Palootok, the dog                           Montcombroux photo

Palootok, the stamp                                                              

The Good, the Bad and the 'Eskimo' Dog Stamp

by Geneviève Montcombroux

If it were not for Sue Hamilton's interest in the e-bay auction, I would never have known that my late Palootok, a magnificent red male, had gained fame on a stamp - in Lesotho, of all places!

Many months ago, an artist contacted me to say she was doing research and wished to have some pictures of a Canadian Inuit Dog. Good-naturedly, I selected my best ones, including some of Palootok, and sent them to her.

The good is that she recognized Palootok as the best dog and painted him. The bad is that she had omitted to mention that it was for a stamp, destined for Lesotho, a small country located in the middle of South Africa. The worst is that despite the brochure I included with the pictures, she called him an 'Eskimo' dog. Due to its location, it is obvious that Lesotho does not know what snow is.  So there is my Arctic dog, standing in front of a stone wall, with some tropical trees in the background. 

Ah, well, I imagine Lesotho is proud of its stamp.