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February 16, 2006
Land of Sledge Dogs
One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited certainly is the little village of Saqqaq at the North end of the Disco Bay on the West coast of Greenland. Getting there was a bit of an adventure in itself. We came by boat but as there's no harbour in Saqqaq we had to be ferried to the village in a small rubber dinghi. You can just see it coming back for more of us on the left side of the photo below.
The picturesque village of Saqqaq
The water was crytal clear and very cold and while sitting in that rubber thing you could look straight to the bottom of the sea several meters below us. What slightly worried me was that the two Inuit who ferried us ashore were pumping air into the dinghi all the time while smiling broadly at us. I didn't think this reassuring in the least and had checked the straps of my backpack repeatedly to make sure that I could get out of those in no time at all should we sink or I fall overboard. I was ever so glad when I had firm ground under my feet again.
We were a group of 16 and had rented a house in Saqqaq which served as a sort of base camp for several short trips into the mountains and along the coast. The South of Greenland (at least on the West coast) belongs to the sheep dogs and no sledge dogs are allowed there. But the North is sledge dog land and Saqqaq is part of it.
On the first morning I made the aquaintance of a gang of sledge dog puppies. As long as their are puppies they are allowed to run free, later they are kept on a chain. Houses in Greenland very seldom have a bathroom, usually the kitchen is used for that purpose. With 16 people around it gets rather cramped in the mornings so those of us who dared took a big bowl of water outside and washed in the open. I was still a bit sleepy when suddenly six puppies were all over me. One tried to steal my bar of soap, two were having a fight over my towel, one was trying to drink up my water, another one tried to run off with a piece of my clothes and the last one was trying his very best to be in my way as much as possible. With much shouting and laughing I was able to get my things back and finally finished my morning toilet. At that age they are really cuddly. But not anymore once they are grown up.
Six grown up sledge dogs
The thing about sledge dogs is that they melt perfectly into the background. It is very easy to overlook them. And they will let you approach them until you within reach of their chain. And then without warning they suddenly explode into your face. I once had an adult sledge dog following me when going for a walk near the village and it gave me quite an eerie feeling.
Almost from the day they can walk children will practice hitting cans or other targets real hard with pebbles for hours on end. By the age of five or six they can hit a dog right between the eyes and scare it off. One must bear in mind that sledge dogs in Greenland are no pets. Being kept on a chain during the summer with nothing much to do certainly doesn't improve their temper or social behaviour. But at least summers don't last long in Greenland ...
Posted by Mausi at February 16, 2006 09:50 PM
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