SLEDDOG-L List This Balto issue seems to come around every couple of years. Balto was neutered as a pup so anyone claiming that their dog is descended from him is either telling stories or had stories told to them. Kreevanka and Tserko were the last two dogs imported from Russia ( just before Stalin dropped the iron curtain ) by Harry Wheeler. It is Wheeler, not Seppala, who is responsible for the Seppala line of Siberian Huskies. Seppala, himself, went through many different shapes and sizes over the years in his different breeding programs. Most of the dogs he used up in Nome were actually owned my a man named Lindberg ( a Norwegian who was one of the "Three Swedes" that made the fist strike on Anvil creek ) and his mining company. He did own the dogs he took with him on his tour of the lower forty eight after the two serum runs. It was some of these dogs that were the beginnings of the Seppala Kennels which he started in New England with Elizabeth Ricker. Togo was one of those dogs. The Seppala kennels were later sold to Harry Wheeler an innkeeper in Quebec. Togo was given to Mrs. Ricker as a pet. When he died he was stuffed and given to Yale University. He is now at the Iditarod Headquarters. Balto went to California with Kasson and appeared in a couple of movie shorts. He was finally dumped into a small road side attraction zoo. When this fact got printed in the news papers the children of Cleveland started a collection and Balto was purchased and moved to the Cleveland zoo. After he died he to was stuffed. Balto and Togo were briefly reunited a few years ago for the Iditarod Anniversary. Seppala moved back up to Fairbanks and started breeding large all white Siberians. When he moved down to Seattle he became a co-owner of the Bow Lake Kennels and started breeding what would now be thought of as conventional Siberians. There is an interesting thing about dog names. If you go to the Mckenzie river area there are now Mckenzie River Huskies. If you could go to the Malamute Tribe there would be no Malamutes. If you go to Siberia there are no Siberians. In siberia there are only two types of "dogs" . Laika is the Russian name for dog. They have a different name for hounds. Their indiference to dogs was shown when they launched one into space ( the first mamalilian space traveler ) and were asked the name of the dog. They answered "Laika". People in the west didn't even get it. Lee Eberle Hairy Houdini Siberian Sled Dogs