When I posted an entry about Shiloh Shepherd Dogs (“somebody’s doing it right”) a couple of days ago, comments started to turn up! That’s okay, that’s what the comments feature of a blog is for, so people can offer their perspective on a topic that interest them. It’s useful feedback.
The first two comments were very critical of Tina Barber. Well, everyone has a right to his own opinion. BUT. (You knew there’d be a “but,” didn’t you!) One comment was, I felt, slanderous. And there was a curious feature common to both. Both of them typed “n/a” in the Name field; one was from the e-mail address “Joe@sympatico.com” and the other from “Joe@aol.com”. Curious and suspicious, I e-mailed both addresses for confirmation that they had originated comments to the blog. Well, you guessed it — both e-mails bounced.
Now I am an unashamed advocate of free speech on the Internet. I stand firmly in opposition to those who would impose Internet censorship. But let's take a good look at the idea of free speech in the context of weblogs and of the dog world. To my way of thinking, free speech means that you stand up and own your words. You take personal responsibility for what you say and you are ready to take whatever flak comes your way for saying it. That’s what SledDogBlog is about. It’s J. Jeffrey Bragg talking at you (hey, I just realised I haven’t put my name on the banner — gotta fix that) and there’s a comments feature so you can talk back. All open and honest.
Free speech doesn’t mean you may slander people anonymously and hide behind false e-mail addresses! And I won’t tolerate that kind of thing here. The dog world is full of acrimony and back-biting. Much of it is directed at those who have accomplished the most, like breed developer Tina Barber. Guess what — Tina’s dogs aren’t perfect. Guess what, too — neither are mine, and neither are yours. We all like to think they are. But that’s illusion and kennel-blindness.
To my mind, it’s the worst sort of ingratitude to slam and smear someone who has given the world a breed that many people love. Every breed has problems; the responsible thing to do about that is to roll up your sleeves and help improve the breed. Backbiting does not help the dogs in any way. Participating in breed development and improvement does!
So, “Joe@sympatico.com” and “Joe@aol.com”, your anonymous comments have been deleted — and the back o’ me hand t’ yiz!
We’re starting to hear quite a lot about crossbreeding these days. Suddenly it’s no longer so horrifying, deplorable or socially unacceptable. Of course, human nature being what it is, in many quarters we see the flip-flop effect. Some naive souls now think it’s some sort of instant panacea, a silver bullet to kill the genetic crisis in purebred dogs. Wrong. It’s only another breeding tool. Being a long-disused one, it has gone all rusty and few people have any idea how to use it any more. Those of us who dare to touch it at all are going to have to gain experience in its use — slowly and painfully, the hard way, as always.
Nobody can tell you "how" to use crossbreeding to increase genetic health in your breed. There’s no handy-dandy detailed manual on the subject. Only a few very general guidelines of the common-sense variety. Let’s summarise them; that won’t take long.
If you think you need to try a real outcross (meaning another breed as opposed to another more-or-less-related bloodline), unless you don’t care at all what type the offspring display, you had better choose a breed that is phenotypically similar (in temperament as well as physique) to your root breed. Example: the Beauceron is similar enough to the Dobermann to be a reasonable outcross choice. Not surprisingly, from what I’ve seen on the web, backcrosses following this cross have produced some very nice-looking dogs. Show Dobes they’re not; obviously good solid working-type dogs.
http://llewellynsecurity.com/noframes/nfourown.htm - Llewellyn’s Own Breed of Guard Dog
Another commonsense rule is, don’t introduce what you know you don’t want. Avoid outcrosses with traits that are going to cause problems. If you are outcrossing, it only makes sense to outcross to something that is strongest where your rootstock is weak.
Don’t be surprised if your outcross progeny display a different temperament from what you expected! Breed crossing can sometimes produce radical alterations of temperament by re-joining long-separated gene complexes. If this happens, you may have to try a less radical breeding plan.
Finally, don’t expect miracles. Crossing two highly-inbred, genome-stripped purebreds doesn’t mean that you automatically restore the full natural canine genome. Far from it. Both breeds may be stripped in the same way. This is particularly true of northern breeds. Outcrossing between arctic breeds doesn’t mean you will cure eye problems, because the same eye problems are found in all the arctic breeds! Just an example...
I think a handful of people who breed guard dogs are following a breeding plan in which a different breed is used in each successive generation. This is an interesting concept, and one way of eventually restoring a reasonably full canine genome without going the problem-fraught route of outcrossing to a wolf. I’d be interested in knowing what these people are experiencing, because I’m sure that they are going to accumulate some very interesting and valuable knowledge. I wouldn’t want to try it with sleddogs, though. Maybe we can talk about that another time.
The new breeds and rare breeds scene in the dog fancy is a lively, fermenting environment these days. There's an intensity and a creativity there that just isn't felt in the humdrum round of dog shows, obedience trials, and breed clubs that constitutes the familiar orbit of traditional breeds registered with AKC and CKC. It's so diverse and various that it isn't easy to talk about it, because what you might say about one breed would be totally untrue of another. Some of these minority breeds are avid AKC/CKC wannabes, dedicated to getting a place in the orthodox umbrella clubs as soon as possible. Others wouldn't have the century-old national registries on a silver platter, because their standards are different — usually higher.
A good example, I think, of people who are getting it right is the Shiloh Shepherd™ Dog Club of America. The Shiloh breed arose gradually in the last quarter of the 20th century as an offshoot of the German Shepherd Dog. Everybody knows how GSDs have changed over the years. "Ma Shiloh" Tina Barber didn't like those changes. She loved the GSD as she knew it circa 1962 — big, sound, stable and sane. She didn't want hyped-up killing machines, little weedy spooks, or bizarrely overangulated show dogs. So gradually Tina went her own way, breeding the bloodlines that produced what she wanted; she added an outcross line or two that increased the size. First it was just Shiloh Kennels, then what she produced became the Shiloh Shepherd Dog. That old-fashioned, big friendly farm-style shepherd resonated with a lot of people, and it all snowballed.
