DOGS    August 1975

Those of us who can remember back to the early part of this century will admit there have been a lot of changes. Too many to write about. But did you ever think about how different dogs are in the present day and age? So many we see now are petted and pampered with more care than some people show children.

Now these are pets, and no doubt as well liked by their owners as were dogs of years ago. But it is amusing to compare these pets with the dogs of years ago. Now I am speaking of dogs that I knew as a boy, and it was well back in the country. I have spent a few years in the city and I do not recall seeing so many little dogs as there are today.

Years ago almost every home had a dog or two. Most, if not all, the people who lived in the back areas went deer hunting, and that meant there had to be a deer hound. Often it has been said that years ago a man was judged by his horses. If they were a good team and well looked after he would be a dependable man. And that also applies to hounds. These were not pedigreed dogs, just hounds bred to chase deer. And they would have to own a good deep voice, as the chase was the best part of the hunt. Oftentimes some new blood was introduced, not always successfully. There was a story of a man who brought in a hound from ‘outside’, and it was a rank failure. It would backtrack and the story told was that it was put on the track of a big buck, and away it went in the wrong direction. The hound was a determined animal and he stuck to the one track. Only, he went so far back that when he did get it started, it was a fawn.

Dogs then were expected to earn their keep. There were cattle dogs, who mostly trained themselves, and dogs that were used as sleigh dogs in the winter. And their food was mostly what was left from the table.

Indians who lived in the woods needed sleigh dogs. So many stories written about dogs, always called huskies, but I have seen many dogs at Indian camps that were just a jumbled breed, and it did not matter as long as they worked. Times there was not much left to feed the dogs, especially in the summer time, but the dogs seemed to survive. In the north there was a stock of white fish put away frozen for dog food, plus moose meat, if there was a good supply. Now, of course, most people in the woods have snowmobiles and dogs are no longer needed.

The years we attended the Sportsmen’s Show I spent as much time as I could at the floor that showed the dogs. So many breeds, and from so many places. Different years friends of mine had had the prize Labrador Retrievers, and I got to be fond of these dogs, though for many years I thought that beagles and shepherds were the main breeds. But it was nice at the trials to watch these well trained dogs working from signals given at a distance. The care and training these dogs get is remarkable. But I was told that these dogs did not work so well if they were treated as pets.

Of all the types of dogs we see at these shows I have been told, or read, that only a very few breeds have been developed in North America. I wonder how these highly pedigreed and well cared for dogs would have fared years ago.

Have often heard it said that children need a dog as they grow up and it might be that dogs need kids as well. It is well known that dogs develop the same characteristics as their owners. Times the reverse should be the rule.

Most people like dogs, even the kind we see carried around and treated like babies. But, unless you have lived in the woods with a dog or dogs you really can not know what a wonderful companion a dog can be. One fault you could give a dog is that if you abuse or mistreat them they are back in a few minutes, licking your hand in forgiveness. And their lives are far too short, and we never get to fully appreciate their value.

So many stories written about dogs in the far north and they all give the animal its proper place. But these dogs are disappearing, as are a lot of the things we once took for granted. Read a poem once that ended with this line: “God grant I may be worthy of my dog.”