Am i worth it?

Potential cost of a rescue Samoyed

As an adoptive parent you become responsible for your Samoyeds welfare to the best of your ability. Perhaps if you understood the cost of an animal before it gets to a point of adoption you might reconsider the thought of its destruction over veterinary care.

It is unlikely that you would receive a history for a Samoyed, as when one comes into rescue it has a new life and sometimes its better that you don’t know its past, or indeed if it were a street dog you wouldn’t know its history anyway.


It is common for the Samoyed dog in china to be breed for the Yulin dog meat Festival, fortunately there are organisations currently rescuing dogs from the meat farms (500 from one rescue alone to date) and the barbaric conditions that they are held in and shipping them to America or back to Britain, where we are a supposed nation of Dog lovers.


So here is the first scenario of cost from China to the UK.

The dog can be bought quite cheaply – probably £15.00

Cost of shipping min £1500.00 from China to the USA

Quarantine 180 day programme. £600.00

Vet inspection and associated jabs. £260.00

Neutering (male). £180.00

Feeding for the above duration – min £400.00

Provision of UK passport. £150.00

Shipping to UK. £1500.00

Clearing customs. £400.00

Re-education of the farmer to traditional methods and crops - closing down the dog trade - rehoming dogs of other breeds - Priceless.

By the time this animal gets to a foster home in the UK it could have cost the rescue upward of £5000.00.

You as an adoptive parent will not be privy to this history nor have knowledge of this cost nor the additional cost of feeding and welfare in its foster home for 6 weeks.

So, at the point when you go to look to adopt a Sammy it has the potential to have had over £5k spent on it.

The rescue will ask for a voluntary contribution £200.00 – £350.00 [£500.00 if from China] (which nowhere near covers this cost) which of course you will baulk at, after all you are offering a free home for it. You begrudgingly pay for dog – expect free veterinary care, bedding toys etc.

Adoptive parent takes dog home, treats it well and lovingly for a many years, dog trips down rabbit hole breaks leg, or gets major kidney infection, Vets want £3000.00 to repair – fuck that, parent exclaims, that’s a lot of dog food, put it down and I will get another..



Let’s add one final scenario.

Rescue hears that dog is to be put down, steps in, pays vet bill and takes dog back into rescue, you now have the potential to be adopting an £8000.00 dog – but you won’t know this.


This rescue is not extreme and in fact quite common

...and finally - I give you an extreme case of Nellie.

Take all of the above costs from China to England, now add surgery/medication/hospitalisation for extremely burned, tortured, heavily pregnant and injured dog - this girl has cost more than you can possibly imagine and there is nothing her parents wouldn't do or pay for the welfare for this treasure.

We are Samoyed people and a Samoyed is for life

The Black Samoyed

Sometimes, they still are mentioned – black Samoyeds! Julius Wipfel talked about them in his book „The Eurasier“ and correctly identified the selection for white coat colour as one reason for the loss of many original traits in the breed. From time to time pictures of these non-white dogs still appear on Facebook or forums and one question is raised almost every time: do they still exist? And, if not, would it be possible to get them back by selection within the breed alone? The answer to both questions, of course, is a decisive “no”. In the Eurasier breed, the black coat colour was brought in by the Samoyed Cito vom Pol, all of his direct offspring out of seven litters were black! So, why aren’t there black purebred Samoyeds, anymore?

The actual era of the black Samoyed in Great Britain only lasted for four generations, the last black Samoyed was born even before world war one. Since then, they have disappeared completely and without outcrossing to another breed (or a very unlikely mutation) they’ll never come back.

