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THE INUIT SLED DOG INTERNATIONAL

The March Fan Hitch is here! Volume 10 Number 2

PLEASE NOTE: The ISDI believes it imperative in the interest of clarity and truth to point out that some dog clubs are usurping the name ‘Inuit Dog' and trying to pass their hybrids for pure Inuit dogs. There is ONLY one Inuit dog and that is the Inuit Sled Dog that the Inuit people brought with them, several thousands of years ago, when they migrated to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.

The name ‘Inuit Dog' belongs to the people of the Nunavut territory of Canada, who adopted the dog as their mammal emblem, and to the people of Nunavik region of northern Quebec (Canada) and to the native inhabitants of Greenland. The Inuit Sled Dog is an aboriginal dog that has not changed in function, appearance and temperament during more than four thousand years. It is the dog that pulled explorers' sleds to both poles, and brought them back.

A UK-based dog club, calling themselves The Inuit Dog Association, is promoting a cross-breed of dog that has no Inuit dog in it. To quote their website: "...several Inuit/Husky type dogs were imported by various individuals and a few specimens of the progeny of these were selectively bred for type and size with northern breeds. Such as Malamute and Husky crosses and the German Shepherd Dog for trainability, to create a breed with a wolfish appearance and submissive temperament... to create the Northern Inuit Dog we know today." The club appears to contradict itself when it claims "...the Inuit Dog Association is NOT creating a new breed of dog."

Another UK dog club, this time calling themselves The Inuit Dog Society, states "For those of you with an interest in Wolves, Wolf Type dogs, Wolf Hybrid dogs or Wolf Look A Like dogs, look no further." This was the club that at one time advertised wolf hybrids. Due to adverse publicity, they dropped the term ‘wolf dog'. Their emphasis on the wolf resemblance is, however, suspect.

A club about which the we posted a warning on the ISDI website has now renamed itself The National Esquimaux Dog Association and continues by stating "Formerly The National Wolf Hybrid Association." This too makes them suspect too. Their many historical quotes are to be understood in the context of the era. Quoting Charles Darwin's opinion (1874) on the aboriginal dog belonging to the Inuit people that "The Arctic wolves are the parent stock of the Esquimaux dog." is misleading. The reference to Darwin is taken out of context from The Origins of The Species, 1872, tom ii, page 181. Darwin did not have DNA tools at his disposal.

The Inuit Sled Dog International has participated in several scientific studies with universities in North America and Europe. Findings positively ascertained that there were no wolf genes in the makeup of the Inuit Sled Dog (ISD). The fact that we compare the behaviour of ISDs and of wolves stems from similar environmental conditions for both those two canine species. The ISD is primitive breed, that is, it is not domesticated in the way poodles are domesticated. The ISD developed in a harsh climate and under tough conditions. Helping the Inuit to hunt gave him the same skills as wolves have. The ISD also lived in packs and possess a strong pack mentality, the same mentality that wolves have. Other species that live in packs and hunt present similar skills and qualities. In addition, the ISD learned to pull a qamutiq sled.

Even today, the ISD is still used in his traditional sled dog role in the Canadian North and in Greenland by Inuit who have maintained or are rediscovering their traditional way of life. Under no circumstances should the Inuit Sled Dog be mistaken for the mixed-breed mongrels advertised by those clubs in search of repectability.

Copyright © ISDI 2005