My DOGS IN THE NORTHLAND - 1902, - September Dedicated to My Dear Wife and Children, partners with me in many of the scenes herein related. INTRODUCTION LL the dogs of which I here write are dead. Was it not Sir Walter Scott who said, I hate to love a dog, he lives so short a life Yet Sir Walter did love dogs with rare devotion, as the traditions of Abbotsford, as well art much that he himself has written, drm. When a lad I was not allowed to keep a dog. My father in his early manhood days sa.w a man smothered to death between two great feather beds because he wag a hope- less victim of hydrophobia, caused by the bite of a mad dog. So no dog was allowed in our home. Fortunately for us boys, or rather for the dogs, we and there were only seven of us were all very fond of these prohibited animals, and were ever ready to lend our jackknives or skates to any neighbouring boy if he would only let us play with his dog. It was a marvellous transition from that country parsonage where the joyous bark 7 8 Introduction of a canine friend, The first to welcome, the foremost to defend, wm never heard, to the wild adventurous life in t.he North- land. There, in the first business transac- tion with my predecessor, I was told that there mere a dozen dogs and puppies of Huskie breed, outside, anxious t.o make my acquaintance It is a t.rite saying that all things come h him who waits. It was correct in this case anyway, for the man who as a boy had peremptorily been refused the possession of the smallest puppy now entered into the ownership of a pack of cunning rascals who were quite competent to test his patience and sharpen his wits. If in Natures broad domains there is a place for everyt.hing, we think that the natural home of the large dog is in the cold Northland. There, during those long win- ters he can work and thus prove his right to a comfortable living. Amidst t.he bliz- zards of the Arctic frosts often exposed to hardships and privations that no ot,her crea- ture than man and himself could stand, there he thrives, and endures and with his master, triumphs. For years, with great dogs, I toiled and Introduction 9 often with them was in great perils. Much of my work was accomplished by their aid. So I believe in dogs, and here in this book I have written of some of them and their deeds.