Wolfmoon Hounds & Horses • Claire B. Seekins, Prop.

• Sled dogs of Distinction: Eurohounds & Huskies •
• Arabian Horses
• Cambridge, Minnesota • 763-689-1132
• e-mail: Claire.Seekins@houndsandhorses.com

The Wolfmoon Philosophy

The Wolfmoon Huskies began as a dream of mine. I bought a few dogs from Lloyd Gilbertson, my mentor and friend for more than a decade, and a few more from Susan Butcher, who remains my s/hero and mentor. I am still humbled by the words on the clipping on Lloyd's cabin wall that says:

Getting into sled dogs is like standing on the edge of a cliff.
You have to jump and build your wings on the way down.

In many ways, I am still building my wings, but I am also flying.

Breeding Champions: In my first race season in 1991, with a few of Lloyd's and Susan's dogs, we had fun and we flew in the six-dog class. I was hooked. But Chris and I realized that while neither of us would ever be the caliber of musher to run champion teams, we could breed truly great sled dogs — dogs good enough to run on champion teams in sprint, stage, mid distance or long distance. I wanted my dogs to be able to do it all. Now, a dozen years later, I am breeding dogs that indeed can do it all. Those of you who are lucky enough to run these dogs will be the champions.

Oscar x Agnes 1991 I was lucky enough to get Agnes from Lloyd in 1990. She is a Wing (D. Chrisman) granddaughter and out of tough Siberian Dunlap lines. She showed me what a tough driving leader can do. She also has demonstrated how the horse term "tail female" carries over to the sled-dog world, maintaining the integrity of this strain. Some of this was luck, some of it was what these girls showed me.

Most of my dogs are out of the Wing tail female. She was a dog that ran the Iditarod, and won Yellowknife and the Pas with Tim White, then went on to lead Joann Carlson's team to many sprint championships. Her blood and spirit run through all our huskies. From this line, the females have always been leaders, and they consistently breed leaders.

Agnes produced two exceptional leaders out of my first breeding with Oscar (C. Champaine) a Rusty (G. Wright) son in '91. Rose and River were two incredible leaders that I had the privilege of running and racing for years; they also led Chris' team. (We lost Rose to cancer this fall; but River is still vibrant and retired in our dog yard.).

Dagger x Rose 1994
The second key breeding I did was in 1994 with Dagger, foundation dog of my kennel and father to most of the dogs on Martin Buser's 1994 Iditarod championship team. He was a dog bred by Jim Welch and goes back to George Attla's lines. I introduced the Attla heart and speed into my Rusty and Dunlap blood. This breeding produced four amazing females, including Thelma and RitaMae, the foundation matriarchs of our kennel.

Bobby X Thelma 1996
Bobby x Rita Mae 1998
Gunner x Thelma 1998
Gunner x Thelma 2002
Then I was lucky enough to introduce the Streeper hounds into my line. I have bred to two of Eddy and Amy Streeper's hounds‹Gunner and Bobby to produce these amazing dogs. Out of the first litter in 1996, James and Star, are running with Matt Weik teams; Gus and Scully are on Kelly Harris' sprint teams; and Hunter is on lease to Eddy for his open 2003 open team. The Gunner x Thelma breeding (1998) produced Luke and Solo, Eleanor, Sigourney and Oskar. Luke and Solo lead Matt Weik's main race team. Sigourney leads Chris Johnson's team. Eleanor leads Kelly Harris' team. The newest Gunner pups out of Thelma are four females: Agnes and Kate, who were sold to Kevin Malikowski; Abby who was sold to Shirley and Van Peeke and Kelly who is already a leader on the Wolfmoon sprint team.

My Eurohound breeding philosophy is simple: Start with the best and continue. Susan Butcher did two breedings in '99 with Egil Ellis' Mike, whom she bred to two outstanding females, a blend of tough Butcher Sven and Roxy's Troll and Lollipop. She maintained the integrity of the husky and introduced the German shorthair, through Mike—one of the best ever, and also a Sailor grandson. The strength of my Eurohound bloodline is built on this foundation.

From Susan, I bought Ida bred to her half brother Zeus. Ida produced some amazing pups, who are half Mike. Keeping the Eurohound speed and recovery, and the toughness of the husky is my goal—and they are simply fun and exciting dogs.

I also bought Giskin from Arleigh Reynolds and bred her to his yearling leader Kyle, an Ellis Labben son. Giskin has produced some amazing dogs.

Seeing what these 2001 pups have done through their 2-year-old season has made a believer out of me. One of the Kyle x Giskin pups that I gave to Lloyd Gilbertson ran on Wendy Davis' Atta Boy, Stage Stop and Beargrease teams. Others went to Spain. One is on Ted Wallace's sprint team. We have bred some dynamic stars who are running on our and others mid distance and sprint teams. We see them as the new foundation and focus of our breeding program.

Talk to Some of the World's Greatest Mushers

Look for the Wolfmoon Eurohounds and Huskies on the teams of Chris Johnson and Kelly Harris from Wolfmoon; Lloyd and Mary Gilbertson and Wendy Davis and Peter Dobbs, all from Caribou Creek; Golga Jacob of Bethel, Alaska; Greg Lawler of Mt. Hood, Oregon; Matt Weik, Kevin Malikowski, Ted Wallace and Joe Cappucino, all of Minnesota; Mike Marsh of Wisconsin; Truman Obermeyer and Dr Mark Adams, both of Michigan; Van and Shirley Peeke of California; and Eduard Andreu Bofill of Spain. Please contact any of these great mushers for testimonials.

Dogs for Sale

We have some adults, yearlings and pups for sale, including Eurohounds. Visit the Dogs for Sale section or contact me for information on which of our dogs would be right for your team.

Claire B. Seekins