Chlout-Velikaya Kennels:
History is
often a subject of great distortion and a
sometimes chameleon of the mind. Meaning, we
can delude our minds into something we are
not, commonly known as, “a legend in ones
own mind”.
We are not legends, nor have we deluded our
minds into thinking we are or will be. Ours,
always was and always will be a kennel of
pragmaticism.
The kennel of Chlout’s Velikaya Siberian
Huskies did not begin per-se as
Chlout-Velikaya but progressed in time as an
amalgamation of thought proclivity.
Basically, three individuals were
instrumental in the development and
existence of Chlout-Velikaya Siberians;
Darrell Reynolds, Rick Outwin, and Bob
Chlupach, each with varying ideas and
approaches but having a common ground of
philosophy and conviction to the Siberian
Husky as a competitive sled dog athlete.
Steeped in history as a competitor, in a
world of multi-faceted venues such as speed,
mid-distance, stage and long distance
racing, the contemporary Siberian Husky
faces many of the same challenges as it did
in the days of the Nome Sweepstakes. Witness
the historical sled dog photos of which
hounds in all their glory; flop-eared,
rangy, big bodied, slick coated, square
muzzles, fewer in number per team, 9-12, as
apposed to Siberians, smaller in stature,
double coated, often prick ears, more feral
type muzzle, in team sizes generally of 16
dogs. Today’s long distance strategies are
similar to Sweepstake’s competition which
were and still are; run longer-rest less
creating a methodically slower pace or
run-rest in equal quantities resulting in a
faster pace, the variation of which, is
ultimately a function of the driver’s
ability to determine what is best for their
particular team. In the speed racing venue
the Siberian has been equally competitive at
various times over the years. “THE” Siberian
Husky was/is a competitive sled dog, the
only real stumbling block, the lack of
breeders dedicated to establishing the
traits that make it so. It is with that,
this kennel finds itself trying to nick at
the very doors that can make the Siberian a
respected and revered competitor.
The kennels of Kossa (Chukchi meaning dog),
Velikaya (a river of the Anadyr region), and
Okiotak (Chippewa for “one who stays north
in winter”) had various routes to their
beginnings. Darrell and Angie Reynolds
operated Kossa Kennel for the most part in
Anchorage, Alaska. Darrell, born in Alaska
and raised in Seattle, after an early adult
life in Oregon moved back to Alaska in 1964.
Darrell was once described as, “a curious
human being” and therein lies the essence of
his sled dog demeanor. In the Pacific
Northwest Darrell religiously read newspaper
want ads in the pet section for huskies.
This eventually resulted in the meeting of
Harry and Velma Wade. Wades had earlier
traveled to Alaska purchased Nikki and
Chuchi of Anadyr of which their kennel
moniker Chu-Nik is derived. Chuchi went on
to become Am. and Can. Ch. Chuchi of Anadyr.
Back in Alaska, Darrell cooked up a deal
with the Wades to purchase their spotted
dogs. Since Wades had a small kennel as well
they repeated the Chu-chi x Nikki cross.
Darrell ultimately ended up with dogs from
Wades of same genetics of which were;
Domino, Erena, Sonya, and Keelik the sire
Chu-chi of which was Ch. Bonzo of Anadyr
C.D. and the dam Nikki sired by Alaskan’s
Nicolai I of Anadyr.
On a different stage, one of significantly
larger proportions, three noted Alaskan/Anadyr
leaders were most instrumental in the future
of Alaskan/Anadyr Siberians. Those
individuals were; Alladin, Bonzo, and
Nicolai I any one of which Natalie Norris
describes as a “once-in-a-lifetime dog”.
Little did they know, their
once-in-a-lifetime dog had not yet been born
nor had the sire to this particular dog.
