The San Francisco call., 1898-03-20
TRAINING CITY DOGS FOR
 A HARD LIFE IN ALASKA

through his domain and made me ac- Quainted with the various individuali- ties temporarily tenanting the place, and of him, as we made the rounds or the establishment, l learned, since he was possessed of much information which he had no heSitancy about put ting into circulation, many things.
 He showed me harnesses both of the collar and breast-strap kind, and in formed me that the collar variety was preferable, for the reason that the breast strap shut off the wind" and a dog, with his wind shut off, wholly or in part labors under a disadvantage when it comes to pulling heavy loads. He also showed me the little buckskin moccasins, some of them f1eece-lined, which, securely tied above the dew claw on the canine leg, protect the feet from frost, chillblains and ice cuts,
 I learned that since the Klondike. ex- citement began and dogs of size, but no particular pedigree, came to be merchantable articles, our frugal Italian and Portuguese citizens, who formerly subsisted on the income de- rived from the crops raised in outlying vegetable gardens, have gathered the golden harvest from the sale of the dogs, who heretofore protected their small farms. Scores of dogs who seemed, less than year ago, destined to spend their uneventful lives in frightening hOodlums from making predatory excursions into tempting strawberry and melon beds have found themselves torn from their homes and delivered over to the trainer, and thence carried to the icy land where cold and hungry, footsore and wretched they have worked and starved and suf- fered until death came and their poor, abused bodies have been fed to their less sfortuuate-becauSe still aliVe-com- panionS.
 These "dago dogs" as they are called, are, however, not the only ones that have been swept northward by the tide of human necessity, but from all over the coast, from cities and villages and ranches dogs have been collected on speculation and shipped to Alaska. The voyage up is particularly hard on them, for they suffer from cramped quarters, sea-sickness and each others i'll tenn per- When they arrive in port they are generally a sorry looking lot, but they are usually sorrier before their life work is over. Life in the Klondike re- zion is hard enough for the men who go there of their own volition, but 1t is far worse for the poor brutes who are car ried prisoners and forced to wear out a miserable existence in unwilling and thankless service.
 They were Dedulllul QOSS lO WHICH l was introduced, every one of them, though not one of them showed the dis tinctive points" which would have gained him the respectful consideration of a true dog fancier. They were all long haired, or what is technically known as ''rough-coated'' animals, and all in excellent condition, as their diet and general health is carefully looked out for for some time before sending them away.
 "Pick up a dog and send him up off hand" said my kindly host, "and you might as well send a dead one for all the good he will be. We get them used to one regular meal a day, and Klon- dike fare at that, and when our output arrives every dog in it is worth having. They'll drag heavy loads, make good time and live on cracklings or taIlow and meal"
 Bingo was through with his lesson by this time and was relegated to his stall, while two of his companions, whose ed ucation had been longer under way, were brought out, harnessed tandem fashion, and driven merrily around the inclosure for my edification. They seemed to enjoy the performance huge ly, holding. their heads well up and wagging their tails whenever halt was, called, and the only mistake they made was occasionally getting their hind feet over the traces.
 Dogs would be sight easier to