Sakhalin Husky
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| Other names | Karafuto-Ken |
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| Origin | Japan, Russia |
| Breed status | Not recognized as a standardized breed by any major kennel club. |
| Notes | Not recognized |
| Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | |
The Sakhalin Husky, also known as the Karafuto-Ken (樺太犬?), is a breed of dog used as a sled dog.
This breed is a spitz type related to other Japanese dogs, and considered to be a precursor to the Akita Inu. The size varies between 56 cm and 66 cm at the withers with a weight range from 30 kg to 40 kg.
The ears are small, pointed, sometimes slightly tilted forwards or sometimes falling. This breed comes in many colours, including but not limited to russet-red and black. The hair is fine and thick, with an undercoat of very dense hair, similar to the hair of the Greenland Dog.
Karafuto-ken breaks down as Karafuto, the Japanese name for Sakhalin and Ken, a Japanese word for dog; hence, this provides the breed's geographical origin. This breed is used rarely now; therefore, few breeders remain in Japan.
As of 2011, there were only two surviving pure bred members of the breed in Japan, which never recovered from the ill effects of World War II. An unknown number of purebred dogs can still be found on Sakhalin Island, particularly in communities inhabited by ethnic groups that have continuously habitated Sakhalin since the pre-War era (Nivkh, for instance). The sole remaining breeder, Sergey Lyubykh, located in the Nivkh village of Nekrasovka, died in 2012, but before his death stated that there were no longer enough living specimens of the breed to allow for the genetic diversity necessary for continued breeding.
This breed's claim to fame came from the ill-fated 1958 Japanese research expedition to Antarctica, which made an emergency evacuation and was forced to leave behind 15 sled dogs. The researchers believed that a relief team would arrive within a few days, so they left the dogs chained up outside with a small supply of food; however, the weather turned bad and the team never made it to the outpost.
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