Life with Siberian Huskies

5 books in print if interested.

I haven’t posted much in a while. Mainly do to finishing my 5th book and doing dog stuff. Husky stuff to be exact. You see my mission is to help save the Seppala Siberians from extinction. Not many know about them but they were developed by a man named Leonhard Seppala. What he bred became the Siberian Huskies of today.

Seppala became famous from a little effort known as the 1925 Serum run to save the children of Nome Alaska. You might have seen the movie “Balto.” Balto wasn’t the true hero, Leonhard Seppala and Togo were, but then movies don’t always have the facts straight.

I did drive 4000 miles to transport another Togo for our Kennel. Togo of Seppalta is at stud in Maine. We are expecting our next litter in October if things go as planned. I got him from Dr. Douglas Willet. Doug bred and raced Seppalas for over 30 years. Not only that but he raced the open class and consistently beat the Alaskan Huskies. Alaskan Huskies are a mixed breed of dogs bred strictly for performance not looks. They dominate the Iditarod and almost all races today.

They still came from the original, the Seppalas. Doug proved the Alaskan Huskies could be beaten and they were. Seppala’s are history and should not go quietly into the night. They won’t if I have anything to say about it.

It seems these days that everyone has an agenda or cause to promote. Some are misguided in my mind but who am I to judge them. I won’t unless they tell me how mistreated sled dogs are. If your life depends on the dogs that pull you through the wilderness are you going to really mistreat them?

That would be like slashing your own car tires. Sled dogs and mushers have a bond, a partnership that benefits both. Sure, some mushers are guilty but I bet that most of the dog abuse happens in everyday homes in urban area’s. If you want to start a crusade go after these people first. They are the true abusers of dogs.

Sled dogs crave running as much as humans crave sex. They need it to be healthy and happy. To deny them what they were bred for and to stick them in a kennel is a prison that destroys their brains. It leads to bad behaviors because that is the only way they have to tell us that their needs are not being met. And it ends up with them being taken to a shelter and put down just because most people don’t understand them.

That is why I write about them. To try and educate people in the ways of the Sled Dogs. They have no lawyers, they have no voice, but they have the heart and the wisdom of the ages I learn from them every day.

I’ve released my 5th book. This one is composed of my sled dog poetry that you can find here on my page. I added some photos to help explain them or enhance them.

Available on Amazon: $9.99 print and $4.99 for Kindle or E type readers. Thanks for your support.

My Journey with Togo:

8 days, and 3,925 miles ago I left Virginia for Northern Minnesota to pick up Seppaltas Togo. Thursday, July 11th we arrived in Caribou Maine and his new home. Togo is a special dog who belonged to Douglas Willett until a few days ago when he entrusted Hannah and me with him. According to Doug, he is the best dog he ever bred in 40 years. Togo has never sired a litter and we hope to change that, and include his DNA into the preservation of the Seppalas in our kennel in Caribou Maine.

I will say on our travels he was amazing. For never being from home before, we traveled 10-12 hours a day. Crossed lake Michigan on a ferry in which he was in a crate for 5 hours. Stayed in hotel rooms, and friends houses along the way. All of this was new to him and he did great! So many new things and he did them all without a fuss. He didn’t care much for hotel rooms but nobody is perfect.

It was a long trip but worth it if we can get some offspring from Mr. Togo.

His new place will be to mush once again for fun, and of course to make more Seppalas. Many thanks to Doug Willet, and to RJ and Heather at Evergreen Seppalas for putting me up for the night as we crossed UP Michigan. They have amazing Seppalas of their own!

While I was there I saw how great our puppies are doing at 3 weeks old from the “Z” litter.

someone at the young age of 21 who knows what they want to do for the rest of their life? Meet Hannah Lucas my Seppala kennel partner in Maine. She knows what she wants and that is to run the Iditarod someday. Before that happens it takes lots of racing and breeding of dogs. Not just any dogs but the ones we love the most. The Siberians.

Northlane Siberian Huskies and Seppala Siberian Sled Dogs Page Liked · May 30 · Edited · 

Today we had a fan sponsor Poland Springs Delta Dawn of Northlane for $200, covering our entry fee to the Can Am Crown 100, February 29th, 2020.
Her Sponsor wished to remain anonymous but we are still forever grateful! 
Miss Delta Dawn will almost certainly be leading our racing team this coming season. Money from Sponsors will only be used for racing, training, and show expenses.

