Siberian Huskies came to the North American continent as a fairly ragtag group of amazing canine athletes. Not only did they dominate the All Alaska Sweepstakes and other Alaskan races, as well as the races in New England and Canada, they did so in running times that have yet to be equaled. In 1982, for instance, Rick Swenson and a group of Iditarod stars tried to better John (Iron Man) Johnson's 1910 times in the All Alaska Sweepstakes over the same course (but with modern, lighter equipment and modern nutrition) and came in, after what Swenson declared a "very good run," 10 hours slower.

Recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1930, Siberians continued to dominate the sport of sled dog racing until the 1960s when the quest for a competitive show version of the breed led, quite coincidentally I think, to somewhat bulkier, chestier, shorter legged animals of more Malamute than Siberian proportions. And that shift has served to muddy the water of Siberian judging ever since.

I understand that the quest for more consistency of marking, coat and temperament was a valid endeavor, but the breed achieved that consistency many decades ago, and I think it is time to pay greater attention to the proportions that originally made the Siberian famous as a loping, more than trotting, animal.

The great Leonard Seppala, virtual father of the breed, who logged an estimated quarter of a million miles behind dog teams, once said, "If you want to win races with Siberians, don't let them trot; they're not fast enough at a trot." And the 11-year-old kid that Seppala trained to drive Siberians, Charlie Belford, never let them trot and thereby won 57 of 64 races entered, becoming probably the winningest dog driver of all time.

Seppala also said, "the ideal Siberian has approximately three-fingers space between shoulder blades, four-fingers to a palm's breath (not very wide) between front legs, and he should exhibit approximately a hand's span (Seppala's was seven and a half inches) in length of scapula, humerus, pelvis and femur, with radius-ulna and tibia-fibula about 30% longer."

He said that in about 1930, and the most up-to-date research we have on working Siberians, done by Leigh and Susan Gilchrist, shows he was exactly right except that the radius-ulna should probably only be about 20% longer than the other four bones. Furthermore, Gilchrist's research shows that good working Siberians range from 7-11% longer than tall, the vast majority being 9-10%, and that an animal begins to lose endurance when he reaches 12% longer than tall. Charlie Belford also looked for his dogs to be about 10% longer than tall, with elbows clearly visible below the underline of the chest.

Research also shows that an efficient Siberian should also have about 20% longer leg than depth of chest, and the math comes out quite neatly to show that ideal proportions are about two inches longer than tall and about two inches more length of leg than depth of chest, which also fits quite nicely into the proportions called for by the Samoyed Standard of height to body length as 9 is to 10 and chest depth to leg length as 4 is to 5.

What one will find on examining many, if not most, show Siberians is that the humerus, pelvis and legs are too short and that the femur is too long. Often there is also too much bone and chest, with the leg bone too round instead of oval or "bladed" (which is to say somewhat sharp-shinned). And many show specimens are way too long and often flat in croup.

So now that we have hundreds and hundreds of quite pretty, typey Siberians in the family, there's no reason we can't work to bring correct proportions back into the breed on the show specimens as well as the working athletes. But we have to be willing to be attentive to those proportions and understand their necessity from a functional standpoint.

We also have to understand why scissoring of the coat anywhere but between the toes and the whiskers (if you wish, though I certainly don't) is a great crime against this natural breed. It will lead to poor coats, and it's just a silly, foo-foo, and ILLEGAL thing to do.

Judges and breeders should also guard against incorrect, coarse heads with round eyes (an example of a good head shown here) and over-angulated rears. If, when the dog is stacked with rear pasterns perpendicular to the ground, an imagined plumb line is dropped from the hindmost point of the pelvis, that line should intersect, or come very close to intersecting the forward part of the rear pastern. Otherwise the animal is over-angulated, probably because of an over-long femur.

To conclude: for about half a century now, we've let the tail of the show ring wag the dog of the trail, the true athlete, but we could easily correct that. Current science of function and historical precedent make it very clear what the proportions are that we should be working toward. We just have to understand that the long-range health of the breed depends on it (without working our dogs we'll lose the quality of soft tissue - heart, lungs, muscles, tendons), and we have to care enough to do it.

Article Courtesy of:
National Dog - THE Ring LEADER Way
AUSTRALASIA'S PREMIER CANINE COMMUNIC8TOR
All rights reserved through National Dog - The Ring LEADER Way
Reproduction is prohibited.