Will the Siberian to remain true to his 3,000 year heritage, or is he destined to become a sprint/racing dog? To those who know and understand his ancient ancestry, the studied answer is the former.    But for those who yet disagree, may we ask, “What defines a BMW?” Is it the way in which that automobile is used on week-ends? Or, is it the specifications which detail the internal and external composition of that automobile, i.e., the “factory specs”, which enable it to perform dependably over time?    If it is the former, how can we test the standards upon which Bavarian Motor Works builds and tests their automobiles? “When you drive a BMW, you are making a statement… a statement that you will drive nothing but the best” – so reads their commercial. Does the BMW owner really need to put the automobile to its full test, or can he be satisfied in knowing that its factory specs will allow it to perform as it was engineered? How can we rely upon the specifications set by the factory?    The tests we rely upon are those done by BMW, which are much more rigorous than any we could perform as hobby drivers on week-ends. We don’t tinker with the specifications imposed by BMW unless we intend to alter the way in which BMW intends their automobile to be used. And so it should be with the Siberian!    If we truly think that the “tests” we perform on occasional week-ends with our Siberian teams truly test the breed, it may be suggested that we don’t know the early history of our breed. If a true test must be available, even the Iditarod doesn’t come close. Before the comparative discussion below is begun, it is hoped that readers will accept it as an attempt at realism, with no intent to degrade either mushers, or their hobby. The sole intent is to try to be factual, and realistic, and historical.    Many among the fancy apparently think that the Iditarod is the true “test” for the breed. But, consider this: Does the Iditarod memorialize the Siberian serum run of 1925, in which “humanity was the urge, and life the prize” (Demidoff and Jennings, p. 33), or is it just another race against the clock for “sport and money” (and a new truck) which anyone with any speed-racing team can take home?    It seems to this writer that the Iditarod has become a sport for money, instead of the factual and accurate commemoration of an humanitarian cause accomplished by a noble man and his team of heroic Siberians. Somehow, a commercial race against the clock (with big money as the prize), with mandatory layovers, straw bedding, blanket covers and veterinary attention for the dogs, and scheduled hot food for drivers doesn’t seem to resemble the arduous conditions under which Seppala and his team of Siberians made the original 340 mile journey (Ibid., p.33). (In “Seppala’s Saga Of The Sled Dog, Volume Two”, p. 27, Raymond Thompson writes that this total distance was 286 miles.) The 54 mile difference notwithstanding, when the prize changes from the preservation of life itself to big money, and the urge becomes sport and speed rather than humanity, and when the “competition” is open to “any” dog of “any” breed (pure, or mixed), the conditions must necessarily change because few dogs running the “race” are equipped as were Seppala’s; today, few are Siberians. This year, 57 mushers finished of the 68 who began the “race”, and, of these 68, there were only 4 Siberian teams. Why is this? There are likely several plausible answers, but among them, this writer thinks that the fundamental reason lies in the fact that the conditions have changed from an event marking the initial Siberian accomplishment into a commercial sporting event in which non-Siberian (mixed-breed) teams enter and win the historical Siberian event. In the elusive quest for speed, the very latest in high-tech equipment and sleds are now used. Furthermore, the emphasis has shifted from endurance to absolute speed – and speed measured by the clock, to the precise second. Headlines read “Doug Swingley won the 29th annual Iditarod at 6:55 am on Wednesday the 14th. His winning time was in 9 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes and 50 seconds”. (IDITAROD.COM 3/13/2001) There are no lives at stake here; the winner receives cash and a new truck. This noble event in the history of mankind, and a hallmark in the history of our breed, has deteriorated into nothing more than another high-stakes, commercial, sporting event. It may as well be a game of golf.    Amazingly, during the entire two hour, 2001 USA Television Network expose on The Iditarod, many dogs were featured, and many drivers were interviewed, and several teams were followed closely. In this “event”, made famous by the Siberian and his noble driver, Seppala, although there were four all-Siberian teams in the 2001 race, not one mention, not one picture was made of the Siberian, or of any of the four all-Siberian drivers entered in the event. In this latest run, in the eyes of the public, the Siberian, and his driver, may as well not have even shown up for the event. It seems that, in the interest of speed, and sport, the event, once made famous by the endurance Siberian has literally been abandoned by the Siberian fancy to speed, per se, and to the mixed breeds which excel at speed, per se. Why is this?    The answer seems to be twofold. 1) The endurance event has been turned into nothing more than a “race” against the clock; and 2) the fancy looks upon the Siberian as a sprint/racing breed rather than an endurance breed. In a race, the object is to win, so, to be competitive, everything, including the dogs, are increasingly streamlined toward that single goal. New, faster sleds are engineered. New, lighter equipment is engineered and utilized. New speed/hobby mushers step forward seeking ego recognition, and financial sponsorship. And, new, faster mixed-breeds are created, and genetically tweaked. The Siberian fancy has allowed the very breed which created the Iditarod to be replaced by imposters. Why?    It seems that the need to attain speed, per se, has dictated that the pure-bred Siberian’s success is now measured by how well he does in mere speed competition against the mixed-breeds, which have literally taken over the event inspired by the endurance Siberian, and these new creations ARE bred very specifically for speed (even if they have to be bedded on straw, and have regularly scheduled layovers, and constant veterinary attention, and then be covered with blankets to protect them from the natural Alaskan environment).    In events such as the modern Iditarod, the Siberian is now expected to compete at a “job” for which he is genetically unqualified, while his true purpose and superiority go absolutely unnoticed (as can be seen by the media coverage of the most recent Iditarod). Clearly, the Iditarod “event” is a race, and “winning” is the motivation for entering any competition, and the prize offered for winning the Iditarod is cash and a new truck. This writer suggests that the Iditarod isn’t a just proving ground for the Siberian unless the Siberian is a racing animal, and if he is that, he isn’t at all competitive as such as the results of the “race” clearly demonstrate!    