Editorial: Know the Dog, the Land and the People
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Chinook Project Returns to Labrador
Canadian Animal Assistance Team Returns to Baker Lake
Ghosts of Dogs Past
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Qimmivut: the Ilisaqsivik Society’s Dog Team Workshop
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Editor: Sue Hamilton
Webmaster: Mark Hamilton
The Fan Hitch, Journal of
the Inuit Sled Dog, is published four times
a year. It is available at no cost online
at: https://thefanhitch.org.
The Fan Hitch welcomes your letters, stories, comments and suggestions. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit submissions used for publication.
Contents of The Fan Hitch are protected by international copyright laws. No photo, drawing or text may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Webmasters please note: written consent is necessary before linking this site to yours! Please forward requests to Sue Hamilton, 55 Town Line Rd., Harwinton, Connecticut 06791, USA or mail@thefanhitch.org.
This site is dedicated to the Inuit Dog as well as related Inuit culture and traditions. It is also home to The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog.
The Fan Hitch welcomes your letters, stories, comments and suggestions. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit submissions used for publication.
Contents of The Fan Hitch are protected by international copyright laws. No photo, drawing or text may be reproduced in any form without written consent. Webmasters please note: written consent is necessary before linking this site to yours! Please forward requests to Sue Hamilton, 55 Town Line Rd., Harwinton, Connecticut 06791, USA or mail@thefanhitch.org.
This site is dedicated to the Inuit Dog as well as related Inuit culture and traditions. It is also home to The Fan Hitch, Journal of the Inuit Sled Dog.
(L) - Aleta Schmah (AVC graduate, 2010) performing surgery,
(R) - Stephanie Robitaille (AVC graduate, 2010) monitoring
anesthesia in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, 2009.
photo: Chinook Project
Chinook Project Report: 2011 Northern Wellness Clinics
The Chinook Project is in the middle of preparing for our 2011 mission to Labrador. We've been invited to provide veterinary services to two communities, Natuashish and Makkovik, towards the end of June. Natuashish is a primarily Innu community with a serious stray dog problem, and the Chinook Project first provided assistance to this community last year. This year, we are providing a follow-up visit to continue to try to help reduce the stray population. We will also be making our first visit to Makkovik, a primarily Inuit community with more owned than stray dogs.
Because this is our first visit to Makkovik, we're unsure exactly what to expect and are preparing for as many different scenarios as we can. Because the planes that take us from Goose Bay into the two communities are tiny, they can't carry both our team and our veterinary supplies. Thus, we have to ship the supplies separately and early. Last week we sent five boxes north, and are hoping they arrive safely and without a hitch. The flights for our team of three veterinarians, one technician, and five students have been booked through Air Canada and Air Labrador. This number allows us to split the team part way through the mission to send a smaller group ahead to Makkovik to begin providing service there while the rest of the team finishes up in Natuashish before joining them. We are particularly excited this year to be accompanied by a volunteer veterinarian who is a graduate of our Atlantic Veterinary College who participated in one of our earlier Chinook trips when she was a student. Our preparations involve more than packing and shipping, though. Marti Hopson, our lead veterinarian, is busy meeting with our student participants after their regular classes to prepare them, both in terms of veterinary skills and emotionally, for their Chinook Project experience in Labrador. This year will be challenging in many ways, and our team is ready to meet those challenges with skill, creativity, hard work and enthusiasm.
The Chinook Project is an annual program associated with the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. For more information visit the Chinook Project website.
Donations to help the Chinook Project can be made to:
The Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre, att: Dr. Alice Crook, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Ave, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4P3 Canada
