Siberian Husky
History
The Siberian Husky was developed over a period of around
3,000 years by the Chukchi and related peoples of Siberia,
the breed was developed to fulfill a particular need of
the Chukchi life and culture. There is evidence, however,
that Siberian dogs were also imported from the Koryak and
Kamchadal tribes. Recent DNA analysis confirms that this
is one of the oldest breeds of dog.
Tribe life revolved around the dogs. The women of the
tribe reared the pups and chose what pups to keep, discarding
all but the most promising bitches and neutering all but
the most promising males. The men's responsibility was
sled training, but Huskies also would act as companions
for the children and families. The Husky's legendary sweetness
of temperament is no accident.100 miles out on the ice,
a
single man with twenty dogs, if there's a dog fight , he
simply does not get home.
In
the twentieth century, the Soviets opened free trade
with the Chukchi, then known as the "Apaches of
the North," and small pox decimated the tribe. Soviets
then executed the village leaders, who were of course the
dog breeders. The Soviets then set up their own dog breeding
programs designed to obliterate the native gene pool,
replacing
it with a gene pool that would produce a much larger freighting
dog thought to be more
effective for their own proposed fur-trading practices
in the region.
Fortunately,
the reputation of the little Chukchi dogs had already
spread throughout the world
and in 1908 Gdosak, a Russian fur trader,
acquired a team and took them across the Bering
Strait to race in the All Alaska Sweepstakes (AAS), a 408-mile
with a $10,000 first prize. No one was impressed with
Goosak's little dogs, weighing only 40 to 52 pounds, much
smaller compared to their longer legged, heavier competitors.
The people of Nome referred to the imports as "Siberian
Rats." This team, even though the odds were 100 to
1 against it in the betting, made a tremendous showing
and nearly won the race, placing third. Rumor ran rampant
in Nome that gamblers had paid off the driver before he
reached the finish in order to save them from ruin. It
was said that had Thurstrop won, it would have broken the
Bank of Nome.
The Siberians attained enormous popularity as racing dogs
and the amusement prior to the 1910 race turned to admiration.
Goosak's team of stoic
little aliens set the stage for the importation of
the greatest of northern racing breeds, the Siberian dog,
later to be known as the Siberian Husky.
Leonhard Seppala, a Norwegian fisherman
turned gold miner, became involved with Siberian dogs
when he was asked by
his employer to train a group of females and pups for the
1914 AAS. After a poor start his first year, Seppala dominated
the races thereafter. In 1925 he was a key figure in the
1925 serum run to Nome which delivered diphtheria serum
from Nenana by dogsled after the city was stricken by an
epidemic. The Iditarod trail race commemorates this famous
delivery. The following year two groups of Seppala’s
dogs toured the USA, starting a mania for sleddogs and
dogsled racing, particularly in the New England states.
In 1930 the last Siberians were exported
as the Soviet government closed the borders of Siberia
to external trade.
The same year saw recognition of the Siberian Husky by
the American Kennel Club. Nine years later the breed was
first registered in Canada. Today’s Siberian Huskies
registered in North America are largely the descendants
of the 1930 Siberia imports and of Leonhard Seppala’s
dogs.
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