Working Dogs - Eskimo Dogs
Since time immemorial, dogs have worked in the snow in the most hostile climates in the world. Eskimo dogs are capable of pulling sledges over enormous distances in temperatures well below zero and in winds of up to lOO miles per hour on a diet of dried meat and fish. Without them the Eskimo peoples could not have survived and Arctic and Antarctic expeditions would have been impossible. Malamutes (who hauled the heaviest freight), Eskimo Dogs and Siberian Huskies worked all over the vast frozen tundras of northern Asia, Canada, Greenland and Alaska when dogs were the only possible means of transportation.
Today, they are still highly prized for racing. In Alaska, dog-sled racing is the official state sport and the 1,000 mile Iditarod from Anchorage to Nome is known as ‘The Last Great Race on Earth’. A similar event has recently been established in the Alps: the A1pirod covers 600 miles of mountain trails in Italy, France, Switzerland and West Germany. Our strict quarantine laws prevent British teams competing, but they have their own championships in Aviemore in Scotland.