In the last ten years the Shiloh hit some major potholes in the road. Imitators, wannabes and know-nothings arose, as they will do in the dog world. Splinter groups thought they could do the same thing, without applying Tina's difficult high standards, without her decades of breeding experience. Takeover attempts, manipulation of debt, new registries and competing clubs, finally a disastrous fire that destroyed her home — Ma Shiloh has gone through a lot. She, her Shilohs and the SSDCA have come through it all stronger than ever, it seems.
There are some stunningly impressive dogs being produced by the Shiloh breeding programme. I can only hint at the total extent of this fascinating story here. The Shiloh's parent club has a big, informative website that's extremely well-done. Maybe this has little to do with sleddogs directly. But I have a lot of admiration for Tina she and her followers are doing a whole bunch of the right things. The development of the Shiloh Shepherd™ breed is something that ought to be seen as an example for all the rest of us in the rare breeds world. Go take a look for yourselves!
http://www.shilohshepherd.com – Shiloh Shepherd™ Home
If many people in the USA and elsewhere are confused about Seppalas, Seppala Siberians, and/or Seppala Siberian Sleddogs, I do not blame them. Since last year's "Seppala Siberian Sleddog Symposium" mounted by Doug Willett at Seeley Lake, MT, there has been a ferment of interest accompanied, oddly enough, by a furtive culture of paranoia and secrecy. It's a culture that I find distasteful and inappropriate to this breed. I would not wish in any way to encourage it.
Closed-membership e-mail lists are proliferating in Yahoo Groups. First (July 2001) there was "SeppalaNews" (current membership 125), which in July of last year hit a peak of 376 postings in one month. Then (August 2002) came "seppalasiberian" (current membership 55), which is now peaking at 202 postings so far this month. The other day (July 17 2003) a new one showed up, "ISSSC," with an elite membership of 12 so far. All three are restricted-membership with members-only archives. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Seppala e-mail list members than there are authentic Seppalas in the USA. What's going on in these closed groups? Ask someone else — the one person they don't want to admit is the guy who pioneered Seppalas five years ago in Canada as an independent breed and who saved them from extinction in the 1970s. Paranoia strikes deep...
Several years ago a friend told me a tale about a geneticist who had tried successfully to remediate the genetic defect in Dalmatians that causes widespread deafness in that breed, coupled with the uric acid anomaly in their urine. He used an English Pointer outcross to obtain the normal gene that most Dals lack, then backcrossed for six generations until he had perfect standard-fitting Dals with normal uric acid metabolism. He tried to register the resulting animals (63/64 Dal and 1/64 Pointer) with AKC, who were willing enough until The Dalmatian Club of America arose in righteous wrath, proclaiming that his animals were “mongrels” and that their acceptance would destroy the breed. AKC backed down in the face of breed club pressure — at least, that’s what I heard.
I had always wondered if it could really be true. The other day, surfing the web, I found a page that had a summary and update on "The Backcross Project." This real-life story of absurd, real-life nazi-style racism in the purebred dog fancy is a must-read for all breeders of registered stock of whatever breed. That it happened to be Dalmatians has little to do with it — this could be your breed, and it could be your breed club. This little article more or less explains why the world of purebred dogs is probably doomed. Here it is: read it and weep.
http://users.nbn.net/~jseltzer/dal_poin.html – Ramblings
Nothing to do with sleddogs? Wrong. It has everything to do with any breed at all that is bred in a closed stud book, sleddogs just as much as Dalmatians. All the people who are so all-fired proud of the "purity" of their closed breeds can count themselves spiritual supporters of the "scientific racism" of the Third Reich...
Summertime is lazy time for most sleddogs, though it's seldom so for their owners. Our Seppala sleddogs sleep, sunbathe, hoot and screech at chipmunks, ground squirrels, and our rabbits that persistently dig out of their pens and delightedly graze as close to the dogs as possible. We may rake and comb as much as we like, still the dogyard is littered with wads of cast-off undercoat all summer as the dogs shed their heavy coats in relays. Dog houses must be repaired, worn chain tackle replaced, bedding changed. The dogs get fed very late, when the air is cooler and they can enjoy their meal.
Speaking of feeding the dogs: there's a wonderful web page on that subject, one that I hope everyone will visit and read carefully:
The Best Food for Your Dog Is...
This page will really get you thinking about how you feed your dogs. Three cheers for Michele Welton for telling it like it is!
Summer in the Yukon is a short-lived thing. In August the weather will start to cool off again. We will oil up our battered old mountain bikes, get out the harnesses, and check over the wheeled rigs. Soon the dogs can get back to doing what they most enjoy — and so can we.
Thanks to the generous help of a new friend, Elaine Miller (who set up MovableType for me), and to old friend Al Falle (who's providing the online connection) I'm now able to launch the Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project into the wonderful wide world of weblogging. It's fair for anyone to ask what I intend to do in this "SledDogBlog." Simply put, I hope to chronicle the fortunes and fate of my four-footed children, the Seppala Siberian Sleddogs, as they and we (their guardians and protectors) try to make our way in the tricky and trying postmodern world, seeking "a path with heart." Observations on the Yukon weather and landscape, not to mention life, the universe and everything, will probably be scattered along the trailside as we go. I hope all our online friends will join us in our journey...