It started with Sabarka, a dog originating from the area of Archangelsk in European Russia and brought to England in 1889 by Ernest Kilburn-Scott. Sabarka’s coat colour wasn’t white, but solid brown - liver, as we’d call it in the Eurasier - with a few white spots and if you ever paid attention to colour genetics, you’ll know that his basic coat colour, therefore, was black. It’s impossible to determine whether he was a dominant or recessive black dog, both forms seem to be present in the gene pool of present-day Samoyeds. Sabarka was mated to Whitey Petchora; she was genetically white even though you wouldn’t guess from seeing her picture; today her coat colour would probably be called “biscuit”. This mating produced two dogs that were important for the development of the breed – the white Neva and the black Peter the Great. This litter proves that Sabarka was a carrier for white, his genotype at the E-locus was E/e. Whitey Petchora’s genotype was e/e, same as Neva’s. Peter the Great had the genotype E/e (and B/b, but that’s irrelevant here) and he was used for breeding. His son Pedro, too, was black, but as his dam Alaska was white (e/e), he also was heterozygous for white. Two sons and one daughter – Am. Ch. Tamara (pictured above) – continued his line to the present day, you’ll find them in the pedigree of every living Samoyed, but unfortunately, all three were white, genotype e/e. As they were bred solely to white dogs, the black coat colour in the Samoyed was therefore extinct in the breed. Pedro did have some black offspring, but I don’t know if they were ever used for breeding. If they were, their lines went extinct quickly.

Beneath its white coat, the Samoyed still has some variation in coat colour left. And so, in hindsight, Cito’s black offspring wasn’t a surprise at all – he was homozygous for dominant black, K^B/K^B, but for recessive black, too, genotype a/a. All that was needed to bring the black coat colour back to the light was a working Mc1-receptor.  Whether the b-allele is still present in the Samoyed is questionable, but there is a slight possibility.

So the explanation for the complete disappearance of all colours but white in the Samoyed breed is actually quite simple – Samoyeds don’t have any working Mc1-receptors left in the breed. Getting rid of a dominant trait is easily done, especially if breeders actively select against this trait.

There’s only one way to get the black Samoyed back – the E-allele has to be reintroduced into the breed, which is only possible by crossbreeding.

One more thing - many Samoyeds have a few black hairs or even patches. These are due to somatic mutations which are not heritable at all (you'd need a mutation in germline cells for that), so breeding Samoyeds with black patches will not bring back black Samoyeds.

Credit to eurasier-fellfarben.de.tl for this article

Samoyeds in America

The first American Samoyed was imported from Russia and was registered with the American Kennel Club in 1906. However, the breed did not flourish in the United States until after World War I.

Most American Samoyeds descend from kennels in England. However, breeders have recently began introducing dogs from Finnish and Swedish lines.

Strangely, most Americans refuse to believe that there was ever such a thing as a Black Samoyed - Ironic since one of their first Samoyeds was Sergovitch (1911) 166534 (AKC166534 1913 v30 white) Born from Koona, who herself was the offspring of Pedro (Black Peters son - [Peter the Great]) and Sasha out of [Sergo x Ali]

The history of the samoyed

History

Samoyeds are one of the oldest and purest breed of dog and feature as one of the Fourteen Ancient breeds. Unlike many other breeds, they are closely related to the primitive dog; they have no wolf or fox genes.

Food for thought

Samoyede; The People and Their Dogs
(Sahm – uh – yed means living off themselves, implying self sufficiency, not cannibalism as once thought)
The Samoyede people are an Asiatic group of nomadic origins. They traditionally spoke a Uralic – Samoyedic language which is related to the Finno – Ugric – languages. The Samoyede are probably of Mongoloid descent. They likely started migrating Northwest during the late Pleistocene when so many other Mongoloid nomadic hunter gathers were moving in all the directions of the compass. Some of these Mongoloid nomads crossing Berangea, became the first North American inhabitants and later migrations brought the Eskimos (Inuit) to Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

The Samoyede are physically characterized by short stature, yellowish white skin, high cheek bones and straight or concave noses. There are now, less than 50,000 Samoyede left. Most now speak Russian or Turkish. The two principle groups are the Nentsy and the Entsy The Samoyede migrated to their current location shortly after the time of Christ in the first millennium. This is on the Taimyr Peninsula, between the Yenisei and Olenek rivers. This peninsulais in Northwestern Siberia north of the Arctic Circle jutting into the Arctic Ocean. It is the Northernmost part of the continent. The Laplanders are further West of the Urals to Northern Finland, Norway and Sweden and the Eskimo (Inuit) and Yakuts are in Northeastern Siberia.

