Dog Articles
Past and Present: North Greenland Eskimo Dog
No white
man living has had more experience with this breed than Admiral
Robert E. Peary, who frankly admits that if it had not been for the
sledge dogs he never would have discovered the North Pole. He is a
firm believer in the pure-bred North Greenland Eskimo, which is
practically a domesticated wolf, and most of the dogs which went to
the Pole were of this type.
A puppy
from these famous animals, secured by one of the co-authors of this
article from Admiral Peary, was named ‘Polaris’, and he developed
into what Captain ‘Bob’ Bartlett declared to be the finest living
specimen of the breed.
Polaris
weighed about 100 pounds, but looked much larger, owing to his
wonderful coat, which at its best measured nine inches long on the
shoulder. The hair of the tail was 12.2 inches long. He took to the
sledge and to the pack-saddle without any training whatever, and
pulled a sledge three miles through deep snow the first time he was
put in harness.
He was
extremely gentle and affectionate with people and with a little
Scotch Terrier of ours, but a devil incarnate toward everything else
that walked, flew, or swam. From Grasshoppers and wild mice,
through cats and pigs to sheep and cattle, there was nothing he
could not or did not kill. Yet such was the magic of his smile, the
twinkle of his eye, and the wheedling wave of his tail, that no one
would believe anything against him unless he was caught in the act,
which he usually wasn't.
He was
finally presented to Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, and celebrated his
arrival in Labrador by whipping every other dog in sight.
Source:
National Geographic 1919
Recommended Reading
Dog Training
Mastery - An Owners' Manual
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