- MARKOVO-SEPPALAS (pure McFaul/Shearer bloodline) - 32 dogs (37.2%) out of 86
- SIBERIA IMPORT descendants (Solovyev/Seppala bloodline) - 50 dogs (58.1%) out of 86
- OTHERS (non-breeding stock) - 4 dogs (4.7%) out of 86
INTEGRATION INTO OUR BLOODLINE of the new genetic material represented by the Sergei Solovyev Siberia import stock proceeded more slowly than we could have wished in past years, as the necessity to keep the pure Markovo-Seppala lineage going took precedence. Nobody else seems aware of the importance of that task; the real Seppalas have slowly disappeared in the USA while mixed-lineage racing SH stock is falsely claimed as "100%" Seppala. The pure-strain McFaul/Shearer bloodline has vanished, largely because nobody now knows the difference between Racing Siberian Huskies and true Seppalas. At present, Seppala Kennels counts 32 Markovo-Seppalas in residence, young and old; I doubt whether any other kennel has even as many as half a dozen. It wouldn't surprise us to discover that we have more Markovo-Seppalas in our kennel than there are among the entire ISSSC membership.
Much blather has been heard in various websites and armchair-musher forums about "heritage in the Leonhard Seppala tradition" and the importance of having "sled dogs that Leonhard Seppala would be proud to own." I would question whether the people making all the noise have the least idea of what kind of dog Leonhard Seppala would actually have liked, particularly since none of them, not even their arch-guru, have ever even seen McFaul dogs. Isa Boucher and J. Jeffrey Bragg came along just a little too late to actually meet Leonhard Seppala, and we do not pretend to know his mind or to be heirs to his inmost thoughts about sleddogs. We have, however, owned and bred dogs from J. D. McFaul, and that is more than Doug Willett and his hangers-on can say. The ailing, senile Professor Willett recently tried to depict our Siberia import bloodline as "performance-degrading," as if he had any actual knowledge of these dogs' performance. In point of fact, SHAKAL IZ SOLOVYEV's progeny out of bitches from Sepp-Alta Kennels consistently outperformed their Willett dams -- and getting improved sleddog performance from matings is a major objective of the Seppala Kennels breeding programme. That should be understandable even in ISSSC's fantasy-Seppala-land.
We do know this much: Leonhard Seppala consistently made an effort to acquire additional stock from Siberia and he bred extensively from Siberia imports. The import bitches Nellie and Dolly are examples, used in his breeding in Alaska prior to the Serum Run. The commissioned importation by the Seppala/Ricker Poland Spring kennel of Kree Vanka, Tserko and Volchok are examples from circa 1930. Therefore it is silly nonsense to characterise the use of Siberia import stock as being alien to the Leonhard Seppala tradition. Dogs like SHAKAL IZ SOLOVYEV are perfectly in keeping with that tradition and with Seppala's own breeding history.
OUR M LITTER AND OUR L LITTER, (born 8 August 2001 and 2 November 2002 respectively) are typical of our Markovo-Seppala breeding. TONYA and KOLYMA, the dams, are sisters (by Xpace of Seppalta ex River View's Sprite). The sire of Tonya's M-litter was SEPALLEO (by Hercules of Sepp-Alta ex Karcajou's Dreama of Windigo), and the sire of KOLYMA's L-litter was SEPALLOP, 'LLEO's brother. All four parents are excellent lead dogs! The 5-generation pedigree of these two Markovo-Seppala litters is available elsewhere on the Seppala Kennels site. The 2003 breeding season saw two more pure-strain McFaul/Shearer litters, the A litter and the B litter (now shown on the same page as the M and L litters, linked above). A lovely all-female Markovo-Seppala litter, the C litter, was born in January 2005, sired by SURGUT OF SEPPALA (Sepallampo x Dally of S-A) out of KOLYMA OF SEPPALA (Xpace of S-A x River View's Sprite), and our most recent Markovo-Seppala litter was born in December 2005, the O litter, sired by QUEEQUEG OF SEPPALA (Sepalleo x Kidron of Spirit Wind) out of KOLYMA OF SEPPALA (Xpace of S-A x River View's Sprite).
At right: Tonya of Seppala, WCAC ID# 00042, (First-string leader and dam of our M litter)
INTEGRATING THE F1 SOLOVYEV/SEPPALA STOCK has been a major priority over the past year and still continues to be so; it took precedence for the 2006 breeding season as well. In 2005 we acquired two excellent stud dogs from our Spanish associate Ramón Rojas. Cocú, Ditko, and various individuals of the Z and P litters will be used to create a growing F2 population combining the genetics of the Markovo-Seppala base with the New Siberia Import bloodlines. That process began with the birth of the D litter (by Zaki of Seppala ex Lara of Seppala) in January 2005 and of ECHO OF SEPPALA (by Pyotr of Seppala ex Alana of Seppala) in April of the same year; these five youngsters are all 3/4 McFaul/Shearer background and 1/4 Solovyev. Other such litters have been born since then and yet more are planned. We shall, of course, continue to conserve the pure-strain McFaul/Shearer bloodline for as long as possible; but we hope that it will eventually become obvious to everyone that new Siberia import lineage, far from being something exotic or questionable, is necessary, desirable, and merely represents the logical continuation of the Leonhard Seppala tradition. Without it, the Seppala Siberian Sleddog would be doomed to eventual degeneration and failure.