Early in the Samoyede’s history, they had subsisted mainly on nomadic reindeer (caribou) hunting, following the great herds as they migrated. Reindeer (caribou) must move frequently on the tundra for their main food source, Reindeer Moss (a lichen). The Samoyede gradually switched from hunter-gatherers to herdsmen because they managed a form of domestication of the Reindeer, over many generations of selected breeding of the Reindeer, they removed males from the population that wanted to take their cows and move off. They selected passive males that would stay with their cows and were docile toward the herdsman. It is now believed there are no longer any natural Reindeer. Despite domestication, the Samoyede along with their Reindeer still moved in the traditional migration routes from tundra to forest lands. The Reindeer consume large quantities of Reindeer moss (a lichen) and have to move frequently to areas where the Reindeer moss is found. Reindeer moss takes years to grow to a harvestable size for the Reindeer to eat.

The Samoyede merely switched from hunting the Reindeer to herding the Reindeer. The Reindeer had become a symbol of wealth and status. The Samoyede were a Reindeer culture. As well as a food source, they used collapsible tents made of saplings and Reindeer hide fashioned into a dome. They used Reindeer to haul these tents and their other possessions. Their clothes consisted of long hooded parkas with the fur turned inward. This was usually Reindeer hide, clothing with highly developed fur applique being made to the outer clothing. Reindeer hair is hollow and makes excellent insulated clothing for Arctic use. The traditional religion was animistic (worship of animal spirits) and included shamanistic practices. The word shaman comes from these cultures in Siberia where classic shamanism is found. Samanism is found not only in Central Asia, but also in North American and Pacific Island cultures. Generally a shaman is a man of great religious status and a mouthpiece to the spirits. He can divine where the herds will appear, how to increase and store food supplies and practice healing. Shamans undergo fasting, seclusion and other ordeals that lead to visions that guide the shaman in the performance of their duties.

The Samoyede people were known for their Bjelkiers (white dog that breeds white). In Russian, the dogs are called Voinaika which means lead or direction dog or guard, hunting and war dog. The Laplanders preferred an all black dog because it contrasted against the snow and made them easier to see. We now know this dog as the Lapphund. The Inuit had their own derivative now known as the Siberian Husky. In North America this became the Alaskan Malamute (named for the Inuit tribe). In contrast to the assimilation into the family the Samoyede extended to the Bjelkier, the Eskimo (Inuit) treated their dogs quite differently. They used their dogs when needed (usually summer for hauling sledges) and the dogs had to fend for themselves when not used.

The Bjelkier dogs (like some other Northern breeds) are relatively untouched by human breeding practices and are the easiest to duplicate. Although, an aggressive or improperly socialized Bjelkier might soon adorn the owner’s clothing after the hide cured. Bjelkiers are very close to their wild wolf-like dog ancestors that man in the post-glacial age first took to live with them. The first wolf-like canines (Canis familiaris palustris) came on the scene 12,000 to 14,000 years ago from the Southern strain of the Grey Wolf in South Central Asia. Originally, early hunter gatherers felt a special kinship to wolves and wolf-like canines because of their common social structure` and hunting prowess. They took puppies and gave them a special place in their lodgings (chooms). This relationship went from worship (like the early Egyptian worship of the cat) to partnership. It was found that these primitive canines adapted well to the similar social structure of the human hunter gatherers. Both the hunter gatherer and the wolf- like canine had many aspects of their clan or pack behaviour that were identical.

The Bjelkier began to haul loads and pull sledges (they were used to haul from 60 to 90 pounds) that reindeer had carried. Later, it was found that herding the domesticated Reindeer was another useful service that came naturally to the Bjelkier The natural attribute of a wolf-like canine to go after an animal (prey drive) that breaks from the herd made it easy to use that behaviour to herd the Reindeer. The Bjelkier could hunt, haul and herd and it enjoyed doing it. The Bjelkiers had earned a place of special reverence in the culture and in the lodgings of the Samoyede. Although in some tribes that were Reindeer cultures, their dogs were also readily used for food and clothing.

Inside a Samoyede lodging or choom the Bjefkier was allowed complete freedom of movement. The Bjefkier was gentle and likable. It could be trusted to baby-sit Samoyede offspring. Yet when necessary, a pack of several Bjelkiers (weighing on average 60 pounds) could drive off Polar Bears weighing over 1,500 pounds.

By the 17th and 18th centuries, the Russians began exploring Siberia and recognized the attributes of the Bjelkier. It’s beauty won it stature with the Czar’s family and occasionally the Bjelkier was given as a very special gift to other European nobility. It had attained Royal status and was protected from outsiders. The Russians quickly saw the value of using it for pulling the sleds of tax collectors and explorers in Siberia. The reputation among explorers would soon get around. A Russian named Alexander Trontheim had been the agent to procure the Bjelkiers for the Russian Government.

