ON THE PRESERVATION OF A CULTURAL HERITAGE

A Short History Of The Samoyed Dog As A Registered Breed

 The breeding of the Samoyed in The Netherlands starts in 1924 with the import of the bitch Mooswa of Farningham and the male Ikon of Farningham. They were later registered in Holland as Farningham Ikon of Samoya who would become the founder of Dutch bloodlines. The name Samoya refers to the name of the first Samoyed kennel in Holland. In 1926 the first litter bred of these two is born. More imports followed, most of which came from the Farningham kennels. In 1932 the Dutch Samoyed Club was established. One year later, the name was changed into Polar Dog Club to shelter one Siberian husky as well, but in 1963 it was renamed with its former name. From then the club solely occupyed itself with the Samoyed breed. During the 1930s the club flourished and breeding was done on a large scale – 24 different kennel names are counted during this period. Ikon’s influence was firmly rooted in the Dutch population: from 1926 to 1936 he sired 21 litters producing 123 offspring.

Up to World War II close contacts were maintained between Dutch breeders and the Kilburn Scott family. Mrs. Clara Kilburn Scott, and her daughters Joyce and Ivy, were all renowned judges and were invited over to the United States and the Continent several times for judging shows.

The last time one of them judged in Holland was in 1939 when Joyce did the judging in the yearly held match of the Polar Dog Club. The outbreak of World War II caused a rupture in the building up of the population. With 26 litters registered in 1936, breeding had reached its pinicle and diminished rapidly thereafter. It’s true that in the 1940s, as well as after, almost every year multiple litters were bred, but in the 1950s, during post-war reconstruction of The Netherlands, breeding nearly came to a standstill. On average, only one litter per year was born and in the years 1954 and 1956 three were no litters born. In those days of overall scarcity, people had to work very hard just to make a living and having a purebred dog was the last thing that mattered. As long as this economic climate lasted, it appeared to be problematic to find good homes for the few puppies bred and to find new homes for mature dogs when needed. 

The Dutch share of the Farningham heritage owes a lot to the way Mr. Wim M. Clay dedicated himself to help to prevent its complete loss during this difficult time. By coincidence he got in touch with the breed in 1946 and subsequently getting more and more involved with the breed, became acquainted with breeders and judges who had been engaged with the breed from the early years. These people, knowing all about the Dutch breeding, passed him on to him their knowledge and asked him to become judge of the breed, which he did in 1955 and still is. Up until today he has kept the promise made to them to take care of this cynologic legacy. Rowing against the tide, he has never given up to stimulate and advocate the preservation of the Farningham type whenever and wherever he could.

As a judge and breed specialist, he has heavily contributed to the continuation in Dutch show rings of a climate vital to breeders committed to keeping the Farningham type in existence. With experience of almost 50 years actively judging, he is still welcoming to anyone who wants to be taught when trying to become judge of the breed.

Mr. Clay actually never bred a litter himself but was involved in different ways with several litters. Holding the position of chairman of the Polar Dog Club from 1956 to 1962, he went to great lengths stimulating and supporting the breeding of a couple of litters that turned out to be crucial for later years.

To augment the number of dogs left available for breeding, two female pups were imported in 1955 from Finland and a male pup was imported from England in 1957. All these imports appeared to be unsatisfactory when developing into adulthood, and time was running out for saving the Farningham heritage. The opportunity to try the option of inbreeding emerged when the retired Queen of Holland, Princess Wilhelmina, asked the Polar Dog Club to provide a stud to sire a bitch she received as present when visiting Norway. This bitch, called Ibur Stella, was unrelated to the Dutch population and although big and of good type. Clay proposed the dog Bertil, and in September 1958 a litter of 4 bitches was born. The litter turned out to be so satisfactory that the same combination was made again, producing a second litter with 4 males and 3 females in June 1960. In 1961, Sunna van het Aardhuis - a bitch of the first litter - was subsequently mated with her father resulting in a litter of 4 males and 2 females in September 1961. With this deliberate inbreeding, the Farningham type was firmly rooted in their offspring. All together, a tiny but viable pool of breeding stock was recreated, through which this type could survive in Holland.

In the 1960s and very long after England was internationally seen as the ‘El Dorado” of dog breeding. This is why the prominent breeding of that country, with its transformed breed type for the show ring, was perceived as leading throughout the world. In all countries where breeding was not yet heavily influenced by the English show trend, sooner or later a next generation of breeders started to follow this trend to an increasing extent, dominating the existing breeding practice and culture.

