It's March Madness, and the UConn Huskies are, as usual, doing well on the court. Simultaneously, there are "more huskies than usual" in Connecticut animal shelters, according to advocates.

The numbers are not huge, but Pamela Weiss, who works at Branford's Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter, said Siberian huskies are rare to see in shelters.

"We've had more huskies than usual. In the past year we've had three or four adults come through and then we had a husky puppy litter," she said. "We don't normally get huskies. We might get them roaming a lot. That happens, and they're usually repeat offenders. But they go back to their owners."

It was "definitely different for us to have that many," she said.

There are currently two huskies up for adoption at the Connecticut Humane Society, Nikolai and Natalie, according to Kathryn Shubert. She said between Jan. 1 and March 7, the humane society "took in seven pets who were labeled 'husky' as either the first or secondary breed (so this could include potential mixes)."

Another 25 husky-related calls "were looking for resources, or had general questions," she said.

So far this year, the Humane Society has taken in a total of 125 dogs, seven of which were huskies, 5.6 percent of the total, a small increase from the same time period last year.

Between Jan. 1 and March 7, 2023, the humane society had 32 calls for pets who were called huskies, of which five were rescued. In the same time period, the society rescued a total of 149 dogs, meaning 3.3 percent of all dogs rescued in the first three months of the year were huskies.

Huskies are working dogs, and can be a challenge, Shubert said: "They are a very active breed, both physically and mentally, and are going to need consistent training and exercise throughout their lives. Huskies are known for being loud, and can sometimes be escape artists, but with the right enrichment, training, and socialization in their lives, they make wonderful pets."

Edwin Saez Jr., the founder of a Connecticut pet service called The Husky Escape, said "not everyone should have a husky."

"We definitely do not recommend it as a first time pet," he said. "Huskies are very stubborn, and they pretty much like to do what they want when they want."

Saez, who breeds, trains and fosters dogs — primarily huskies — said his screening process is particularly rigorous because the dogs can be such a handful "because of the husky temperament." He does not believe there is a correlation between March Madness and interest in adopting a husky.

"We have a process that we go through in order to weed out people who could or could not possibly be a future owner of a husky. We don't just give it to anybody," he said. "We don't want the huskies to end up being returned back to us in the event that the people can't take care of them. We look for a forever home, a home that they're going to be in for the rest of their life."