Our Approach to a True Pomsky
The Pomsky is a fascinating phenomena that really picked up speed around 2011.
It mainly started with a photo that went viral on the internet, claiming to be a Pomsky--a Husky / Pomeranian--a husky puppy that never grows up (implying that the photo showed a full grown dog).
In reality, the photo was of a Finnish Lapphund puppy named Tequila (Photographer Tommie Ohlson).
What is most fascinating about the Pomsky is that it almost instantly became one of the world's most popular, in-demand breeds - and it didn't actually exist!
Since the viral photos claimed the "Pomsky" was a cross between a Siberian Husky and a Pomeranian, breeders started breeding their Huskies with Pomeranians in hopes to make the famous Pomsky a reality.
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Pomsky Northerns decided to join the effort in 2012. At the time there were only a handful of us worldwide who were attempting to create the viral Pomsky. What we found, though, is that breeding a pure Siberian Husky with a pure Pomeranian very rarely resulted in a puppy that resembled that first viral Pomsky. The grand majority of the time the puppies grew to look like a giant Pomeranian rather than a tiny Husky. We encountered huge inconsistency in size, averaging 20-25 lbs. There were also large variations in both appearance and temperament. Thus, when buyers bought a pup, there was little way of knowing exactly how that puppy would turn out as an adult - but we could tell that pup would likely not resemble the true, viral Pomsky type at all!
It became clear to us that producing the true Pomsky was going to be a much bigger project than merely crossing Huskies with Pomeranians. It would take a concerted effort of very selective, scientific breeding in order to combine all the right genetics into our bloodlines to produce litters that stayed small & were fluffy, adorable, and husky-marked with fantastic family-friendly temperaments.
About 2014, we were one of the first 8 breeders to join with a wonderful, friendly group of like-minded breeders in the newly formed International Pomsky Association (IPA). The IPA has been joined by many more breeders since then, and we all have worked together in making the true, viral Pomsky a reality - with the goal of developing it into a new breed that would someday achieve AKC recognition.
However, AKC does not recognize hybrids or designer breeds; ie, cross-breeds like a Pomsky.
A new breed can't merely be a mix of 2 breeds, but must have a rich development history, including various breed influences, wherein a new breed is developed that is genetically unique from those already recognized by AKC. Thus, the Pomsky Breeder community started including American Eskimo and German Spitz into the gene pool in varying amounts; and IPA also allowed for DNA breed id test results to show up to 15% other breeds.
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We never felt good about including Eskimos and German Spitz in our lines, as we felt those breeds would deter us from our goal of producing the tiny, stunning little Pomsky look that originally went viral (plus it would require producing generations of pups with dogs other than registered Huskies and Pomeranians in their pedigrees). So, instead, we included a couple rare and special Siberian Huskies among our foundation dogs that were registered purebreds, had the size and look true to their breed, but whose EMBARK dna tests indicated a small influence (about 5-7%)
of Malamute (and sometimes German Shepherd) somewhere way back in their pedigree.
EMBARK discusses how purebred dogs can sometimes get EMBARK results showing others breeds here. In this article, EMBARK states, "These results in no way affect the “purebred” status of the dog or its standing with the registration body. In fact because these dogs usually contain genetic signatures not common in the breed, they can be highly useful for maintaining or even increasing genetic diversity in the breed!"
(Remember, all AKC recognized purebreds were created at one point by mixing various other breeds together, so the canine gene pool is essentially a giant melting pot, and even AKC purebreds might have genetic breed id results that reflect this heritage - especially such closely related breeds as Siberian Huskies and Malamutes).
Our Pomskies now include influences from other breeds, as a change in business ownership has shifted our ultimate vision for our pups. Following IPA guidelines saying our dogs must be no more than 15% of other breeds, we have begun incorporating other Spitz genetics to achieve certain looks.
Another requirement for future official breed recognition is that the breed be given an official name that doesn't represent a hybrid or designer breed. That is why you don't see AKC breeds with names like "golden doodle" or "pug-a-poo"... or "Pomsky". Thus, in 2019, the name Arctic Spitz was chosen as the official name for dogs of the true, viral Pomsky type. (Similar to how Mini Aussies are officially recognized as the American Miniature Shepherd)
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As you research the Pomsky, you will find that our approach to producing a specific type of Pomsky is not the only approach out there. There are many breeders who, like us, are working to produce this type. There are breeders who add Eskimo and German Spitz to their lines and there are others who will remove a dog from their breeding program if their DNA results show anything other than Siberian Husky and Pomeranian.
While many of our dogs test as having only Siberian Husky and Pomeranian in their bloodlines (and all of our foundation dogs were registered purebreds), we have chosen to make our breeding choices based more heavily on how each individual dog can bring us closer to consistently producing the true, viral Pomsky type, and less about having ONLY those breeds show up on the Breed Identification DNA tests (though we still want a very high % to be just Pomeranian / Husky, and there are some breeds we absolutely don't want in our lines!) But after all, remember - to be recognized as a true breed, there must be more than Siberian Husky and Pomeranian in the bloodlines. Also, more breeds = increased genetic diversity = healthier dogs.
Having now produced over 200 Pomsky pups throughout the years, many of which have served as foundation dogs in other Pomsky Breeders' programs, we are very pleased to say that the breeding dogs we have now are everything we have strived to produce, and we have arrived at our goal!
After years of scientific selective breeding, we are finally producing the true, mini and toy sized, viral Pomsky type consistently!
***All or most of our dogs are fully registered Pomskies (Arctic Spitz) with the IPA and CKC***
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