Population Breeding
IN A BREED SO NUMERICALLY SMALL as Seppala Siberian Sleddogs, it seems imperative that the breeding programmes of individuals should give some consideration to the needs of the breed population as a whole. Thirty years after the Markovo rescue effort, Seppalas are still not out of the woods yet. Extinction has been a constant threat, possibly because it has not been well enough realised by everyone that in this instance, extinction operates through the assimilation of Seppalas into the larger population of mainstream Siberian Huskies. One would have thought that separate breed status would remedy the situation. It will not, if the mainstream SHs pursue Seppalas and invade their registry! Extinction through assimilation (Seppalas are absorbed into the SH mainstream and are no longer a unique bloodline), or extinction through infiltration (mainstream SH invade separate Seppala registries or breeding programmes so that genetic uniqueness is lost) -- it comes to the same thing in the end. EVERY LITTER OF PART-SEPPALAS THAT IS BRED CREATES A LARGER POPULATION OF MIXED-LINEAGE ANIMALS WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING AT ALL FOR THE PERPETUATION OF THE CORE WHEELER/ BELFORD/ SHEARER/MCFAUL LINE. If that's happening in a registry that bears the Seppala Siberian Sleddog label, it's a recipe for disaster, and that's exactly what is going on in the Continental KC/ISSSC "Seppala" registry, with the added feature of twenty or more separate Alaskan Husky crossbred lines on the upgrade path to "pure Seppala" status ("pure" being 93% in the curious world of ISSSC).
That's not what I intended to talk about on the topic of "population breeding," yet it seems to be the most important thing that I can say under that heading. Breeding racing dogs does not equate to breeding Seppala Siberian Sleddogs. Breeding racing dogs with Seppala in them does nothing for the survival of the Leonhard Seppala bloodline. The mixed-lineage and Alaskan-husky threat to Seppala survival is a population-breeding problem. And each and every breeder who does breeding of that kind contributes to the problem and strikes another blow against Seppala survival!
By population breeding, I mean that what we try to do with SSSDs -- or what we should try to do -- is to ensure that the overall population has a high and consistent level of performance and quality as working sleddogs. To clarify this, look at what Alaskan Husky breeders do. They are content to breed with a view to producing a small group of stringently selected performers, an athletic elite, which they call "World-class Alaskan Huskies." They aren't troubled by the proposition of using extreme methods to produce such an elite group, so they adopt the simple approach of maximising heterosis (hybrid vigour) by a process of constant outcrossing. Of course, consistency is shot to hell by these methods, so they attempt to deal with that by playing the "numbers game" of massive culling. They breed enough pups to be able to "wash out" as many as 97 dogs out of 100, to get the ultimate performers. They direct their efforts toward the extreme toe end of the standard distribution curve. Publicly, they deny doing it; but when they aren't facing the media, it's admitted quite readily. What can't be sold to dub teams gets shot and thrown on the dump -- or buried in the woods if local people get sensitive about it (if you're breeding 200 dogs a year to get 5 or 6 team replacements, as major racers have often said they find necessary, you can't possibly sell all the culls or even give them away). That's the very opposite of population breeding; they don't care about the overall level of performance in the entire population, as long as they can produce that handful of elite performers. (Likewise individual canine welfare means nothing to such people except as a means to keeping the racing machine running efficiently. Tactics of this kind are contemptible.)
My objective in breeding SSSDs has always been to breed in such a way that I can take an entire litter, hook them up with their mother, and run them as a team -- without having to dispose of half the litter as too clumsy, too slow, won't get on his tugline, won't run at all, etc.
Another facet of population breeding is to consider the genetic needs of the population rather than just the requirements of your own team. In other words, breed something besides just your best male to your best female, over and over again. Try to keep some diversity in the population, bring some collateral lines along so that you don't wind up in the next generation painted into such a corner that the only thing you can do is breed brothers and sisters because that's all you've got by way of breedable animals! Think about where your breeding will have to go two generations down the line. Seppalas are at the moment challenging to breed, largely because most breeders for the past twenty-five years have totally ignored the needs of the population, in favour of their own narrow focus on racing success.
