Here is our biggest Fan Hitch ever! In this issue I am delighted to welcome Niels Pedersen, former Greenland veterinarian.  He has graciously agreed to share with us over the next several issues his reflections of his service to 30,000 sled dogs on that huge island.  Greetings also to Silu Connelly of Kangiqsliniq (Rankin Inlet) in Nunavut who shares with us her recollections of her family's experiences with dog teams.  You'll also get to share our adventures during our recent trip "up island" to Pond Inlet where we were caught the activities leading up to the Nunavut Quest 2000.  Little did we realize that as this event was unfolding, the Nunavut Legislative body was formalizing a decision to make the Canadian Inuit dog the Official Mammal of Nunavut.  These times were filled with even more coincidences and irony as the Inuit of Nunavut and Nunavik made their demands for an investigation into the government sponsored slaughter of their sled dog teams back in the '50's to mid 70's.  Also, controversy continued to swirl in Nunavut's capital, Iqaluit, surrounding proposed dog keeping laws and a highly misleading article on that in the April 25th Wall Street Journal.  The Inuit Sled Dog sure has occupied a prominent place in the news this Spring!  You'll find it all in here, plus a few other goodies, including another masterful poem by Ken Pawson.  Enjoy!

Wishing you smooth ice and narrow leads.........
                                Sue
 

Letter to the Editor

Geneviève Montcombroux of Toadhall Kennels, Inwood, Manitoba, Canada comments on Mark Hamilton's IMHO from Volume 2, Number 2 (February 2000):

If you brand as wisdom the fact that Jayko said, "Don't feed them too much meat, their legs will be too short," you're going to have some mushers starving their dogs by withholding meat simply because they like dogs with longer legs.  What has to be said in truth is that meat, as in muscle meat, alone will cause an imbalance in the diet, but if the meat is in proportion to liver, tongue and heart as well as a form of carbohydrate, you will not alter the length of the legs or anything else. When the dogs are fed seal in the north, they get everything - guts (containing carbohydrate), organ meat, muscle meat, bones. Quite a complete diet, though studies in Antarctica showed that it was slightly deficient in calcium.  Personally I add milk powder to my dogs' mash equivalent to one liter for 15 dogs, as a totally absorbable calcium source. At the last check, legs seem to be medium length as they should be for the Canadian Inuit Dog.