Welcome back! This is part 2 of my last article on the dog breeds of Balto. I will continue again after this (i'm making a lot of articles on this). This article is mainly on Star because of his puzzling look and why i think he is like this. Just before i start on Star though, here are the pics that were lost in the last article.

now here is the Steele pic. I think thats all the pics that were lost.

Now! Back to the article. Like i said, this article is on the wonderful Star, so here is my research: 

STAR

Star, i think, is a husky. He is a bit of an odd one, but thats why we love him eh'! Right, he is interesting and a difficult dog to place. I have researched in husky's colours and markings, looking for Star.

I have found some colours and markings quite similar to Star. He is a very destinctive looking dog, and i wonder if he is a cross between two colours. I know you think, why would the animators even bother, well, the animators needed dogs to use as a model (this is not proof, just what i think), the model for Star, if there was one, would have been a normal husky, but a cross between to colours. Here are my results for the research on husky markings and colour, first starting with Star's striped back:

Striped Back: Now, Star's stripy back is a hard thing to find. But you have to look in the right place! I found all breed colours from a good Husky site (i will put a link at the bottom of this article) with lots of colours that i looked at and examined for Star's looks. I found a 'colour', you could call it, called Saddle Back. These Husky's had, well, a Saddle Back i guess. Here are the Saddle Back huskies below.

 You can see the sort of stripe, or Saddle on the dog's back. I'm not to sure if this is what Star's markings are suppose to be, or if this Saddle Back, i just what Star's markings are based on.

Here is the head of a Saddle Back. There are no markings on the face's of these dogs and they only come in this colour. But to me, the face expression is quite similar to Star's. I wasn't able to find a three striped Saddle Back, but there may be some out there, i don't know. But i still think, that the stripes on Star, may have been based on the Saddle Back huskies.

Now, i can see quite a similarity to this dog and Star. His colour may be a bit different but you can just see, on top of the light black or grey fur, there are two deep black stripes! This dog is also saddle back. This dog is quite small, like Star, and has a similar expression. Even his markings are rather similar. His tale isn't too busy and is rather small, also like Star's. I can see wuite a lot of resemblence in the Saddle Back huskies, and Star.

Face Markings: I have seen huskie's before with Star's markings. Huskies have various markings on their faces. There's the eyepatched and striped huskies, the ones that looks like Steele. The no-eyepatches, but still a stripe, like Jenna. There are loads and loads and i really can't be bothered mentioning them all! Some are specified to a certian colour, but most i think, can be found with all colours. I didn't really lok much for the markings, cause i know they are there! But i have got a few pics which i picked up, just to show you.

Now, same eye makings, and even a similar expression! This husky does look a bit different from Star, he is only a model for the eye markings. Here is another pic below.

these huskie's also have similar eye markings to Star. The bottom colour, or lighter colour, is arched high above the eyes, and there is no eyepatch or stripe across forehead. (also, notice at the back, i looks a bit like Stripes!)

This dog, even though the pics a bit small and a little hard to see (sorry about that, i enlargened it a bit but the quality isn't as good now, anway...). This dogs markings are the same. With the arch above the eyes and the darker or above colour of the hudky stretches inbetween the arches right down to the noze. Just like Star!

Colour: Star's colour is puzzling. He is a purply-pinkish colour and is hard to find in husky breeds.

Some has said his colour is quite like Agouti huskies. Hmm... i'm not to sure about this myself, for agouti seem to be more of a muddy brownish-grey colour, but i can see why this colour was suggested. Agouti is a sort of mix of colours. Like i said, they are muddy brown and grey colours. So, i would have to say no, but i could be wrong. But here are some other dog colours i thought could be quite alike to Star's colour:

This colour, is called Sable it's not to alike to Star's though, but in reality it may be quite similar. There are sort of striped on the back also, but i'm not very sure about this.

This is the colour light red. This is also a possibility, but i am still not sure. I can see Star being this colour in real life. I think because light red is a peach-pink, light light orange (no purple though, but i can't really imagine a dog being close to the purple colou of Star) which is similar to his colour. So for Star's colour, i would have to go with light red. His colour on the film is obvioulsy stretched a bit, but in real life, i could see him being this colour.

Right, now, if you mix all these together...

For the Stripes, this could be from the Saddle Back husky. Or, could just be brought out from the normal huskies fur, when sometimes the density brings out three or two dark stripes! Such as the second pic at the top, of the two huskies backs, you can see there are dark marks on the back, this could be the source of Star's striped back. Just the normal dense fur that appears like three to stripes on the back, or the stripes could be from Saddle Back!

The colour? Well, i would have to say light red with possibly a mix with Sable or Agouti. The colour still, may not match exactly to Star's, but ti would be pretty close i think! Thats my guess for Star's coat...

For the markings, its pretty easy. Star has the same face markings as many normal living huskies! But there are some things i haven't mentioned. Like Star's socks on his feet? Another reason why he might be crossed colour with Agouti huskies. A lot of these huskies (Agouti) have socks on their feet!

So, what do i think overall? Well, it took a lot of my time, and a lot of research. But i know think, that Star is a Siberian Husky, with the colour cross of Light Red, Agouti and Saddle Back. I think Star is a cross between two of these, with the other in his blood and it comes out quite well. If you find this hard to believe, take my dog for example, he is a breed cross with whippit in his blood. And even though he looks nothing like a whippet and the whippet part of him is far far in the past, he is an incredibly fast dog! I think that Star is a colour cross with Agouti and Light Red, with Saddle Back in his blood. What do they get from these colours? Well, i believe that Star's colour is a mix between these two colours (Agouti and Light Red), and they make the pinkish colour of Star! The Agouti part of him contributes to the colour and changes the light red, but also gives Star his socks. And the light red gives him pinkish colour. What about the Saddle Back? Possibly the saddle stipe on the back, or from a normal huskies dense fur stripes just 'exagerated' by the animators (like i said before). But also, i believe, Star gets his personality a little bit from Saddle Back. Look at these pics below...

Look at that twist at the end of his mouth! That expression!

Look at this dogs lazy/calm look, i think the expression is very much alike to Star's! And look at these pics below, the innocent face, i think the personality and expressions in these dogs are just like Star's!

So, there you have it. Why i think Star looks like he does, and why he has that peronality that we all love!

To be continued again!