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The
International Seppala Association was incorporated today under
the Yukon Societies Act. Its purpose will be the protection and
advancement of historic sleddog breeds, as well as to provide
record-keeping services for such breeds on a worldwide scale.
Initially the association will serve the Seppala
Siberian Sleddog and the Chinook Dog breeds, but it is in theory
available to any historic sleddog breed whose breeders may be
interested. MacKenzie River Huskies, Yakut Laikas, even the
"traditional" Alaskan Husky would be possibilities that the Board of
I.S.A. would happily consider. In particular, as dogs from regional
sleddog populations are exported from Russia to western countries,
they are going to need record-keeping services. There is, of course,
talk of the Yakut Laika eventually becoming recognised by F.C.I. --
but a ten-year minimum time frame is also mentioned, the entire
breeding life of a generation of dogs, and it might well be longer
than that. In the interim, what will those who have imported such
stock do? I.S.A. stands ready to serve, all the more so inasmuch as
its Board are doubtful about the benefits of F.C.I. status for rare
working sleddog breeds (in the end, it's the same old showdog
studbook).
The new association starts life with a new website all its own, whose URL is:
http://www.seppalasleddogs.com/isa/index.htm
The site is quite comprehensive considering it's a new start-up; it contains some very interesting material for both Chinook and Seppala fanciers, as well as fascinating information about the two breed founders, the Gold Rush originals Arthur Treadwell Walden and Leonhard Seppala. There are also some essays exploring postmodern sleddog philosophy, possibly controversial, definitely thought-provoking. Breed standards, breed history, and more! It's probably fair to say that I.S.A. will find itself in head-to-head competition with the infamous ISSSC, so it may be interesting for people to compare the two websites, bearing in mind that the I.S.A. site was just built over the Christmas/New Year holidays, while the ISSSC site has been in existence for two and a half years.
A startup slate of Officers and Board of Directors has been announced as follows:
President and Chair: J. Jeffrey BraggVice-president: Isa Boucher
Secretary/Treasurer: Jack R. Murray
Custodian of Records: Susan Murray
I. S. A. Board members say their major task over the coming couple of months will be the setup and configuration of record-keeping and database software, and that the collection and preservation of ancestral and other data records will be given priority during the organisation's first year of existence. It is anticipated that much of the association's activity may take place via the Internet, given its worldwide scope and the consequent probability of a widely-scattered membership.
The Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project will provide I.S.A. with web development, website hosting and bandwidth facilities at no cost for the time being. The Project offers its congratulations to the newborn International Seppala Association, and hopes that its birth will mark the beginning of a new era for Seppalas and other historic sleddog breeds.