A Norwegian by the name of Fridtjof Nansen heard of the Bjelkiers and hired Trontheim to procure a number of them for him. Nansen was a Professor in seven departments at the University of Norway. He designed and built a ship called The Fram to explore the Arctic. It was so well built that he used it during his 5 expeditions over 35 years. Nansen had been very methodical and had extensively researched the best method for Arctic exploration and what would be the best dog for the job. He rightfully surmised the Bjelkier was the dog of choice. Nansen had spent considerable time and effort exploring the Arctic and even attempted an ill fated attempt to kayak with his 28 Bjelkiers to the North Pole. The attempt failed and none of the dogs returned. Nansen’s work spanned many decades and influenced all the great Arctic and Antarctic explorers of the late 19″‘ century.

The brother of the King of Italy, the Duke of Abruzzi, Luigi Amadeo was also influential. He wrote detailed comments of special interest that were received almost as gospel. He had sought the advice of Nansen and was given a Bjelkier by Nansen as an example of the optimal sled dog. He used 120 Bjelkiers procured from Trontherim during his expedition. It should be made clear that these early expeditions were brutal for the Bjelkiers. Many died needlessly because the explorers did not understand anatomy and physiology and did things to the dogs that put them in jeopardy (tail bobbing that caused pneumonia and shearing their coats allowing them to freeze). Cannibalism was often employed to feed the dogs. Nansen fed the weaker dogs to the strong rather than take food for them or hunt seal.

On a more pleasant note, the reason Bjelkiers were preferred over the Huskies or Greenland dogs, was their disposition. They were quite amiable to the explorers and without exception, positive comments for the Bjelkiers made them the preferred sled dog for explorers.

This photo was taken in 1919, it is in the National Library of Norway. Polar explorers Helmer Hanssen, Gennady Olonkin and Emmanuel Tonnessen depart for Kolymsk during an expedition to the Northeast Passage. In the background - the ship "Mod", named after the Norwegian Queen Maud of Wales (Great Britain), the cousin of Nicholas II and the first 600 years of the Queen of Norway as an independent state. Russia, Aion, 1919 - (note the bad boy on the left) on this Maud Expedition

Roald Amundsen another Norwegian, in 1911 made a 1,860 mile round trip in 99 days to the South Pole. He used 52 of an original 97 dogs he acquired to pull 4 sledges. The first animal over the South Pole was Amundens’s Bjelkier lead dog. After returning from expeditions these dogs were being given to other explorers for use and some were making their way to England. All the Antarctic exploration was done with Bjelkiers except the Captain Robert Scott expedition that used horses as the principle means of locomotion. Although Scott did take 33 Bjelkiers, someone bobbed their tails. In the absence of the tail as a filter to cover the nose when sleeping, the dogs died of pneumonia in three weeks. After all his animals perished, 6 members of Scott’s team pulled the remaining equipment to the South Pole. He wrote in his diary before he died, that when he arrived at the Pole, he found paw prints and a Norwegian flag. Amundsen had beaten him by a month. Amundsen left him a note elaborating his success. Beaten physically and emotionally, Scott died on the way back.

Nearly every Samoyed dog in the West today has ancestors that were used to explore the Arctic and Antarctic. In England, Mr Ernest Kilburn-Scott of the Royal Zoological Society became a significant influencing factor in the breed outside of Siberia. He acquired dogs from the explorers as well as some directly from Siberia. In his position with the Royal Zoological Society, he had the opportunity to accompany an expedition to Archangel in the 1880’s where a very cute plump puppy caught his attention. When he arrived home, the puppy attracted considerable attention. He then seized other opportunities to acquire more of these white dogs. He expanded the breed in England and showed the dog in several expositions.

The English liked the pure white coat over the cream or biscuit colour. Any black and white or other combinations were not acceptable. The dog began as something of an oddity from Siberia, but it’s beauty and amiability fast made it popular among the well to do and the influential. The Kennel Club initially allowed them to be shown in the foreign dog class. Kilburn-Scott founded the Samoyede Club and in 1909, Samoyede became the official name of the Bjelkier outside of Siberia. Kilburn-Scott conferred with explorers of Siberia and agreed on the pronunciation and a spelling of the people who were responsible for the dog. The dog was then named for the people.