Rearing Puppies
WELL, THERE'S NOT A LOT TO IT! Feed them as nutritiously as possible, but don't overfeed them. Don't let them get fat, but make sure they have plenty of protein and fat and that their diet is not vitamin deficient. Seppala puppies don't need to be fed quite as often as other breeds. Once they are weaned from their mother I give them three good feedings a day; it's enough! Around three months old you can cut that back to two a day, and keep it there as long as they seem to be growing fast.
I like to keep puppies with their dam for as long as she'll put up with them. They learn so much from their mothers; it's foolish to sever that relationship at 5 or 6 weeks of age! I think doing that causes psychological problems later on, due to insufficient canine socialisation with adult dogs. Just like human children need adults around to civilise them, puppies can be horrible little savages without the influence of an authoritative older dog. In fact, when I think I can get away with it, I get their daddy into the act as well. (Of course, some males will attack pups; it's as if they don't recognise them as dogs until they are several months old. If daddy is like that, don't try it.) SEPALLEO at ten years of age dutifully helped raise his sons and daughters of our M-litter, until they finally got to be too much for him and he pleaded with me to let him go back to his stakeout! You can let them run around loose until they are ten or twelve weeks old, if you have a safe property away from busy roads, and if you can keep them out of the kennel yard. Don't let pups get into the stakeout yard with adult dogs; it's a good way to get them killed or badly injured.
Pups need a lot of human socialisation; you can hardly give them too much attention. At the same time, don't coddle them with too much easy living. Seppala pups can go outside to live at five weeks of age, no matter how cold it may be, as long as they have good shelter, a warm, well-strawed dog house that's large enough for them all to pile into it together to keep one another warm. Don't let them get away with murder, either; give them a lot of love and attention, but insist that they behave reasonably. Seppala pups learn very quickly what a sharp, authoritative "NO!" means. You shouldn't beat on puppies; a slap, if they've just done something really inexcusable, is okay, but reassure them afterward.
I tend to try to pick out the obvious (usually female) lead dog prospect from a litter and keep that one in the shack with me, along with its mother. The extra mental stimulation of having to learn to get along with people as a house pet seems to help make a good leader.
Almost invariably, cold on the stroke of four months' age, the struggle for dominance sets in within a litter. At this point puppies start having serious quarrels and animosities. Since you don't want dominance hierarchies in a kennel of sleddogs , any more than is unavoidable (unless you are the kind of romantic idiot who likes to think his sleddogs are wolves, and there are an awful lot of these people in some European countries, France in particular), that's the time to separate the puppies from one another. At that time you may as well stake them out with individual dog houses and chain setups. It only takes a few days for them to adapt; they'll do some doleful howling the first two or three nights, then they'll settle down and accept it. If you've got time and have the fenced enclosure for it, take them off their stakeouts occasionally for a free run in the exercise yard together for half an hour. That way they can maintain their existing relationships and be friends, but they aren't together so much that they have to fight it out to establish dominance. Sometimes you'll find an "auntie" in your kennel, a good-humoured bitch who enjoys playing with puppies even if they're not hers. Take advantage of her and throw her in that big exercise yard to run with the little guys; it's fun for her and great socialisation for them.
Don't over-vaccinate puppies. If you think there are risks of viral infection, make sure the mother has been vaccinated recently before you mate her, then keep her and the litter isolated from other dogs. You can wreck young immune systems by hitting them too hard with hot polyvalent vaccines at five and six weeks. Give them their first immunisation around seven or eight weeks. Do it again at twelve or thirteen weeks. Then wait until they are around seven months old for the last one. I wouldn't worry about it again until they are two. We don't vaccinate our dogs every year. If they don't establish immunity from a conservative vaccination schedule, it won't help to keep hitting them over and over with hot vaccines.
Do watch your litter for parasite problems. An excessive worm burden can kill pups, hookworm especially, which is widely distributed (not just a deep-South problem as some people assume). Puppies with bulging bellies probably have a big load of roundworms. Dogs that have stools with blood and mucous in them are suspect for hookworm and/or whipworm. Vary up your wormer, because parasites get resistant to common wormers. Strongid-T is promoted as giving a "100% kill" -- don't believe it. After awhile, the parasites laugh at it! Ivermectin resistance is now common, too. You have to keep switching wormers.
