Hercules of Sepp-Alta („Hank“) represented a typically, well balanced, solid boned specimen of the Seppala Line with it's distinct performance efficiency.
„A Seppala line is any line which traces back to any of the10 foundation dogs (ca. 1930): Kree Vanka, Tserko, Harry, Smokey, Togo, Kolyma, Nome, Pearl, Dushka, Sonia —provided that line does not pass through three successive generations of cosmetic non-work-oriented breeding.“ (out of „The Seppala Siberian“ by Douglas W. Willett)
In 1989 during our first racing journey in the U.S.A., we got to know the quality of the Seppala Siberian Husky and learned to appreciate it.
Even so these dogs were missing the elegant and racy looks of the European sprint dogs, the good representatives of this line impressed us with their toughness and endurance, as well as with their absolute determination to pull, bordering self-sacrifice. This stubbornness or determination to concentrate on their inherited work ethic, often combined with a character of great self-confidence, results in dogs, which are not always easy to be trained and/or handled.
In his own line Hercules had already produced the Sepp-Alta N-litter. Three oft the litter of seven, Narley, Nestly and Nugget, became leaders of the Sepp-Alta team. Nutok, a male, was imported by us to Germany and after two years went on to Great Britain. In the years 1988-1991, those dogs were key dogs of the Willett team. He placed regularly under the first three during the racing seasons 1986 to 1988 and very often his team was winning against high class Alaskan competitors like Grant Beck, Tim White, John Patton etc. Those teams regularly attended the rapidly growing Mid-Distance circuit which had become very attractive (also in prize money).
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