The Markovo Rescue Project (6)

The Markovo Kennels Rescue Project: 1969 - 1975
Copyright © 2003 J. Jeffrey Bragg

Test Matings: The W, X, and Z litters

BY THE AUTUMN OF 1972 the progeny of DITKO and TUKTU had grown to adulthood. I decided it was time to make a thorough trial of the genetic potential of the two pure-Seppala litters I had thus far managed to produce. I bred each of the three H-Litter progeny to one or another of the N-litter. HAAKON OF MARKOVO was mated to the best N-Litter bitch, NERA OF MARKOVO.


Haakon of Markovo	Nera of Markovo

Helen and Holly of Markovo, 1973, Seppala Siberian Husky daughters of Ditko of Seppala bred by J. Jeffrey Bragg.
HELEN OF MARKOVO was mated to NUTOK OF MARKOVO, and HOLLY OF MARKOVO to NORKA OF MARKOVO. On the 26th January 1973 HOLLY whelped the W-Litter and on the 30th January HELEN followed suit with the X-Litter. I was startled to see that HOLLY's litter had several pure white puppies (the rest were fawn) -- there were no white Siberians in their ancestry for four generations. Each bitch had five pups, but we lost most of HOLLY's litter to a severe neonatal hookworm infestation. DITKO, ironically enough, had brought it into the kennel and the damp soil conditions in the low-lying Oxford Station property made an ideal parasite breeding ground. Our vets were of little help, and it was not until I met a veterinary parasitologist that we began to make much progress in the parasite battle.

Helen of Markovo and Holly of Markovo at Oxford Station, April 1973 after their litters

NERA OF MARKOVO whelped her litter of seven on the 9th March 1973; I felt that was too many for a very small, young bitch, so I culled it back to four. They were wormed carefully at fourteen days, rewormed twice and placed in a wire-bottomed pen in an outbuilding as soon as they were weaned; thus we managed not to lose any of that litter to parasites. They were a wildly different litter to the other two: all dark charcoal, black, blue-black, or brown-black. They were wild, energetic puppies. I had never seen anything like them.


ZEITA OF MARKOVO (puppy) 1973 (Haakon of Markovo x Nera of Markovo)	XAIRE OF MARKOVO (puppy) 1973 (Nutok of Markovo x Helen of Markovo)

Shango of Seppala and Fate Arrive Together

IN SUMMER OF 1973 my persistence with Earl Norris paid off: he offered me SHANGO OF SEPPALA, whom he had "farmed out" in Hull, Quebec. On the 30th of June I drove north and picked SHANGO up after weeks of promises that the party who kept him would deliver the dog. I found him, kept in a damp, dark, completely sunless area of dense cedar bush across the river from Ottawa, in dire condition. He was literally skin and bones with a horrible staring dead coat and lackluster eyes. Shango was definitely a big male -- in good lean working condition he would weigh sixty-five pounds; but when I acquired him, he weighed all of forty-eight pounds and his hind legs shivered uncertainly when he stood up. He was so weak and emaciated he could hardly stand. Two more weeks would have seen his death by starvation and parasitism.

(The party who kept him had tried to breed several bitches to him and failed to obtain a litter. When I first announced pups from him I was accused via the grapevine of "faking registration papers." Well-fed and adequately cared for, SHANGO became the most co-operative stud dog I ever knew, one who would mate a bitch on command even though he might not really be feeling up to the job in his advanced years.)
Despite having suffered severe abuse, SHANGO was calm and friendly. I wormed him, gave him vitamins, amino acid supplement, eggs and meat; he quickly began to regain condition. From the first of July to the middle of that month Shango gained twelve pounds and began growing a beautiful soft coat. When he regained strength and muscle tone I discovered that for all his unusual size he possessed a beautiful smooth, flowing gait, quite the equal of what DITKO's had been. Likewise the same gentle, co-operative temperament was his -- and the same annoying nasal yap at suppertime! It was almost like having my beloved old "Dit" back again.

Shango of Seppala in 1973, a McFaul Siberian Husky used by Markovo Kennels in its rescue of Seppala strain.

Shango of Seppala, July 1973,
still looking a little rough a couple weeks after arrival

Betsy Bush, 1973, partner in the Markovo rescue of Seppala strain.
Two months earlier, fate had put in an appearance, though I was only now starting to realise the full implications of it. The preceding winter I had received a letter of enquiry from one Betsy LeSueur Bush concerning the availability of Seppala puppies. She had been referred to me by Elsie Chadwick in Etobicoke, ON, to whom I had sold DITKO's son out of SNOW RIDGE KODA, TADLUK'S DAVIK, a year or so earlier. Betsy owned a seven-eighths Seppala dog from the Québec breeding of Constantine Dello (the last owner of MAQUOIS OF SEPPALA and GAGNON'S SPOT); she was impressed by Con Dello's dogs and eager to learn more about Seppala strain. Once I knew for sure that I had Seppala puppies available, I informed Betsy, who was working as a Departmental Assistant in Veterinary Parasitology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, SK. She told me that she would stop by to inspect what I had on a vacation camping trip east with her boyfriend Eric.
She arrived with her violoncello (Bets was Principal 'Cellist in the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra), a large professional microscope and a complete demonstration of how to do faecal flotation tests and identify hookworm, whipworm, and roundworm infestations! She was fascinated with LYL, OZERO and several others. I showed her the puppy from the X-Litter that I was prepared to sell, and she grudgingly acquiesced. Betsy left with her purchase, XAIRE OF MARKOVO -- not entirely pleased at being sold a light-coloured puppy with one brown and one blue eye when she had wanted a dark one with two blue eyes!