Alladin factors into Bonzo’s pedigree, the
sire of Wade’s Chuchi. Alaskan’s Nicolai I,
as mentioned earlier was the sire of Wade’s
Nikki. Nicolai I also sired Astro who was no
slouch for a leader either and also had the
notoriety of siring many offspring that
appeared in the first string over many
years, as did he. Norrises ventured into
inbreeding and line breeding at that time to
increase the influence of performance of the
prior noted dogs, Astro in essence was that
medium since he was already siring a number
of individuals making the first string.
Darrell Reynolds, the prototypical genetic
student wanted to establish a standard of
performance and begin setting down a
competitive phenotype as well. Using two
proven leaders, Keelik and Domino (both from
the same breeding different litters) were
bred to Astro bitches Darrell bred, their
two
offspring crossed and in the resulting
litter was a “blue” color coated dog, her
name, Ooma. Natalie had only seen that color
once in 30 prior years of
her involvement with Siberians at that time.
Earl and Natalie Norris using Astro x Sestra,
both from Nicolai I, chose a tighter genetic
approach than
Darrell’s but theirs yielded a Secretariat
(most famous record producing race horse
ever outside of Seabiscuit) amongst the
entire Siberian Husky world. The dog was
Nicolai II. Nicolai II became the “once in a
lifetime dog”. As a youngster and team dog,
Nicolai II established himself with his
working acumen, durability and tenacity. The
youngster didn’t take long to become a
leader and lead he did, taking the Alaskan/Anadyr
kennel with him. Numerous wins and high
placings in open-class speed races including
the World Championship Anchorage Fur
Rondezvous sled dog race established Nicolai
II as the all time best Siberian around.
Norrises went on to structure their breeding
program from him.
Darrell Reynolds, with a significantly
smaller kennel became enamored with the
1,049 mile Iditarod sled dog race, a race in
its infancy at that time. To help fill out
Darrell’s team at various times, Earl and
Natalie loaned, at one time or another, most
of their Seppala stock which they had gotten
from Donny McFaul. Too, Darrell never
wavered in his genetic pursuit of line
breeding. Getting more established, Darrell
acquired dogs from Alaskan/Anadyr but mostly
pursued breeding his stock to Astro since
Astro was obviously throwing many good race
dogs. The spotted dog Astro fit in well with
Darrell’s liking. Spotted dogs were
basically discriminated against in the show
ring and Darrell always had a penchant for
going against the grain to prove there was
good stock outside the “politically correct”
show venue. Darrell was very distraught when
showing Domino (a pinto), an easy poster
child for the Siberian Husky, when a judge
dismissed him with out so much as a look.
Rick Outwin as a kid was highly involved
with horses. While attending the University
of Vermont he was enrolled in the Animal
Husbandry Program with specific interest in
livestock production. During the Viet Nam
era, Rick found himself in the U.S. Air
Force and was stationed in Alaska. Upon
discharge, he remained and knocked around
Alaska for a while ultimately settling in
what is known as South-central, to locals
the Anchorage-Eagle
River-Chugiak area. His first dog was
supposed to be a MacKenzie River
husky but turned out to be just a husky
cross. By 1974 Rick had found Darrell and
Angie Reynolds. If one hadn’t known better,
you would have
thought Rick one of the family he spent so
much time there. In time, a unique bonding
relationship developed as Darrell and
Angie’s generosity and sharing of
information over “coffee talk” had that
effect on people.
Rick’s foray into Siberians began in the
summer of 1974 with a purchase of an Astro
daughter, Alaskans Sonya of Anadyr, and 2
pups from a 3 pup (Poncho, Kotya, Kiska)
litter out of Nootka of Kossa and the line
bred Ooma, from the Keelik-Domino gene
group, Alaskans Bonzo and Nicolai I. In
those three pups were the derivations of all
the color patterns yet to come in the Chlout/Velikaya
kennel. Poncho was a sable of buff color
with a black saddle resembling Nootka, Kotya
a pinto resembling Domino and Kiska a
“dark-dark” black, going back to Chu-chi,
Nikki, and Nicolai I, and white with nearly
full face covering and an undercoat of an
unexplainable color.