Looking for sponsors, racing isn’t cheap:

Each Sponsor will have their name(s)
listed on each dog’s individual Album (including each post about them) and below in this album; sponsors of $50 or more will also receive an autographed photo of the sponsored dog, with our names and stamping of said dog’s paw-print! As a dog sponsor, you are welcome to come to our Northlane Kennel during the year and meet the pup you’ve sponsored so they can personally thank you~

Under each dog’s photo’s you’ll find a link to their original album to learn more about them!
You can sponsor via Paypal Friends and Family
Email: hannahrlucas97@gmail.com
Or if you’d like to pay by check or money order please send us a message!

Mushing even the big races means women compete with the men. There is no handicap for being a woman. You run what you brung, and any woman willing to compete in this arena has my support. I’ve never seen 14 dogs so better cared for than hers. That’s why I partnered with this young woman, maybe together we can make her dreams come true. And save the Seppalas as well. It’s a win-win in my mind.

So if you’d like to help, or even offer her some support that would go a long way. Check out her page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/northlanesiberians/

My analogy begins with the picture of the Siberian Husky. Pure and simple in their ways of the world. I pick them because I know them best. But they are no different than your own dog no matter what his breed is.

All dogs share a common trait, which is loyalty and love of man. You cannot deny that if you’ve ever owned a dog. We don’t deserve them, for we are pretty much an evil and vile race of beings. Always thinking of ourselves before others. Few of us reach down to help others climb higher. We are civilized or so we think, but are we really?

Greed, the quest for power, and a never-ending drive to rise above others is our way. We step on those below us and laugh it off as if it were a joke. Life is not a joke, not to those who struggle in a world full of hatred and miss trust.

No longer is there hope for those with less. We put them on an island of hopelessness because of our own drive to be better than everyone else. We’ve lost our basic humanity that must be in place to sustain our race.

In the end, no one will win. We will go down fighting each other for the last scrap of land or food. We will die wondering what we did to deserve God’s retribution. It’s pretty simple really, we earned it by our lust for just about everything. Our curse is our need to have more than our neighbor and call them losers if we outclass them.

We hate those that have more than us with murder in our hearts. We are an evil race; we’ve taken things we wanted with no remorse for those who fell before our might. We’ve ruined the very land that allows us to survive. We’ve taken more than our share and laughed about how we won!

Now you can argue your gun control and your presidential candidates but what does that serve. Does it help those in desperate need? Did you offer your hand to help someone up? Did you give your best friend help when they needed it? Or did you ignore your phone because you were busy with whatever?

You see that is the problem, we think of ourselves before others and that is wrong. I’m not saying I’m a saint by any means, but I have the wisdom of age. I recognize my faults and I try to correct them and help others when I can.

I can’t save the world by myself, but it’s a start. Maybe it’s too late, and even all of us cannot save ourselves from what we’ve created. But maybe if we try we can make a difference.

I grew up shooting guns, killing defenseless animals, and having a grand old time. But wisdom comes from the strangest places and in its own time. My enlightenment came from the simplest creature, a Husky and a mere dog to most people.

Pure in spirit and purpose, they are not burdened with higher intelligence. Dogs have few needs, food, shelter, and love. In return, they give everything they have to those that they love. As a race of higher intelligent beings, we should look at them and learn as I have.

It’s not too late to get back what we’ve lost. But soon it will be too late, and then we will disappear from this earth. Maybe it’s best if we do and leave this planet to those who deserve it.

One week old and growing faster than weeds. Almost 3 lbs. already. When you look at these puppies you think how cute they are. No denying that, but with only 300 hundred of Seppala Siberians left that I know of, these six new lives mean so much more. They are the future of the breed, they will be the next link in the unbroken chain that reaches back to the very beginning with a guy Named Leonhard Seppala. Yes, the famous man that ran the 1925 Serum run to Nome. The legend will continue a bit longer with these pups.

June 18, 2019:

Something exciting happened that night in Caribou, Maine. Six new Seppala Siberian Sled Dogs joined the living. 2 Males and 4 Females are now on earth to carry on.

It might not seem like a big deal to anyone but those who understand the struggles many have faced to keep them going. I hope to see them racing in a few years, and doing what they were made for. This is what these dogs were bred for and they crave it as much as you want that first cup of coffee in the morning.

Thanks to Jonathan Nathaniel Hayes and Hannah Lucas my two friends that share the same vision with me. And thanks to Douglas Willett for everything I’ve learned from you.