What is a Seppala Siberian Sleddog?
Every day, more and more people in the mushing community are lending the “Seppala” title to their main stream Siberian Huskies. Often times the kennel owner is not wishing to be deceitful, but is himself deceived as to what a Seppala truly is. The purpose of this page is to describe what 100 years of History defines as a Seppala.
We will start by where everyone agrees.
Agreed !
• Everyone agrees that Leonhard Seppala’s team that won the Poland Spring Challenge races in the late 1920’s and the subsequent “Poland Spring Kennel” dogs in Maine were indeed Seppalas.
Seppala's Fritz: Jonathan Hayes
• Everyone also agrees that the Siberian imports that they brought in to deepen the gene pool, were regarded, not as out-crosses, but as Seppalas (the title Seppala has come with time, so we here speak in retrospect).
• When Harry Wheeler acquired Kree Vanka, Tserko, and Volchok (Siberian imports) to his Seppala Kennel in Quebec to deepen his Kinkeak X Pearl progeny, the subsequent litters are regarded in all camps, not as an out-cross, but as Seppalas.
Harry Wheeler and his imports: Photo curtesy of Seppala Kennels
• The dogs of these breeders, acquired by McFaul and Shearer, are regarded in all camps as Seppalas.
• The dogs of these kennels rescued by JJ Bragg and bred by him at Markovo Kennels in the 1970's are regarded as pure Seppalas. In fact, the term “Markovo Pure” has come to mean a 100% Seppala by all camps. All one typically needs to do is trace their dogs back to a dog with "Markovo" in its name to know how much Seppala is in the dog.
Jeffrey Bragg and the Four Horsemen: Photo Curtesy of Seppala Kennels
• Finally, Everyone that has seriously evaluated the WCOI (Wright's Coefficient of Inbreeding) agrees that there is currently a genetic bottle neck in the breed that has to be addressed by adding genetic diversity.
The Disagreement
The disagreement is to how the genetic bottleneck is to be addressed.
The Disagreement comes now due to the fact that there are so few “Markovo pure” Seppalas left, that many debate what percentage a dog needs to be in order to be dubbed a “Seppala.” So few pure Seppala litters were bred in the last twelve years that, once again, the breed has encountered a bottle neck. Some genetic diversity has to be added to keep this breed’s vitality as a sleddog.
At the risk of oversimplifying the debate, there are basically three camps that have emerged;
• One camp says that keeping American Kennel Club registration on a Seppala insures that the other 8% of a 92% Seppala (for example) is a Siberian Husky, and that this is the best solution for the bottleneck. This approach assumes the breed is a subcategory of the Siberian Husky and insures that it will remain thus by continuing to share a common name and registry with the American Kennel Club.
• The second Camp, namely the International Seppala Siberian Sleddog Club, suggest that the American Kennel Club should be rejected due to their refusal to recognize the Seppala as a separate breed. Therefore this group has dropped their AKC registration, and maintains a Contenental Kennel Club registration, which allows for outcrosses to ANY other breed, and will register the dogs after they have been “bred back up” to a certain percentage (92%).
• Finally, the third group avoids the whole percentage question by simply arguing from historical precedent. This third group, the Seppala Siberain Sleddog Project, and its global incarnation, The International Seppala Association (founded by JJ Bragg, the man who rescued the breed in the 1970’s and owned the Markovo Kennels) argues that when the breed has had this problem in the past, as it did in the original Poland Spring Kennels with Leonhard Seppala, and with Harry Wheeler in Quebec, Siberian imports were used, and so that should be the solution today.
It is sad that such a small population of dogs has become so divided and threatened by the philosophies of the very breeders wishing to sustain the breed. For us here at Poland Spring Seppala Kennels, the answer is obvious.
Throughout the early part of the last century, as the Seppala breed was being established, there was always the option of Racing Hounds (for Leonhard Seppala and Elizabeth Ricker) and even Racing/ Show Siberian Huskies, when Seppala breeders were faced with the same problem we are faced with today of a shallow breeding pool. Their solution should be our solution, because their solution is what we all regard as a Seppala today.
Harry Wheeler, Elizabeth Ricker, and even Leonhard Seppala, had the option of crossing out to Show Siberian Huskies, Racing Siberian Huskies and Racing Hounds (Canadian hounds) and in each of these cases they opted to import new blood from Siberia, even though it was the more costly and riskier method.
Shearer and McFaul (owners of Seppala Kennels in the 1950's) resisted the temptation to breed to other lines of Racing and Show Siberian Huskies and chose rather to breed only to other Seppala Kennels.
Why did they choose this path?
• Had they bred to the “Mainstream Siberian Husky” population, they would have lost work ethic in the sleddog and gained esthetics, and for nothing… The Main Stream Siberian is so closely related to the Seppala Siberian Sleddog that the outcross would not bring in sufficient variance to make the cross worth wile.This point can not be over stressed. In fact, to call it an outcross would be a missappropriation of the term. It is at most, an out-breeding or cross-straining.
• Had they bred to Racing Hounds (the equivalent of the modern Alaskan huskies) they would have been sacrificing the very thing they were trying to preserve as a distinct breed from the North American sled dogs, the true Siberian Sleddog.
• So they chose, as we should today, to opt for the Siberian import stock to remedy our genetic bottle neck.
Though there are extensive records on the imports the Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project has brought to Seppala Kennels, and great care has been taken to insure the imports are from the same regions as the Siberians brought here almost 100 years ago, it is precisely that they are not related to our North American Seppalas that makes them the ideal solution to the genetic problem. If out-crossing to Mainstream Siberians is a Band-Aid stuck on a mortal wound then breeding to Siberain import stock can, ultimately, be the antidote!
The precedent has already been set. We must accept the imports of The Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project, as we have accepted the imports used by Leonhard Seppala, Elizabeth Ricker, and Harry Wheeler, as the option that gave the much needed genetic diversity during times of great genetic duress, without sacrificing the historical integrity of the breed. Any other option, sacrifices the integrity of the breed.
The conclusion,
The conclusion when all has been heard, is that ...
A Seppala Siberian Sleddog is a dog descended from those original Siberian Sleddogs of Leonhard Seppala (particularly those 10 ‘second foundation’ dogs of the Markovo era), as well as the Siberian imports of Elizabeth Ricker, Harry Wheeler, and Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project of the International Seppala Association.
For this cause, Poland Spring Seppala Kennels has joined the International Seppala Association in their efforts to preserve the true Seppala Siberian Sleddog.