Darrell and Angie funneled dogs to Rick and
eventually Rick began purchasing dogs from
both the Kossa and Anadyr kennels. A number
of dogs were looked at but the starting
point or foundation sire was a dog by the
name of Alaskans Hustler of Anadyr. Hustler,
a Nicolai II son, had a direct connection to
Donny McFaul’s Seppala dogs through his
mother, Tadlucks Huslia of Anadyr (Ditko of
Seppala x Dushka of Seppala). Huslia a
marginal sled dog with sterling enthusiasm
had a full body color of gray with black
tipped hair and no real discernable facial
markings. Hustler, a medium/dark sable had a
sooty face, a throw back to Ditko. In his
prime he was sold by Earl and Natalie to
Bill and Mimsie Brisbois in Michigan where
he went on to have an illustrious racing
career leading a Brisbois team composed of
many Alaskans to victory. Before the sale of
Hustler, Rick bred him to Kossas Scottie
(Imp I) of Velikaya, an atypically jet black
colored dog acquired from Kossa Kennel.
“Hustlers Jaffet of Velikaya”, as seen on
the home page, had a color pattern which has
been evident through the passage of
generations and is still present today.
Scottie a.k.a.
Imp, went back to Kiska from the “blue” Ooma,
Keelik, Astro, Nicolai I and Seppala stock.
The dark color of Scottie however favored
that of Kiska/Ooma which was passed through
the line breeding Darrell had done with
Keelik and Domino that resulted in Ooma and
also on Scottie’s dam side Keelik again a
major factor. Unbeknownst to us, the “blue”
color was genetically lurking within the
genome of darker
sooty face and sable colored dogs.
Summer work with the Alaska Dept. of Fish
and Game proved to have a strong magnetisms
so when Bob Chlupach completed his fisheries
schooling at Iowa State University, Ames,
Iowa he headed to Alaska. Traveling and
working in various regions of the State, Bob
initially settled in the capital city of
Juneau. During winters, the photographs and
front page headlines of the Anchorage papers
were of sled dog races. No Jack London, no
Robert Service, none of that, just pure
plain and simple, in black and white, sled
dog racing looked interesting. From reading
the want ads, a Siberian bitch was
purchased. That bitch was sired by Nicodemus
of Kossa, the same sire of Ooma of Kossa. In
early spring, Bob had relocated to
South-central Alaska and soon met, through
the Siberian Husky Club of Anchorage,
Darrell and Angie Reynolds, Earl and Natalie
Norris and Rick Outwin. In that summer, with
the purchase of Kiska of Kossa another
Siberian kennel was on the way to addiction.
Many weekends and evenings were spent around
the Reynold’s dining room table. Darrell
probably loved it, Rick and I were all ears,
both our kennels taking a leap in numbers,
every moment seemed consumed in thoughts of
Siberians as sled dogs and conjured up
breedings. In time, Rick and I were
disciples to Darrell and it easily became
obvious that by working together more notes
and understanding of performance and gene
flow from more dogs could be undertaken.
This pragmatic approach continues on today.
With no other
proven gene pools as easily accessible to
us, we in essence became a
minor country or satellite of the Alaskan/Anadyr
genome. Visits to the “Howling Dog Farm” of
Earl and Natalie Norris was like a vacation
through a candy store.
Speed racing at the time was quite popular.
The Alaska Sled Dog Racing Association
instilled its member to start small and
progress up through the ranks from 3, 5, 7,
to open-class racing. The highly competitive
open class Alaskan/Anadyr team was led by
Nicolai II and the team left multiple
indelible impressions on our minds. We came
to know every dog and their background. It
must have been quite bothersome for Earl and
Natalie to be pestered by us. Darrell,
however, was easily accepted as he was a tad
older and had already done a few breedings
from the Norris stock. Rick and I likely a
“yawn” to Earl and Natalie.
