FCI Sledge Dog Commission
Activity Report of the FCI Sledge Dog Commission 2023-2025
The FCI Sledge Dog Commission had its first (digital) meeting in November 2024 since its last physical meeting in Estonia 2018. In 2021 during the Covid period, the commission worked via exchange of email for working breed status of the sledge dog breeds. Only the Greenlanddog - whose standard is under the authority of FCI member Denmark - was granted working breed status. Also the provisional recognized Yakutian Laika, whose standard belongs to Russia, is acknowledged as a working breed.
The standards of the Alaskan Malamute and the Siberian Husky are under the authority of the AKC.
The breed’s parent club in the United States does award sled dog titles to dogs that meet qualifying standards in sanctioned sled dog races. However, these titles are not officially recognized as AKC titles because the races are conducted exclusively on snow. The American Kennel Club follows a one-size-fits-all policy that all performance trials should be accessible to participants nationwide, regardless of location or climate. This creates a challenge for sled dog breeds, which have historically lived and worked in cold climates for thousands of years. The requirement for universal accessibility means that trials must be designed in a way that accommodates regions where snow is not available, potentially altering the traditional conditions under which these breeds have been tested for generations. This raises questions about how to fairly evaluate the working abilities of sled dog breeds while maintaining the integrity of their historical function and polar characteristics. Recent research has shown the challenges the registered sled dog breeds are facing when racing expanded into warmer climates.
The FCI Sledge Dog Commission met on 30 November 2024, in response to the findings of the scientific study Comparative Population Genomics of Arctic Sled Dogs (Smith, Srikanth and Huson, September 2024) which shows significant introgression of Alaskan Husky type dogs and European breeds, in part of the registered Siberian Husky population. From the study:
“The finding of European breed introgression in about half of the Siberian dogs that compete in sled dog races, with notable European ancestry in both the Racing and Seppala populations, but minimal admixture in other Siberian populations, supports Alaskan or European breed gene flow into the Siberian Husky after breed formation.
Alaskan sled dog or European breed crosses in the Siberian Husky may have been used to introduce performance enhancing alleles from faster and more heat tolerant breeds which would have been advantageous as sled dog racing expanded into warmer climates.
The Alaskan sled dog, primarily bred for performance and lacking formal recognition by kennel clubs, has become a leading competitor in sled dog races, including the Iditarod, winning numerous events across various distances. Although their origins are initially from the native village dogs in Alaska, today they are mainly purpose bred for sprint and distance racing and have included many different breeds in their genetic makeup. Crosses to European breed groups such as sighthounds and pointers have been used to improve speed and heat tolerance in the Alaskan over the past century.” (Huson et al 2012)
With the scientific findings at hand, showing that half of the registered Siberian Husky population bred for racing has Alaskan or European breed introgression, it is obvious that measures need to be taken.
To safeguard fair sport competition internationally, the FCI Sledge Dog Commission is committed to work for regulations that ensure only those registered dogs that truly are their breed enter competition for registered sled dog breeds. To protect the breed and the integrity of pedigrees, the commission urges national canine organizations to take measures at registration level for the sled dog breeds. A possible measure could be to provide full pedigrees only to dogs that have tested as single breed (100%) on a genetic test for breed out of genetically tested parents.
According to the guidelines of the FCI Scientific Commission, cross-breeding with other breeds is a measure taken to address a serious health problem in a breed or if the breed has a very small genepool. In the case of the Siberian Husky, cross breeding has been done illegitimately to alter the characteristics of the breed to enhance performance and gain advantage over the competition that runs with single bred Siberian Huskies.
FCI members are urged to take measures at breeding level to uphold FCI Internal Rules (art. 3.2 pt. E).
FCI Sledge Dog Commission specifically refers to the recent statement on the use of genomic tools by the FCI General Committee, mentioning that FCI should help to improve the integrity of pedigrees.
The FCI petdoginfo site states that national canine organizations “aspire to be the most effective advocates for purebred dogs in their countries whilst safeguarding the pureness of the purebred genetic pool”.
On the scientific resource site of the International Partnership for Dogs (IPFD) it is stated; “Research indicates that the specific development of the Siberian Husky breed means that a genetic test for breed should correlate close to or at 100%, even at high levels of specificity” (Brown et. Al 2015)
The Siberian Husky is not a newly developed breed, it does not have an open studbook, and controlled crosses under kennel club supervision have not occurred in recent history.
The Siberian Husky is an ancient breed from a relatively pure Arctic lineage with a closed studbook since 1930, resulting in a unique and distinct genetic signature. As a result, a purebred Siberian Husky with a documented pedigree should consistently test as a single breed on genetic breed identification tests with no ancestry from other breeds.
FCI Sledge Dog Commission also refers to the statement as published on 4 December 2024 by the breed’s parent club in USA: “The Siberian Husky Club of America condemns all cross-breeding of the Siberian Husky”. Source: SHCA
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of breeders to keep the breed’s studbook trustworthy. As such, the FCI Sledge Dog Commission urges breeders to use genomic tools with high density marker sets in their breeding program, in order to protect the integrity of the ancients sled dog breeds.
Despite that the American Kennel Club has chosen to classify the sled dog titles of the breed’s parent clubs as club-titles, rather than official AKC titles, it should not be interpreted as a reflection on the working status of the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute. The breeds belong to the AKC Working Group. The breeds’ heritage and capabilities as working sled dogs remain unchanged, regardless of the challenges posed by accessibility in a mostly warm-climate country like the United States. The breeds do belong in the FCI nomenclature to the Spitz and Primitive group, section Nordic Sledge Dogs, indicating their northern heritage and function as sled dog. They too should be acknowledged with official FCI working breed status. A goal our commission will keep working for.
Eveline Koch
Secretary FCI Sledge Dog Commission
Genomic Research: 50% of Racing Huskies have Introgression With European Breeds, by Dr. H. Huson
http://www.shcatrust.org/Evaluating_Genetic_Diversity.pdf