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Sukie
  

My first black & white Siberian Husky with bi-eyes (one brown, one blue, which is quite common and totally acceptable in the breed) acquired in 1993, was KUSA registered and definitely mischievous.

Not knowing that Siberians are not a breed that should EVER be off-leash, I used to jog to Zoo Lake with Sukie and even got myself a Frisbee, imagining how much fun the two of us would have to play with this Frisbee together. Well, not only did Sukie never ever bring the Frisbee back, he even disappeared  running after the mountain-biker and his border collie. I was frantic because my "expensive" darling was gone. I looked over the entire Zoo lake area and luckily 1 ½ hours later, the guy with the mountain bike and the collie & Sukie came back!

I learned lots of lessons with my first Siberian Husky, because due to lack of knowledge, I bought him from a puppy farmer, which did not give me the do's and don'ts of Siberian Huskies. When I went hiking with Sukie on Braamfontein Spruit Trail, he disappeared over the river, onto the golf course on the other side chasing after an Egret. This Egret kept Sukie busy for almost 2 hours and kept on landing again just out of reach. Needless to say it was no fun to be rather helpless on the other side. Exasperated at home, I phoned the breeder rather angrily and told him he sold me a "dud" as despite all the obedience training, it was my probably 25^th encounter with Sukie not coming back within 10 minutes when called. The breeder just laughed and told me to try with Biltong next time, still not telling me, that this is one of the shortcomings of the breed.  DO NOT EVER TRUST A SIBERIAN OFF LEASH!

The hardest lesson I learned about Siberian Huskies was also with Sukie. After owning him for 4 years and never having had any troubles with him escaping or similar, I had to move because the house I rented was going to be sold. Sukie did not like the new place, respectively, he did not enjoy the jealous dalmation male there and was homesick after the boxer girl he grew up with. He kept on making new holes in the fence through to the neighbors, which had an electric gate, through which he escaped the minute I went to work. I got him back probably 35 times from the old place, once from the police and once from the Vet. After numerous empty promises from the landlord to erect a solid wall, and fixing new holes in the derelict existing fence on a daily bases, I decided to rent a house with solid walls all around and the area where cars drive in, walled off from where Sukie was. We even got him two new Siberian Husky puppies, because he always had companions in the 4 years we shared our live together, which belonged to the people I was sharing the house with. 2 days before I moved into my new house in Midrand, Sukie managed to make another hole into the fence and out he was of the neighbors gate. This was the last time Sukie dashed out. Despite Posters all over the suburb, flyers at robots, ads in the Paper etc. I found numerous lost Siberian Huskies, but never my own Sukie. That is when I started to realize, that this is a breed specific trait, not just my Sukies stubbornness.

So all which is left of Sukie is loving memories and the hope, that wherever he is it is a peaceful place.

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Shadrin
Satsanga's Silver Shadrin
 

A very promising youngster, Sagitta and Orion's son. He ran wheel in our 6 dog team and also enjoyed pulling me on the mountain bike in double lead with his sire Orion through the bridle paths in Beaulieu. He had one Challenge  Certificate and 9 Reserve Challenge Certificates, having achieved that in only 5 months of showing. His balance and beauty was rewarded under a vast variety of judges, local and international. His highest achievement was a Reserve Best of Breed at the Kennel Association Championship show in Cape Town, beating a multiple Best in show bitch at that show.

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Razz  
Satsanga's Rasputin
 

Razz had a very successful start to his show career. At the Pretoria Siberian Husky Club Specialty show Razz won the Male puppy class. His second time out, he wins the breed puppy and the working group at the all breeds show of Goldfields and with that qualified for Best of the Best.

 

Razz has developed a level bite and cannot be shown anymore. He has hit the jackpot with a loving sledding home where he enjoys soft couches, an abundance of human cuddles, 2 other Siberians as playmates and the 2 dog scooter classes on the trail.

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Chiquita
Nikoska Chook of Satsanga HD00
 

 
Although Chiquita does not come from a show-home, she has been a real gift to me. In her background are quite a few enthusiastic sleddogs as well as Skrimshaw's Yankee Sue of Browdeen, the sister of the number one bitch in conformation in the USA in the late 90's, (Skrimshaw Melody). Chiquita has the typical mischievous and enthusiastic Siberian Husky nature. She is a thief par excellence of anything edible, never gives up in harness and squeals and howls in delight at the first sound of a collar or harness. She was my first show dog and let me tell you, she was quite a handful. I managed to get her pointed for her championship. She tested clear in her eye and hip tests, which these days one cannot take for granted anymore.

Chiquita is my foundation bitch and mother of Sagitta and so far all her tested offspring passed eye and hip tests with flying colors. She was spayed after her first litter due to a complication arisen during the whelping and never regained a show-condition after that.

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Sagitta
Satsanga's Sagitta Nadi
 

Sagitta ( pronounced "Saiita" is a star and means Cupid's arrow) was my first self-bred bitch and enjoyed motherhood, mushing and every now and again the show-ring. She was perfectly balanced and produced beautiful offspring in her two litters. She is the mother of Shadrin and Elf (1^st litter) and Razz and Tuscany (2^nd litter). She needed one major to finish her championship, had  12 Reserve Challenge Certificates and that in only 7 months of campaigning, during which quite a few of the RC's and one CC were achieved totally out of coat.

After a routine spay, our Cupid’s Arrow never recovered. An underlying lung carcinoma took all spark and quality of life within 3 weeks. Although only one point short of her championship title, in our hearts she’s the best of them all.  We still had so many plans and wanted to run so many trails.

 Godspeed Sagitta, we miss you dearly. Wear your silver harness with pride.

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Elf
Satsanga's Silver Elf

A bubbly, curious girl, beautiful head type and eye-set. Elf took quite some time to mature and was only starting to be campaigned by my husband late last year. She loved agility and forever climbed any walls, A-Frame doggy houses or anything else with height.

Her inquisitiveness became her downfall when tragedy struck on April 13, 2002. Living on a plot, surrounded by a community of horse-enthusiasts, we get our fair share of wildlife, especially snakes. Although our Siberians are excellent hunters and we never had a serious incident in 9 years, this time the scenario was different. When neighbours mow their long grass and their horses' hooves vibrate over their properties, snakes sometimes sneak through the weld-mesh and palisade fencing onto our property. In general our Siberians hunt them efficiently. On this occasion, the snake made plans to hibernate on our plot and dug herself into a burrow in the ground. Elfi, the huntress deluxe, dug the snake out and grabbed her on her tail. This was fatal. The Rinkhals Cobra managed to bite her on her foot with a lethal dose. We were only out for about 2 hours, which was enough to lose Elf.

When we came home and went to say hi to the dogs, Elf lay motionless on her side in her favorite place while the others chased guinea-fowls along the palisade and I knew, something was terribly wrong. I called Stephan and we found the Rinkhals snake bitten in two. She was Stephans' girl and it was terribly hard to say goodbye to our beloved Elfin. Elf's tribute: she had the last word over the snake also and prevented the other dogs and of course the puppies (which were only 50 meters away in their puppy run) to get hurt.

Was it co-incidence that exactly two days later Stephan's Maui was found and came back into our lives?