« Return to the Inuit legends list

Dogs

Long ago, children played with dogs and they also worked with dogs. Children helped prepare the dogs for hunting trips, and they did chores with the help of dogs.

Children played with any dogs that the hunters were not using. The hunters did not take puppies, mother dogs, or sick or weak dogs. Children played with any dogs the hunters left at camp.

Dogs had their own special gear, including harnesses, which in the old days were made of sealskin. When the weather was very cold, mother dogs would wear a mamautailitaq, a cover that kept their nipples from freezing. Dogs also had boots, which were made out of recycled qayak skin [qairningaq].

Children played many kinds of games with dogs. They had small child-size sleds equipped with sirmiit [mud runners], which the dogs pulled. The children could travel around near camp using the dogs that had been left for their use.

Unknown artist Children helped with the dogs in a number of ways. For example, they put boots on the dogs’ feet. They helped train puppies for their future life with a dog team by getting them used to wearing a harness and pulling the child-size sleds.

The children also did some jobs around camp with the help of dogs. An important job was gathering moss for fuel. They also went cod fishing with a team of one or two dogs.

Children helped their fathers prepare the sled for travel. When their father [Ataatak] was getting ready to go on a trip, children would help plane the mud runners of the sled. They would bring father warm water to put on the sled runners. The water formed a thin film of ice, which helped to make the sled ride quick and smooth. Children would also unwind the coiled and tangled harness lines and put the harnesses on the sled dogs.

An Elder described the great sled dogs this way: “The great dogs would be jerking and tugging their lines, ready and impatient to get going. When the dog team got going, the father would barely make it on to the sled, so great was the speed with which the dogs were traveling.”

Some dogs were very slow pullers, and traveled slowly. Some dogs were very fast pullers, and traveled fast. It was sometimes possible to travel very fast by dog team.

Men used some simple commands with the dogs. They called “Qara Qara” when they wanted the dogs to turn left. They called, “Auk Auk” when they wanted the dogs to turn right. When they wanted to encourage the dogs to keep moving, they let out a sharp cry which sounds like an expression of joy, “Uuk Uuk,” and cracked their whips. Handling dogs took great skill and care, skills which the children learned while they were growing up.

Excerpt from: Unikkaangualaurtaa (Let's Tell a Story)