Breeding Philosophy

The year is 2004, at present time there is a great controversy, surrounding the Siberian Husky breed... It started in 1926, when two different strains of Siberian evolved from the original import dogs…..On one side of the coin, we have the Seppala enthusiasts. These people have the distinction of saying that their dogs, are descendants of the original forty-some Seppala imports. These are our renegade purists,.. these people believe that Seppala-stock should consume the majority of a good race dog’s pedigree…. They are very anti-show and breed solely for working purpose… On the other side of the coin is everyone else…… You see the problem with Seppalas is this… Right from the start the original dogs began being bred to the Siberian Sled Dogs of others who could afford to import them. Even the cornerstone of the Seppala breedings Elizabeth Ricker, bred out to an Olaf Swenson dog. I do not believe that the intent was ever, or should ever have been to keep the line “pure”….. It is indeed noted that Leonhard Seppala had truly outstanding and exceptional dogs, this is neither argued nor disputed.So then, what of the dogs of John Johnson, Olaf Swenson, and other importers of the time…. Undoubtedly they too had exceptional dogs, and to deny or contest this would be of unsound judgment. The segregation began when people who did not run Siberians competitively, began acquiring dogs that they bred for show. They bred their dogs for the symmetrical appearance of Irish markings. Some of these dogs never saw a sled, and lived a rather relaxed content life. Instead they were pranced around the show rings, and then something very different started to happen…. A hand-full of people began showing their dogs in obedience…. Here and there over the years,.. not many but some Siberians obtained levels of obedience titles….. maybe to the Seppala people this wouldn’t mean much,… but never the less, this as an evolutionary step for Siberians. Then there is this grey area that everybody fears…. The “back-yard breeder”, a term commonly referring to puppy mills. A back-yard breeder is not necessarily this,… a back-yard breeder can also be that couple, who owns one pair of well-bred dogs, produces a couple of litters, and never breeds again. Some of the off-spring ultimately ends up in a neighbor’s house…. Over time this blood-line was lost,… through back-yard breeding!How-ever this is hardly anything to look down on. What you have now, is the chance for hybrid vigor and access to line that is barely in use. You must of course take the same precautions as with any line. No litters till three years, all the recommended health clearances, and of course you have to pick the hardest working pup, with the best attitude……. My objective here, is to take females of very pronounced lines, and breed them to males of a scattered line. The theory here, is that is that a male can only code for what the female already has. If you are using a male of a scattered lineage, the outcome will no doubt be puppies of a scattered gene pool. This experiment works in the reverse aspect of course, meaning that the scattered lineage female will throw a fairly uniform litter, when bred to a pronounced lineage male. In this instance where type is bred to type, the progeny should bare identical similarity to the parents. To obtain the maximum level of Heterogeneous traits, I will be starting with breeding combinations that are not related in 8 generations. Later depending on the success of the experiment I may move to 10 even 12. To anyone entering the world of purebred dogs it is apparent that there are practically royal families within breeds.... and in the eyes of some ignorant breeders... your dog is either royalty... or just another dog... this constricting line of thought, leads the average no-vice to believe that they too should breed in some of this "valuable blood"... or worse yet totally abandon their beginning lines and run, head down charging into the world of incest breeding..... AND MANY DO!!! I do have a lot of respect for many of the top performing dogs of many kennels. However I do not subject myself to idle worship, or inner-breed racism. I base my breeding decisions on individual dogs and their attributes, and pay careful attention not to paint myself into a genetic corner. My hopes for my personal breeding program, is to embrace the thoughts and intentions of the Seppala Siberian Sled dog, and to breed in various strains of Seppala stock , to my Generic Siberians. I would however like to also use Artificial Insemination from other countries to encourage hybrid vigor.

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