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The Seppala Commitment
Enduring the Status Quo
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The Seppala is an old breed with new recognition, if you stand back and look at the development of Sleddog breeds here it's clear that the Seppala came first, the dog that is the Modern Day Siberian Husky evolved from the Seppala. The Seppala is the old style, the prototype, of the purebred Sleddog in this country. Preserving it has been a test of endurance and commitment.
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A big obstacle in preserving an old style of dog is that often, when a breed is young, people come on board who want little more than to change it. In the US the enormous majority want prettier. If the breeds coat is thick, thicker must be better, if it's good sized, bigger must be better, heavier, if markings occur, color patterns, than those must be the best, eye color, whatever is dramatic is what the US consumer reaches for. The dog itself gets lost in the quest for a bigger, prettier more striking dog than the neighbor has. This has happened to the Siberian Husky to the point that people look at a Seppala and refuse to believe it's a true purebred dog, that it is in fact, the predesessor of their dogs, the prototype.
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To say a Seppala is better than a Siberian would be incomplete and foolhardy. They aren't the same kind of dogs. The Seppala has been maintained, bred and raised as a sleddog, a versatile working dog for arctic sports since the early 1900s. The Siberian Husky is a more generic dog, not specialized anymore in any specific area, it can pull a sled, it can do obedience, trot around and look lovely in a dog show, just like any other breed of the same general size. There have been teams of everything from Doberman Pinchers to Poodles pulling sleds. The Siberian Husky has a lineage that comes from sleddogs, but today, the Siberian Husky is very far from being a premier sleddog for open competitive sleddog racing. A fine companion, show dog of high style, but as mentioned, you can get the same level of competitive ability from almost any dog of equal size. The Seppala makes a fine companion, is a lovely dog, but it has a competitive nature, a need to run, and not just a little ways or at a little pace, the Seppala runs hard, fast and far, it has been bred for nothing else since before the Siberian Husky was an acknowledged breed. So to compare them is difficult, they are not the same kind of dog. The Siberian Husky is a generic dog of sleddog descent, the Seppala is a Sleddog.
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CKC Seppala Siberian Sleddog
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AKC Siberian Husky
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Seppala Siberian Sleddog
Note: more leg, less coat, slightly lighter build
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Siberian Husky (We DO run them so we DO know all about how they run)
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The road preserving this breed has been a rocky one. Our dogs have been accused of being mutts (Though every single one has easily tracable pedigrees all the way "Back to the Boat" when they first came here from Siberia in the early 1900s) Those who simply can not believe a purebred dog could be maintained to achieve what the Seppala can accuse breeders of mixing in the most common sleddog, the Alaskan Husky. All that can ultimately be said is, a Seppala Breeder breeds for one thing, the Seppala. They do not claim their dogs are anything but Seppalas and while Siberian Husky people will still try to claim their Siberian Huskies are "Seppala line" the fact is, the seppala line has been removed from the Mainstream Siberian Husky and now stands alone and unique as what it always has been, Seppala Siberian Sleddogs. So, if you wanted a true, pure Seppala Siberian Sleddog, you can only find that in a CKC registered dog of that name, not in a Siberian Husky. The Seppala Siberian Sleddog is NOT an AKC dog, breeders left the AKC to prevent the Seppala from being consumed by the generic Siberian Husky and ceasing to exhist. Has this been easy for the breeders? No, it's easier to sell AKC registered dogs, so you have to be commited to the breed, not just to raising and selling dogs, in order to stick by them as Seppalas. They are a rare (Just over 500 registered dogs) special and unique breed unto themselves, their breeders have struggled hard, sacrificed and endured bitter critics to keep them alive. Interested in becoming involved in this wonderful, rare and unique breed? Contact us
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