Seppula Husky - Page 1

Has anyone here ever have or work with a Seppula Husky? We just put our 15 year old Seppula down at the 1st of the year and miss him greatly.

 

BILL

I just heard about them today. Very sorry for your loss.
Welcome to the Pedigree Database.
They are very interesting looking dogs.
Seppula Huskies from Google search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppala_Siberian_Sleddog

I thought the Seppala huskies were black with blue eyes. These are the dogs that made the Seppala name famous;

With moonlight and even the northern lights illuminating the dark Alaskan winter days, the relay raced at an average speed of six miles per hour. While each leg averaged 30 miles, the country’s most famous musher, Norwegian-born Leonhard Seppala, departed Shaktoolik on January 31 on an epic 91-mile leg. Having already rushed 170 miles from Nome to intercept the relay, Seppala decided on a risky shortcut over the frozen Norton Sound in the teeth of a gale that dropped wind chills to 85 degrees below zero. Seppala’s lead dog,12-year-old Siberian Husky Togo, had logged tens of thousands of miles, but none as important as these. Togo and his 19 fellow dogs struggled for traction on Norton Sound’s glassy skin, and the fierce winds threatened to break apart the ice and send the team adrift to sea. The team made it safely to the coastline only hours before the ice cracked. Gusts continued to batter the team as it hugged the coastline before meeting the next musher, Charlie Olson, who after 25 miles handed off the serum to Gunnar Kaasen for the scheduled second-to-last leg of the relay.


Statue of Balto in New York's Central Park (Credit: Getty Images)
As Kaasen set off into a blizzard, the pelting snow grew so fierce that his squinting eyes could not see any of his team, let alone his trusted lead dog, Balto. On loan from Seppala’s kennel, Balto relied on scent, rather than sight, to lead the 13-dog team over the beaten trail as ice began to crust the long hairs of his brown coat.

The serum run was Togo’s last long-distance feat. He died in 1929, and his preserved body is on view at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. After the limelight faded, Balto lived out his final days at the Cleveland Zoo, and his body is on display at the Cleveland Natural History Museum. Since

http://www.seppalakennels.com/

I think finding a pure Sep Husky today is like finding a pure Czech GSD.

Togo is like the Beirnd v  Lierburg of that breed.  In his native Norway, Seppala remains a bit of a national hero.

Get a copy of "The Cruelest Miles" for the best account of the Nome Serum run.   Seppalla, Togo, and their team were just incredible.  At 12 years of age, he lead his teammates over 200 miles in just a few days in temperatures of 30-40 below zero and in howling blizzards. In all, 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs covered nearly 700 miles in five and a half days.  Truely, working dogs in every sense of the word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1925_serum_run_to_Nome

Book on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Cruelest-Miles-Heroic-Against-Epidemic/dp/0393325709/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428071018&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cruelest+miles

 

What is gut wrenching of all this, is that Balto 'lived out his final days at the Cleveland ZOO' !
Thanks, Balto, you did great, now you get to go live out your old age in a frikin ZOO!

Back in those days, most sled dogs ended up being killed when they got too old to work, so life at a zoo would have been considered a good place to die.  The Malamute foundation sled dogs that the Army "borrowed"  from Chinook kennels were never returned to the Seeley's. They were set adrift on an iceberg and dynamited. The breed was so decimated that the AKC had to reopen the stud book. The dogs that went with Byrd weren't treated well either, . When they got to Antarctica they lived in a snow tunnel called Dog Town where they were tethered to short chains when they weren't working. In the zoo, Balto lived to be 14. I thought it was interesting that Sep neutered him at 6 months because he didn't like his conformation and didn't plan to use him at stud. Life was not easy for a working sled dog.

Balto was not destined to be a star in the breeding shed since he was neutered at a young age, hence he was relegated to being neglected on the vaudeville circuit with his team. When Kaasen wished to return home to Alaska, his dogs were sold to the highest bidder by the company who sponsored his tour. The dogs ended up chained in a small area in a novelty museum and freak show in Los Angeles.

While visiting Los Angeles, George Kimble, a former prize fighter turned businessman from Cleveland, was shocked to discover the dogs were unhealthy and badly treated. Mr. Kimble worked together with the newspaper, The Plain Dealer, to bring Balto and his team to Cleveland, Ohio. On March 19, 1927, Balto and six companions were brought to Cleveland and given a hero's welcome in a triumphant parade. The dogs were then taken to the Brookside Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo).

After Balto's death in 1933, his remains were mounted by a taxidermist, and donated to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.^[5] In 1965 Carl Barks introduced a hero dog named "Barko" as a character in an Uncle Scrooge comic book, North of the Yukon, as an homage to Balto. In 1998 the Alaska Legislature passed HJR 62- 'Bring Back Balto' resolution. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History declined to return Balto; however, in October 1998, Balto left for a five-month stay at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art which drew record crowds.