Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-06-10
ESKIMO DOGS.
They Retain Their Wild Nature
Despite Long Training.
AS SAVAGE AS THE WOLVES.
And Like Their Ferocious congeners
They Always Hunt In Packs-In-
stances In Labrador Where They
Have Devoured Human Beings.

stances In Labrador Where They
Have Devoured Human Beings.
There undoubtedly is an affinity be-
tween the wolf and the Eskimo dog.
For generations the dog has been
trained by the Eskimos. chiefly by the
women, and taught to haul a sledge in
winter. The Hudson Bay company's
agents and the settlers on the coas of
Labrador vie with each other in get
ting together splendid teams. One
would naturally suppose that dogs of
this kind, so long trained and associ-
ated with men. would become more or
less domesticated and lose their origi-
nal savage character. 1t is. however,
quite otherwise.
The Eskimo dog of today is still a
pure, unmitigated savage. Like his
congener. the wolf. he always hunts in
packs. Quite recently an Eskimo. with
his wife and child. was making a jour-
ney with his team to a nearby settle
ment. On his way the driver became
Ill and weak and quite unable to con-
troll his team. The dogs turned Oh
them and devoured the whole family.
An old resident at Labrador told me
that one winters evening he was sit
ting reading when he heard a furious
barking among his dogs outside.
Fighting among the pack was so COM
mon that he took no notice of the dis
turbance. Next morning the cause of
the row was discovered. A poor Es-
kimo woman was coming to the house
for medicine for her sick child. She
stumbled over the heap of snow neal
the door. The pack sprang on her. and
some rags and bones discovered next
morning told the tale of her tragic
fate.
The Newfoundland fishermen often
bring home these Eskimo dogs from
Labrador. They invariably urn out
sheep killers. and the crossbred ones
have all the same savage instinct
They have been known to kill a score
or more sheep In one night, all being
found with their threats torn, but not
one eaten. 1t is simply the savage lust
for blood. The early settlers in New
foundland found the great timber
wolves a terrible pest. They killed
their sheep and cattle and sometimes
attacked women and children. They
were continually chased and killed,
but still they increased. A handsome
bounty on wolfskins, however, "
tually brought about their extirpation.
Animals that hunt or move together
in packs always retain this character
istic. The reindeer in Lapland have
been trained and domesticated by man
for countless generations. but they still
retain this instinct of the pack. AS
o as the team moves all the rein
deer start off; nothing can stop them.
While the savage pack hunting char
acter of the Eskimo dog remains so
long unchanged. we have, on the 9th.
er hand, in setter and retriever dogs
a very striking illustration of how an
artificial character can be given to the
dog and a special Characteristic firmly
implanted in a breed and retained for
centuries. 1t is, however, purely arti-
fetal and is easily lost. For instance,
settlers and pointers kept by ladies as
pets and not trained lose the instinct
to point. The unframed breed within
q generation lose it altogether. Every
sportsman knows that the young ones
are very easily trained and point nat
urally. I have seen setter pups only
six weeks old setting at flies.
The instinct for retrieving Is perpet-
uated in no breed so strongly as the
real Newfoundland dog, the fisher
mans friend and constant companion
and the most splendid of all retrievers.
A remarkable instance of his gifts and
courage is the story of a Newfound-
land settler, George Harvey, how with
the aid of his dog and two children he
saved 1853 lives in 1882. In the autumn
of that year the brig Dispatch. on her
way to Quebec with emigrants, in a
tremendous gale of wind struck a rock
about three miles from Harvey's resi-
dence at Isle aux Morris. Harvey heard
the signals of distress and Immediately
launched his boat. His only help was
a boy of twelve. his girl. sixteen years
old, and his dog. To get close to the
doomed ship III such a sea was to court
destruction. Harvey's dog understood
what was required of him. He swan
toward the ship. The seas overwhelm-
ed him and drove him back. but final
" he came near enough. The sailors
threw him a rope, which he caught
with his teeth. At last he got back to
Harvey's boat almost dead from ex-
haustion. but with the ropes end firm
ly clinched In his teeth. Communica-
ton between the boat and the ship
was then established, and with care
and the most laborious efforts every
soul was saved. = Judge Prowse in
London Standard
The "Go,d Snake"