The Dreaded Winter of 1958

The Japanese`s first attempt to document and explore the Antarctic over the winter period was ill-fated, and actually fatal to the majority of sled dogs involved.

The Japan National Institute of Polar Research wanted to continue documenting from Syowa Station in East Ongul Island throughout the entire year. This meant that researchers, as well as their sled dog teams, had to endure the extreme cold, as well as trying to consume as little food as possible, yet still remain fit and able to cope with the weather.

For this first expedition, the Sakhalin Husky breed was chosen, and only the best dogs were selected from breeders in Japan, dogs that came from sledding lines and that were conditioned and used to hard work. After numerous tests were conducted, a total of 23 dogs were selected and these started an intense, harsh training period that was meant to prepare them for the dangerous journey ahead...but nothing could!

Among these 23 dog, there were three brothers: Taro, Jiro and Saburo. However, after the rigurous months of training and preparing, only Taro and Jiro made it on the final 15 dog-team that was supposed the head out to Antarctica, as Saburo died while in training. Besides the two brothers, the other 13 dogs selected were:  Riki (7 year-old, team leader), Anko, Aka, Kuma (Monbetsu), Kuma (Furen), Pesu, Goro, Deri, Pochi, Moku, Jakku, Kuro, Shiro, Taro, Jiro. Taro and Jiro were, actually, among the youngest of the team, being only 3 years old when the expedition began.

The selected team reached the destination without any problems and explored and documented the Antarctic region for several months. However, weather conditions being very harsh, the entire team was supposed to be replaced by another one after a given number of months.

In Feb. 1958, a replace-team embarked on the Japanese icebreaker "Soya" and headed to Syowa Station, but a massive storm started and the ship could not reach its destination. Continuing the journey meant putting in danger the lives of all those on board, but not going through with it meant abandoning the team that was already at Syowa and which was running low on supplies. "Soya" received assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker "Burton Island" and managed to evacuate, by helicopter, the human members of the team, but the dogs were left behind. They were left chained and with food supply only for a few days, as the team was convinced that in a couple of days time they would return to rescue them. But things didn`t work out that way... The weather just got from bad to worse and the officials couldn`t do anything about it, despite the fact that in Japan, the people were outraged and criticized them for abandoning their dogs.

Only one year later, on the 14th of Jan. 1959, another team arrived at Syowa Station and started looking for the dogs. They soon found them, and the sight was not pleasant at all: 7 dogs – Aka, Goro, Pochi, Moku, Kuro, Pesu and Kuma (Monbetsu) – died of starvation and cold while still chained, as the first team members had left them. However, eight other dogs seemed to have freed themselves, had left the base and were nowhere to be found.

Taking into consideration that all odds had been against these dogs, no member of the team had any hopes of finding any survivors, so you can imagine their amazement and excitement when they saw two big, dark dogs approaching! After greeting and petting them and comparing the information they had on the 15 dogs that were stationed on Syowa, they discovered that the two dogs were Taro and Jiro.

Although underweight, the dogs were happy to see humans once more.
Scientists concluded that the brothers must have learned to hunt penguins and seals, otherwise they would have not survived the winter, as no other food sources were available and no signs of canibalism were present on the other dogs` bodies. The other 6 dogs that managed to free themselves were never found, including Kuma (Furen) – Taro and Jiro`s sire.

Finally the brothers returned home and were celebrated like national heroes, but their ways parted, as Jiro returned to Antarctica to serve at Syowa and live just two more years, till his death in 1960, whereas Taro lived at Hokkaido University and sired many ancestors, till his death in 1970. Both dogs were embalmed and preserved so that future generations would come to know their amazing tale of power, will to live and team work.

As a reminder of their story, many monuments depicting national heroes Taro and Jiro and even the whole pack were built throughout Japan, and even a movie was made. (”Nankyoku Monogatari” – engl.  ”Antarctica”).

In 2006, Walt Disney Pictures shot another movie based on Taro and Jiro`s horrific ordeal – ”Eight Below”



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Hello everyone!

I am happy to let you all know that a member of ours has taken her love for sled dogs one step forward and has started a Facebook Community Page called DAILY HUSKY - [link]

The goal of this is to create a community for Sled Dog owners or just fanciers of the targeted breeds and share motivational quotes as well as photos or other types of artwork depicting Sled Dog breeds.
I believe we should all give a hand in making this work!

So, if any of you are interested in having some pictures/artwork featured in Daily Husky in a random manner (1/day), please contact the founder - *Smiley1starrs

Of course, credit will be given and I honestly believe this is a good way to advertise your work as well!

Thank you!

Roald Amundsen`s journey to the South Pole

Roald Amundsen is famous for his arctic expeditions and his use of sled dogs. In his early expeditions he discovered the value and the advantage of using these dogs as a mean of transportation in harsh and cold weather. His first encounter with them was as he led an expedition through the Northwest Passage, lasting from 1903-1905. His team spent two years caught in the ice outside of Nunavut. Canada. During these years he studied the inuits, the indigenous population, and their survival skills. Amongst them was their use of sled dogs. He adopted their techniques for his future expeditions, and this is the reason for many of his arctic adventures success and safe returns.

