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Eva Brunelle Seeley, nicknamed "Short"
for her height, is often considered "the
mother of the Alaskan Malamute". Mrs.
Eva Seeley has been equally influential for
the development and recognition of the Siberian
Husky, and perhaps that's why she is
considered as a giant (in spite of her height)
in the field of Northern Breeds in general
and of sled dogs in particular.
Born in Worchester,
Massachussetts, 19??,
she developed an
interest in sled
dogs through
her friendship with
Arthur T. Walden,
a famous
explorer, writer,
breeder and musher.
In
1923, when she was
commissioned to organize
a winter carnival
in her town, Worchester,
Eva Seeley asked
Arthur Walden to
give a
sleddog demonstration
as the main attraction
of the feast. Walden
agreed and during
the
carnival Eva Seeley
had an opportunity
to
lead a team herself.
This experience was
so exciting that
Eva's course
of life
would utterly change.
In 1924 Eva Seeley
(then Brunelle) and
Milton
Seeley got married
and spent their honeymoon
at Arthur Walden's
inn. The friendship
between Walden and
the Seeleys went
on and
a few years later,
when Walden was preparing
an expedition to
Antarctica with Admiral
Richard Byrd, he
convinced the Seeleys
to
run his Chinook kennel
at Wonalancet, New
Hampshire, during
his absence. The
Seeleys
agreed and the couple
dedicated themselves
to the world of sled
dogs with increasing
passion. Eva "Short"
Seeley soon
became a skilled
musher and trainer
of a
sleddog team of her
own.
During Byrd's
expedition, the Great
Depression
struck America and
the financial situation
was so bad that Arthur
Walden's wife,
Kate, had no other
choice but sell the
Chinook
dogs to the Seeleys.
Thus, all the dogs
Walden
had set off with
on his expedition
and the
name of the "Chinook"
kennel passed
to the Seeleys. To
escape the Great
Depression,
the Seeleys took
part in trade activities.
They moved the Chinook
kennel to a land
of
200 acres and started
to advertise their
dogs as Dogtown Village,
proposing sleddog
laps to tourists
and capitalizing
the profits
in polar expeditions.
During the arrangements
for Admiral Byrd's
expedition to Antarctica,
a good number of
dogs had been brought
to the Chinook kennels
to be trained and
selected. Chinook
sixteen
dogs were not enough
for the expedition,
so more dogs were
acquired from Labrador
and Alaska. Among
the arrivals was
a big
male with a thick
wolf grey coat and
a beautiful
tail like a plume.
His name was Rowdy
Of
Nome and he had been
brought by "Scotty
Allen", a famous
sleddog musher.
Allen had bought
Rowdy Of Nome in
Alaska
and, enthusiastic
about the gentle
nature
of the dog, he kept
Rowdy with himself.
He
told Eva Seeley that,
in his opinion, Rowdy
was the ideal representative
of Alaskan sled
dogs. Eva Seeley
was captivated by
Rowdy's
beauty: he was very
different from the
dogs
she had seen so far.
Rowdy was bigger
than
a Siberian Husky,
he weighed about
80 pounds,
while he looked just
like a wolf, but
had
a very sweet disposition.
When Byrd's Expedition
left, Eva Seeley
began to search for
more specimens of
that
kind of bigger sled
dogs and in Elizabeth
Ricker's kennels,
called Poland Springs,
in Maine, she met
a dog called Yukon
Jad,
who had been imported
from Yukon to Canada.
Leonhard Seppala
was breeding Siberian
Huskies
at Mrs. Ricker's
kennels. He was more
interested in smaller
sled dogs, who were
more suited for racing.
It was Seppala who
gave the Seeleys
Yukon Jad, who had
become
famous after the
1925 heroic serum
run to
Nome. Like Rowdy
Of Nome, Jad was
a big,
strong dog of a wolf
grey colour, his
ears
were straight and
his tail was carried
over
his back like a plume.
The Seeleys found
a suitable mate for
Yukon
Jad called Bessie,
who had been given
them
by Walden. Bessie's
ancestors were unknown,
even though Eva Seeley
once referred to
her
as an Groenlanded
dog ("Kit Kirby's
Interview to Eva
Seeley", Alaskan
Malamute
Annual, 1981). According
to Eva Seeley, Bessie
had a rougher coat
than a Siberian Husky
and he had a "wide
head, erect ears
and an excellent
racket snow foot"
("Kit
Kirby's Interview
to Eva Seeley",
Alaskan Malamute
Annual, 1981). Bessie
was
crossed with Yukon
Jad and on the first
days
of 1929 Seeley's
first litter of Alaskan
Malamutes was whelped
- four remarkably
similar
puppies. They were
called Tugg Of Yukon,
Gripp Of Yukon, Finn
Of Yukon and Kearsarge
Of Yukon. The Seeleys
soon developed a
uniform
strain of dogs. This
was accomplished
thanks
to accurate interbreeding
and by choosing
dogs of similar looks
only. In order to
preserve
the original function
of the breed, i.e.
work dogs, the Seeleys
used specimens that
had taken part in
the various expeditions
and whose skills
had been ascertained.
