Sleddog Legacy Online

Culling Update in Colarado

A Colorado commercial sled-riding kennel received extremely bad press last year for its legal practice of culling their no longer-needed sleddogs by giving them a bullet. The 200-dog kennel was under attack from dog-lovers everywhere. They evidently shot between 20 and 30 dogs each year.

This year, they are now adopting the dogs out, not wanting the bad publicity of
their past practice.

The 23 dogs for adoption are here:
http://www.krabloonik.com/dog_adoptions.htm

Kennel Owner's statement:
http://www.krabloonik.com/press_release.htm

Our thanks to Sheryl Franklin for this submitted article!

All Alaskan Malamute Iditarod Dream Team!

Years ago, before the turn of the century (or if you prefer, the millenium), a couple of dog lovers met, fell in love and got married. Actually that has happened hundreds and thousands of times throughout the world. What makes this couple and this story so unique is what has happened since.

Betty and David Britz love all dogs. They love Alaskan Malamutes especially. They also love to share the pure joy of running snowy trails with them and each other. They are good at it. In 1989 David drove the Eskimo Bandit (as their kennel is named) team to the United States Freight Race Championship. They won that title every year after that until 1995 when ISDRA stopped running Freight Race Championships.

The old champion racers are, of course, retired by now. Those that are still around are still living with them. One of the old lead dogs, Wrangell, just finished his AKC conformation championship at a dog show in Alaska last summer. He was just over 13 years of age and finished with a major against much younger competition. Another of the old leaders celebrated his 18th birthday with them in Alaska. Why? (Readers, I think you have it figured out by now.)

Betty and David have decided to embark upon the ultimate challenge for Alaskan Malamutes. They plan to be the first all AKC registered Alaskan Malamute team to finish the Iditarod. (Yes, readers, you are right. It is not the first attempt. It was tried before. Though the team made a valiant effort, circumstances prevented their finishing. This should never be forgotten or discounted.)

Eskimo Bandit kennels has decided to take to the Iditarod trail. They chose to use Malamutes from half a dozen different breeders, pretty much encompassing all major lines of the breed. That is to keep it an "All Malamute" team. They are doing this for the whole breed. To show the world that Malamutes still have what it takes to attack a trail of this legendary difficulty.

They are also doing it to honor the memory of the teams of Malamutes that participated in the 1925 serum run that carried vital antitoxin to the isolated town of Nome in time to stop an epidemic of diphtheria and save hundreds of lives. Of the 20 courageous teams to run this noble relay race against time and death, at least 5 of them have been identified as Malamute teams.

Now the Britz's and their Malamutes are living in Alaska under remarkably primitive conditions and working toward running the 2005 Iditarod. They have decided to take an extra year to prepare because freakish weather has forstalled proper training conditions. Every one of the dogs, from the old freighters to the youngest, are not only their sled dogs. They are also their friends and companions. Betty calls them her "fur children." Every one of them is a separate and much loved individual. (I was fortunate enough to travel with them on their journey to Alaska and saw this for myself. The book I wrote about this is now available.) The love and attention both of the Britz's pour into the dogs comes back to them in kind.

This was paid tribute to last winter while running in practice. In two separate incidents, the team was attacked by moose. (Presumably two different moose.)
Now a moose is not just a big timid deer! At some times of the year they can be quite fierce. In the mid 1980's, Susan Butcher's team was attacked during the running of the Iditarod Two of her team were killed and about half a dozen of them needed to be hospitalized. Figure they are larger than some horses and besides a rack of palmated antlers that can exceed a 6 foot spread, they have hooves the diameter of dinner-plates -- and everything they have, they know how to use!

As I was saying, while out on the trail miles from anything, the team was attacked by an angry moose. It started after the team and then turned its attention to David. There was no place for David to duck into for safety. As it charged him, one of the dogs pulled out of his harness and went after the moose. If I say it was touch-and-go you need to be aware that the "touches" the moose was handing out were like blows from a baseball bat! Poor Elim (that's who it was) snapped and snarled, biting the legs that were delivering the ferocious beating. Finally Elim prevailed and the moose ran off down the trail. David got Elim and the whole team home as fast as possible. When they could touch him enough to go over him thoroughly they discovered that he was bruised over half of his body and he had one fang kicked right out of his mouth!

