Siberian Husky History

Siberian Husky History

The Siberian Husky was originated by the Chukchi people of northeastern Asia as an endurance sled dog. When changing conditions forced these semi-nomadic natives to expand their hunting grounds, they responded by developing a unique breed of sled dog, which met their special requirements and upon which their very survival depended. The Chukchis needed a sled dog capable of traveling great distances at a moderate speed, carrying a light load in low temperatures with a minimum expenditure of energy. Research indicates that the Chukchis maintained the purity of their sled dogs through the 19th century and that these dogs were the sole and direct ancestors of the breed known in the United States today as the Siberian Husky.

Shortly after 1900, Americans in Alaska began to hear accounts of this superior strain of sled dog in Siberia. The first team of Siberian Huskies made its appearance in the All Alaska Sweepstakes Race of 1909.The same year, a large number of them were imported to Alaska by Charles Fox Maule Ramsay, and his team, driven by John "Iron Man" Johnson, won the grueling 400-mile race in 1910. For the next decade, Siberian Huskies, particularly those bred and raced by Leonhard Seppala, captured most of the racing titles in Alaska, where the rugged terrain was ideally suited to the endurance capabilities of the breed.

In 1925, the city of Nome, Alaska, was stricken by a diphtheria epidemic and supplies of antitoxin were urgently needed. Many sled dog drivers, including Mr. Seppala, were called upon to relay the lifesaving serum to Nome by dog team. This heroic "serum run" focused attention upon Siberian Huskies, and Seppala brought his dogs to the United States on a personal appearance tour. While here, he was invited to compete in sled dog races in New England, where the sport had already been introduced. The superior racing ability and delightful temperament of Seppala's Siberian Huskies won the respect and the hearts of sportsmen from Alaska to New England. It was through the efforts of these pioneer fanciers that the breed was established in the United States and that AKC recognition was granted in 1930. Many Siberian Huskies were assembled and trained at Chinook Kennels in New Hampshire for use on the Byrd Antarctic Expeditions. Dogs of the breed also served valiantly in the Army's Arctic Search and Rescue Unit of the Air Transport Command during World War II.

A Brief History of The Siberian Husky

The dogs we now know as Siberian Huskies are an amazing example of selective breeding over time to produce a form which perfectly fits the function of the breed. Imagine the complex specifications if we tried to produce such a breed today:

We want a breed which will

Survive and function effectively at temperatures down to -50 degrees C without any artificial aids.

Pull a lightly laden sled tirelessly day after day over vast distances in arctic/sub-arctic conditions and enjoy it!

Survive and thrive on the bare minimum of food.

Be intelligent enough to take instructions from the sled driver, and also intelligent to ignore such instructions if they are likely to lead the team into danger.

Survive and function effectively at temperatures up to 35 degrees C

Be capable of hunting and catching its own food if necessary.

Be able to live happily with large numbers of other dogs with minimal friction.

Love people in general and children in particular so that they can be used in winter to sleep with the children and keep them warm.

Look absolutely beautiful at all times.

Combine an infinite capacity and appetite for work with an ability to sleep anywhere and everywhere at the drop of a hat.

Be capable of jumping/climbing high fences.

Be capable of digging escape tunnels worthy of “The Great Escape” or “Colditz”

Be capable (if given the opportunity) of destroying almost anything in seconds.

Combine the characteristics of an iron-hard sled dog with that of the softest lap dog.

The Siberian Husky, which is directly descended from the sled dogs developed over a period of several thousand years by the Chukchi people of North-eastern Siberia, fulfils all these “functions” within its efficient and beautiful “form”.

The Chukchi people, whose name was derived either from the Chukchi word “Chukcha” meaning “rich in reindeer”, or the Russian  “chavchu” meaning reindeer people, were primarily a reindeer-herding people living inland on the tundra with their reindeer herds. Like the Saami of Lapland, the nomadic herders used their reindeer products to make tools, clothing and construct their dwellings. Reindeer were the basis of their diet, and also served as transportation.

A smaller section of the Chukchi people – the “maritime” Chukchi – lived in coastal villages and hunted seal, walrus and whales for their food and used dog sleds for their transportation. The landscape of Chukotka (the Chukchi land) is dominated by tundra interspersed with low mountains, with some areas of taiga in the south and west. The wildlife found in Chukotka includes caribou (this is in addition to the domestic reindeer that are maintained in herds), wolves, bears (grizzly bear and polar bear), Arctic fox, walrus, seals, whales, cranes, and a variety of Arctic birds. Summer temperatures (in degrees Fahrenheit) can reach the mid-seventies in July (less in the north), and can dip below -50 in the winter.

