So today was boring and i went through an book and saw lots of pictures of Huskies pulling equipment to the mines in winter they called them Siberian husky. Started looking online at old pics and noticed that 125 years ago the Siberian husky looked nothing like the modern sibe. They look alot like squirt actually. So are there like "foundation" or old type Huskies being bred. Or any subtypes aside from working vs show.

I believe the oldest original breeding are seppala lines. But. I'm no expert.

I think they were chukotka dogs on one caption they call it a laika subtype. Genetics are fun. That was my goal (wanted to be an equine reproductive vet) before my spinal injury but sometimes my mind goes down a random rabbit hole like foundations of huskies

You pose an interesting question and one that I've looked at before.  The pictures I've seen of Seppela's dogs bear more resemblance to @artic_wind rather fluffy pups than to the 'accepted' smooth coated dogs with which, I think, we are more familiar.  My Sasha is considerably more fluffy (like Kohdi and Mishka) though she's black compared to their silver; and my Sky is smooth coated.  Is one more 'correct' as a Chukchi dog than the other - I'd be inclined to say that the fluffy would be more familiar to Seppela and crew.

As @amymeme suggests, it wasn't till the breed came stateside (well 'Alaska side') that the breed was supposedly standardized ... the theory goes that the Chukchi and other Arctic / Siberian tribes had their dogs that were unique to the tribe.  

With DNA being such a rampant force in the dog world, it is theorized that the Chukchi dog existed as far back as 3,000 years (artifacts found in graves show a Laika style dog - the predecessor to the Chukchi Husky - being buried with their owner <??>) but the dog we think of as 'the Siberian' is probably only a few hundred years old.

Take a look at this Siberian Husky history page and you'll see several different looking dogs - all of which are Siberian Huskies <???> (hmm, the link is valid but the editor doesn't want to let me use it as a link... )

Squirts mix always sends me on a spin because there is a pariah type called the native American Indian dog and there is a designer NAID sometimes called the native American Indian shepherd. Both naid and huskys developed around the same time but one was selectively bred and one was not also just like the laika subtypes evolved but unlike the russian dogs pariah types tend to retain characteristics even with infusion of outside breeds

An interesting read (accuracy not verified): http://www.seppalas.com/page3.htm

Note these Seppalas have the shorter, smoother coats while the "modern" Siberian Husky has the plusher coats favored by the show circuit.

Interesting read. But a breeding program like that with the genetics being so close can be very bad on the gene pool and seems like the purpose of the seppala is as a new breed more then a foundation breed like most designer dogs. Im really not a fan of seeing the same sire or dam on multiple places of a family tree

In the two side by side pics in that article, Amy, the modern Siberian is the plusher one but when I look at the pic at the very end of the article, that reminds me totally of my Kohdi, very plush but not quite a wooly and with the ears back like in the pic, that's my Kohdi. The article refers to "long haired" Sepalla's that were sold off so I'm assuming there are two versions of Sepala's (?). When I personally think of Sepala, I think of the very short haired, skinny Husky, but I think that primarily goes back to when another member here, and I, talked and she thought her Husky was/is possibly a Sepala.


A little while back when I was curious about Kohdi's ancestry, I looked up some of his family tree. Kohdi is primarily a mix of Troika and Karnovanda Siberians. When I was looking up articles on Troika, I kept coming across references to Troika and "old line" Siberians. I came across some very interesting articles that I unfortunately did not save, but I can go through my search again and see if I come across them. One thing that was mentioned though in one article I remember, it was between 3 or 4 very qualified Siberian experts, is that not one could agree on this old line theory, they all had a different take on it. If you do a search in here, there are a few discussions about this topic as well that might be of some help to you.

It wasnt so much of a need to know more of a book i found in a crawlspace peaked my curiosity. Chapter on the mining rush had some interesting pics and ive been contemplating a 5th dog after the fence goes up in april. I really like my sisters sibercaan but thats not so common in the us