Duplo's blog

Hi All,

And welcome to part 7 of the duploworld update on my summer adventure.
Part 7 takes its beginning on our last full day in Ilulissat. The first part of the day I spend on some semiwork stuff, while miss Duplo and my brother went on a small hike in the area.
However it was a day that made quite an impact on us. first we set of on another boat trip.
Iceberg

This time on a larger boat with a couple of turists. Regardless it was an amazing trip and for miss Duplo her first among the huge icebergs.
Compared to the tiny boat we fared in on the first ride, the larger boat gave for a very different feeling when sailing there. We were still close to the large icebergs, but yet more "distant" than the first trip. I was quite surprised by how different it felt. But it did not matter much as the views when sailing the icefiord is absolutely amazing.
Gulls

A fun thing, I do not think I have mentioned earlier, is the huge amount of gulls that are around the icebergs. Probably due to both the ice being convenient Stopovers and the relatively large amount of fishing boats working the waters around these icebergs. The gulls are as much a part of the environment up here as the whales, polar bears, ice and humans are. And they serve as a good warning sign to the rest of us, because if there are gulls on an iceberg you are out of immediate danger.
Greenlandic Sled dog

Ilulissat if I am not mistaken is know as the sled dog capital of the world.
And for a good reason, I would guestimate that in this town dog outnumbers people 2 to 1. They are simply everywhere. Now when we visited Ilulissat they were probably at their ugliest, as they are in the midle of the transition from summer to winter fur. so if the fur looks odd, torn or mistreated it is simply due to the fact that they are slowly getting into their winter coats again, not in anyway mistreatment of the dogs. But I am getting ahead of myself here
As we arrived back on shore EA gave us a most generous offer. We were invited to help him feed his dogs (all 30 of them). we could nothing but accept this offer and the chance to learn more about the dogs, and how sled dog owners in Greenland work with and see their dogs.
A sled dog lot

The photo above shows one of the myriad of dog lots in and around Ilulissat. Each dog slead owner, has been assigned a confined lot to keep his dogs on, when they are not in front of a sled. They look like messy worn out areas, but from what we saw they seemed to work pretty well. The weatherworn sheds, is where the sled dog owners store food and supplies for the dogs and the small dog houses function as shelters for female dogs with puppies.
The lot above by the way is just a random lot and thus not belonging to EA.
Sled dogs or Wolves?

I may have told before, but Greenlandic sled dogs are of a very special breed, they are the only kind of dog allowed North of the Arctic circle in Greenland and even if taken south of the arctic circle they are not allowed back. All done to keep these working animals true to their ancient nature and to keep the race clean. which judging by the look of them is equal part wolf and equal part dog to me. They sound more like wolves than dogs too
They vary a lot in size though, from dogs tall enough to look me in the eyes when standing on two legs, to dogs a fair bit smaller.
EA with one of his young dogs

Now you will hear a lot of stories even in Greenland about mistreated dogs and such. While I am sure some stories are true, then my general impression was that the dogs are treatet just fine, at least the ones I saw.
In EA's case each dog has a name and he was easily able to tell them from each other and seemed to know each dog pretty well. quite impressive when you think of that he has 30 of them.
That said, they are working animals up here and treated as such. They are brought up in a way unthinkable to most of us living in more civilised and less desolate parts of the world.
Yes at first the treatment of say two dogs fighting in a pack seems brutal, but when coupled with the warm and caring way EA generally treated his dogs and the fact that when out and about during winter, the dog sled drivers life depends on these dogs, the picture of it all changed.
An example would be the fact that you in Ilulissat have a full time employed Sled dog hunter. Which sole function is to hunt down and shoot stray dogs.
This may seem like abrutal way to enforce the word of the law, stating that all dog above 6 months of age, must be chained at all times when not in front of a sled. But if one consider that such stray dog may actually inflight serious harm on other and chained dogs and with the huge number of dogs around it is the only practical way to handle things.
I guess I came to accept that the desolate and tough nature as well as the close bond between dogs and owners, along with the deep dependcy of eachother to survive when riding during winter, is a unique set of curcumstances. These curcumstances simply calls for a different behaviour than what at face value seemed acceptable to me.
I am not sure above makes any sense at all, but I sincerely hope so...
a heartbreaker

Is the only fair way to describe the almost newborn puppy EA showed us. Having just opened its eyes for the first time, it was absolutely adorable and the tiny pup almost immediately caught the full attention of miss Duplo. Well the rest of us too to be fair.
All in all I am extremely thankful for the chance to join EA and get the chance to meet his dogs. Above all though I am thankful for the chance to get a tiny glimpse into the culture and life around dog sledding in Greenland and the Greenlandic sled dogs.
This visit marked the perfect ending on our stay in Ilulissat, a stay that I will never forget.
The day after we did a hike of the area again and shortly after flew on to Kangerlussuaq.
To round up this post is another photo that remains a favourite of mine.
a bond of trust

thank you all for reading this lengthy post.
Next up is "Part VIII - the ancient fiordbed and Point 660"

Do take care you all

Thomas