Bothers, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents – some folks are very interested in genealogy and can trace their roots back to ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower and some even further back than that. People get a sense of who they are from their lineage. Dogs have roots too which in the case of the Alaskan Husky is referred to as their bloodline or for purebred dogs like the Siberian husky, their pedigree. Before going any further into my family tree, a few definitions might be helpful. Genealogy is the study of the history of families and the line of descent from their ancestors. Ancestor is a being from which a person has directly descended. Lineage is a line of descent from a common ancestor. These terms usually apply to people in their study of background and family history. When talking about a dog’s family tree, there are a couple of other terms that are commonly used. One is bloodline. Bloodline is a sequence of direct ancestors. The second term is pedigree, a register recording a line of distinguished ancestors or the purity of a breed. A purebred Siberian husky or Malamute with a verified bloodline or pedigree might be registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC). You won’t find any Alaskan Huskies in the AKC registry. Alaskan Huskies are mutts! There is nothing PURE about their bloodline. Alaskan huskies are a combination of breeds which might include siberian, village dogs, Canadian Inuit dogs, wolf hound, fox hound, gray hound, doberman, German shorthair, English setters, English pointers and malamute. The evolution of the Alaskan husky began in the days of the gold rush. Dog teams were used to haul goods and supplies to and from the mining camps. As more gold was discovered and more camps established, dogs were in great demand but short supply. Dogs of any breed that were the right size were shipped from Seattle to Alaska to go to work in the gold fields. When my new musher selected me from the other puppies at Raymie Redington’s Kennel, Raymie provided them withinformation on my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents or you could say Raymie provided then with my bloodline. It’s also helpful to know about the kennels that the ancestors came from. So, here’s a snap shot of my family tree. My parents are GREG and HALO. GREG and TWIGGY, the mother of Lance Mackey’s Iditarod and Quest champion dogs are siblings. HALO’s parents are CAPTAIN and CISCO. CAPTAIN comes from NITRO and AUTUMN. AUTUMN is the daughter of ROXIE who is the mother of many of Martin Buser’s champion dogs. CISCO comes out of GARETH and SARA. GARETH comes from the kennel of Gareth Wright, known for outstanding village sled dogs and SARA comes from Susan Butcher’s championship kennel. Raymie told my new musher that I’d be a fast dog. How did he know that? Add up the Iditarod wins that these mushers have accumulated – Martin Buser has four, Susan Butcher has four and Lance Mackey has one along with 3 Yukon Quest victories. With nine Iditarod and three Quest wins in my family background, I’d better be fast! Is anyone in your family interested in genealogy? Can you draw a diagram to illustrate your family tree? Can you draw a diagram to illustrate my family tree? How would Twiggy be related to me? How about Roxie? I’ve included a picture of Raymie Redington holding my sister and me. This photo was taken on the day that my new musher came to the kennel in Knik to pick me up. None of the puppies in the kennel had names yet – we were only 8 weeks old. Often mushers wait for a while to get to know the puppies before they name them. Sometimes mushers pick a theme to use in naming the puppies. Jeff King once decided to name a litter using internet search engine names. What would some of those puppies be called? My new musher began to call me Sanka from the moment she laid eyes on me. I like my name. Now you should have a good idea about the terms used to describe a dog’s family tree and know something about Alaskan huskies and their history as a breed. Thanks to my friends who gave me information for this story – the mushers who wrote the Mush with P.R.I.D.E. Sled Dog Care Guidelines, Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury and Joe Runyan. The Salisburys are cousins who wrote the book, The Cruelist Miles. My handler and I are reading this story about the people and events behind the 1925 Serum Run. It’s such a good book filled with so much information, I’ll do a book report for you when I finish. The story, “Description and Origin of the Alaskan Husky,” written by Joe Runyan is a great article to read. Joe will be running Iditarod this year. He won the race in 1989 and is back in the Last Great Race after a 15-year absence. Joe is going to be the visual interpreter for Racheal Scdoris. Go Rachael, Go Joe! Stay tuned for more stories about puppies, dogs and Iditarod. In the mean time, take a look at the kids who are signed up for the Junior Iditarod. I’m going to follow this race closely. Meredith Mapes is a rookie and has been running one of my best friends, Gopher, in lead. I’ll tell you more about Gopher’s Iditarod runs in another story. Sanka W. Dog [SinglePic not found]