First research: The history of sled dogs.

According to archeological research conducted all over the world, we learn that dogs have been used for almost 9000 years as working dogs.  Of course, the way they would be harnessed would differ according to the climate where they lived with their masters.  Europeans, for example, used dogs to help them carry heavy loads that were put on little karts. Dogs that were used were big in size and really strong. 

On another continent, the Inuits in the Northern Canada would harness many dogs behind a single sled.  Their dogs were smaller in size, had a long and think fur in order to be well-protected from the cold Artic temperatures. They had an impressive physical stamina since they had to travel long distances. In Eastern Canada, natives were not accustomed in using dogs. For them, these animals were practical when it was time to go hunting.  The tradition of using dogs to ease the transportation of heavy loads seems to have been introduced by the French Canadians. The latter, to overcome the lack of horses, would use big dogs imported from France to carry lumber, water, and other merchandise.

Let’s come back home, at the beginning of the first settlements in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in the municipality of Dupuy. In this tiny rural village founded in 1918, that is now home to about 1000 inhabitants, winters were harsh.  Some children had to walk long distances in order to attend school.  The teacher was also faced with the same problem. Pierrot, learned, that his very own grandfather, as a child, had a huge dog and he had constructed a sled with a cabin on top. So, every morning, on his way to school, he would stop in front of his teacher’s house and invite her to climb aboard his concoction and would bring her to school.  No matter the temperature or the weather, his animal was strong enough to pull the young man and his teacher.