Shearer's earliest Siberians came from the Poland Spring kennel of Leonhard Seppala and Elizabeth M. Ricker. He also purchased two of the Eva B. Seeley foundation litter (YUKON OF FOXSTAND and SITKA OF FOXSTAND, both by DUKE ex TANTA OF ALYESKA). Shearer tried a litter or two from his Seeley stock, but must not have liked the results, as no Seeley lines appear in his later breeding.
The actual beginning of what we know today as the FOXSTAND bloodline was in 1938 when Shearer purchased the unregistered daughter of two Poland Spring dogs, SIGRID 3rd OF FOXSTAND, from the Belford kennel. In 1940 SIGRID 3rd produced the litter sired by Millie Turner's leader VANKA OF SEPPALA 2nd that would become the firm foundation of Shearer's success. His major leader FOXSTAND'S SHANGO was one of that litter; littermates FOXSTAND'S ROMBO, FOXSTAND'S JAVA, FOXSTAND'S SUKEY and FOXSTAND'S COLLEEN were also important contributors to the bloodline!
The VANKA 2nd/SIGRID 3rd mating must have been extremely satisfactory, because Shearer found no need for the kind of continual experimentation with other bloodlines that has characterised, for example, the SEPP-ALTA operation in our own time. Shearer did go back again to COLD RIVER Kennels in 1947 for another stud service, this time using the long-coated white male JEUAHNEE OF COLD RIVER on FOXSTAND'S SUKEY -- a breeding that gave him his next major leader, FOXSTAND'S SHAMUS. Shearer also acquired the Wheeler-strain male POLARIS OF SAPAWE (by CHARNEY OF SEPPALA ex DINA OF SEPPALA) and used him for breeding.
Shearer had purchased stock from the Harry R. Wheeler kennel in Canada occasionally (PETER OF SEPPALA, IVAN OF SEPPALA, OCHK OF SEPPALA and N'YA N'YA OF SEPPALA). When Wheeler sold out to J. D. McFaul, more than half of the stock involved was immediately resold to Shearer, but by that time the end of his racing career was in sight and other than the one female in the transfer, TAMARA OF SEPPALA, and KINGEAK OF SEPPALA III (to whom COLLEEN of the foundation mating produced a litter at the ripe old age of 11 years) the late Wheeler stock had relatively little influence.
To summarise, then; the important foundation stock in FOXSTAND lines was:
- Ch. VANKA OF SEPPALA 2nd x SIGRID 3rd OF FOXSTAND mating -- FOXSTAND'S SHANGO, ROMBO, JAVA, SUKEY, and COLLEEN.
- JEUAHNEE OF COLD RIVER, Marie Turner leader used at stud.
- POLARIS OF SAPAWE, Canadian-bred male of Wheeler lines acquired by Shearer.
- N'YA N'YA OF SEPPALA, Wheeler-bred bitch
- TAMARA OF SEPPALA, Wheeler-bred bitch
- KINGEAK OF SEPPALA 3rd, Wheeler-bred male
FOXSTAND stock was essential to J. D. McFaul in his continuation of the mainstream Seppala lineage (as it had been to the earlier foundation of his GATINEAU breeding). FOXSTAND'S GEORGIA and FOXSTAND'S SUNDAY figured heavily in late McFaul breeding. Similarly, the BRYAR kennel, founded with several McFaul males but not a single bitch, would have been hard put to establish a bloodline without FOXSTAND'S RUMBA. FOXSTAND'S PONTIAC was important to Dr. Roland Lombard's IGLOO PAK line. Several FOXSTAND dogs were used in the 1950s breeding of Charlie Belford. Roger Welcome, Steve Tassey, and others of the New England bloodline group also made heavy use of FOXSTAND lineage. When Leonhard Seppala himself went back to Alaska, the "Seppala Siberian" was defined thereafter by three names: Wheeler, Shearer and McFaul. No present-day attempts at the "redefinition" of Seppalas can ever change the primacy of those bloodlines. The Seppala stock used in the MARKOVO rescue of the 1970s had a strong FOXSTAND element in its ancestry. Thus the FOXSTAND bloodline stands out today as a major pillar of the Seppala Siberian Sleddog breed as well as of the racing Siberian Husky.
SAMPLE
PEDIGREE -- FOXSTAND'S SHAMUS (main Foxstand leader early 1950s) (Opens in a new window.)
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PEDIGREE -- FOXSTAND'S FUGITIVE (late Foxstand breeding 1955) (Opens in a new window.)
SAMPLE
PEDIGREE -- LYL OF SEPSEQUEL (Foxstand influence, MARKOVO foundation 1970s) (Opens in a new window.)