One well known journey is his expedition to the South Pole. The North Pole had just been reached by another adventurer, so he wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole. But he wasn't alone about that, and it became a race between him and his fellow adventurer Robert Falcon Scott.

Amundsen had a total of 4 sleds, whereof some were specially built and only weighed around 24 kilos. The rest of the standard sleds were also stripped down to only 34 kilos. These were also modified to withstand different snowy and icy conditions. For his sleds, he handpicked the best dogs he could find in Greenland. He picked out in total around 100 Greenland dogs, but brought with him only 52, for his South Pole expedition. His rival, Scott, also used sleds for his expedition, but they were not modified in any way, and weighed around 75 kilos each. He also chose to rely mostly on the men themselves to pull the sleds, even though he brought with him some dogs as well as Mongolian horses.

Amundsen had scattered out several ration posts on their planned route. He also planned, even though he deemed it sad and cruel, but necessary, to put some of the dogs to sleep and use them as an additional food source for his men and the remaining dogs. It was crucial for the men to consume fresh meat, and these dogs were the only domestic animal that could survive such harsh conditions and participate in this journey.

On the 14th of December 1911, Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole. There they left a tent and some unnecessary equipment, and a letter addressed to Scott. He told Scott to use whatever equipment he wanted, and also wished him a safe journey home. 34 days later Scott and his team arrived at the South Pole. Unfortunately, they did not survive the trip home.

Amundsen’s expedition team returned at the 25 of January 1912, with in total 11 dogs remaining. They had been travelling for 99 days, and covered almost 3000 kilometers during this time. The dogs did a tremendous amount of work and made this whole journeys success possible. In honor of the dogs, the expedition team named several waypoints after some of them; Uroa, Mylius, Per, Frithjof, Lasse and Helge . Uroa and Mylius were amongst the surviving dogs, as well as the famous dogs Obersten, who were the only dog to return home.


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TOGO the sled dog

Although Togo`s tale is not as well-known as Balto`s, it is just as interesting and captivating!

It all started when a Norwegian dog-musher named Leonhard Seppala moved to Nome, Alaska and brought with him several Siberian Huskies. He used his skills and dogs to deliver mail in the region, when other means of communication and transport could not be used because of the bad weather. He also started breeding Siberian Huskies to obtain quality, healthy and hard-working sled dogs, domain in which he succeeded! Together with his dogs, he won the All Alaskan Sweepstakes 3 years in a row, between the years 1915 and 1917.

Seppala had Togo as a pup, but compared to others his Kennel had produced, he was not impressed by the little one and actually sold him several times. However, the youngster always managed to escape from his new owners and return to his home Kennel, till Seppala gave up on selling and decided to keep him. Leonhard had many dogs in his Kennel, but on his sled-team he used only his best dogs, those he knew he could rely on at all times. So, young Togo was, apparently, far from making it into the team.

All that would change one day, when Togo – who had around 8 months at that time – freed himself from his kennel and tracked Seppala`s sled and ran shoulder-to-shoulder with his lead dog for almost 75 miles. From that day on, Leonhard knew that the young pup had a lot of potential and was a born leader so he started training and preparing him and, with time, turned him into his best lead dog. Althought Togo and his owner went through a lot together over the next years, and competed and won several sled-races, the dog`s courage, stamina and loyalty would be tested only years after, in 1925 - when the diphtheria epidemic hit the isolated town of Nome.

Because the serum stored in Nome was not sufficient for the 1,700 souls that had made this small town their home and because the harsh weather conditions made it impossible to supply the town by airplane, the people`s salvation could come only from mushers and their dogs. Many enrolled and among them was Seppala.

Alaska`s best musher – Leonhard Seppala – and his dog team covered the longest strech (around 260 miles from the total of 674 miles that parted Nome from Nenana - the nearest town that could send the serum). The brave musher put his life and the life of his dogs on the line in order to help deliver the life-saving serum on time, crossing dangerous mountain paths and frozen lakes in the process. It has been documented that the weather at that time was so bad and the snow storms so great that the mushers couldn`t even see their lead dogs, not to mention the trail they had to keep. Also, temperatures were as low as -50 degrees Celsius. So, Seppala placed his trust, his life in the “paws” of his devoted friend – Togo.

Although the journey was perilous, Seppala`s team made it and the serum was delivered in time and saved those infected with diphtheria. The whole experience was really tough on everybody envolved and Togo suffered some injuries and was not used in competitions very often after that.

He was retired and lived till he was 15 year old, till the year 1929. He was not neutered and produced many offspring. Thus the Seppala Siberian Sleddog breed emerged.


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