Those are the main points. As I said, there's not that much to rearing pups. Mostly it's just common sense and sensible precautions.
Selection
SELECTION IS A CRUCIAL TOPIC. It determines what your team will be like, what the dogs in your kennel will be like and, in future, what the breed will be like. It's worthy of some very careful thinking on your part. In order to think about selection intelligently, first you've got to have clear in your mind what you are going to be selecting for! (If your first thought is "the best dogs," then you haven't really thought about this at all.) I'll recommend here that you read the article, "Traits That Matter." Sleddog traits are the characteristics that you select for. There are other traits that you select against, call them faults, drawbacks, whatever. But positive selection is much more valuable than negative selection. Selection isn't primarily about the elimination of "faults." A dog can be fault-free and be an utter mediocrity. I always shake my head in despair when somebody with a garden-variety Siberian Husky buttonholes me and demands, "Fault my dog!"; somebody like that has an awful lot to learn, and for me to "fault his dog" won't help him learn it.
So let's be clear that selection is about identifying the animals with the characteristics that we should want to perpetuate! I'm not going to repeat all the points in the above article here. Please do take the trouble to read it, though. Sleddog selection is about a lot more things than most people think. Speed and endurance are just the beginning, because you've got to have a total dog, including species soundness and survival traits. It all comes down to balance, because there are no perfect dogs. The best of them has his failings that will need to be examined and hopefully counterbalanced by strengths in those same areas in his mate. We started this discussion with balance near the top of the list; we're almost finished, and we're still talking about balance!
Selection is a long process that takes considerable patience. Although an outstanding dog may declare himself/herself quite early, as a three-month-old puppy (or even three weeks), ideally you should never stop evaluating a sleddog throughout his entire life. Right down to the day he dies, because longevity is one of the things we should select for! Sometimes sterling qualities will become apparent in a dog at 5 or 6 years of age that were only hinted at earlier.
Artificial selection can and almost always does lead to the odd nasty surprise. I like to say that dog-breeders are in the situation of a man trying to pick one pea out of a pile without disturbing the rest, using the bucket of a front-end loader, when what he needs is a pair of tweezers! Unfortunately those tweezers haven't been invented yet. You cannot select for individual traits without also selecting for whatever else is sitting on the same chromosome with the gene you want to favour -- and you don't even know what most of those things you're unwittingly selecting for might be! Linkage of traits is a major drawback to artificial selection. Remember that when some unpleasant trait or defect suddenly turns up in your impeccably-bred and carefully-selected stock.
I select much more for mentality, attitude, temperament and personality than I do for physique. Novices in sleddogs always seem to assume that what's really important is to engineer the perfect physical equipment for the job! That's a typical novice's error, and it may take many years to correct this thinking. Physique can largely be taken care of by paying attention to performance (form follows function) and by avoiding dogs that are clumsy, extreme in some way, unbalanced, too heavy, too coarse, too tall, too short-coupled, etc. You don't need to become a "sleddog engineer" trying to develop the perfect canine blueprint; that's not how it works. You hear so much of that old stuff, mostly from those who aren't quite dry behind the ears yet. Put your attention and your selection emphasis where they belong: on mental and psychological traits, because those are the areas that require the most attention just to maintain, and where deficiencies can be most disastrous.
Temperament
THIS IS A BIG WOOLLY AREA that grades imperceptibly into attitude and mentality, especially in view of the fact that dogs are non-verbal characters who express their qualities of mind and intelligence by acting-out. Seppala temperament has a fairly wide range and a few odd quirks.
