosophy and the quality of product they pride themselves on, and choose on criteria like those.
Do you race with your dogs?
So far we have raced only three teams - all with extremely lucky guides driving. In our first year we wanted to concentrate on the dogs and optimising the products; in our second, we welcomed our son Eliel; and in our third, we took on the management of a second dog farm 60km from our own.
We would both love to race one day. Most mushing racers say the hardest part is their own organisation, planning and survival as they navigate thousands of km of tough terrain - and that would be second nature to us, having raced for years in events lasting up to 10 days across some of the world's most challenging conditions. For now, our dogs are trained simply to love to run rather than to race - but seven years in, we have some very good dogs.
