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So many of us who love and admire Northern dogs have wondered what happened to the original Siberian dogs, the
sort who were imported from the Anadyr River country into Alaska in the Gold Rush days. The cookie-cutter showdog
Siberian Husky "snow dogs" of today just don't seem at all like them. Are the dogs that Leonhard Seppala and John "Iron
Man" Johnson drove just history now? Have they disappeared forever from northern trails?
Not really. They are still with us, though only in small numbers. They were never numerous. Those who got their dogs
from Leonhard Seppala treasured them and held them close. They never took them to dog shows and they didn't sell them to puppy
mills. They kept them and valued them for what they were: the finest working sled dogs in the world.
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Today descendants of the Leonhard Seppala dogs and of new Siberia import stock are available to those whose ideal is
the original Siberian sleddog, the dogs that won the All-Alaska Sweepstakes, carried passengers, mail and freight in Gold
Rush Alaska -- rather than the dog that won Group Three last week.
The Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project in Canada's Yukon Territory has won the permission of Agriculture Canada to develop the Seppala Siberian Sleddog
as a new evolving breed in that country. They alone can offer authentic Seppalas today. The Seppala Siberian Sleddog now exists
as a new breed in development; although closely related to the Siberian Husky, the Seppala dog is no longer a
C.K.C./A.K.C. Siberian Husky. (There is no such thing as "dual registration.") This is the Siberian dog as it was meant to
be -- as it originally was, rather than bred for prettiness and flashy markings, fluffed up and made into a canine beauty
contestant.
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