When Darrell ran Iditarod in 1975 a new
dimension to driving dogs opened. Here was
an ultra-marathon sled dog race that
required good dogs, good training and a
driver with mental discipline to perform
routine functions while totally fatiqued. It
was not impossible but nearly improbable
that any one of us could field an outright
competitive open class team from our
respective kennels. We dabbled but the
numbers were just not there. Darrell’s
attitude about Iditarod was far to
compelling to ignore yet he had paved the
way, gave confidence to a seemingly
impossible feat. We entered “THE” race for
the first time in 1977. After Darrell’s
first run the wheels were turning faster and
faster regarding good dogs and genetics.
However, as was with Darrell’s first run it
is redundant but the dogs we had were what
we had and a team was shaped around them. It
was apparent from other entered teams that
the best dogs for open class speed racing
were the best at
Iditarod as well. An already existing
breeding program took on a new life with the
primary effort of increasing the overall
quality of the composite of our dogs based
on their ability and durability as
performers. Our first Iditarod team
consisted of dogs from Rick, Bob, several
from Darrell’s 75 Iditarod team and Earl and
Natalie filled in the rest. In the 1978 run,
the team began to have a make-up of dogs
from the earlier directed breeding efforts.
Probably the most outstanding dog in
Darrell’s team was Keelik, however, a
youngster by the name of Nootka was there as
well. Nootka, a relatively young dog in 1975
had earlier been struck by an automobile
while running loose. Roughly 700 miles into
the race Nootka’s prior shoulder injury
proved to be too much. Even though Nootka
was still chomping at the bit to go, Darrell
dropped him from the race. Nootka was
included in the 1977 team as were two of his
sons and their half-brother. Summer and fall
training was intense and this seemed to make
Nootka more sound. In fact, as he got
tougher he got wilder. An awesome performer
of maniacal ambition, Nootka was clearly in
a league of his own.
It should have been a chip shot for us to
understand, Nootka’s sire, Alaskans Gray
Cloud (a.k.a. Curly) of Anadyr, was a larger
tall well proportioned gray and white.
Curly, a blend of power and speed, made the
Alaskan/Anadyr open class first string year
after year during the kennels prime. His
size belied his talent which was suspect due
to his larger stature, however, his
durability race in and race, season after
season, of short race
lengths and the 3-25s of the Anchorage Fur
Rondezvous far out shadowed any doubt and
proved his ability. Few dogs in today’s
performing Siberians have Curly in their
background. Curly was sold to Kolyma kennel
in Holland and continued to have an
illustrious career. We feel very fortunate
to have his representation in our group.
In the 1978 running of Iditarod, Nootka was
present again, only this time buoyed by his
progeny and their half-brothers and sisters.
A persistent team of 12 was mentally
deranged with drive and had the power of a
locomotive, always wanting to push the pace
under any circumstance. Half-way into the
race in the middle of the night a turnoff to
a checkpoint was missed. An airplane had
landed near us at daybreak and informed us
that we were the only ones out there.
Puzzled, we learned we had gone by the
checkpoint 4 hours and had to back-track,
rest and pace accordingly. The team later
went on to place 14th overall. Nootka and
his offspring again demonstrating monstrous
durability and speed. By 1979 a few more
good dogs were acquired both from Earl and
Natalie and Darrell and Angie. Again the
team was a composite of Kossa, Velikaya,
Okiotak, and Anadyr. There were several
outstanding individuals but one acquired
from Earl and Natalie whose name was “Speed”
stood out due to his size and gait. Speed
was a very rangy gray and white, perfectly
proportioned, so well proportioned that he
didn’t appear as tall as he was. Without a
doubt, Speed’s gait was as graceful as it
gets, like smooth undulating waves and do
not recall him ever breaking into a sweat. A
relatively quite dog that blended well with
the “hell-bent-on-destruction” demeanor of
the Nootka crew. Under a more methodical
training regimen the team again placed in
the top 20 in 1979.
Our goal was to breed dogs not for the
masses but to improve the average quality of
our stock. Over the years, we continued to
ardently line breed and on occasion in-breed
and we have out crossed, all with the
intention of a particular phenotypic
template of two dogs; Nootka and Speed.
