Working Dogs
Through selective breeding, spitz-types have been developed to fit three purposes helping humans: hunting, herding, and pulling sleds.
The larger and more powerful breeds such as the Akita Inu, Karelian Bear Dog, Norwegian Elkhound and Swedish Elkhound were used for big game hunting, helping humans kill moose and brown bears.
Smaller breeds such as the Finnish Spitz and the Lundehund were used in Scandinavia to hunt birds and smaller mammals.
Three of the largest spitz types, notably the Alaskan Malamute, Canadian Eskimo Dog and the Greenland Dog, were used to pull sleds up until the 19th century. During that century, when fur trapping and Dog Sled Racing became lucrative businesses, the smaller and faster Siberian Husky came to be used more frequently in Canada and Alaska. The Finnish Lapphund was used by the Sami people.
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Famous quotes containing the words working and/or dogs:
“Boredom and fear keep us working and obeying the laws.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“He turns agen and drives the noisy crowd
And beats the dogs in noises loud.
He drives away and beats them every one,
And then they loose them all and set them on.
He falls as dead and kicked by boys and men,
Then starts and grins and drives the crowd agen;
Till kicked and torn and beaten out he lies
And leaves his hold and cackles, groans, and dies.”
—John Clare (1793–1864)