Seppala Kennels 'SledDogBlog'

Saint Eva B. Seeley

While surfing the web and wishing the rain would let up, I found an announcement on the website of the International Siberian Husky Club that a tax-exempt Chinook Kennels Heritage Foundation has been set up for the preservation and maintenance of Chinook Kennels in Wonalancet, New Hampshire. (No date was given, so I don't know when this happened.) Some sleddog people will already know that Eva B. Seeley is considered by many people to be the godmother, patron saint, or breed founder of both the AKC Siberian Husky and the AKC Alaskan Malamute breeds. Authors such as Michael Jennings ("The New Complete Siberian Husky," 1992, Howell Book House) have tended to promote the image of Mrs. Seeley as not only the all-wise breed mother but also "among the top women [dog] drivers of all time"! So perhaps it is not surprising to see Siberian Husky Club of America and New England Sled Dog Club luminaries volunteering to assist in the preservation of Chinook Kennels as a holy shrine of sorts. The following link shows a handy image of the announcement:

http://www.ishclub.org/forms/chinook_ann.jpg

My curiosity piqued, I ran a Google search on Chinook kennels and on about page five I hit the jackpot. A few preliminary words of explanation are in order first. In 1969 when I was still quite new to northern dog breeds, I knew a professional handler in Ontario, Mrs. Lorna Jackson. Lorna was responsible in a way for my involvement with the descendants of Leonhard Seppala's sleddogs, because she sent me up to Chelmsford, Ontario, to visit Susan Elizabeth "Bunty" Ricker Dunlop Goudreau, the daughter of Sepp's New England kennel partner Liz Ricker, where I first saw Ditko of Seppala (whose descendants lie at my feet as I write this).

At her Ontario farm, Lorna had two or three ageing Alaskan Malamutes like no others I had ever seen. They were bigger, all-white or cream, longer and rangier than show-ring Mals. It turned out that Koonah and Kulik were among the last of the Paul Voelker "M'Loot strain" Malamutes — the opposition to the Eva B. Seeley "Kotzebue" strain. As my involvement with the Seppala sleddogs grew, after acquiring Ditko of Seppala from Bunty Goudreau, I often thought about the M'Loot Mals I had seen at Lorna's place and wondered at the parallel situations in both the Malamute and Siberian Husky breeds.

Well, I won't spoil the surprise about what Google turned up by commenting overmuch. I will only say that "The Robert Zoller Story" found on the Starhawk Malamute website was the most fascinating and rivetting narrative I've come across for a long while. It's presented in three parts, all of them long and detailed. Part One sets the stage for the drama of Parts Two and Three. If you haven't a lot of time and must choose, read Part Two. Bob Zoller is to be commended for his courage and intellectual honesty in setting down the whole story, because history of this kind is usually buried beneath breed myth as soon as the dust settles. I'll just say here that Bob tells ALL about the early years of the Alaskan Malamute Club of America and his experiences with the renowned Eva B. Seeley. Here's the link:

http://www.northernterritories.com/Zoller_files.htm

Click the menu-bar buttons at the top of the page for Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of the story. I have to say, Zoller's narrative gives me the cold shakes, it sounds so much like what's happening at the moment with the Seppala Siberian Sleddog's effort to become a distinct breed. I guess the spirit of Saint Eva B. Seeley is still alive and well...

Posted by jjeffrey at August 5, 2003 04:05 PM