In Holland, too, a slowly growing amount of fanciers of the show type was found who - with the purpose in mind to alter their breeding in that direction - started to import dogs at the end of the 1960s and/or travelled with their bitches across the border to have them sired. Up to the 1990s they formed a steady, growing minority within the Dutch Samoyed Club. About half of the Samoyed population present today in the Netherlands, consists of their breeding products. Next to the two sides of the show dog fanciers and the working dog fanciers, a group came into being in the 1980s that was in between and mixed the show and the Farningham type.

Apart from the fraction of show type lovers, the overall breeding continued for two decades with hardly any further influx of imported genes. As the economy started to flourish in the second half of the 1960s the total population grew steadily with different breeding lines emerging from what had been saved. But as these lines were all very close related, an unintended high degree of inbreeding took place and problems not seen before started to surface in the 1980s. Particularly now and then occurring hip dysplasia urged breeders of the Farningham type to breed outcrosses. They were and are faced with a difficult balancing act between maintaining genetic health and the risk of importing other inheritable diseases new to their breeding lines. They are also confronted with the issue how not to lose too much of the typical appearance, of which the wolfish head appears to be touched at first. In the search for healthy, inheriting studs with an appearance not deviating too much, contacts within the community of the European sledding sport appeared to be an important gateway. Dogs selected for siring were found in Germany and Switzerland where mushers in the pursuit of a sound working sled team had based their breeding in the 1970s and 1980s on imports from Holland, stemming from the Farningham bloodlines. 

 In other European countries, the appearance of the breed from the first decades has by now – at least in the show ring - totally vanished. Today, only in the Netherlands, it is still possible to present a dog of the pure working type to enough different judges to be able to earn the champion’s title at all. Two decades ago, such a dog could still win international champion titles by attending shows in neighbouring countries. The fact that the Farningham type has held for such a long time a dominant position in Holland has possibly something to do with the popularity of the breed in the1930s. Many people experienced a Samoyed during their childhood days and were left with precious memories. As adults attaining the position that can afford to buy a dog, they went searching for one with the familiar looks from their youth. This generation of dog owners is, by now, getting too old to keep a dog. Now the Farningham type is favoured by a new generation of owners who are simply attracted to a dog with natural looks or who want to compete in the sled dog sports with a purebred Samoyed.

The irony is that although the Samoyed is not a sled dog by origin, the use for this goal - today in the sled dog sports - seems to once again play a vital role in the preservation of the breed outside its home country. People that want to be successful in this sport are in need of a physically well-functioning dog. As it turns out, the selection process that comes along with a breeding program for dogs fit for this sport, automatically generates a certain degree of “backbreeding” to the aboriginal type. The hunting instinct of these dogs is clearly fully intact, as well as the tendency to use a penetrating high-pitched barking when calling or inciting action. Whether this applies to the preservation of all typical mental capabilities of the breed raises a big question mark, as the sport practice is not comparable to the original working practice of herding. To find these answers, it’s obvious we should consult the experts on this matter. Fortunately this is now possible again but, just like a century ago, it is still very complicated for someone in the Western world, not knowing the Russian language, to make contact with Nenets people, so any help would be most welcome.

On cynology and preservation of cultural heritage

Presumably Holland is today the only country where still a few kennels are to be found continuously and consistently breeding in accordance with the views held by the Kilburn Scott’s. Who, in the times the registered breeding started from imports out of Siberia, chose on their turn to aim for breeding to the aboriginal type. It is also the only country, where still a small flock of judges exists, acquainted with an appearance of the breed which in the rest of the world has sunken into obscurity or, more often, is totally unknown. Although pressed into a minority position they stick to the views of the early days of Dutch cynology that the appearance of a breed is something of cultural significance and for that reason worth preserving for the future. Dogs like the portrayed Na-Njarka stem from a population resulting from this tradition.

Not just a part of the cultural heritage of registered dog breeding has so been preserved. As these dogs of registered breeding belong to the cultural heritage of North West Siberia and especially to the culture of the Nenets people. This explains the amazing fact that a dog born in the Netherlands in 1996 out of ancestors imported about one hundred years ago shows such a remarkable resemblance to Noho, the aboriginal Samoyed that Vladimir Beregovoy bought in 1962 from a Nenets family on the Yamal peninsula. It also explains the amazement among a delegation of Nenets invited over to Holland in October 2001 to attend an intensive eight days conference program arranged by Arctic Peoples Alert, a Dutch organisation supporting indigenous peoples in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Part of the program was a discussion meeting open to public on which R-PADS member Mrs. Bartol managed to show them pictures of Samoyed dogs she breeds. Seeing these pictures caused a stir among the elderly people of the delegation. They confirmed recognizing the dogs as being the same as theirs, but then switched from Russian to their own language talking excitedly to each other. What they were saying had to remain unknown, as the Nenets language went beyond the capabilities of the Russian language student acting as translator.