There was a second moose attack that was even more dramatic. I won't go into it now in the interest of space in your newsletter. It is covered more thoroughly in the book that I have already mentioned. There is a lot more there about Betty and David and the kind of people they are, also. I will just close by saying these are people who love and are loved by each and every one of their dogs and who love the whole breed very much.

Our thanks to Jackai Szuhai for this submitted article! (Copyright ©2003 Jackie Suzhai)

Litter Announcement: Seppala Kennels

Breed:  SEPPALA SIBERIAN SLEDDOG
Date of Birth:  October 24, 2005
Number:  3M 2F
Sire:  COCÙ DE CAL SEGÙ (SHAPOCHKA IZ SOLOVYEV x BUFIE DE CAL SEGÙ)
Dam:  ANASTASIA OF SEPPALA (MARKOBOSCO x KOLYMA OF SEPPALA)
Breeder's Name and Address:
SEPPALA KENNELS
P. O. Box 21162
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory Y1A 6R1 Canada
http://www.seppalasleddogs.com/seppknls.htm
Colours and markings:  One tan and white, one black and white, three various shades of brown-grey and white; most with white shawls and thin "splash-coat" white hip markings.
Comments:
COCÙ is a silver-grey lead dog and European import from the Ramón Rojas kennel, three-quarters Solovyev strain and one-quarter Markovo-Seppala. His Seppala component (2 great-grandparents) consists of River View's Hurley and Karcajou's Dreama of Windigo. Cocù is the son of Ramón Rojas leader "Bufie" and his Siberia import super-leader "Shapka."
ANASTASIA is a beautiful and strong young long-coated white bitch, the daughter of our old leader Markobosco and Isa's lead dog Kolyma; granddaughter of Uelen's Beowulf and Powder of Markovo.
This litter is WCAC Identified and International Seppala Association eligible. Seppala Kennels is very pleased to have these two most recent litters, which firmly secure for the future the additional genetic diversity brought to our kennel by our two European imports Ditko and Cocù.

Gatineau Kennels reborn: Seppalas return to Québec!

Sometimes events and history bounce back, creating new beginnings. On October 8, 2005, 15h50 two Seppala Siberian Sleddogs from Seppala Kennels of Whitehorse, Yukon arrived at the Ottawa airport, bringing Seppalas back to where they were predominant sled dogs for almost 60 years.

Kingeak of Seppala and Boika ("Courage") of Seppala will be foundation animals for the Gatineau Kennels in St-Sixte, Québec. They arrived at the kennel from Ottawa by night -- it seems like that is getting to be a Seppala tradition!

Kingeak of Seppala (by Xpace of Seppalta ex River View's Sprite) is a brother of the Seppala leaders Korek, Kolyma and Tonya of Seppala and will bring into the Kennels a pool of fast, intelligent, well-behaved dogs. King was used in Whitehorse as wheel dog on Isa Boucher's main team (shown in the photograph below of the Boucher 2003 team led by his littermates Kolyma and Korek, with Kingeak at right wheel).

For her part, Boika of Seppala (by Surgut of Seppala ex Jinx of Seppala) will be a leader in training for the next year and will become the kennel's first brood bitch. An energetic but very manageable dog, she has been given the nickname of "Boing" since she is a dog who always expresses herself by jumping.

Boika also brings something else that is very precious. At Seppala Kennels she was recently mated to Zaki of Seppala (by Shakal iz Solovyev x Norde of Sepp-Alta), a senior utility leader. A new second generation litter of W.C.A.C./I.S.A Seppalas is on its way, which will increase the number of Siberia import/Markovo dogs, advancing the original and authentic Seppala into the next Century. When born, Boika's litter will be three-quarters Markovo-Seppala, one-quarter Siberia import lineage.

Gatineau Kennel is the result of many favourable accidents -- call it destiny. As a kid, Jean-Marie Bélanger, the owner, use to attend every dogsled race in la Belle Province. One day he had a close look at some interesting dogs, one of which was Hercules of Sepp-Alta! From that day, before knowing that these were Seppalas, he wanted to own these particular dogs.

Since then, Seppalas had their chance to become a separate breed in Canada and the "evolving breed" Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project was founded in the Yukon. Two years of intense discussion with breeder J. Jeffrey Bragg have led Jean-Marie Bélanger to learn a lot about these dogs.

