Inuit have long known that sled dogs are built differently. Now, scientists are catching up.
A new study published in the journal iScience found sled dogs have back legs shorter than other dogs’ by six per cent.
The paper found this by examining ancient and modern Chukotka and Greenland sled dogs and using a biomechanical model to see how dogs pull.
But Aliqa Illauq, who co-owns the outfitter Kool Runnings in Iqaluit, said this finding is already well known.
“Inuit have always known this,” she said. “Traditionally, [it’s] what they were used for because families would be using them to go from one camp to the next or just to go hunting for survival.”
Both the study and mushers agree the sled dogs’ short legs help them pull heavy loads for long distances.
“If you look at the way [sled dogs] run, you can tell that their bodies have adapted to be able to pull even better,” Illauq said.
Aliqa Illauq, co-owner of the outfitter Kool Runnings, said Inuit have always known sled dogs have shorter back legs because when you look at them you can tell that their bodies have evolved to pull. (Cameron Lane/CBC)
In the past, Kool Runnings co-owner Jovan Simic said sled dogs were pulling heavy loads on shorter lines, so the angle was very sharp, causing them to have shorter back legs.
Simic said he’s noticed when dogs with longer legs pull sleds, they have issues with their hips and knees.
“If we put tall dogs in the back [of the pack], they really suffer,” he said. “You can see them bending down and you can see their spine crunching.”
Tatiana Feuerborn, an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen who works with the Qimmeq Project, which examines the history of Greenlandic sled dogs, said this study quantifies what is already talked about anecdotally.
“I’ve heard from a number of mushers here in Greenland, as they say that the dogs have different leg lengths and especially now there is this question about whether that’s changing as the use of dogs in Greenland is changing,” she said.
New study is shedding light on sled dogs
In Greenland, Feuerborn said people talk about some dogs being stocky and shorter, while others are longer-legged.
“Regionally, [people] think that there’s longer legs or shorter legs in different parts of Greenland in the west coast versus the east coast — that the dogs have a different build,” she said.
Illauq said sled dogs get shaped by their environment and what they are being used for.
“What I have noticed growing up and everything, the further north you go, the smaller the dogs are,” she said.
Kool Runnings co-owner Jovan Simic said sled dogs differ depending on many factors including the region, lifestyle, the environment they live in and what they are eating. (Cameron Lane/CBC)
Simic added that dogs differ depending on their purpose, some haul heavy loads, while others travel fast.
Kool Runnings’ dogs are used more recreationally, he said — they are leaner and faster with longer legs.
“We’re more interested in ‘Hey, how fast can we go? Can we get to our cabin in a relatively decent time so that we’re not spending the whole day on a sled?'” he said. “All these factors will play into how the breed evolves.”
Simic wonders how sled dogs will continue to adapt in the future.
Nowadays, he said some dog teams have developed preferences for a certain look and characteristics.
“They’re all the same dog. They all have the same traits, they’ll want to pull,” he said. “Some regions have shorter dogs, some regions have dogs with more pointy ears.”
With the use of sled dogs changing in Nunavut, Simic jokes the natural selection of dogs will end with them as they baby their dogs. Instead of pulling very heavy loads, Kool Runnings dogs are longer legged and travel fast. (Cameron Lane/CBC)
Now, the purpose of sled dogs is changing in Nunavut, and Simic notes some dogs that wouldn’t have survived, now get to live.
“The dogs in the past, that wouldn’t have survived, they’ll survive with us and they’ll run with us,” he said. “Is that a good thing or not a good thing, I don’t know. It’s just how we do it now.”
Feuerborn added that lifestyle, diet and isolation of populations also plays into how sled dogs have evolved and will continue to.
Illauq said she’d like to see more Inuit included in this type of research.
“We are the ones that have been in relation with these dogs, and we have documented, even though it may not be on paper, but it has been documented how these dogs have been and how they have changed,” she said. “It’s really important to make space for Inuit.”
First author of the study Mitya Kletzerman said the research team did work with Indigenous people during the field season in Chukotka and spoke informally with people familiar with sled dogs. These conversations weren’t included in the study, which relied solely on skeletal data.
Feuerborn said she’d like to see the research expand and look at more populations of dogs on a larger scale.
Through the process of natural selection, Simic said sled dogs have evolved for a reason.
“All those features, including shorter legs or however they’ve developed, developed like that for a reason and the purpose of how they were used by Inuit,” he said. “And luckily, there’s still some around and they’re still hardy.”