In 1912, the Kennel Club decided that the dog could be shown in an accepted classification. The Bjelkier was now officially named and recognized as a distinct breed in the West. In 1923, the English Kennel Club dropped the “e” from the name and in 1947 the American Kennel Club dropped the “e” from the name. Shortly thereafter, the name began to be mispronounced. Instead of Sahm-uh-yed (the native pronunciation) the name became anglicized to Sahm-oid.

Physically, the Samoyed dog is the most efficient design of the Northern breeds. It has a much more pronounced double layer coat than its cousins. The coat can be the pure white, white and biscuit, cream or all biscuit. The long silver white guard hair is tough and it is soil and water repellent. Snow cannot accumulate on this coat and the dog can easily shake it off. The guard hair’s length remains constant and should stand straight out. The inner coat is woolly and during the winter is so thick that you can’t push your finger to the flesh. In spring, the Samoyed dog sheds so much of this warm woolly hair that the Samoyede people (and others still today) spun and wove it like sheep wool. It was then and is still used to make clothing. The coat has no “doggie” odour. The only scent the Samoyed has is the musk exuded between the pads for scent marking. The deep brown eyes are set behind almond shaped black eyelids to reduce glare from snow. The feet are designed so the toes spread out (like a built-in snowshoe) and there is a very dense, long hair between the toe pads to prevent ice from accumulating. This hair also serves to provide traction on slippery surfaces. The curved tail is used to cover the nose during extreme cold weather where it acts as pre-filter to warm and humidify the air that is inhaled. The chest is a pronounced V-shape in order to support stronger musculature.The skeleton is much heavier than would be expected for a dog its size in order to support the muscles that give it the strength to haul huge loads. Yet it is not so massive that it is not nimble and agile. It has the speed to run down a large member of the deer family, the Reindeer.

Ernest Kilburn Scott and Sabarka. Photograph taken about 1893

Sabarka

Later he imported a cream coloured bitch called "Whitey Petchora" from the western side of the Urals 

and a snow white male called "Musti" from Siberia. These few dogs and those brought by the explorers are the base for the western Samoyed.

In an article (Our Dogs, 14.12.23) Mr Kilburn Scott glances through his first kennel book and notes a puppy (by Sabarka out of Whitey Petchora) by the name of Peter the Great, born 1897.

Peter the Great was the Sire of Black Pedro who was bred with some of the Kilburn Scott bitches as his name appears on some of the early pedigrees

Black Pedro

‘Young Samoyeds by Peter The Great ex Alaska. Bred by the Hon Mrs McLaren Morrison.’

(That mischievous recessive black gene, however can still crop up. The late Miss Thompson-Glover quoted a case in Scotland many years ago, of several black and white puppies in a litter who's owner was certain that no miss-mating had taken place. Even as recently as 1953 she records that and English bitch, mated to a noted English stud dog, produced a whole litter of black or nearly black pups which to her personal regret were all put down. But she also notes an instant where a bitch sired by a black produced puppies by 'Snow Cloud' which were all white. Several people who had the puppies hoped they would get black but perversely...  none appeared).

Riga of the Arctic (born 1928) - Mother of 'Snow Cloud'

Examples of early descriptions of the Samoyed

Niki is the beautiful daughter of pure bred white Samoyeds owned by Lorraine Deline who was born 2017, we understand that 1:200,000 display this somatic mutation (although not in the genes)

Brae (Braego Softshadow) in his svelte early days - 12 months old 

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

Now Mighty Brae with a weight of 36kgs and 5 years old

Early Ancestors - Nansen and Antarctic Buck, the types they liked, and then Russ and Kvik, and Musti, straight from Siberia also, and they are behind every samoyed of today. Much more bone, and rounded ears etc. The Farningham dogs were bred by them, they were not original stock. Here Russ (male) and Kvik and some other dogs, from the 1890s, not bred by any kennel. 

Do you Suppose that the naughty doggo to the left slipped his genes into the early pool?

Welcome to your ancestors gene pool.

