The Fan Hitch readers are asking me who else is looking at it, where in the world they live, what are their interests in Inuit Dogs or The Fan Hitch? From the contacts received over the years, I have been pleasantly surprised by the diversity of our audience. Some of you are not too doggie at all, but have found us by surfing the web looking for information, all kinds of information. I too would like to know more about who flips through our web pages. To the majority of those who have not already done so, I ask that you please drop me a note and introduce yourself. You don't have to reveal your life history (unless you want to), just enough to satisfy the curious among us as to how varied our audience is, or isn't. And if you prefer to keep your information confidential, I promise not to include any of your remarks in our Fan Mail section. Honest.

As Editor-in-Chief, I'd also be interested in learning what you like or don't like about The Fan Hitch: content, presentation and formatting, frequency of publication. Please let me know.  Be anonymous if you wish, but understand the effect of your criticisms  will be taken more seriously if you are willing to identify yourself - especially if you want a reply. 

I am more hesitant to ask what  you all would like to see more of in our journal. What does appear is largely up to the few contributions I am so very grateful to receive. My policy is to stick to original non-fiction stories except where previously published articles are so inaccessible to our audience, that I feel the material is worthy of duplication (with permission, of course), such as R. J. F. Taylor's "The Breeding and Maintenance of Sledge Dogs", part one of which appears in this issue. The journal's staff cannot and should not write everything. I promised myself long ago that I would not resort to begging for contributions. But if  you, and I mean YOU, keep coming back to our pages because you are finding something of interest or relevance, it may be that  you, yes YOU, are someone who has something to contribute about Inuit Dogs specifically or the world they live in. We have very few rules about topics and submissions: one is since we don't charge for accessing The Fan Hitch on line (the cost of print subscriptions is to cover printing and postage only) we can't pay you. To those professional writers and photographers, I'm sorry. I know you have to make your living by your work. But I sure do appreciate those of you who have been so generous with your offerings in the past and thank you profusely in advance for any in the future. Also, the material must in some way relate to Inuit Dogs. If you're reading this now, you know the kind of articles printed in The Fan Hitch (or you can find out by reviewing back issues). For all contributors, I try very hard not to be formal like other magazines about word count or formatting, how wide the margins of your "manuscript" submission must be - fancy stuff like that. I don't even know what The Chicago Manual of Style is let alone do I expect you to follow it. You don't have to write like a Rudyard Kipling or a James Mitchner. Don't be shy! We are delighted to receive articles written at all levels of ability. What I ask is that you write from your heart. We publish four times a year: March, June, September and December. If accepted for publication, your submission has to be received no less than four weeks before the end of one of those months in order to be included in that month's issue. I sure do hope that you will consider sharing your experiences.

Talk to me.
 

Wishing you smooth ice, narrow leads and windy days to keep those bugs away,

                                         Sue