Improving a dog's life in Greenland...

Published Apr 18, 2006

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By Joe Ray

Ilulissat, Greenland - Dog-sledding above the Arctic Circle is the stuff of dreams, evoking classic tales like The Call Of The Wild, but here in the wilds, one woman is slowly changing man's relationship to his dog.

In Greenland's third largest town of Ilulissat, where dogs outnumber the 5 005 residents, these animals are not considered pets. They live and sleep outside, chained to rocks, often without dog houses.

More than 300km north of the Arctic Circle, where temperatures begin to fall below zero from October and average around that until April, dogs live in conditions which would make many an outside owner shudder.

But Marit Holm, Greenland's only veterinary officer specialising in sled dogs, is trying to change things.

While some of her work involves treating dogs, one of Holm's principal tasks is to enforce a July 2004 law insisting on more humane treatment for the animals.

For Holm and her new assistant, this means heading out into Greenland's dog yards and making sure the canines are properly treated - a tricky task, considering many Greenlanders warn visitors not get too close to the animals, "unless they want to lose some fingers".

Dogs are an essential part of the hunting and fishing which make up the town's two primary occupations.

And although she estimates that 70 percent of animals are often not treated correctly, Holm says she understands that the dogs' needs have always come second to the livelihood and survival of their owners in this harsh climate.

If Holm deems a dog to be poorly treated, she can order it to be brought in for treatment or, in extreme cases, put to sleep.

"You're sitting there with a half-dead dog on your lap and wonder how the owner can do that," she said.

But the owners "look at them as working dogs and often think they shouldn't have feelings for the dogs and that the animals shouldn't be spoiled - that you should not give them too much love" said Holm.

"Otherwise they couldn't be a good pulling dog - that's the main rule."

Hunters use the dogs to search for musk ox, reindeer and other wild species which are some of the staples of Greenlanders' diets. And fishermen continue to use dogs to head out onto the frozen ice and haul their catch back to town.

A hunter who loses a dog in the wilderness will still make it home with the rest of the pack, while a hunter with a broken-down snowmobile may very well die with the average temperature here in January and February dropping as low as minus 20°C.

When they are brought to her clinic, Holm treats the dogs for ailments such as fatigue, joint and muscle strains, and injuries from the sleds.

"But bites and sick puppies are numbers one and two," she added.

Holm, who was brought in from the remote northern Norwegian town of Lakselv, also flies to dog events around Greenland, to check on the dogs and teach owners how to care for them properly.

"In general (the new law) has been well received," said the chief veterinary officer for Greenland's Home Rule government, Lasse Holm, who is no relation to Marit.

"There is still work to be done in fulfilling its demands, but it works as expected when cases are brought to trial, so in that respect, I would say it is a success."

Marit Holm has 14 years experience of sledding and often hits the trail with her own pack in the winter months, or takes them jogging when temperatures warm and the snow begins to melt.

While many owners put their dogs down at the age of three or four - when they become more cocky and less productive - Holm has several that are much older.

Despite having been threatened by dog owners "one or two times" during her time in Greenland, she is quick to point out how friendly most owners are and how supportive they have been.

But she also realises that the best approach is a long-term one.

"I'm trying to change it here - you have to start with the small ones - teaching them to give their dogs enough food and water and take good care of them," she said.

Sure enough, it is easy to find fathers showing their children how to train their dogs, with the youngsters playing with brightly-coloured plastic sleds, trailing behind a dog or two.

In Ilulissat, which has everything from tourist shops to a small market selling whale and seal meat, kids wrapped in layers of winter clothes brandish dog whips just as other kids might play with plastic light sabres.

Wooden doghouses in the same colours as Ilulissat's brightly-coloured homes are slowly appearing and it is clear people are beginning to take notice of Holm's work.

Elke Meissner, a German-born tour operator that runs dog-sledding expeditions from Ilulissat, summed it up as she watched a car give right of way to a sled: "In town, it's always dog-sleds first."

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