The Siberian has an ancient history of being a true utility sled dog, and in his authentic, historical purpose he was absolutely indispensable. Raymond Thompson (the personal friend, heir-apparent, and biographer of Leonhard and Constance Seppala) and Louise Foley, in their co-authored work “The Siberian Husky”, absolutely excludes racing as one of the uses the “Tshuktchi” had for the Siberian, and we have absolutely no subsequent evidence which indicates that his Original Purpose was other than their well-researched evidence indicates. Racing as a use of the Tshuktchi was also not included in the early history description of the breed as cited in Thompson’s work, “Seppala’s Saga Of The Sled Dog”, Volume Two. In fact, in listing the notable, admirable characteristics of these native dogs of Eastern Siberia, “intelligence, strength, endurance, and good disposition” were cited, but “speed” and “racing ability” are most conspicuously absent in his assigned “heavy work”. To Seppala, the Siberian had a valuable, and “real” utility; one of the uses he found for them was as a team for the hearse serving the mining company of which he was foreman. Instead of running on a trail of snow, his “pupmobile” ran on the actual railroad tracks of the Kugarok Railroad out of Nome. His Siberians were Workers with a Purpose, and were not merely amusements used for sport, or entertainment. When Seppala did race, it was merely as a sideline, a sport of wager, which was quite apart from the accepted Original Function and Purpose of the breed as an endurance sled dog, and as a sporting “event” to introduce the Siberian to the world. (N.B. In the late 1950’s, when Leonhard Seppala retired from the breeding of Siberians, Raymond Thompson was the recipient of Seppala’s gift of the very last Siberians from the famed [Seppala] Bow Lake Kennels in Seattle, Washington. Louise Foley, a well-known researcher/breeder in Washington, D.C., was named Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seppala Siberian Husky Club, and Raymond Thompson served as President. Mr. Thompson writes in “Seppala’s Saga Of The Sled Dog, Volume One”, that Mrs. Foley “did an outstanding job of research in eastern libraries including translations from Russian and German expeditions, in which native sled dogs played a vital role.”)    If the journey between Anchorage and Nome is felt to be representative of a test for the performance of the breed (and an historical memorialization of Seppala’s serum run), in an effort to duplicate the actual conditions of the actual serum run, the author suggests that mushers of only SIBERIAN teams who want a test to approximate the Original Purpose of the breed make this journey, and do so in the same manner as Leonhard Seppala, i.e., without trail markers, and without straw bedding and blankets for the dogs? Why must there be a time keeper, and prepared trails? Why not, instead, evaluate just the endurance capabilities of the dogs, and the ability of their lead dogs, AND their drivers?    I rather imagine that today the limiting factors of such a “test” would, indeed, be the “human factor”, and not the endurance capabilities of the Siberians. More realistic than the Iditarod, this writer thinks that the everyday life of a trapper, running his trap line, on a daily basis throughout an entire winter, would be a more appropriate test of the historical Original Purpose of the Siberian.    Consider for a moment, what would be a more realistic proving ground for the Original Purpose of the Siberian? A timed sprint/race, or, an entire winter spent in Northern Alaska, not running full out, not racing for cash and a new truck, but just a season spent with dog teams which would be asked to pull a moderate load, at moderate speed, over great distances, with moderate to little caloric intake. Endurance work which has no prize; no cash; no truck; no timers; no straw bedding, no blankets, and no commercial sponsors. The dogs could be used throughout the season to help in the gathering of village firewood, the procurement and movement of food stuffs, and in supplying and the transportation of man and his goods, and in conditions as we understand were common to the Tshuktchi. Native Alaskans still have these needs, but they have replaced the dog teams with the snowmobile. But the Siberian could again be put to his historical use, and this correctly applied use could more ably measure the breed’s ability to perform his intended use in harness.    Each and every village continues to have these needs which Siberians can ably fill. Additionally, small, specialized encampments, limited to Siberians and drivers, could be formed, comprised only of those who, themselves, were willing to subject themselves to the rigors of an entire season of the harsh Arctic environment. This exclusively Siberian event might prove to be a proving ground for man as well. (Thompson records that the temperature fluctuated between 30-40 degrees below zero when Seppala made the serum run.) The same course (as the Iditarod Race) lends itself to be used as a true and accurate memorial to the teams and to the drivers who made the original event famous, and, true to the reality of the historical event; there would be no need to make it a “race” against the clock.    What is to be gained for the breed by supporting an event which first made the Siberian famous, but has now been diluted into a race of sport, and speed, and especially one in which the Siberian isn’t even competitive, and, in fact, isn’t even mentioned as being present as a participant? If the event, as a course, IS considered a test for the Siberian, would it not be more meaningful to the breed to run it as an endurance event, and not a commercial race against the clock? Would not a return to its essence add more credibility to the event as being both true to the event itself, and to the ancient ancestry of the breed?    Consider This: Since the Iditarod has become so steeped in its own tradition, goals and “history” (fueled by high-stakes commercial interest), the event as it stands is a matter of fact, and is not likely to be changed. In the interest of historical and functional accuracy, would not our breed be better served by a true CROSS COUNTRY endurance trial?   ### -- The above article is published in The Siberian Quarterly: Hoflin Publishing, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Fall 2001 Issue, pp. 60, 61.

---

Back to
Artyk Siberians


All Web Pages and Images ©Copyright 1997-2005 Fredric R. Cornell, MIS
All Rights Reserved

Maintained By HarborNet