Siberian Husky origin: what’s in a name? We all just talk about Huskies, but the pure breed is called Siberian Huskies. I wondered, is it wishful thinking or do they really come from Siberia? The short answer is straightforward but the whole story is much more interesting.
Where are Huskies from? Siberian Huskies originally come from eastern Siberia. They are from a very specific place in Siberia called the Chukchi Peninsula, also known as the Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula. They were bred as sled dogs by the Chukchi people.
Not all Huskies these days are necessarily Siberian Huskies, but they are the original breed. There are also Alaskan Huskies, the Alaskan Malamute, and the Eurohound. Only the Malamute is a separate recognized breed. So where did the Siberian Husky start?
Who are the Chukchi people?
Not only do the Chukchi people live in Siberia, but also in Europe and North America. According to some sources, Chukchi people are the closest cousins of the First Americans in Asia.
The Chukchi call themselves the Luorawetlan, which means the “real people”. The story why we outsiders are not real people is another kettle of fish altogether!
There are two main groups:
- The nomadic reindeer breeder group (Chawchuw)
- The coastal group of sea mammal hunters (Ankalyn)
The latter group, lacking reindeer, have used dogs to pull sleds for hundreds of years.
The Chukchi dogs
While it is universally stated that the Siberian Husky comes from the Chukchi people the breed was first registered in 1930 in the USA.
But what were the Chukchi dogs like before then?
The Chukchi sled dogs of today are not recognized as a separate breed, except by the Russian Kynological Federation, which is the Russian version of a kennel club.
According to Russian information, they are scarce outside Chukotka (and they also have strong opinions on the “Siberian” Huskies in the USA).
The Chukchi sled dog is credited with being the only surviving breed of what originally comprised more than ten breeds of Siberian sled dogs.
When Chukchi sled dogs are mentioned in the West they are talked about as a sort of Eskimo Spitz dog. Or they are lumped together with other dogs including the Siberian Husky) as “laika-type” dogs.
Attempts are afoot to register the dogs in the USA as a pure breed.
Ancient Siberian Dogs
Siberian Huskies, along with the Greenland sledge dogs, are considered to be an ancient breed.
Genetic studies showed that the two latter breeds share the most DNA with ancient wolves, specifically the Taimyr wolf.
However, the origin of ancient dogs remains a bone of deep contention in the scientific world. Even the time frame is not established. It could have happened as long as 33,000 years ago.
Dog bones that have been found at Chukchi settlements and that date back to 300 BC probably could be ancestors of the dogs that today are called Chukchi sled dogs. But that is just an opinion.
Earliest Registered Dog
The Siberian Husky, despite its ancient origin, was not the earliest dog breed to be officially registered.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) list of earliest breeds registered, all in 1878, are:
- Pointer
- Chesapeake Bay Retriever
- Clumber Spaniel
- Cocker Spaniel
- English Setter
- Gordon Setter
- Irish Setter
- Irish Water Spaniel
- Sussex Spaniel
The Siberian Husky only comes in at number 86! In the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) list it comes in at number 270!!!
It is curious that a dog that originated in ancient eastern Asia and that has maintained a lot of its original genetic characteristics was registered as a breed in the USA before any other place.
How did that happen?
Modern Origins
Most sources shy away from speculating why the first Siberian Huskies, or dog-wolves just like them, did not walk across the Bering land bridge steppe with humans 15,000 years or so ago. There is evidence that breeding dogs for pulling sleds actually did take place on Zhokov Island, Siberia.
Yes, 15,000 years ago!
But let’s rather start where everybody else does, at Nome, Alaska.
The very first documented sled dog race is said to have occurred from Winnipeg to St. Paul in the 1850s.
It is very hard to find this first “written” or “documented” account. Sources make the statement that the race was documented, but there are no traceable references to any evidence. It is consequently not possible to discover for sure what dogs were used. The dogs are just called “sled dogs”.
Were they early Huskies?
Probably not.
So then, what is the Nome connection? (Is Nome an embarrassed truncation of “No Name”? Shame…but they did get famous thanks to the Huskies!).
The Nome Connection
According to most accounts, the Siberian Husky came to Alaska in 1908.
A Russian fur trader called William Goosak imported them and entered 9 dogs in the 1909 “All Alaska Sweepstakes” race.
These were reportedly dogs from the Chukchi Peninsula as well as other Siberian tribes. The dogs did not look like other sled dogs, being small and light.
Against all odds, the team came in third.
But their performance inspired Fox Maule Ramsay, a young Scotsman, to go to Siberia in the summer of 1909 in search of these dogs. He traveled up the Anadyr River to the trading settlement of Markovo and procured around 60 or 70 of the best specimens of the breed he could find.
By the way, this man, who essentially brought the first substantial group of genuine Siberian Huskies to Alaska, was the Hon. Charles Fox Maule Ramsay (5 March 1885-October 1926), of whom little information is available.
We find that he was an Oxford graduate, eventually married, and had two children.
In 1909 he was in Alaska, together with his two uncles Colonel Charles Ramsay and Colonel Weatherly Stuart to look after the family’s gold mine interests. And that’s about all we can trace of the man who started it all in a big way.
After Nome
The famous Serum Run from Seward to Nome across Alaska in 1925 to bring diphtheria antitoxin to the town put Siberia Huskies firmly on the world map.
Radio, television and motion picture coverage followed. As can be expected, there was an upsurge of interest in this previously little-known dog.
It is widely stated that Jafet Lindeberg imported Husky puppies from Siberia to give to Roald Amundsen for his Arctic expedition in 1913 and when the expedition was canceled Lindeberg gave the pups to Leonhard Seppala. He already owned some Husky dogs but started to breed with these pups.
The rest is Husky history.
And Then?
Breeding of Siberian Huskies took off after the Serum Run.
Both Seppala and Gunnar Kaasen toured through the USA with the dogs. Seppala’s dogs were eventually sold to a kennel run by Elizabeth M. Ricker in Poland Spring, Maine.
Although these kennels bred dozens of Huskies, few were ever registered with the AKC.
AKC records of the 1930s contain 5 named bloodlines, 20 “other dogs” mainly from Massachusetts and 7 “imported dogs” of whom there is no information.
Above is a very short synopsis of Husky history.
A lot of the information seems to be almost folklore e.g. where is the actual record of Ramsay’s trip to Markovo? None of the many Husky websites give any reference to the source of this “fact” although there are photographs of the dogs from private collections.
There apparently exists a document that is the first confirmation of the import of dogs directly from Kamchatka, dating back to 1914. IT apparently states that in the summer of this year Captain Olsen brought from Petropavloska at least 8 dogs for Leonhard Seppala.
It seems that there were, in fact, dozens (if not hundreds) of Siberian Huskies and other sled dogs around in the 1920s and 1930s.
Breeding records were poorly kept or not at all.
Sales were not recorded officially and consequently, the dogs and their progeny became untraceable. Importation of the dogs from Siberia was stopped in 1930 so the breed was developed further in the USA presumably with the existing stock.
Related Questions
Probably not. With the trend towards breeding for show dogs as well as racing dogs, many canine lovers bemoan the loss of the original characteristics of the dog.
The best sources are books, most of which cannot be read on the internet. A list of them and other physical resources are available on a website that is well-researched and actually gives traceable references.
