First race of the season

So here we are in Pinedale, Wyoming waiting to run the Green River Classic. This should be an interesting race for me. I have a new sled that has probably more power steering than I am use to and it is the first snow run of the season (ok, really second, but I don't count last weeks disaster--there is literally no snow on Casper Mountain--it really was more of a dirt run on runners...eeek!). Not fun!

This race is a lot of fun, we get a well rounded group of professionals, weekend warriors, and recrational mushers. Matt and TJ even drove up in the hurricane strength winds (what they don't know is it is always hurricane strength winds in Wyoming). I've entered the 6-dog class and Allan has entered the 12-dog class. I usually don't have enough miles on the dogs to run the 12-dog class this early in the season, but Allan has worked very, very hard and is sitting at nearly 700 training miles.

Part of the difference in our training miles is due to the difference in the dogs. His Alaskans are not nearly as bothered by warmer temperatures and he is able to get earlier training in. Where as my Seppalas really don't do well much over 50 degrees, so I am nearly a month behind him in trying to get consistant runs on my team. We were still waking up to 60 degree mornings in mid November! We getting there!

We'll try to update on how the race went on Sunday...

Deer Creek Sleddogs welcomes the New Year

We are so excited that the new year is here. The last few months at Deer Creek have been a whirl-wind of projects, training, working, and living. Of our long list of projects, updating the website continually sits on my mind. I very much enjoy working the websites, but time is never on my side. So we thought a great way to share our kennel was to get the blog up and running.

We are so excited about our dogs, how we are progressing and this sport in general we can't wait to share! We hope that this venue will provide an easy way to share antidotes, philosphy, general mushing information and keep up with current news in our kennel and in the Seppala world.

We wish you a Happy New Year!
The Berge Family
Deer Creek Kennels

Welcome to the Official Seppala Siberian Sleddog Blogspot

Welcome to the number one Seppala Siberian Sleddog BlogSpot!


The Seppala Siberian Sleddog is true working animal owning a rich heritage starting in the vast, baron lands of Siberia. Before the term "Seppala Siberian Sleddog" became a common term, these unique animals were only known as the village dogs, a discription that does no justice to the importance of these animals to the Chukchi people. The rugged Siberian environment created an animal that literly determined life or death for those that depended on them.


When the Gold Rush of the 1900's hit Alaska, the dogs caught the attention of immigrants looking for a way to overcome the Alaskan territory. A number of dogs were imported before the Russian government's reign of terror & By early the 1940's suppression of Chuckchi people wiped-out the existence of the original "village" dogs .


Back in Alaska and to the surprise of most, the dogs proved their weight in gold. The forerunner in creating recognition for the dogs was Leonhard Seppala. The famous serum run and the race record of the "little man and his little dogs" brought international recognition for the dogs. From there the Siberian Husky breed was founded and validated by the AKC.


The Siberian Husky of today is not the same dog as was originally recognized. Environment, selective breeding, and changes in lifestyle have significantly changed the village rugged-ness of the breed. Only a small number of people were committed to maintain the original use of the Seppala Siberian by maintaining performance abilities, sweet temperments, and ongoing endurance. To know a Seppala is to love a Seppala.