Alec Belford acquired Siberian sleddogstock in the late 1920s from the Seppala/Ricker kennel at Poland Spring, Maine, and kept a small racing kennel, breeding very little. But he had a fruitful relationship with the successor Seppala Kennels of Harry R. Wheeler in Québec. As a result, dogs such as KREE VANKA, TSERKO, SAPSUK OF SEPPALA, VANKA OF SEPPALA 2ND and many others were run on the Belford teams and passed through the Belford kennel.
Three of the most important dogs owned or bred by Belfords were:
- BELFORD'S WOLF (male) - Poland Spring bred in 1931 (by SMOKY ex TOSCA), this dog was crucial to early Siberian breeding in New England.
- NANNA (female) - Bred by Belfords in 1932 (by BELFORD'S WOLF ex MONA), this white bitch was sold to Harry R. Wheeler and became a cornerstone of the Wheeler bloodline.
- SIGRID 3rd OF FOXSTAND - Bred by Belfords, also in the early 1930s, (by CHENUK ex MOLINKA), this agouti bitch became the foundation of Bill Shearer's FOXSTAND bloodline.
Without the two bitches NANNA and SIGRID 3rd OF FOXSTAND there would be no Seppala lineage today as we know it, and without BELFORD'S WOLF the mainstream Siberian Husky bloodlines would probably be rather different as well. These three dogs are monumental in their importance.
Charles "Sonny" Belford had an off-and-on racing career that was highly successful though often interrupted by his veterinary schooling and practice. Charles Belford bred two or three litters in the 1950s out of FOXSTAND stock and his highly prized white lead dog TIMMIE OF GATINEAU. Probably the most important dog bred by Charlie was BELFORD'S JALAPER, born in 1952, who would later be the sire of MAQUOIS OF SEPPALA the dominant male of the McDougall MALAMAK bloodline. Jalaper was sold to J. D. McFaul along with his dam FOXSTAND'S GEORGIA -- a bitch nearly as significant as SIGRID 3rd OF FOXSTAND. Somehow the crucial dogs always seemed to pass through Belford hands!
The BELFORD name today remains largely a little-known item of early Siberian Husky breed history and it would be an exaggeration to speak of a BELFORD bloodline as such. Nevertheless, the Belford father and son team had a decisive influence in the course of the Siberian Husky's development generally, and in that of Seppala strain particularly.
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PEDIGREE -- Nanna (Opens in a new window.)
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PEDIGREE -- Sigrid 3rd of Foxstand (Opens in a new window.)
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PEDIGREE -- Belford's Jalaper (Opens in a new window.)
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PEDIGREE -- Belford's Buz (Opens in a new window.)