The maritime or dog-sledding) Chukchi lived in camps/villages of between 10-20 tents which were twice the size of the reindeer herding Chukchi villages. There was considerable contact and trade between the two groups and indeed, in some areas, both groups lived together and cultivated a lifestyle which included both reindeer herding and coastal hunting.

Their sled dogs were crucial to both the survival of the maritime Chukchi and the viability of their communities. Many of the characteristics still seen in today’s Siberian Husky have their origin in the Chukchi dogs going back several millenia. Their temperament for example, had to be equable enough for them to coexist peacefully with both humans and other dogs. They could work amicably as part of teams of 20 or more dogs and their temperament was a crucial survival factor – out on the ice in freezing arctic temperatures, a major dog fight could mean the team simply did not get home but froze to death. The Chukchi dogs were also sweet tempered enough to sleep with the children as “doggy duvets.”  Night-time temperatures were measured by the number of dogs necessary to keep the kids warm – eg. three dog night, four dog night etc.

The economic and social importance of the Chukchi’s dogs was also reflected in their place in the Chukchi religion and mythology. A Chukchi legend held that two sled dogs guarded the gates of heaven where they had the power to reject anyone who had been cruel to dogs during their lifetime. Another legend claimed that during a time of famine, both human and dog populations were at risk of being wiped out by hunger. Only two baby puppies still remained alive, but with their mother dead, they had little chance of survival. A Chukchi woman suckled the pups at her breast so ensuring the survival of the breed and the co-dependent nature of the human-dog relationship. Ironically, this situation was to be replicated in reality in the 1860’s when the breed’s survival was again threatened by famine. This time, the Chukchi’s sled dogs survived by judicious outcrossing to other local breeds (see below).

The conventional wisdom concerning the origins of the modern day Siberian Husky, claims that the breed is a direct descendent in an unbroken line of pure breeding dating back some 1000, 2000 or 3000 years (depending which book/website you read). The reality is somewhat more complex and interesting. Many of the indigenous Siberian peoples have used sled dogs as transportation and have done so for thousands of years. Indeed the 3000 year benchmark so often used in discussions of Siberian Husky history may itself be a serious underestimate. The distinguished Russian researcher N.N.Dikov found evidence of Laika-type dogs in burials in the Kamchatka peninsular which dated back 10,000 years.  (Dog Sledding Way of Life in Kamchatka - B. I. Shiroky – PADS Newsletter #5).

In fact, the Siberian Husky and the Alaskan Malamute (along with 12 other breeds) have been identified as amongst 14 “ancient breeds” of domesticated dogs whose genetic lines have been distinct from the wolf for many thousands of years. Interestingly, this research shows that the recurrent myth about northern people’s interbreeding of dogs and wolves is just a myth with no genetic truth to it at all.  (“Genetic Structure of the Purebred Domestic Dog” -  Science, Volume 304, on May 21, 2004.)

It may be that the Koryaks, the Iukagirs, the Chukchi, the Kamchadals and the many other paleo-Siberian peoples, at some time in their history were so geographically, culturally and economically isolated that their dogs were identifiably distinct from one another.

It is also true however, that in more recent times, many of the peoples of Siberia met and traded with each other. There is also evidence that:  “a long interchange between the peoples of Siberia and the natives of Alaska did exist from ancient into modern times.”

 (John Douglas Tanner Jr – Alaskan Trails, Siberian Dogs pp15)

It is very likely that some interbreeding of their dogs may well have been the occasional result of such interaction. Indeed, an archeological excavation of ancient  Ipuitak  sites at Point Hope in Alaska in the 1940’s recovered dog remains some 2000 years old, which were positively identified by scientists as those of Siberian dogs, not local Alaskan breeds. (John Douglas Tanner Jr – Alaskan Trails, Siberian Dogs pp15)

Further evidence of such possible interbreeding over the millennia can be seen from the fact that the research into “ancient” breeds referred to above, also found that genetically, the Alaskan Malamute and the Siberian Husky were very closely related:

 In addition, the Alaskan Malamute is shown to be very closely related to the Siberian Husky, and its place of origin is far western Alaska, across the Bering Strait from the homeland of the Siberian Husky’s ancestors. – “New Breakthrough in Dog Genetics"

Much more recently (as mentioned above) a devastating series of famines suffered by the Chukchi people during the 1860’s, resulted in the death of the vast majority of their dogs. Many died of starvation and some were killed and eaten by desperate Chukchi to feed their families. (Thompson and Foley – The Siberian Husky)

After this devastation, the Chukchi gradually re-established their sled dog stock by breeding their few remaining dogs with other available breeds, including primarily the smaller, red, foxlike, Tungus Spitz.