Antarctic Buck (Male)

Kvik (female)

Musti (male)

Nansen (Male)

So in a nutshell

In 1889 Ernest Kilburn-Scott, a timber merchant, travelled on business to northern Russia and brought back, as a present for his wife, the dog known as "Sabarka" who was brown coloured with touches of white on its chest, feet and tail.  In 1893 a crew member of a timber freighter brought a bitch from Siberia to London and sold her to Mr Kilburn-Scott who named her "Whitey Petchora".  She was subsequently mated to Sabarka and the puppies were of mixed colours, white, brown and black.  Others were imported in the 1890s.  One, an all white one from West Siberia was brought in by Captain Labourn Popham in 1894

When the Kilburn-Scotts had eight strains of dogs with noticeably distinguishing features they drew up the first Breed Standard which combined all points they felt were best and then set about breeding dogs which regularly conformed to it.  This standard stated "all colours permissible; white preferred".  Comments in later years suggest that black and brown colouring disappeared quite quickly - but most owners know that dogs today carry one or two black hairs somewhere or other.

References:
Gregory Alan Newell, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
The New Complete Samoyed by Robert and Dolly Ward.
The Samoyed by Anna Katherine Nicholas.
The Grolier’s Encyclopedia
The Fun k and Wagnell’s Encyclopedia
Ultimate Dog Book by David Taylor
Snow Travel and Transport by Walter Lorch.
The Samoyed Association

The disadvantages of owning 2 Samoyeds

This area is left intentionally blank as there are no disadvantages.

Author suggests you go out and get another one immediately.

Harnesses - Samoyed proof?

Firstly, a harness will not stop your dog from pulling, you'll have to train your dog for this. 

We only wear harnesses - we don't wear collars because of the known problems that can affect the thyroid.

All harnesses come with a ring to clamp your all important tags and lead to

Some come with a ring at the front so you can supposedly control your dog better - utter tosh, you can quickly sort your dogs pulling with a pocket full of treats and training.

The following are jut a few that we have in our cupboards and are the ones that get regular use, some we buy just because they are beautiful and are not mentioned in these pages

Cheep and Cheerful

price - £6.78 each

Size - Extra large

Origin - China

Samoyed proof - Yes

What can you say - I bought these from E-bay in December 2015 as a quick to fit, soft, lightweight harness for when we pop up the park.

I was nicely surprised when they turned up, they are indeed soft and strong. There is a handle attached with metal rings and a welded ring to fix a lead to. They are fully and easily adjustable and hold their size under strain.

Good for a quick readjustment over a coat as shown below.

There is a quick release clip to both the chest and neck and the buckles are sufficiently high not to rub on their elbows.

Alright for short walks but not robust enough for the big hikes where you may have to lift them over a style or two as the narrow straps might cut in a bit.

Although I brought the camo version, they are available in solid colors too (red and blue).

Samoyed proof - yes

Water proof - no

Recommend - yes, great little machine washable, everyday harness.

Heavy Duty Fabric Harness
Price - £20.88

Size - Extra large

Origin - China

Samoyed proof - Almost

This is the second time that I have brought these harnesses - once again from E-bay.

I brought these for long hikes where we are likely to encounter water, ponds, rivers and the sea because they are a wide fabric and thin enough to dry quickly.

There are several things wrong with these and many things right with them.

The harness as a whole is a comfy fit with wide banding

The first thing you notice when you attach the lead is that the rings are not welded and under strain quickly fail. The worst is the main ring in the grab handle. On the second set I removed this and replaced them with a carabina. (you could with a large clasp on your lead feed the fabric into it)

Likewise, the strap from the front that fits between the forelegs and body strap is far too long and impossible to foreshorten, so I removed them completely together with the horrible lump of plastic that hangs from here.

I found that the clasp that secures the belly strap rubs on Braes elbows and causes a little red patch - but this seems common with two of the more expensive harnesses that we have.

I have found the belly strap also works loose quite easily and ends up twisting around their bodies.

The handle is integral to the design and allows a good firm grip but after a while the stitching fails against the main body of the harness

There is a velcro patch to fit your amusing badges which are useful if you are training or for a service dog.

The ring on the front is a handy control if your Sammy cant help but pull all the time and also good for hanging a name tag on.

Despite the fundamental problems I really like these, they dry quick, go through the washing machine and give a feeling of control. Plus, the small side bags that you get for the Julius K9s also fit on the side. I use these as a battery pack when they wear their Christmas lights.

