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Free, Downloadable Articles

ADVENTURE

"The Qitdlarssuaq Chronicles" by Renee Wissink. In 1987, five men and two dog teams journeyed over 1700 miles from Igluliq to Pond Inlet, Nunavut and then on to Qaanaaq in Northwest Greenland, retracing the 19th century migration of the great Shaman, Qitdlarssuaq, and his band of followers.

BEHAVIOUR

"On Being a Social Facilitator" by Mark Brazeau. The author shares his trials, tribulations and secrets to keeping Inuit Sled Dogs in relative peace and harmony.

COOKING & CRAFTS

"Bannock Revisited" by Sue Hamilton. The author is overjoyed at finally learning how to make edible bannock. She shares her recipes with The Fan Hitch readers.

"Dog Yard Noise" by Dan Kato. The author is a mechanical engineer who has worked for over thirty years in the field of acoustics and vibration. He is a part-time acoustical consultant and occasional "adventure tourist" dog musher. In this article, Dan discusses the problem of kennel noise, how neighbors might define it, how to measure it, and he describes some sound abatement techniques.

"Veterinary Studies on the British Antarctic Survey's Sledge Dogs, 
 I: Survey of Diseases and Accidents"; excerpted from the British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, Number 21, 1969 by British Antarctic Survey veterinarian, A.R.M. Bellars. The author first describes the typical circumstances surrounding the life of a working dog: load size, team size, harnesses, distance traveled. This is followed by a series of thirteen tables detailing, by age and gender, reasons for mortality.

"Veterinary Studies on the British Antarctic Survey's Sledge Dogs, 
II: Occupational Osteoarthritis"; excerpted from the British Antarctic Survey Bulletin, Number 22, 1969, pp. 15-38. In this research paper, British Antarctic Husky veterinarians Drs. A.R.M. Bellars and M.F. Godsal examine working huskies, both pre and post mortem, to evaluate the degree to which the working life of sledge dogs results in occupational (as opposed to inherited) osteoarthritis.

"Physiology of Sledge Dogs"; originally published in Polar Record 8 (55): 317-321 (January 1957).  British Antarctic Survey veterinarian Dr. R.J.F. Taylor studied a population of sledge dogs, living and working under harsh Antarctic conditions, to extract physiological data, focusing on diet and work output.

"Evolutionary Changes in Domesticated Dogs: The Broken Covenant of the Wild". Biologist and author, Vladimir Beregovoy, describes the history, function, contribution and value to human society of primitive aboriginal dog breeds and contrasts them with their modern, "cultured" relatives.

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