When I began to show dogs, and certainly in previous generations, many, if not most judges knew dogs intimately according to their function. Today, most judges seldom see dogs outside the postage-stamp arena of the show ring, and a lot of what I'd call “deep knowledge” is therefore lost. So I'm always on the lookout for pearls of ancient wisdom, and what follows, in no particular order, are just some words I remember either reading or hearing from some of the great Siberian people of the past, with my occasional comments in brackets [].
“The problem with so many of the new people in the breed today is that they believe everything they see in print.” - Lorna Demidoff
“Remember, when you're looking for the puppy to keep from a litter, you're looking for the best puppy in the litter, not the best puppy in the world.” -Peggy Koehler
“If you lose type, you've lost a breed.” -Short Seeley (To which I've added, yes, but if you lose the athlete, you've also lost our breed.)
It's impossible to tell by looking at the dogs which ones will be good sled dogs. Sometimes the least attractive prove the best. But if you look for the ones with prominent, large vertebrae with good space between, they are often the best workers. -a paraphrase of something said by Olaf Swenson about the dogs he saw in Siberia. [Since everything is related to everything in anatomy, this observation about spine would likely correlate to well-spaced ribs, good shoulders, long pelvis, etc.]
“The ideal Siberian has about three fingers' space between shoulder blades, four-fingers' to a palm's breath between front legs, about a hand-span's length (in his case 7 ½ inches) of shoulder, upper arm, pelvis and upper thigh, with forearm and lower thigh about a third longer.” - Leonhard Seppala (as told by Charlie Belford), and pretty much validated by the extensive bone-length research of Leigh Gilchrist on scores, if not hundreds of working sled dogs. [In relation to these proportions, I've noted that many, if not most show Siberians are short in upper arm and pelvis and long in upper thigh.]
“My father always said [back in the days of hired hands], 'never hire a man with a long back. He'll be tired before the end of the day.'” -Charlie Belford, on being asked about back length in a Siberian.
“A dog team is like a bottle of whiskey: you can pour it all down at once or take little sips over a long time.” -Leonhard Seppala (as told by Charlie Belford)
“Any more bone than they actually need is just dead weight.” Roland Lombard
“They just seem to fly over the snow, perhaps because of their long upper arms.”
--Julian Hurley, author of the first Standard, on first witnessing Siberians.
“The most efficient gait for the Siberian is the lope, or slow gallop, what we all called the 'rocking horse lope.' And when I was asked to judge in Canada, I wouldn't let the handlers trot the dogs. Some were upset, but I told them, 'I can't appraise a Siberian at a trot. I have to see them lope.'” -Elizabeth Nansen (formerly Ricker), Seppala's partner in New England. And Charlie Belford, Roland Lombard, Dick Moulton, Peggy Grant and virtually all of the earliest breeders supported her perception.
“You can't let the rear pastern become too short or you lose speed.” Roland Lombard
On being asked at a seminar if the shorter legged Siberians could not go the distance if push came to shove-“Well, I suppose they COULD, but it would take an awfully long time, and I certainly wouldn't want to be on the sled.” -Natalie Norris
“If you want to win races with Siberians, don't let them trot; they're not fast enough at a trot.” Leonhard Seppala (as told by Charlie Belford).
“Sometimes a dog just needs to be shown he can go forward.” -Charlie Belford, on being asked about reluctant sled dogs. “I never hooked up a dog for at least a month after he came to me. I wanted to spend a lot of time with him and get to know him first.”
“If I can't see the elbow clearly below the level of the chest, I won't even hook up a dog. I know he can't do it.” -Charlie Belford
“I never saw a Siberian whose chest came below his elbows who was a good sled dog.”
--Roland Lombard
“When I switched to Alaskans, my dog food bill tripled. They were fast as hell on a groomed trail, but they wouldn't break trail. They'd come up to some new snow and just stop, like they didn't know what to do, whereas the Siberians would just lope through it like otters swimming. The problem with Siberians is just that they're so smart; it's hard to get them to give everything. But they're awfully tough, and in the end, I think I understood the Siberian better than the Alaskan.” -Charlie Belford, who drove both at the very highest level.
“What you want in a good Siberian team is not 'pulling power' but 'rolling power,' when the timing of the loping footfalls is perfectly synchronized so that the dogs seem to move as a single wave. That's wiry strength, not bulky strength.” --Charlie Belford