Eva Seeley turned
to the American Kennel
Club (AKC) to have
her dogs officially
recognized.
The AKC would accord
recognition provisionally.
There must be the
necessary conditions:
a
number of dogs of
sufficient quality
and
uniform features
were to be shown
in mixed
class till it was
possible to have
such a
number of them as
to grant the continuity
of the breed. Seeley
and the other breeders
of northern breeds
agreed to the condition
and began showing
Alaskan Malamutes,
Siberian
Huskies and Samoyeds
in some of the most
prestigious shows
of the country. In
1935
the registration
of the Alaskan Malamutes
with at least two
generations in their
pedigrees
was started and Rowdy
of Nome was the first
Malamute to be registered.
Registration was
granted even to dogs
with unknown ancestors,
provided they got
points in conformation
shows.
Shows, anyway, were
not Eva Seeley's
priority. Her breeding
program was mainly
based on the selection
of work dogs for
expeditions.
In fact she was carrying
out two kinds of
selection at the
same time, one to
produce
work dogs, including
crossbred dogs, the
other to develop
the Alaskan Malamute
pure
breed. After a few
years, the Seeleys
decided
to adopt the name
"Kotzebue"
for
their kennels. The
original name "Chinook"
was not abandoned,
though, and it was
used
as a suffix, for
example in the case
of Kotzebue
Panuck Of Chinook.
Every Alaskan Malamute
that was registered
before 1950 was a
Kotzebue, or a descendant
of the Kotzebues.
During this period,
however,
a lot of other dogs,
not registered at
the
AKC, were defined
Alaskan Malamutes
by their
owners and breeders.
Roughly at the same
time, while the Seeleys
were acquiring dogs
for their kennel
of Alaskan Malamutes
in
New Hampshire, a
man called Paul Voelker
was similarly operating
for his kennel in
Marquette, Michigan,
known as M.Loot Kennels.
Together with the
Kotzebues, the M'Loots
and the Hinman-Irwin
dogs are the basis
and
the foundation of
the breed.
When the Alaskan
Malamute Club of
America
(AMCA) became a member
of the AKC in 1953,
Eva Seeley became
its first president.
She
was officially bestowed
the title of AKC
judge. Her merits
are many; she was
the owner
and breeder of the
first Malamute to
become
an AKC champion (Gripp
Of Yukon, in 1936),
as well as the owner
of the first Alaskan
Malamute to be registered
(Rowdy Of Nome).
Eva "Short"
Seeley became famous
also for the demonstration
given with her
sled dogs at the
Olimpic Games of
Lake Placid
in 1932, an event
that helped to promote
the popularity of
Alaskan Malamutes
and other
sled dogs.
When Eva Seeleys
died in 1985, Carol
Williams,
who had been collaborating
with her for years,
took over the Kotzebue
line. Her dogs are
pure Kotzebues and
have Heritage and
Chinook
as their kennel name,
as in the case of
Heritage's
Kotzebue Dakota.
The other kennels
that bred
or are breeding pure
Kotzebues are Sno-Pak,
of Arthur e Natalie
Hodgen, and Tigara,
founded
by D.C. and Dorothy
Dillingham, now owned
by Samuel Walden
(Arthur Walden's
nephew).
The mingling of Kotzebues,
M'Loots, Hinman-Irwins
e Husky Paks, the
selection that has
been
mostly successful,
is going on today
and
has dimmed the differences
among the original
strains; Eva Seeley's
legacy, however,
shall be remembered
forever. Thanks to
her
dedication, the Alaskan
Malamute was officially
recognized as a breed
and successfully
presented
at shows. Yet, Eva
B. Seeley's most
relevant
contribution to the
development of the
breed
perhaps lies elsewhere,
that is, in her love
for sled racing.
As a breeder, as
well as
a professional musher
of sled dogs, she
offered
all modern breeders
a standard and a
model,
showing how the best
show dogs are also
skilful
workers on a trail.
Reference:
Barbara A. Brooks
e Sherry E. Wallis,
"Alaskan
Malamute - Yesterday
and Today",
Alpine,
1998.
"Kit Kirby's
Interview to Eva
Seeley",
Alaskan Malamute
Annual, 1981.
Joan McDonald Brearley, This is the Alaskan
Malamute, T.F.H., 1975.
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