Denalibelay Siberians

June, 2009

In 1993 we had been given a wedding gift where we could choose to travel anywhere in the world. We decided to do something different and as we had always wanted to experience a "white Christmas" we chose to visit the USA where Roger first spent two weeks at the University of Washington, Seattle and from there it was a hop-skip-and-jump to Alaska and a week of dog-sledding in the wilds. We fell in love with the dogs and decided to return to South Africa with our very own Siberian Husky.

At the time we knew nothing about breeders, puppy mills, or the Siberian breed, but we did own a border collie X that we had had for 8 years. We bought a newspaper, looked in the classifieds, and after a frantic search we found a lovely red puppy. Tokosha arrived home with us on 1 January 1994 to a hot summer’s day, only 4 months old.
It was soon after our return that we decided to take her to puppy training school and realised that we had a "dog that was different". We were approached by a whippet breeder (who has become one of our best friends) who suggested that we show her as she was AKC registered. That was the start of Denalibelay Siberians.

Denalibelay

When in Alaska we stayed at Tokosha Mountain Lodge in Denali National Park not far from the craggy Tokosha Mountains. It just seemed appropriate that we name our new pet after the mountains that are in the McKingley Range - also known as Denali. As we were keen mountineers we decided to combine the two words "Denali" and "belay" which is a term used by rock climbers. So the birth of "Denalibelay Siberians".
We acquired our second import from the USA in February 1996. Tokosha and Blackie (the border collie) were great friends but she was way too energetic for him especially as he got older. We had no desire to breed especially as we were told here that Tokosha was pet quality (if only we knew what we know now) and had Tokosha spayed.
Traleika, named after a glacier on Mount McKinley (Denali), was just what Tokosha needed. A good playmate. After limited showing Traleika told us in no uncertain terms that this was not his favourite past time. We decided that his happiness was more important to us and Roger began taking him on week-end ward rounds. (He probably was the first ever Siberian / dog in South Africa to do therapy work.)
As we were still very keen to show a dog we decided to import another Siberian. Tanana - named after the Tanana River in Alaska - arrived in March 1999. She loved the show ring and is a delight to handle and in her latter years she was handled by two up and coming junior handlers. She has won Best Veteran in Show awards on numerous occasions. We bred her only once and she produced the first Denalibelay Champion (Aly).

On our 9th wedding anniversary Kossok's Jackanapes Jubilee (Jack) arrived at Denalibelay. Somehow he was never really liked by the judges here and so we decided to retire him from the show ring and neuter him. He was bred once to a Koobear imported dog and his progeny have been shipped worldwide and we believe some are now champions.

December 25th, 2002 Merle had the best Christmas present ever; two beautiful littermates sent to us from from Kontoki Siberians, arrived safe and sound to live out their lives with us. They are two extremely special dogs for us as they remind us so much of our border collie. We walk them in the mountains without any constraints whatsoever. They have never had a day's obedience training, yet they seldom let us out of their sight. Patti produced a beautiful black and white puppy for us and Peter produced three beautiful boys. We hope to continue breeding with these lines in the future.

In the 16 years since owning this wonderful breed we have learnt much, and know that there is more to learn both from our mentors and our dogs. Our kennel will remain small so that all of the dogs can have our undivided attention. They all live inside and have their own room set off of our study where they come and go as they please. And they love their own airconditioner too. We have to admit, they are spoilt.

Denalibelay Siberians
Breeding For Keeping

 

Members of the Siberian Husky Club of America
Life members of the Siberian Husky Club of Gauteng