WHEN BETSY AND I DISPERSED THE MARKOVO STOCK in 1975, we thought we had done well to place three good-sized and well-chosen breeding groups of half a dozen or so with people in three separate geographic centres (Bailey in Manitoba, Morrow in British Columbia, and Stuckey in Colorado), plus breeding pairs in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario and Oregon. Alas, the future of Seppala growth and stability promised by the good dispersal of stock never fulfilled itself. The single breeding pairs (with one partial exception) never produced pure Seppala progeny. The three breeders failed, one by one, each in a different way. Barb Bailey (Tagil kennels) moved to Québec, sold most of her group to Peturas in Idaho and never, to my knowledge, bred any pure Seppalas. Curt Stuckey, who took the Markovo name, was plagued with ill luck and accidents, but nevertheless managed to produce a tiny handful of crucial dogs. (Where would we be now without ASH OF MARKOVO and POWDER OF MARKOVO? Both were Stuckey-bred.) Bruce Morrow bred five litters before he, too, became inactive in 1982. Seppalas have always been vulnerable due to their inadequate numbers. The good base of young stock that existed in 1975 simply was not utilised as well as it might have been.
gaiting with J. Jeffrey Bragg in cold weather
Out of the 44 adult dogs produced by the Markovo programme, only a dozen actually contributed to pure Seppala lineage that has survived to the present day. (The gene pool was augmented slightly by a few dogs from the Egelston Seppineau/Manahtok breeding, largely through KARCAJOU'S DREAMA OF WINDIGO and SEPPINEAU'S OKA OF WINDIGO.) Some were never bred. Many, like HOLLY OF MARKOVO, ZORKA OF MARKOVO, RAGA OF MARKOVO, and ROSIE OF MARKOVO, were only cross-strained with Seeley-derived stock
in Saskatchewan, tied out beside
a tumbledown farm shed
TO THIS VERY DAY I AM AMAZED at what a near thing it turned out to be -- and still seems to be. The survival of the authentic Leonhard Seppala bloodline (versus the near-Seppalas, the part-Seppalas, the vaguely-Seppala racing Siberian Huskies etc.) appears to be something that can never be guaranteed, cannot be made secure. Perhaps they depend, like faeries, upon folks' believing in them for their very existence.
THE MARKOVO SEPPALAS provided a solid foundation for future progress and survival of Seppala strain. Yet today, thanks to persistent interbreeding with ordinary "racing Siberian Huskies" from Seeley-derived mixed lineage, the real Seppalas -- Markovo Seppalas -- remain scarce, a small population still under threat of extinction via assimilation into the general run of Siberian Husky backyard-breeding. It is this threat that the Seppala Siberian Sleddog Project is intended to oppose. It is our dearest hope some day to see a truly secure future for these innocent decendants of Leonhard Seppala's Siberian sled dogs. Some day . . . perhaps.
For a brief history of the Markovo days, click The Markovo Rescue Effort.
For an explanation of the philosophy of Seppalas that led to the Markovo rescue, click What Was Markovo All About?
For a comprehensive, first-person account of the entire Markovo project, please go to our HISTORY SECTION page and click the MARKOVO KENNELS link there.
