When someone takes an old or injured dog from us and looks after them in their own home, we refer to this as a HUSKY ADOPTION. When someone chooses to support the financial cost of keeping a dog on the farm - whether a retired or sick dog which can't earn its keep but which wouldn't necessarily enjoy a new home, or a dog that loves running and living here who has become a favourite of a visitor or guide - we refer to this as a HUSKY SPONSORSHIP.
Sponsorship is available at a variety of levels so that everyone who wants to contribute something towards a dog's upkeep or quality of care can do so. Our partners tend to be companies which provide ongoing support towards some of the major costs involved with running the farm.
For most people - particularly for those who live outside of Finland - sponsorship is a more viable option than adoption since it becomes quite complicated, expensive and time-consuming to sort out the innoculations and paperwork needed to send a dog overseas. However, if you are particularly interested in adopting a husky, please don't be put off by this.
Dogs in real need of sponsorship tend to be the old or injured dogs who can no longer earn their keep which didn't have the benefit of being born here and being well socialised when young. Most of these dogs wouldn't enjoy moving to a new home since they are either too shy to enjoy living indoors with humans, or they are very much outdoor pack animals. They, therefore, need to be cared for through sickness and retirement, in situ at the farm.
Dogs put up for adoption are generally happy, well socialised dogs which respond well to living indoors and being loved by people. They will be (more or less) house trained and will respond to basic obedience commands. Some are ready to go into graceful retirement - and therefore need a tranquil home. (NB: Many kennels 'get rid of' their old dogs as soon as they start to slow down - which can start as early as age 6. We tend to let the dogs continue to run as long as they have the desire to do so, so we still have some dogs running at age 11 and 12. However, we would consider retiring a dog to a loving home earlier than we would otherwise need to retire them, if the perfect home came along). Other, younger dogs, may have had an injury which means that they can't be a working dog but would nevertheless be a totally loving and lovable normal dog in a normal household. Still others may not be suitable working dogs for the high arctic but could, for instance, be totally happy to skijor and mush with you from time to time for fun.
If, therefore, you are interested in sponsoring or adopting a husky, please have a look at the dogs that we have listed as being in need of both and the various sponsorship options that we have offer.