It is likely that this enforced outcrossing led to a change in the “look” of the Chukchi dogs. We can see this from the fact that whereas travellers in Chutochka prior to the 1860’s uniformly referred to the Chukchi dogs as “shaggy” and “wolf-like”, by the time the first US Breed Standard was written in 1930, the breed was being described as “fox-like.”  (Thompson and Foley – The Siberian Husky)

From the middle of the 17th Century, increasing exposure to Russian influence began to change aspects of Chukchi life:

Ethnic Russians first encountered the Chukchi in 1642, when the Cossack Ivan Yerastov met them on the Alazeya river. In the 1640s, the Russians built two forts on the Kamchatka, and commercial traders, fur trappers and hunters used these forts as a base and established permanent contact with the Chukchi. This contact brought many problems to the Chukchis. Diseases like influenza, mumps, small pox and so forth, spread among the population, and alcoholism became a problem as Russians traders often paid with vodka.

The Centre for Russian Studies (NUPI)

Throughout the second half of the 17th and most of the 18th Century, the peoples of Siberia (and particularly the Chukchi, who were known as “the Apache of the north” because of their fierce resistance to invasion) came under increasing pressure from Czarist Russia. The crack Czarist Cossack troops pursued a policy of genocide against the Chukchi, and in a series of skirmishes, the Chukchi with their dog sleds, managed to outrun them and avoid a final showdown.  In 1649, Anadyr was established as a fortified city which over the next century became a huge drain on Russian resources. For the period 1710 to 1764, maintaining the fort at Anadyrsk had cost some 1,380,000 rubles, but the area had returned only 29,150 rubles in taxes.  The Russians controlled the land, but not the people and it was costing them dear. The Cossacks were extraordinary warriors, but they did not understand either the terrain, or the arctic conditions and suffered terrible losses (due to the inhospitable conditions, not the Chukchi). After a series of  brutal military campaigns, Russia decided to try a different tack and tried to control Chukotchka through trade rather than violence. A treaty was made with the Chukchi giving them independence.

Unfortunately for the Chukchi, what defeated them in the end was firstly the consequences of opening Chukotka to trade, and secondly the bureaucratic “need” of the new communist rulers of Russia to control and standardise everything in the name of the “proletariat”. The Soviet Union (after the 1917 revolution) decided initially to offer free trade between the Chukchi and the Soviets. The result of this was that, as well as trade goods, smallpox was imported into Chutochka and the Chukchi people were decimated. Having inadvertently weakened the Chukchi with disease, the Soviets removed the velvet glove and deliberately executed all the Chukchi village leaders, who also happened to be the most experienced and successful dog breeders. The Soviets then set up their own dog breeding programmes designed to create the perfect Peoples’ Sled Dog. As if this level of bureaucratic control-freakery was not enough, in 1952, the Soviets issued a statement denying that the Chukchi dog had ever existed and that the Siberian Husky was a US created breed whose origins had nothing to do with Siberia. Amazingly enough, although the Soviet Union is long gone, many Russian dog historians still hold to this “official” view. To confirm this, browse the site of the “Primitive Aboriginal Dogs” organisation – the Siberian Husky is not included amongst the breeds they recognise.

“It would be appropriate to mention that the Americans have developed and breed sled dog named the Siberian Husky and the term Husky can be translated as Laika. However, this breed, in our understanding, does not have any relationship to Siberian dogs as I understand them. The Siberian Husky is a cultivated specialized breed, which American cynologists obtained by selective breeding our sled dogs imported from northeastern parts of Chukotka, the KolymaRiver and Kamchatka.”

Our Northern Dogs - B. I. Shiroky – in PADS Newsletter #8

 Although understandable in one sense – after all, the Siberian Husky may no longer be regarded as a primitive aboriginal breed, it does seem strange to deny its relationship to such dogs – after all, every single Siberian Husky in the world has ancestry going back to the handful of entire dogs/bitches imported into the US in the early part of the 20th Century.

