Left: (Sepala Dam) Alyesk of Gealach More
Right: (Yakutian Laika Stud) Sibirskaya Zima Baikal

Seppala X Yakutia:
A 20 year idea finally put to the test!

My kids have grown up around Seppalas, so they have a very discerning eye.

The oldest three are all grown up and out of the house now.

But when they come to visit the kennel they have all said the same thing when they pull in the yard, “Those aren’t Seppalas… are they?”

As we have elsewhere established at length, it is crucial to the survival and health of any breed to ensure genetic health and diversity.

This is all the more crucial in a breed with such a small population as the Seppala Siberian Sleddog.

Over the past hundred years, selective breeding for racing, and a closed breeding population has meant that much of the diversity, apparent in the breed a century ago, had been reduced.

Shorter coats and slighter builds are often favored for racing in warmer climates.

Along with this genetic uniformity has come unwanted effects as well

Recently, the International Seppala Siberian Sleddog Club, in conjunction with the Continental Kennel Club, initiated a new and more stringent outcross application process.

In times past, American Seppalas were determined by their pedigree at 93% or higher Seppala parentage.

This allowed any outcross to be accepted (almost always Racing Siberian Huskies), so long as the progeny were bred back up to 93% Seppala.

And in the past in Canada, these decisions were made by the president of their breed club.

Under the new ISSSC system, however, those outcrosses will undergo a strict approval process where type, temperament, morphology, genetics, and performance will all be weighed by a board with a combined 100 plus years experience with Seppalas.

In recent years, another long time Seppala breed enthusiast, Brandy Parson, took that critical first step of importing a Yakutian Laika stud.

In the fall of 2023 she had her first outcross litters of a Seppala bitch with her Yakutian stud.

The offspring are reporting true to form with embark results showing half Seppala Siberian and half Yakutian Laika.

When Brandy offered these brothers to me, I could not pass up the opportunity to put action behind twenty years of rumination.

And so they made the trek here to Poland Spring Kennels.

This outcross is still in its experimental stage.

The boys will be harness trained this winter.

Over the next couple years we will be evaluating them and if we feel the outcross is beneficial to the Seppala breed we will apply to the panel for outcross recognition.

What we have seen with these Yakutian Seppala pups so far is a great similarity in structure but on the taller end of the Seppala spectrum.

Unlike their purebred kennel mates they are ravenous and indiscriminate eaters, which is always a plus in a working dog.

Like Seppalas, they have very tough feet.

They are very friendly to family and strangers alike.

They do have longer coats than most Seppalas.

Some see this as a drawback.

But a significant portion of the breed were longer coated when first brought here a century ago.

Whatever their studbook status will ultimately be, they have already earned a great place in our hearts.

Follow us on social media to follow their progress.