Evening star., 1933-01-15


~ are raising dogs for use on the
II arduOus patrols of the force in vari-
Gus parts of the North. The OF
tawa-born dogs are. to quote Maj. Gen. j. H.
MacBrien, commissioner of the r. c. M. P.
proving successful being little larger and
better coated than the average husky in the
North"
From the posts of the force in the Eastern
and Western Arctic, dogs are sent to Ottawa,
and there constables with many years of Arctic
experience are raising q sturdier breed of sled
dog than is now found In the North.
With better food conditions and proper care
this is being made possible Annually the ship
ment of young dogs to the Arctic is increasing.
Nor huskies the only dogs used to i'm
prove the sled dogs used by the police. Largely
of wolf breed, the huskies are being crossed
with the Borzoi dogs those long-legged Rus
sian wolf hounds 50 graceful and swift of line.
The Borzio dog alone, says the commissioner,
Is too long In the leg and not coated heavily
enough to keep warm in the extreme cold
weather under which the police patrols are
80 often carried out And while the results
Of croSsbreedng to date have not been alto
gether successful, experiments are still going
on to develop sturdier dog for Arctic travel.
THE dog is still the ms in means Of transpor-
] tation in the Arctic. Airplanes have elm
mated much of the work Of the dog, but the
average trooper, trader, missionary and police
constable still relies on his team of dogs to get
him from place to place in Winter
The natives use them exclusively. There
are vast sections in the Arctic hinterland and
in the Eastern Arctic, in what is knwn as the
District of Franklin, which stretches to the
North Pole, where arplanes have never flown.
There the dog reigns supreme Just as was
the case century ago.
The rival transportation systems have aided
each other. Dog teams have come to the rescue
of stranded aviators; and planes in the late
Autumn just before freeze-up have taken trap
pers with sled dogs and Winters supplies
hundreds of milej into the interior of the
Arctic to save weeks of difficult travel
Snarling, sulky and usually fighting the
Arctic husky has been the means OF saving
life on numerous occasions.
fur trader was making his way up the west
coast Of Hudson Bay in driving snowstorm.
This was no soft snow, thick and fluffy, but
needle-Gharp particles driven by a high wind,
making an effective screen in front of the
traveller so that he could hardly ses his lead
dog.
In such a storm he was anxious to travel the
least possible distance and steered his dogs SO
as to pass a wide promontory But the wind
kept shifting his team about, muddling his
sense of direction and there were no land
marks to guide him in the half-dark Arctic
day.
Time after time with his long whip he
flicked the ears of his lead dog to have her
change direction, and just as often the dog
would go back to her own course. At last the
trader gave in to the dog. He wouli let his
leader lead him where she would
And SO, through the driving storm, that dog,
head lowered, led the team and trader, fighting
against the high wind and the singing snow.
The dog was right. for she brought the trader
to the post he was making for
Had the lead dog followed her masters di-
rection undoubtedly the team and the trader
would have been lost. 1t was the dogs "hom-
ing instinct that saved the day.
The Arctic sled dog has great endurance.
Even though these dogs may not have been fed
for days they can still travel for distances over
the ice and snow, especially when life is at
stake
THERE was a sick trapper, whose partner
was unable to hire Eskimos to take the sick
man to Aklavik, more than 600 miles along
the coast. The trapper sent for the police at
Pearce Point, and a constable came with a
team.
He and the trapper placed the sick man on