Air Husky

Navigator's Guild Standard by BCGR_Wurth

Air huskies are a specialized breed of working dog which was bred specifically for applications aboard airships, skymoths, and skystations.
Any faction in the Manifold Sky setting which spends a significant amount of resources on air travel and related activities has a number of air huskies at their disposal, though a few of these special animals have also found their way into civilian hands. The Navigator's Guild, Petalcap Vale Customs Authority, Sorority of Solace, and New Cobalt Knights have the largest number of air huskies at their disposal. The animals are also very popular among members of the Burning Hearts Social Club, though various hunting breeds are more common in that organization.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Morphologically, an air husky is similar to a normal husky. An air husky is, however, around three quarters of the size of a typical husky.

Genetics and Reproduction

The earliest air huskies were bred among the Navigator's Guild for, among other reasons, Navigators' personal comfort and security when NavGuard support is not available. There is some debate among dog fanciers about what qualifies as a 'true' air husky. Some argue that an air husky is any dog derived of primarily husky ancestry which falls below certain size critera and which has at least one ancestor in the original Guild litters. Others argue that the experience of being reared aboard a skystation, developing the animal's unique behaviors to a greater degree than mere genetic extraction, is a defining trait of the breed; in these fanciers' eyes, an air husky born and raised on the ground is just a 'toy' variant of a regular husky.

Additional Information

Domestication

Air huskies are trained for a number of roles relevant to air travel and attendand professions, such as search and rescue, guard duty, and pest control. Properly trained and reared air huskies are fully capable of negotiating the interior of an airship or skystation even in the absence of gravity, bouncing off of walls and 'doggy paddling' through the air to get where they need to be.
Notably, 'mechanic's friend' air huskies have been trained to detect anomalies in the operation of certain pieces of dieseltech equipment. The determination that a piece of equipment is malfunctioning is made through both scent (i.e. changes in exhaust or fuel composition) and hearing (i.e. unusual engine racket). For example, an air husky trained in this manner can detect bearing failures long before a human technician could. This makes these dogs rather useful in industrial contexts, such as in skystation lifting gas reclaimation plants or auto-armor maintenance bays.

Average Intelligence

Air huskies are notable for their intelligence and courage, simultaneously making them valuable as working dogs and serious handfuls in a residential setting. Training should be focussed on bonding the animal with its owner, providing a working skill, and providing ample respites from boredom; in general, a bored air husky cannot be contained by mere yard fences.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Unlike many terrestrial dogs, an air husky's long acquaintance with the micro-gravity environments found in commissures and inflection layers makes it extraordinarily well-balanced in gravitational fields and resistant to disorientation outside of them. Notably, air huskies often demonstrate a cat-like ability to aim their feet towards the nearest surface in the event of a fall and can often navigate in darkness entirely by the sound of their own barks' echoes. In contrast, while many air huskies do find use as search and rescue dogs, their sense of smell often fades in advanced age, especially when stationed in micro-gravity posts for the majority of their careers.