In 2005, a move to the Outaouais region just north of Ottawa (Québec’s “Far West”), a very favourable region for sleddog breeding, opened the last door. Dogs and horses are part of the local heritage and they are very well respected here. Seppalas are on their way again in Québec!

But does the name “of Gatineau” come only from this fact? Hazard or destiny makes things turn out well sometimes! Gatineau Kennels was from 1942 to 1953 the sled dog kennel of J.D. McFaul from the Fish and Game Club of Maniwaki. This part-Seppala kennel became a corner stone in the Seppala breeding later, since 1951 when J.D. McFaul bought all the dogs from Harry Wheeler and ceased to breed the part-Seppala "Gatineau" bloodline, to breed only "of Seppala" dogs thereafter, just as Wheeler and Bill Shearer had done before him.

Jean-Marie hasn't bought the Fish and Game Club of Maniwaki -- but it is to honour McFaul, who recognised the value of the pure-Seppala stock and decided to make a better future for his kennel and to make the switch over, that the decision was made to revive this historic kennel affix. As he says: "I could have taken any 'Sepp-Quelquechose,' but since 1930, there is only one Seppala Kennel per generation and currently, it's in Whitehorse, Yukon. So be it!"

The next few weeks at Gatineau Kennels will focus on whelping Boika's offspring and working on WCAC and ISA activities along with Seppala Kennels. We need to settle a future for these dogs, to make them available for the next generation so Nicolas, Felix and Charles, the kids from Gatineau Kennels, can continue to enjoy the original and authentic Seppala Siberian Sleddogs.

Our thanks to Jean-Marie Bélanger for this submitted article!

California passes an ominous bill

The California state legislature has passed an enabling act that opens the door to discriminatory ordinances, to the detriment of dog breeders in the state. Senate Bill 861 will allow local governments to enact breed-specific ordinances pertaining to mandatory spay/neuter programs. Permitting cities and towns to require spaying and neutering of "potentially dangerous breeds" unfairly targets all responsible owners, regardless of whether or not their dog has ever behaved aggressively. Furthermore, because SB861 permits mandatory/spay neuter ordinances for any breed, the bill could affect thousands of purebred fanciers who participate in conformation dog shows and responsible breeding programs.

The final text of the bill is here:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0851-0900/sb_861_bill_20050901_enrolled.html

AKC indicates they sanctioned nearly 1400 events in California last year which drew hundreds of thousands of people from both within and outside of the state. Approximately 185,000 dogs were entered in those competitions. In addition to affecting the fancy, restrictive ordinances passed under this legislation could have a deleterious effect on weight pull sporting competition in California.

Weight pull events in California appear to be the most frequent and competitive in the U.S. (much to the envy of those in other IWPA regions). This law has the potential to devastate these events. Alaskan Malamutes are often lumped in as a dangerous breed (although details seem to indicate misidentification blames them for wolf-hybrid issues) and vulnerable to this legislation, as are other popular weight pulling breeds such as pitbulls and rottweilers. Alaskan Malamutes are definitely one of the targeted breeds of this legislation.

Many national breed clubs voiced opposition to this law, but the AMCA (American
Malamute Club of America) appears to have been silent on the issue.

Another effect of the California legislation is that insurance companies that do not have a 'list of banned breeds', but write homeowners insurance on an individual basis, may now have that ability taken away from them based on local ordinances.

Local breed organizations are encouraging members to monitor their city council and county agendas to see if their local governmental agency is going to pass
breed-specific legislation. The AKC has good points to address when dealing with government individuals and departments concerning BSL (breed specific legislation):

http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2598

Laws passed in California have a tendancy to spread throughout the rest of the U.S., so all concerned should keep an eye on this situation.

(Our thanks to Sheryl Franklin for this submitted article!)

Sleddog Legacy Online Wants YOU!

SLEDDOG LEGACY ONLINE has been publishing for over two months now, and has served around 1200 page-views since its inception. So obviously, some folks are reading it.

The odd part is that none of its readers have submitted a single item to be published on this newsletter! Thus far the editors have had to hustle every single bit of its content. The past two months ought to be enough to prove our bona fides and good intentions. SLEDDOG LEGACY ONLINE is a serious effort to provide a broadly-based newsletter for people interested in historic sleddog breeds and recreational dog driving.