Nootka for his tenacity at any time and any
place and Speed for his exceptional smooth
gaiting. The genes behind it were largely
from Astro, a dog who was consistently
throwing racers making the first string of
the Alaska/Anadyr kennel. During the years
to come an intensive breeding program
involved line breeding, inbreeding, and
outcrossing. In the process many blind
alleys were encountered and with that
knowledge. As well, at times, we fished
around in the gene pool.
A prior noteworthy breeding was, Kiska of
Kossa x Mitzi Johnson of Kossa, both
leaders, Kiska a Nootka son previously
mentioned, and Mitzi a totally black dog
except for short white stockings.
Unsuspectingly they yielded a most unusual
litter. Mitzi’s mother was Iarka of Kossa as
was Ooma’s. We would not have been surprised
if a “blue” dog surfaced but instead four
different color patterns resulted; goldish,
biscuit, dark gray and the most unusual was
“orange”.
On occasion there is a slight hint of orange
that surfaces, in fact at various times of
the year Quinn’s head will be orangish in
color but the color appears to be slow in
showing, however, another dog a littermate
to our “blue” colored Casper of Velikaya was
“apricot” colored.
Darrell always said the gene pool was pretty
“plastic”. For years, something will
disappear only to find it reopened later on.
Sometimes, perceived problems were isolated
and knowingly genetically buried. We have
always felt it better to deal with a genetic
problem and know where it was derived from.
Our feeling continues to be, there are not
enough good Siberians on the ground to
discriminate against a dog for a particular
fault but instead clean-up the fault
genetically and not ignore it.
The overall present color patterns in our
kennel today more closely resemble those of
the Nome era Sweepstakes than ever before
and we now appear to be honing in on
consistently good length of leg. It may seem
that we’ve dwelled a lot on color which is
the farthest thing from the truth. Color is
only but one indicator of the flow of genes
but it does help us understand gene flow
patterns from generation to generation. Both
Darrell and Earl hammered in our heads the
importance of good angulation in the
shoulders. This, if any single factor for
steering a gene pool could be cited,
shoulder angulation remains the most
important to our program.
Life’s sometimes seeming persistent problems
mitigates the abilities of any professional
athlete and as well has happened in our
kennel.
In the 1980's Darrell was going through
health problems but continued to pursue his
dreams. Darrell, Rick and Bob continued the
genetic push and it became discouraging as
we were not coming up with individuals of a
caliber we thought necessary. Puzzled by
this, we embarked on understanding what was
making the Alaskan a seemingly better dog.
The main group of Rick and Bob’s Siberians
were then consolidated at Rick’s kennel and
we embarked on studying the genetics and
driving attributes of the Alaskans. In the
1980s there was always a Siberian or two in
our Iditarod teams but we continued to have
difficulty putting a whole group together.
We have often thought we were too demanding
of achieving a specific phenotype.
Never-the-less, the breedings continued and
with it more blind alleys.
Darrell died in 1989 while driving dogs on a
training run.
In the 1990s Rick’s health began giving him
fits and though breedings continued the
Siberians were pretty much dormant as sled
dogs and evaluation was pretty much by the
eyeball. Though there were many fine
individuals, mitigating circumstances for
both of us continued and we were unable to
put together a full team. We had both lost a
bit more steam and had many more blind
alleys. By 2000, circumstances forced the
kennels to pare down even more to the
“essential” individuals which ended up being
just 10 dogs. It really grated us to know
and feel the only real advantage the
Alaskans had was numbers of serious breeders
of competitive racing sled dogs.
After running Earl and Natalies team to Nome
in 2001, Rick and Bob decided to once again
ardently pursue the “roots”. With not one of
the remaining 10 dogs ever having been
harnessed up, our team was truly built from
scratch. Since, we’ve completed a Rondezvous,
an Open North American and numerous minor
open class races. We are again seeing what
it takes and once again good dogs are
beginning to surface. The Nootkas and Speeds
still the template. The genetic player,
Astro.
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