Fun fact. They aren't an American dog breed. It's in the name, "siberian", or Siberia. You know that really cold place in Russia?
Fun fact. We named all these breeds in the 17/1800s after a bunch of admixture so watch the snark
Example: The "Husky" part of the name is from the indigenous Arctic Americans prior to the introduction of the Siberian Husky:
The term "husky" first came into usage in the mid to late 1700s. At this time, "Esquimaux" or "Eskimo" was a common term for pre-Columbian Arctic inhabitants of North America. Several dialectal permutations were in use including Uskee, Uskimay and Huskemaw. Thus, dogs used by Arctic people were the dogs of the Huskies, the Huskie's dogs, and eventually simply the husky dogs. Canadian and American settlers, not well versed on Russian geography, would later extend the word to Chukotka sled dogs imported from Russia, thus giving rise to the term Siberian husky.
Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that maintain arctic breed traits represent an...
www.wikiwand.com
But yeah. Did some more looking up and looks like I'm getting them mixed up with older indigenous dog breeds & Malamutes of Alaska.
Although it is believed that the first dogs arrived in the Americas 12,000 years ago, people and their dogs did not settle in the Arctic until the Paleo-Eskimo people 4,500 years ago, followed by the Thule people 1,000 years ago, with both originating from Siberia. Malamutes were thought to be bred by the Malimiut Inupiaq people of Alaska's Norton Sound region.
The Malamute has been identified as a basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th century. A study in 2013 showed that the Alaskan Malamute has a similar east Asian origin to, but is not clearly related to, the Greenland Dog and the Canadian Eskimo Dog, but contains a possible admixture of the Siberian Husky.
The Alaskan Malamute is a large breed of dog that was originally bred for its strength and endurance, to haul heavy freight as a sled dog, and as a hound. It is similar to other arctic breeds such as the husky, the spitz, the Greenland Dog, Canadian Eskimo Dog, the Siberian Husky, and the Samoyed.
www.wikiwand.com
The Chukotka sled dogs that are seen as the common ancestor between Huskies and Malamutes are in fact Siberian. This part of Siberia:
Here's a fun video (Trey's a fun guy) on pre-contact dogs from someone who did more research than I.
At 14:00, Trey cites
a 2018 study that provides this genome chart which clearly shows Arctic dogs both European and American as being most closely related to pre-contact American breeds:
But he goes on to share research showing that there is hardly any pre-contact genetic information left in dogs at all. Apparently less than 2% of dogs in America have any of those pre-contact genetics. But
then he says "the few American dogs that can claim descent from pre-contact dogs, at least at the moment, are Carolina Dogs, Alaskan Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, Greeland Dogs, and of course those yummy little Chihuahuas" so 🤷🏻♂️