Are they Samoyed proof? No not really, Tylor managed to chew through the handles.

Waterproof - No

Recommend - No. I only use these near water because I dont mind if they get wet and dirty and Only if you are prepared to customize them.







Light Duty Fabric Harness
Price - £22.99

Size - Extra large

Origin - UK - Amazon

Samoyed proof - Almost

This is a very likeable harness with friendly stamped all over it in case you don't realise that we are actually quite friendly.

The straps are narrow and annoyingly flap about if you run the dog off the lead

The leads that accompany the set are next to useless as a single Samoyed bite snips straight through and I am sure, that if so inclined, Tylor and Brae could make short work of these harnesses too.

There is no grab handle but if you fix the two flappy bits together with a carabina you could easily make one.

The harness fits onto the body with two loops that you place the dogs legs into, pull it up and snap together in the centre of the shoulders with a quick release catch.

In conclusion, I guess they are ok for town walking, they look really nice and they get a message across

Are they Samoyed proof? No not really, Tylor has managed to chew through the strap that comes around the front of the body.

Recommend - No, great for waking dog around populated areas, towns, shows and the like because it stops you being continually asked if your dog is friendly - likewise very annoying if you just want to get on - not something they could wear on a good hike though.

Padded Fabric Harness
Price - £14.00

Size - Extra large

Origin - Ebay Amazon

Samoyed proof - Seem to be

This appears to be a really comfy harness. The central ring is welded and puts up with a lot of wear and tear. These are nicely made and it is evident in the stitching. There is a padded strip inside the front strap which would be of benefit to a short haired dog but superfluous to a Sammy coat.

There is no adjustment in the strap that comes around the front of the body so it fixes the harness quite close to the neck, almost more like a collar than a harness.

Because of this, if you pull on the harness it comes off over the head. This is not necessarily a problem unless you have a dog that you have to drag around (unlike a Samoyed that is more likely to be pulling you around.

It is a nice robust thing that is well made [it is called a Tixie] I have hade several of these in different colours and am very fond of it as an all-round do-er

Would have been better with an additional fixing hoop on the front strap and I would have preferred this strap to be longer so the whole thing fits further down a Sammys back.

Samoyed proof - yes

Water proof - no

Recommend - yes, great little machine washable, everyday harness, although wears quickly along the padding - probably more so with a short haired doggo.

The Go-To Julius K9

IDC PowerHarness - X Large (size2)

Price - £33-39.00

Size - Extra large

Origin - Julius-K9.co.uk or Amazon

Samoyed proof - Definately

Autumn Touch - Tylor                                                 Woodland - Brae

This is the go-to harness for the bigger more adventurous animals. Its very sturdy and can withstand yanking a 40 kilo dog over the typical English countryside style or pulling over the boulders whilst scrabbling up the tough side of Mt Snowden. You can also buy link attachments to grip the chest strap and the tummy belt, chest pads, side bags (three sizes), bullet lights, chest clip attachments etc etc.

Its well balanced but slightly on the heavy side as harnesses go. Fully adjustable to insure that the lead clip is in the right position with the front chest strap lowered 30 degrees to follow the natural curves of the dog's chest (K9 make a special hiking one that is double the price).

We have had these for 5 years now without any signs of wear. Tylors has received a bit of damage due to getting caught in barbed wire but they look as good today as they did when we brought them.

These things serve a purpose and as such are not ideal for general use and would look overkill at a garden party… So whenever we are off on a hike, this is the first one out of the cupboard.

It is shower proof but not water proof as the underside is a soft lightly padded material that sucks up the water if you get dunked in say..... erm… a horse trough to cool down.

The belt around the front has a dayglo/luminescent strip that is picked up by car and torch light, there is a place for a K9 torch but others do fit, a couple of handy buckles and reflective side badges that you can buy with pre worded amusement, flags, or you can have a bespoke jobby.

There is a grab handle on the back that fits my massive hands which I am surprised at the amount of times I use it, the ring is welded and captured in the main body that will hold back any Spitz/pulling breed with confidence. The banding is wide and guessing quite comfy for the sams.

Many poo-poo this, I don't know why, perhaps its the price or the fact it is popular and common place, but we wouldn't be seen without one.