Eating And Eye Color

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
I have a pure bred black and white Siberian Husky male (Kakashi Demon), not neutered. I have had him since he was six months of age, he is currently one year and four months. We bought him along with a pure bred silver and white Siberian Husky female (Nakila Rae), his sister, not spade. We used to feed them together, separate bowls. Demon would let Nakila eat first, as much as she wanted, even if it was out of her bowl. I can understand this as being one of those pack/relationship/respect/rank things and it never really worried me on account he did eat and remained a healthy weight.

About four months ago, we gave Nakila to a friend of ours because we had to move and could only keep one. Ever since then, Demon hasn't eaten very much. I'm not too worried, because it seems when I set out a bowl of food (we use Purina Dog Chow, Complete & Balanced) he just eats it gradually through out the day. The only thing that has me a little scared is he is rather underweight, where you can feel his ribs and backbone (not to a serious extent). When taken to the vet for an injury, they hadn't mentioned anything about his weight, though I'm not sure if I should be worried or not.

I don't know his exact weight, but is it normal to feel their ribs and backbone? He is a very well trained dog for his age, walks readily and sits on command, and is all for running and leading you along. He has very fine muscle tone and is an all around very happy dog, no fatigue or illness.

I would also like to ask about multicolored eyes. Demon has one blue, one brown. I know there is something about it in some of the other questions, though I would like to be direct. I had never really wondered about it till someone I know asked me "Why is it they have different colored eyes? I know there is a reason but I don't remember." It intrigued me, so I thought I'd ask why it is they have discolored eyes? Is it some sort of trait?

One more thing, I am one of those people who enjoy having your jump up and give you hugs and kisses of affections, though it seems I am the only one in the household who holds that sort of want and connection to Demon. I am going to try the arm ledge, though if I tried training him to only do it with me and no one else, it could be easily done, yes? Siberians are very quick learners and I have no doubt it could be done, but if you have any advice I'd gladly take it.

Thank you for your time,
Joseph.

ANSWER: First, thanks for reading up some first.  As for the weight, you should be able to feel the backbone and ribs in a healthy dog, but seeing them is more of a problem.  It is difficult to describe, but it sounds like your dog, while maybe at a healthy weight, is perhaps on the low end of healthy.  If you are having difficulty getting your dog to eat, I would suggest that you try supplementing the dog's food with things that will help encourage him to eat.  Suggestions include adding low sodium chicken or beef broth to the food (just enough to flavor all the kibble), or shredded cheese.  Also, adding in some high protein supplements like some meat may also help provide additional nutrition.  Keep in mind however that Siberians are well known for self-regulation of food, and aren't necessarily a food focused breed.  Many times Sibes will go days without eating or not eating much, and then binge.  While this behavior is not preferred, many pure-bred Sibes actually help monitor their own weight this way.  So I don't think that you have anything necessarily to worry about, but something to at least be aware of and something to watch.

As for the "arm ledge trick," I hesitate to say that Siberians are smart enough to know the difference.  While Sibes are extremely smart dogs, they are still dogs.  And, dogs are creatures of habit (see Pavlov's conditioned response tests).  From a training perspective, what this means is that dogs do best when they understand a simple behavior with one stimulus.  If you want to teach your dog to do the arm ledge with only you, but no one else - you are asking the dog to understand more than the simple stimulus/response.  This is difficult.  What I would suggest instead is to introduce consistency.  Have the dog be taught to "Sit" upon all greetings (ask me if you need help in this manner), but then begin teaching the dog an "Up" or similar command.  This command is for him to jump on to the arm for greeting.  This is one that you should be able to get him to do pretty easily, and eventually he will understand that you give this command to him to continue the ritual pack greetings.  Other people might not give this, but you have given him the consistency of the conditioned response to a single stimulus - SIT for greetings, lick the face for UP.  :)

As for the eyes, it comes down to the fact that in breeding - it never mattered for Siberians.  There could be a lot of information about this out there, but the truth is, there has not been much research about eye color in dogs, and even in less in breeds the routinely see multiple colorations, including blue.  Blue eyes in dogs generally is a warning sign for potential blindness in the future, and one reason that many breeds in their "standard" have made them a disqualification - they have been trying to eliminate the blue eyed trait.  However, Siberians, who as a whole have a low incidence of PRA (progressive retinal atrophy) and really no other common eye problems to speak of, benefit the same way from blue eyes that people of Nordic (Swedish/Danish/etc) descent benefit - blue eyes reflect more light then they permit to come into the eye - allowing for higher quality vision in sunlight reflecting off white snow (amplifying the amount of light hitting the eye).  Therefore, blue eyes have been a benefit to the Siberian, not a hindrance.  And although blindness is a problem, it was slowly eliminated over time.  So, by the breeders not caring about eye color (according to the standard), the dogs were allowed to develop naturally.  As it turns out, eye color and coat color are tied together in some ways and it basically can be thought of as this.  Blue eyes is a recessive trait, but it is not a trait that is either on or off.  Instead, during development, there is a trigger point that either makes the color go blue or develop pigments that produce darker colors in the eye.  While the percentages and process are overly simplified in this example, if one thinks that the eye has a 50/50 chance of triggering the pigment to develop darker eyes, it also as a 50/50 chance of not doing it, and leaving a blue eye.  Then, if you think that each eye triggers separately, you have the followings:

1/4 of Blue Eyes (all)
1/4 of Brown Eyes (all - or any darker than blue color)
2/4 of one Blue, one Brown

Therefore, you see that the eyes can develop multiple colors.  In many other breeds where blue eyes were a problem, the gene was slowly eliminated over several generations of selective breeding, and they simply lack the ability to produce blue eyed puppies without an unplanned mutation.  The big thing is that Sibes weren't bred to have it - they just were bred to make sure that it didn't matter.

Hope that helps some and feel free to write back if you have any other questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for this, I feel it will definitely help.

When it comes to commands, my Husky has already got sit, heal, and laydown nailed perfectly. He goes on voice command and signal, so I do not think it will be a problem to have him sit on greeting or raise on the 'Up' signal. The suggestion is great and muchly appriciated.

As for the eyes, it was very informative and I'm glad for it, and it was mostly what I figured. Now when people ask me about it I will have a more sofisticated answer. =]

Now, when it comes to feeding. I've heard of people feeding their huskies raw beef or chicken, fish as well. We had been adding a bit of beef/gravy suppliment to his dry food, though it seems that he would just pick through it and get only the beef. Now, say I kept him on the dry food. As you said, being able to feel the ribs is fine, and you cannot see them, it's a matter of rubbing through his fur, so I feel that he is healthy and doing just fine with the diet he is on.. having access to food at all times and feeding when he feels it's nessarily. But, if I wanted to change his diet to strictly raw meat and vegetables, how would I go about doing that? If he had been on the dry food diet for a while, could I simply add a little more meat to his bowl everyday till there was hardly any dry left, therefor not dramatically changing his diet... but changing it gradually?

Thank you very much,
Joseph.

Answer
Glad that helped.  There are several groups out there with a lot of information on raw food diets - you should be able to search the Internet and find quite a bit.  Check out BARF (Bones And Raw Food) groups and such as they will be able to give you the most help.  I do not feed my dogs this way, but I am not opposed to it either.  I like supplementing with it, and I would think the best way is a slow transition for your dog if you want to move it 100% raw food.  Gradual changes are usually the best on canine stomachs.

Hope that helps and good luck!