Valholl Seppala Sleddogs is a the husband and wife team of Rory and Terri Frolick. They are a kennel dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Seppala Siberian Sleddog as a working sled dog and an amazing pet for the active family. Terri decided, like many before her, she wanted sled dogs after reading Jack London's “The Call of The Wild at a young age. She read every book she could get her hands on, and her first sled dog was her cousins St Bernard, Ben. She fashioned a harness for him from yarn and used an old piece of tin for a makeshift sled and the dream was born. Unfortunately, life got in the way, as it does, and the dream took a back burner. When she met her husband Rory and the moved to Washington state, she discovered a sled dog club, and the dream came alive again. She told Rory of her dream and he said, “let's make it come true.” They acquired their first dog with the intention of bikejoring. Sigrunn is a Siberian husky, Samoyed, Australian shepherd mix. As soon as she came home, the training began. The first dog she raced with was their Dalmatian, Kas. Soon more dogs joined the pack, and Rory went from pit crew to training and racing with Terri. The first Seppala’s were given to them by a friend. When he asked them if they were interested in getting a Seppala puppy, they said “what's a Seppala?” Well, they ended up with three of them and fell in love with them right away and started looking for more. It took Rory a couple years to graduate from pit crew and handler to racing with the addition of the new dogs.

Unfortunately, there are only somewhere between 100 to 200 of this rare line of dog left today. So, finding these amazing athletes can be a little difficult. They have dedicated themselves to trying to save them from disappearing or just being assimilated into the AKC Siberian husky breed. With such a limited gene pool to pull from, the breed is threatened with a genetic bottle neck. Currently the Continental Kennel Club is the only registration body that recognizes them as distinct and different from the Siberian Husky. So, the International Seppala Siberian Sled dog Club is working with the Continental Kennel Club to develop an outcross program to inject a little genetic diversity to the breed.

So, with all that said, there is so much to learn about the Seppala, and they love talking about the dogs. Feel free to contact them and we'll see what we can do to save the Seppala together.