Let's dispose of one vexed question at the outset: hunting behaviour. Seppalas are hunting dogs by nature. I'm sure you've read about Leonhard Seppala's trials and tribulations on the trail, involving ravens, caribou, skunks, etc. That's one thing that has changed not at all over the years! I'm convinced that when I hook up a team of Seppalas, their own notion of what we are doing is, that we're going out for a hunt. It's an integral part of the Seppala personality. So the whole trick of getting a team to run becomes a matter of channelling that hunting drive by conditioning and command so that if and when they spot game on the trail, they will just run faster instead of stopping to try to catch it! If you think you can breed it out of them, I wish you luck; I think if you succeed, you'll find you've also lost the drive to run, along with the hunting drive. So maybe we need to accept that Seppalas are, by nature and temperament, hunters.
They are pack dogs, too. For that reason, we need to try to restrain and modify their hierarchical dominance behaviour, for our convenience in running a team. We don't need dogs fighting on the trail and it's nice to be able to hook anybody alongside anybody else without having to look out for personal animosities. You won't always manage to keep to this ideal, but do keep it in mind and sit down hard on personal feuding among your dogs. This is one reason I don't like to see dogs kenneled in groups in fenced runs, European style! That gives rise to too much hierarchical behaviour. The main hierarchical point you want to establish is that you, the driver, are the "alpha dog" to whom all the others have to kowtow.
Some Seppalas may be reserved or even shy with people they don't know, or occasionally with people they do know but have decided they don't like. As long as they aren't spooky like some Anadyrs, that is to say, wild animals, totally unsocialised to the point of being terrified of their owner along with the rest of the world, I wouldn't get too worried about the reserved Seppala. Some of them will be your best dogs. SEPALLEO always made himself scarce anytime strangers were around, and he was a fine leader and stud dog, producing a lot of excellent stock for us, some reserved and some not. TONYA herself takes a very dim view of some people, including a couple of my friends, yet I've never had a better leader than her.
Other Seppalas may be canine hooligans, chin-chewers and general clowns. These are, if anything, rather harder to handle than a reserved dog! Mostly, though, Seppalas are distinguished by a certain balance and sanity that is notably absent in some other breeds (most gundogs, for example). They have what I'd call a steady temperament. I guess that would be the ideal. One of the pleasant surprises we have had from our Russian bloodline is a happy, stable kind of temperament that makes them a delight in harness. On their stakeouts they can be bumptious goofballs, but in harness, nothing seems to bother them and they display a sunny, optimistic attitude that we admire a whole lot.
Docility is another valuable Seppala quality of temperament. For the most part they are easy to handle, easy to harness and hook up, easy to trim their toenails, etc. It's nice not to have a major battle when you have to do "procedures" on a dog. Let's make sure we hang onto that Seppala docility in our breeding! It's one thing that makes them ideal dogs for a recreational musher: Seppalas are sleddogs that are truly enjoyable to drive, because they don't make the whole thing into a pitched battle. When we were living in Spain in the early 1990s, Isa Boucher had a team of non-Seppala racing Siberians from the Zero bloodline; lovely big, tall, leggy guys, very sweet natured, but flakey. She wound up putting belly-bands on all her harnesses, because by the time she got the second pair hooked up, the first pair were generally out of their harnesses from spinning around and acting nervous. In a kennel of around fifteen, she had no fewer than three dogs that would unpredictably fold up when running and let the team drag them! I was training the LL-litter at that time, and we were both duly impressed at the contrast between the docile, cooperative Seppalas and her flakey Zero- strain Racing Siberian Huskies.
Why do people put up with temperaments as flakey and unstable as those of many Racing Siberian Huskiess and Alaskans? I guess because they haven't experienced Markovo Seppala temperament. Nothing on earth could induce me ever to have anything more to do with some of the RSH bloodlines I've experienced in the past (Anadyr, for example); not as long as there are six Markovo Seppalas left that I can harness and hook up!
One final point about Seppala temperaments: they are very people-oriented; there's hardly a one of them that won't happily accept a position as house-pet given half a chance. If you have Seppalas, I hope you aren't one of those house-proud people whose dogs are never allowed inside. Seppalas need to be close to their people, need a lot of personal attention and affection. It's one of their points that makes it a pleasure to have a team of them; in my opinion it's the owner's responsibility to repay their devotion to their work in the currency that means something to them: personal attention and love. You are not likely to ruin a Seppala as a sleddog by letting him come inside and beg treats and lie on the couch; that's a silly myth.
