ON DOGS AND DIFFICULTIES 147 



driver can flick a piece out of any particular dog's 

 ear. 



Occasionally, a refractory dog is pulled in by its 

 trace for punishment. They know the meaning of 

 this, and anticipate the beating by a lively howling ; 

 so that merely to shorten a trace, may exert a good 

 moral effect on a team. 



The " trail " is usually over the frozen sea, the land 

 being too uneven. Good dogs will cover from 70 

 to 100 miles in a day. When starting in the morning 

 the snow is covered with little icicles, formed by the 

 mid-day sun melting the frozen surface. As this 

 is apt to make the feet of the dogs bleed, they are 

 shod with a bag of seal-skin, tied round the ankle. 

 Three small holes are cut for the claws. A pup 

 shod for the first time, holds up his paws in the air 

 alternately ; but once he learns to appreciate the fact 

 that shoes save his feet from being cut, though he 

 will always eat any ordinary piece of skin, such as 

 on a kayak or a skin boot, he rarely eats his own 

 shoes. They do, however, bite at, and eat the harness, 

 especially of the dog in front of them. Mr. Young l 

 tells of a big dog which, though apparently always 

 hard at work, never seemed to get tired like the rest. 

 It always seemed to strain at its trace, and kept 

 looking round, apparently for the driver's approval. 

 His suspicions, however, were aroused, and one day, 

 cutting loose the trace, he fastened it by a single 

 thread to the komatik. Sure enough, the dog 



1 Stories from Indian Wigwams, R.T.S., by Rev. Egerton Young. 



