Iqaluit (Feb 16/04) - The Canadian Eskimo Dog is a strong symbol of the North, a link to the past, and a reminder of where Inuit have been and how they survived for thousands of years on the land.

Now The Canadian Kennel Club is calling for action to protect the dogs (also known as the Inuit sled dog or Qimmiq).

The population has dwindled to a dangerously low 200.

"Everyone thinks there's thousands up there, and there's not," said Laura Pitblado, president of the Canadian Eskimo Dog Association.

Many dogs that appear to be Inuit dogs are not, she said. "They've been crossed with something else."

"We are in big trouble," said Pitblado."It's scary."

Pitblado has been fighting for years to get more breeding programs in place to preserve the Canadian Eskimo Dog -- its official name.

But her proposals for funding for such programs have been rejected, mainly due to cost.

She thinks the latest numbers released last week by the Canadian Kennel Club will change the way people feel about such programs.

"If we put breeding programs in the North, they have to be followed," she said.

"The dogs have to be maintained. They have to be trained and they have to be cared for."

Dave White owns a team of five Inuit dogs, including a breeding pair at his home in Gjoa Haven.

White is worried about the survival of the breed.

"Once it's gone, it's gone. You can't get it back," said White.

The dogs were vital to the survival of Inuit.

"I'm afraid of the cultural link that is going to be lost," said Paul Crowley, an owner of 12 Inuit dogs in Iqaluit.

In March 2000, Crowley went to the North Pole with dog teams.

He has seen all sorts of cross-breeds hauling sleds and running races but no dog he has ever worked with compares to the Canadian Eskimo dog.

"It's like comparing tractors to Ferraris. They can live out in -40," he explained.

"They prefer the cold. They eat minimal amounts. They don't go very fast but they can pull long and hard and heavy loads," he said proudly.

"Our dogs are made for these conditions. They are incredibly tough and incredibly adapted."

"I know the numbers are low," Crowley continued.

"There is no point keeping the breed alive as genetic material sitting in a dog house somewhere.

"It's a huge part of Inuit culture and exploration travel. These dogs need to work. This is what they do best."

The mass slaughter

Bill Carpenter played a major role in the preservation of Inuit dogs during the 1970s.

At one time he owned 200 of them.

Reached by satellite phone at his lodge in the Northwest Territories last week, Carpenter touched on the role authorities, including the RCMP, may have played in the decline of the dogs in the 1950s in the Baffin region.

"It's a complex subject," he said.

There were many cases where dogs were tied up and abandoned on the shoreline, he said. Inuit began replacing them with skidoos. Then the dogs would head off onto the land to fend for themselves, said Carpenter.

"After weeks of nobody looking after them properly, the RCMP probably made the correct, humane decision to destroy some of them."

Inuit dogs ran free and formed pack hierarchies. The ones who ran off died, so it was survival of the fittest. They evolved. They learned to hunt on their own.

Inuit favoured the ones that could hunt and that trait was passed on through natural selection.

"They have an innate aggression," said White.

"They'll attack polar bears or if they see a caribou they'll try to take it down."

And for White, Inuit dogs make wonderful companions and pets.

"But because they were left to run free they developed a pack structure," he said.

White explained an Inuit dog would attack another dog if it strayed onto its territory.

"It will kill the neighbour's dog, not because of viciousness -- they are fighting dogs."

"If they are starved or beaten they will probably bite out of fear," said White.

"But in all cases I've seen they will submit to humans."

White thinks there should be discussions on preserving the breed at the government level.

"We should get some breeding colonies out there," White said.

Carpenter did what he could to preserve the breed a little longer, said White.

"But the work isn't finished. It was good for a bit, now it's fallen back," said White.