I. S. A. and W. C. A. C. use this newsletter for announcements, but it is far from being intended as an exclusive club affair. Our editorial policy is open to contributions from anyone and is up to publishing dissident opinions. There are no breed restrictions, no membership requirements. So far, though: zilch, zip, nada, Sweet Fanny Ann -- from supporters OR detractors.

If YOU don't want this newsletter, I can think of other uses for the server space, the bandwidth, and my own time. We really do need YOU to contribute some content! If you are worried that your writing skills aren't that polished, we're more than happy to edit or polish for you; if you want it published word for word, NO editing wanted, we can do that, too -- if it's too libellous or inflammatory, we'll just say, "sorry, too hot to handle," and no hard feelings. But if EVERYBODY continues to contribute NOTHING, sooner or later we'll have to ask ourselves whether it's really worthwhile to continue publishing. So why not send us an example or two of the kind of thing you'd like to see published here???

(If you would like to tell us WHY you don't wish to contribute, just use the "Comments" function! It's there for that kind of purpose.)

Wolves at the door

SLEDDOG KENNELS in Churchill, Manitoba, are begging authorities for a wolf cull. It seems that a roving band of timber wolves is systematically preying on tethered sleddogs in the early morning hours. The problem has been ongoing for several years, but kennels' losses are increasing. One kennel lost sixty animals last year, and so far this season (and it's still quite early) losses of a dozen dogs have been documented. As usual, there's argument about who should take responsibility for controlling marauding predators -- it being a highly visible and emotive issue, local government, the dog owners, and Manitoba Conservation are tossing the hot potato back and forth.

I can hardly imagine how upsetting it must be to go to a dog's stakeout and find only blood and a scrap of fur where there was a healthy sleddog only yesterday evening. Wolves killing tethered sleddogs is a recurrent problem in Canada's northern regions. I can recall a Seppala breeder, Jack Tobin of Anzac, AB, having this problem two or three years ago. Local Yukon sleddog breeder Ned Cathers and his family (who live on the "wild" east shore of Lake Laberge) have had a running battle with wolves for their dogs' safety for years.

The Churchill situation was reported in an Edmonton Sun article headed "Sled-dog breeders cry wolf".

Watching for the Dog Flu

IT ISN'T EASY to keep an eye on the spread of the new "Dog Flu" that first came to the public eye when it began killing greyhounds at southern U.S. racing tracks. The species-jumping virus that mutated from a known equine infection has killed dogs in Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa. There seem to have been known cases in New York State, California, Oregon and Washington State during the last two weeks. But as yet there's a relative dearth of up-to-the-minute information on the Web.

It seems to be a foregone conclusion that it will spread into Canada but, typically, very little testing for it is going on in this country. "Suspicious cases" are rumoured to have occurred in Toronto, Hamilton, London and Ottawa, Ontario. In any event, it is thought to be a certainty that returning Canadian "Snowbirds" who winter in the U. S. Sun Belt will import the virus.

Since this is basically a respiratory virus, it is easily propagated by aerosol droplets through affected animals' coughing and sneezing. Contaminated objects such as bedding or feed and water bowls are also implicated in spreading it, as are the hands of human owners and direct canine contact. Its discovery at greyhound race tracks points up the fact that situations in which transient dogs are brought together -- such as DOG SHOWS and DOGSLED RACES, not to mention BOARDING KENNELS -- are centres of high risk for the spread of the disease.

Typically, some experts are trying to minimise concern about it, saying that very few animals exposed are even affected and that the incidence of serious cases is low. Nonetheless, mortality rates of five to eight percent have been mentioned in several articles and the death rate may have been quite a bit higher for the highly-stressed racing greyhounds. It is said that puppies, old dogs, and dogs already sick or in poor condition are most at risk.

Since the disease superficially resembles kennel cough, it may be misdiagnosed, under-diagnosed, or not recognised when it first enters a new region. There seem to be two basic forms of the infection: a mild form in which coughing occurs for two or three weeks, perhaps along with a slight fever; and a severe form in which a high fever is coupled with an increased respiratory rate. In some of the severe cases, pneumonia and lung haemorrhage also occur, sometimes followed by death. (High fever, pneumonia and haemorrage are not typically part of the kennel-cough scenario.)

Dogs with suspicious symptoms should be immediately isolated from other animals and veterinary assistance should be sought. And I would say it makes good sense to stay away from dogs shows, dogsled races, and other transient-canine venues this winter -- unless you just like playing Russian Roulette with your dogs.