Northwest History. Alaska. Dogs, Dog Races & Mushers.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1928
• Subjects: Alaska; canines; sled dogs; mushers; Anchorage; stamina; intelligence; German police; shepherd dogs; Eskimo; interior Alaska; domestic animals; transportation; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Pacific; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/90496

Alaska Needing Better Canines: Malamutes As Sled Dogs Have Their Bad Points, Mushers Declare. ALASKA NEEDING BETTER CANINES Malaniutes as Sled Dogs Have Their Bad Points, Mushers Declare. ANCHORAGE, Alaska. (/P)—With a view to adding intelligence to stamlna for the production of the ideal sled dog In the north, German police or shepherd dogs have supplanted all other breeds for crossing with gray wolves and with the native Eskimo dog in central and interior Alaska. The results of these new crosses Iiave been so successful that now the highest bred police dogs are being imported to improve the strains. One of the principal objections to the Eskimo dog, or malamute, has been his penchant for thievery and destruction of domestic birds and unimals. Having been reared where anything with feathers represents the food of his fo'rbears, the malamute can seldom be trained so that he can be trusted near domestic animals. The intelligence of the German flog or shepherd, it is contended, will eventually produce strains worthy of trust in populous centers las well as on the trail where often R musher's safety now depends on his carrying a shot-loaded blacksmake whip or a club for handling the half-savage animals on which he relies for transportation.