14 DAY TRIAL // Since ancient times, people used animal power, from horse to donkey, mule, cattle, zebu, buffalo, camels, llama, yak, and elephant.
Even if technology has eliminated or greatly decreased animal labor in many countries, in some developing countries their energy is still important and in some environments it may be the best choice.
But dogs were used relatively recently in traction, for pulling carts. During the XIXth century, dog traction knows an increasing popularity, as a mini-version of horse traction. Usually, dogs were harnessed to a two wheels (rarely four wheels) cart, rarer in equipage of two or four animals.
The dogs turned in the "horse of the poor people", more precisely, of the small trade-producers (bakers, milkmen, greengrocers) (photo center).
Initially, dog traction was officially forbidden in big cities of France and UK, but at the end of the XIXth century many west Europeans countries accepted it and regulated (the size and weight of the traction dogs, the cargo and the displacement velocity).
During the First World War, dog traction was intensively employed, but after that declined and today it's no longer used. The preferred breeds were the German Dog, Saint-Bernard and German Shepherd, but other races, too, were employed.
On the contrary, sled dog traction is an ancient tradition (in northern polar zones), which is still practiced (both in the north and in Antarctica). The sleds are "Eskimo type" (with its variants in Alaska, Canada and Greenland) and "Asian type" (Siberia). The employed harness varies also with the region, but the traditional ones can be not very functional, discomforting the dog, which cannot use its entire power, during the effort.
The "individual" equipage (used by Eskimos and Ostyak people in Western Siberia) is made by animals bound directly to the sledge (photo above). This equipage type has variants, of "frontline fan", "elongated fan" or "extremely elongated fan".
In the collective equipage (photo below), there is a main belt by which the dogs' individual harnesses are bound. The animals are disposed alternatively, by each side, with one dog in front, or in pairs with one or two dogs in front. In equipage, the dogs form a homogenous group, inside of which one dog comes off as the undisputed chief. This animal is not the one in the front of the equipage. The front animal is usually a rapid and intelligent bitch.
The "authoritative" chief is obeyed, feared and followed by the other dogs and he must lead his group in all the situations: the most difficult paths, the chase of a polar bear, fight with another equipage.
The harsh climate and the hardness of harness work require exceptional dog breeds.
The training is simple and severe.
At the right age, the puppy is harnessed near its mother and unwittingly learns the commands, its place on the harness and its social hierarchy in the equipage.
During the polar summer, dogs are let free in Greenland and Canada in order to eat by themselves. At the sledge, the driving human herds the dogs with the voice and a long whip.
The performances of the dog equipages can be amazing. In Greenland, 8-10 dogs carry 250-300 kg for 50-60 km daily. In Canada, 12-15 dogs can carry 600-1,000 kg, 12-15 hours daily. Canadian Indians, using slide-sledges with 4-10 crossbreed dogs (inferior to the Eskimo dogs) carry 200-400 kg of cargo for 14-16 hours daily, on difficult terrain.
Unlike the reindeer, the sledge dogs present the disadvantage of requiring high amounts of food, mostly dry fish. But the presence of the reindeer is connected to that of the tundra likens, the only fodder in tundra.
The rush for gold in Alaska would not have been possible without these dogs. Many polar explorers relied on them, the dogs being even eaten in some circumstances.
Sled dogs are generally called Husky. The most renown sled dog breeds are Samoyed (western Siberia), Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Canadian Eskimo Dog and Greenland Dog.
