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July 28, 2014 by

Back in 1994, Aliy was living in Bettles, Alaska and beginning to acquire a small group of Alaskan Huskies. While working for US Fish and Wildlife, she had the opportunity to visit the village of Allakaket and meet well respected breeder/racer Steven Bergman. During a tour of his kennel, a sturdy, friendly pup, with a white face and bright blue eyes, piqued her interest. Within the next few months Aliy struck a deal with Steven and Fats, the pup, came home to live with her. He was to become one of the Founding Fathers of SP Kennel. And today, 20 years later, we see glimpses of Fats whenever we look in the dog yard.

Fats was tough, calm and strong, with a race weight of about 60 pounds. “Fats was always a gentleman!” says Aliy. He took each step with Aliy during her early racing days and was a crucial part of her Yukon Quest Championship team in 2000. Fats was the main kennel stud from 1998 to 2001. He fathered quite a few litters and there was always one pup per litter with a white face and bright blue eyes. Fat’s daughter, Mo (pictured below), is Kaz’s pet and a healthy 13-year-old as I write this post.

Fat’s pup, AJ, was dark in color with brown eyes. He was Aliy’s main lead dog in the early 2000’s and the main kennel stud from 2002 to 2005. AJ had only a few pups that resembled Fats. One of them was Oddball, pictured below. Though Oddball eerily resembled his grandfather, he was much lighter in stature, racing at about 48 pounds. Oddball raced on Aliy’s and Allen’s teams between 2005 and 2010. He was the main kennel stud during 2007 and 2008.

  L to R: Fats – “Grand Daddy” to them all; Mo – a Fats Pup; Oddball.

  L to R: Olivia; Junior; Chena.

Oddball fathered 16 pups, 4 of which resembled him and his grandfather, Fats. Those pups are Olivia, Hummer, Honda and Scruggs. All with white faces and bright blue eyes!

As many of you longtime SP followers know, Olivia was the main breeding female in 2012 and 2013. She had 4 pups for SP Kennel in 2012 and 11 in 2013. Of those 15 pups, 7 display the white faces and bright blue eyes which are traceable to their great-great-grandfather, Fats. Olivia and her pups, Junior and Chena, are pictured above.

Chena is one of the eleven pups in the Fire Litter. I attached the Fire Litter Pedigree Chart (below), along with the photos of Fat’s descendants, for a big dose of SP Kennel history. Hope you enjoy it! – Kennel Mom

THE FIRE LITTER PEDIGREE

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19 Responses

  • Thanks so much to Kennel Mom for this research!!!

    Great to hear your "voice" and to see the genealogy chart for the FIRE litter!!!

    –Margaret

  • Thank you for this history of the blue eyed dogs. It is interesting that in the first few generations there were just a few blue eyed and white face puppies, but the Fire Litter changed all of that. Best wishes to all of them in their racing careers.

  • Aliy……I'm heading up for the rodeo on Thurs and will try to call on Sunday to set up a time for coffee if the offer is still available.

    john gomes

  • A beautiful and detail history of your huskies blood line. You are a very special person to keep record of each of your dogs. Thank you for sharing .

  • Thank you for posting this. I remember years ago Aliy posted a Pedigree chart for the kennel and I found it so interesting. I have been wanting to go back and read it again, but SP Kennel does such a great job keeping us entertained and informed with articles, there is a lot to search through.

  • Bet I'm not the only "SPK genealogy junkie" who loves this post!! I knew Oddball is where the blue eyes came from, but I had no idea his lineage came from Fats! Thanks for filling in the gaps for me!!

  • Super fascinating! A really great post. Thank you so much for sharing. So Olivia and Nacho have the same maternal grandfather. Interesting…

  • Thanks for this information, while Aliy & Allen off enjoying watching the bears…that's on my bucket list right along with visiting SP Kennels!

  • What a pedigree of SPK dogs. Tinder has a lot to live up to! Thanks so much for posting. Olivia, Junior, & Chena look so much alike. The line back to Fats is really prominent. Go SPK you are the best.

  • Thank you so much for this bit of history. I had not heard the story of Fats.

  • Our Sherpa is a great granddaughter of Fats and she has two blue eyes. She also has Susan B's Granite in her lines. Her grandpa was wonderful Skinny out of Fats. Love the history of your dogs, Aliy. Long legacies they have, thank you!

  • HINT: Go to…

    Search box at the top left, then

    Type in correctly spelled – no "o":
    genealogy, and then go to

    August 27, 2009 "Family Tree"

    Thanks again so very, very much for the genealogy chart (s), Kennel Mom!!!

    Best regards, always!

  • Can't keep from going back to the genealogy-"pedigree" chart…

    I noticed that the FIRE litter on both sides – mommy and daddy – have the link to a Susan Butcher dog in the great-grandparents line (i.e. "Yuksi", direct to ChaCha, then to Olivia).

    As many have noted already, awesome research, and the reason every one of the eleven FIRE pups should be proud! Woof!!!

    Thanks again, Kennel Mom!!!

  • Aliy
    Was Fats related to Fat Albert…a great lead dog with Rod Perry in the first years of the Iditarod?
    Smooches for Olivia ….
    From Herb and Tonia

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