Welcome to Arctic Blast 2001

	If you take all the northern husky breeds -- like Malamute, Greenlandic Husky, Siberian, Alaskan, Mackenzie River, Canadian Eskimo -- mix them together, stir in a few huskies from the South Pole and you have one of us. A Polar Husky. We come in all sizes and colors. Some are almost 6 ft standing on their hind legs, others much smaller. We can be black, white, red, grey, brown, it does not matter. What matter is that we LOVE to pull a sled.
	Like Dylan and South here. They are what we call our cheerleaders. Even though the sled is stuck Dylan and South don’t care – barking away, they just want us to keep going and with a little bit of team work we finally get the sled pulled out and back up on the ice. Spirit and drive are the most important chracteristics of a Polar Husky.
	Our thick furry coat is crucial for us Polar Huskies being able to do such long and extremely cold expeditions. We have what is called a double layered coat. It has two layers. Closest to our skin is a thick undercoat of wool, just like what you find on a sheep. This helps insulate and keep us warm. The outer coat is long oily "guard hairs" that protect the wool from getting wet. It's kind of like wearing a big down jacket and rain coat combined. Most of us do not even like to be inside of a house for too long, because we get too HOT. So, basically we're living outside year round. When we go to bed at the end of the day, we curl up like Woody here on the picture, cover our nose with the tail (the nose is really the only part that could freeze), and let the snow drift over us like a blanket.
	Finally, we have to be super friendly. This is our Russian friend the polar explorer Victor Boyarsky having a close moment with one of the greatest Polar Huskies ever born – His name is Rex. He and Victor are best friends. They have been on lots of expeditions together both to the North Pole and the South Pole. Actually Rex is the one of two sled dogs in the world history who have been to both Poles. He is very handsome, too, I think.

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