“The entire Siberian Husky breed goes back to the same dozen dogs of the 1930s: Kree Vanka, Tosca, Tserko, Duke, Tanta of Alyeska, Sigrid III of Foxstand, Smokey of Seppala, Sepp III, Smoky, Dushka, Kabloona, Rollinsford Nina of Marilyn. There are two or three others none of which would constitute more than one-half of one percent of a dog's pedigree today.”

J.Jeffrey Bragg - http://seppalasleddogs.com/seppala-breeding-5.htm

Unfortunately, as a result of  Russian invasion, famine disease and Soviet politics, the Chukchi dog, as a distinct breed of Siberian “Laika” no longer exists  in any meaningful numbers if at all in its native land. Having said that, sled dog enthusiasts in Kamchatka are working with the few remaining aboriginal dogs to re-establish the Kamchatka sled dog, and as part of that programme initiated the Beringia sled dog race – the longest sled race in the world at nearly 2000 km. The race is run from a village in Kamchatka region (e.g. Esso) through Palana in the Koryak region to a village in the far north (e.g. Markovo). The Esso-Markovo route, at 1,980 km, is the longest dog-sled route in the world and takes three weeks.)

Ironically, as the breed came under increasing threat to its very existence in its own homeland, it began to gain a foothold in a new continent only a few mils away across the Bering Sea.  Sled dogs had been used in Alaska for millennia, just as in Siberia. The influx of thousands of  people as a result of the Klondike Gold Rush had led to a massive increase in the need for sled dogs. Thousands of dogs (often totally unsuitable for work in arctic/subarctic conditions) were brought north from Canada and the lower US states.  Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” is a fictionalised tale of one such dog – Buck, a St. Bernard cross.

The new population of Alaska, often with money in their pockets, needed R&R after their exertions in the gold fields. Gambling joints, saloons, and brothels flourished, as did the new sport of sled dog racing. Probably started by drunken barroom boasts about who had the better or faster teams, the sport of sled dog racing soon became an organised event. The biggest of the races was the All-Alaska Sweepstakes Race. First run in April 1908, the race was soon to become an annual event and the showcase for the  abilities of the “little Siberian rats.”

Mick Brent - Siberian Husky Welfare Association UK

Siberian Husky - Temperament & Personality

Personality

According to the AKC Standard, the Siberian Husky "does not display the possessive qualities of the guard dog, nor is he overly suspicious of strangers or aggressive with other dogs." Their exotic, wolf-like appearance makes Huskies appealing to many people, and their even temperament, love of other dogs and indifference to strangers makes them ideal family dogs. Huskies have a zest for life that is unmatched by few breeds. Every time a Husky is outside, it's as if it's his first time and well into adulthood Huskies play with the vigor of a puppy. They may seem like a good family dog for first time dog owners, but Huskies can often be “too much dog” for a novice. They require extensive training and exercise in order maintain good behavior and only those with the time and energy to fully commit to a Husky should take on this breed. But Husky owners agree, you get out of a Siberian Husky what you put into him, and these reliable dogs are worth the effort.

Activity Requirements

Siberian Huskies need a lot of vigorous activity in order to maintain health and happiness. They were developed as sled dogs, which means they have energy and endurance to spare, so adopting a Husky means adopting an active lifestyle. This breed enjoys long walks, hikes, jogs and bike rides. In the yard they can play fetch for hours, and some even like to play frisbee. Huskies will feel as though they died and went to heaven when at the dog park with other dogs to run, romp and wrestle with.

Their medium size makes Siberian Huskies appealing to apartment dwellers, but this may not be the best living situation for a Husky. They are rowdy and rambunctious well into adulthood and need plenty of room to move about.

Trainability

Husky owners claim their dogs have the ability to perform at the top of their obedience classes, but when they come home they ignore everything they learned, only to turn it back on again when they return to the next class. This breed is notoriously difficult to train and are generally not well suited for first time owners. Huskies require firm leadership and 100% consistency when it comes to boundaries and rule enforcement. Their expressive eyes can be used to manipulate the softies of the house, so all family members must also be “trained” to be consistent with rules and leadership.

Behavioral Traits

The popularity of the breed has led to indiscriminate breeding of the Siberian Husky, and there are many dogs being born into blood lines with uneven temperaments. When adopting a Husky, it is important to do extensive research on breeders, and if you get your Husky from a rescue, the organization should provide you with as much information as possible. Well bred Huskies should never be aggressive or overly shy and timid.

Huskies are notorious escape artists, managing to foil fences, screen doors, garages and other holding devices. You should never leave your Husky unsupervised in the yard or with only a screen separating him from the wild blue yonder.