Bred By - Mary Groth, Pam Kanzler, Eileen Gacke + Sandy Reitsma

Owned By - Kristen Neufelder + Nate Adams

Mary and Pam brought Salem’s litter for evaluations to a dog show we were all going to in New York. Most everyone picked Salem’s brother for Male picks but something about Salem kept drawing my eye. When evaluating them in a stack I liked Salem’s layback and front assembly more and felt like he had a lot of characteristics we needed in our program. He also goes back to dogs that ran in the Iditarod so we were hopeful he would have drive for running. Two weeks later I picked Salem up from Pam and he had already grown long legs and big ears and I remember thinking “did I just make a mistake.” For the entire time I’ve been in Siberians I’ve said if I ever get a black and white boy I’m naming him Salem (after Salem the cat from my favorite show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.) I brought Salem home and he was this gangly, leggy puppy that I wasn’t sure about turning out like I originally though and I asked Nate “do you think I’ll waste the name on him?”

Salem joined our house a little less than a month before I lost my soul dog, Louis. The dog that I had for over 16 years who went through so much with me and was my security blanket. I truly believe he was the dog that came into my life to help me through such a devastating and life changing loss.

Salem from the moment he came home was just special. He is the smartest Siberian I’ve ever met. So much so we joke that he used to be a human and is stuck in a dog body. He’s sensitive, sweet, and insane in harness. I would have 100 of him if I could.