The very possibility that these Nenets could find dogs in Holland with the looks of the breed that is now vanishing in their home country, has been enabled by the formation of internationally organized cynology, a phenomenon that emerged during the second part of the 19th century. First limited to a very thin, top layer of society, it started as a hobby of people sharing a great interest in dog breeds. These people were accustomed to travelling abroad, maintaining international contacts as an aspect of their way of life. So, it is not surprisingly coincidental that the first kennel clubs were founded in different countries at about the same time and opinions held did not differ much. Dog breeds were seen as a cultural heritage of the past. So, in 1890 the Dutch Kennel Club, Cynophilia, was established with the objective to preserve and to improve dog breeds.

From the start, the event of the year for all kennel clubs became the organization of annual dog shows. The purpose was to display the looks of fine specimens of all kinds of breeds, and rare breeds were of special interest. The next step was to compete for which dog was best looking. Testing and proofing of working capacities was done in a different setting. For instance, in field trials held by hunting clubs who preferred to restrict these occasions to a highly exclusive circle of people. On the other hand, shows were open to the public, attracting bigger and bigger crowds of dog fanciers, coming from all layers of society, through the years.

This phenomenon has grown into a world-wide institute covering all kinds of dog breeds with standards, societies, breed-specific clubs, registration of pedigrees, stud books, judges, a show industry, etc., etc. On the one hand it has meant that when a breed got officially recognized, it was subsequently saved from vanishing, caused either by extinction, or dissolution beyond the point of distinction due to mixing with other breeds. On the other hand it developed in such a way that official cynology now undermines the preservation of many breeds. In the course of time, exhibitions developed into everything dominating the show business, having a dynamic all of its own. And it was here that its second goal - to improve breeds – was twisted and exaggerated to an extent that it made cynology going off the rails.

Unfortunately, the history of the Samoyed breed illustrates very clearly how these dynamics work and the disastrous influence competing at shows can have on the exterior of a breed. When dogs were judged in the show ring, the relation to the working practice faded further and further into the background. Everything was revolving around the word ‘beauty’. What was understood as beauty reflected the taste of the day, and the opinions held on beauty in the country concerned. At the same time qualifications received at shows were going to matter more and more, particularly to breeders. This mechanism was boosted by the strong competition element intrinsic to shows. Because of this element, the earning of personal honor and glory in the show ring became the focus point of attention for many breeders and owners. Besides, reaching the status of breeder of champions brought along very tempting financial aspects like a prominent position on the puppy market and a high fee for the services of a stud.

All together, it stimulated kennels to slant their breeding programs towards the creation of an ever more beautiful appearance, following fashionable trends defining what to pursue and so augmenting their chances to win at shows.

This all results into a situation that is exactly opposed to the kind of situation enabling the preservation of a breed for the future. As every experienced breeder will tell, to keep on breeding outstanding dogs, generation after generation, is the most difficult thing to accomplish. To be able to do so, one is dependent on the breeding by others. It also requires a steady flow of information accessible to everyone interested, an open exchange of information, uninhibited recording of problems arising, and a working together. What matters ultimately, is the overall quality and size of the population. And that is a shared responsibility of everybody involved: breeders, judges and owners.

Unfortunately, these conditions are incompatible with a highly competitive environment.

So the second goal formulated at the on set of organised cynology – to improve recognized breeds – became a euphemism for to change and appears to be at odds with the first goal: to preserve dog breeds for the future as a cultural heritage of the past.

However, the Dutch history of the Samoyed shows the other side of the coin. It proves that organized cynology does have the potential to preserve a breed. To reinforce this potential, the relation with working practice needs to be restored in a well-defined and correct way.

What Japan recently did - reclaiming the Akita Inu as a part of their culture and national pride - sets an example. They redefined the breed standard causing a split into two different breeds – the Akita Ina and the Great Japanese dog. Worldwide, dogs were allocated to either of the breeds depending on how much they deviated from the standard drawn up by Japan.

Today’s FCI standard of the Samoyed mentions “Utilization: sledge- and companion dog.” If Nenets people would step forward to approach the FCI claiming the aboriginal Samoyed as their cultural heritage, an official split in the Aboriginal Samoyed as working dog and the (transformed) Samoyed as companion dog could possibly be brought about. The building up of a registered population of Aboriginal Samoyeds would automatically imply the opening of breeding registers. And that would provide the opportunity to unite all dogs of aboriginal type – those outside Siberia of registered breeding and those unregistered still alive in their home country – into one worldwide population large enough to be truly viable, creating a chance for both to be preserved.

I‘m fully aware of the fact that to the Nenets the preservation of the canine part of their cultural heritage will not be on top of their list of priorities. This Arctic people has far more serious problems to deal with. However, with combined forces we might succeed.