Ikpukkuak releases his three dogs for packing while Higilaq sets out
with her backpack near Ammalurtuq Lake, southwest Victoria Island;
 1 July 1915, N.W.T. (Nunavut).                                                            
                                          Courtesy, Canadian Museum of Civilization;
          #36989, CD95-927-025;
          Diamond Jenness photo

Staying The Path

by Mark Hamilton

Starting in March 2009, The Fan Hitch published in four parts Vladimir Beregovoy’s work “Evolutionary Changes In Domesticated Dogs: The Broken Covenant Of The Wild”. Beregovoy’s article delineated many differences between aboriginal dogs and cultured breeds while defining the term: aboriginal. Further, he presented models of their reproductive biology, behavior, way of life and selection, then contrasted them with that of cultured breeds.

Johan and Edith Gallant’s article, “Breed, Landrace and Purity: what do they mean?” was published in the December 2010 edition of The Fan Hitch. The article presented definitions for the terms landrace and breed as well walked us through the concept of purity. Landrace dogs (aboriginal dogs) were described as unique to their ecology/geography as well as their uses. While some human influence was acknowledged in terms of preference, they were described as, “largely the result of environmental adaptation, mostly under conditions of natural selection.”

Beregovoy’s and the Gallant’s articles highlight the unique position aboriginal dogs (landrace dogs) occupy between the feral wolf and cultured dog breeds and perhaps even account for the interest various researchers have lately expressed in landrace dogs in their search for the origin of dog domestication.

In 2005 Hanne Friis Andersen’s research – based on mtDNA collected from of blood samples – proved the Canadian Inuit Sled Dog and the Greenland Husky were the same landrace.

In Sarah Brown’s early 2013 research – a comparison of ancient dog mtDNA to modern – we learned today’s Inuit Dog carries the same unique gene sequence (A31) that her research traced back into antiquity. Interestingly, her research also found that the Alaskan Malamute (a cultured breed whose real history, as such, began with American Kennel Club registration in 1935) typically demonstrated a different sequence (A29) which it shared with the Siberian Husky. Only one of the twenty-six Alaskan Malamutes tested carried the A31 sequence.  

Later in 2013, Peter Savolainen’s research – based on mtDNA collected from hair samples – confirmed that Inuit Dogs (Canadian Inuit Sled Dog, Greenland Husky, Canadian Eskimo Dog) carried the A31 genotype and we learned that the dog was free from contamination by European dogs DNA, at least on its maternal side.



Andersen, Brown and Savolainen’s research enhanced our knowledge of what the Inuit Dog is and how it got to this point. The ISD is an ancient landrace. It is one of just a few dogs that are confirmed to have been part of the New World’s ecology prior to the introduction of European influence and genetic presence. It is special. It is unique. And it remains to this day a landrace true to its function. It has its own unique history.

On the way                                photo: Joelie Sanguya