History of the Yankee Siberian Husky Club
Est. 1968
The Yankee Siberian Husky Club started the way a lot of great ideas do — a group of people who loved Siberian Huskies got together and decided the breed needed a home of its own in New England.
In May 1968, at the Springfield Kennel Club show, the club was formed as the Siberian Husky Club of New England. The founding group included 75 charter members, among them some of the biggest names in the breed and in sled dog racing at the time: Lorna Demidoff, Anna Mae Forsburg, Peggy Grant, Peggy Koehler, Roland Lombard, and Eva “Short” Seeley. The first president was Walter Shank, and dues that year were $1.
By 1972 the club had updated its constitution to meet AKC standards and changed its name to the Yankee Siberian Husky Club. That same year it received AKC approval to hold specialty shows. The first specialty took place in December 1978 at the Eastern Dog Club show in Boston, followed by the club’s first independent specialty in June 1979.
From the beginning, YSHC balanced the show ring with the breed’s working roots. Early members held training clinics, visited historic kennels like Chinook, and supported new people getting into sledding. The club ran the Sandwich Notch 60 Sled Dog Race from 1982 to 2007 and, for many years, hosted “working days” with lectures and hands-on training for beginners. It has also long supported the annual sled dog demonstration at Houghton’s Pond.
Today the club continues that dual tradition. It holds an annual AKC specialty show featuring conformation, Junior Showmanship, owner-handled competition, rally, and obedience, while still connecting members to the performance and working side of the breed.
More than 55 years later, Yankee Siberian Husky Club remains one of the oldest Siberian Husky clubs in the country — still here to support owners and fanciers who want to show, compete, and keep the breed’s history alive.
