I am responding to a January 9 2025, story “Waitsfield Canadian Eskimo Dog Igloo is named best in breed in Canadian competition.” In 1972 my husband and I purchased our first Alaskan Malamute from SnoPak Kennels in New Hampshire. Fortunately, their stock was all from the original Kotzebue line created by the breed’s founders (1935) Milton and Eva Seeley of Wonalancet, New Hampshire. As newbies we were embraced by breeders and owners of the Kotzebue line dogs and we embraced their understanding of history (fortunately the true version) and the notion that our Alaskan Malamutes were a true working breed as the Seeleys derived the Alaskan Malamute from the then called Eskimo (now Inuit) dog which was taken from its natural polar environment. We involved ourselves in recreational mushing and believed that the conformation ring was also the place to demonstrate our dogs’ worth in terms of their history and work ethic. It took us until April of 1994 out on the ice of Baffin Bay in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, behind a team of 18 aboriginal landrace Canadian Inuit Dogs to see just how misguided we were for 22 years. That experience changed the course of our lives forever.
It took us over two decades before we could honestly experience the meaning of an aboriginal landrace and how the Inuit Dog, unmolested by features lauded by the cultured breed Canadian Eskimo Dog (and our Alaskan Malamutes), could actually walk the walk, whereas others are living in an alternate universe with no experience or a desire to step out of their comfort zone (how few have actually spent time in the Canadian or Greenland Arctic) and into another culture whose ancestors could not have survived if it weren’t for their dogs.
Before 1994 we didn’t have access to the wealth of historical, cultural, biological scientific information about the Inuit Dog that been blossoming since the late 1990s. While those who choose to invest in the world of kennel club registered show and pet dogs have every right to pursue their hobby, I believe it should be not at the expense of the truth of what cultured breeds really are and are not.
There are two sides to the content of your article and I respectfully want you to know the real world I have come to understand ever since my epiphany in 1994. As the publisher and editor of The Fan Hitch, website and publications of the Inuit Sled Dog, I apologize if I have offended you. It was not my intention to do so.
Hamilton lives in Harwinton, Connecticut
