How do you keep your dogs hydrated when working?
GR:
All my dogs have their own kennel. Every dog deserves one for security, to hang a water bucket from or just to sit or lay on. Expanding bolts – the ones used for securing house timbers to foundations – are driven into rock to secure their stakeout chains.
When I’m conditioning and training my dogs from home I feed dry kibble on top of water but soak it on storm days so it doesn’t hurtle into oblivion. By storms I mean the 190 kilometres per hour variety. It’s the only place I have been physically lifted by the wind. Last winter I fed a friend’s dogs for her. Here most teams are kept out on sea ice, it’s like a parking lot. I never went out and fed my friend’s dogs unarmed or without a compass. People die appalling deaths here; some have been known to die just trying to go from one house to the next.
Sometimes I feed twice daily, especially when they’re pushing through their new coats. Also, Greenland Dogs/Canadian Eskimo Dogs are genetically exactly the same and as such are the only breed in the world that can metabolise water from layered fat like camels metabolise water from stored fat in their humps so I don’t mind seeing them carrying extra weight at the start of the season. What I do mind is bloat. As a breed Greenland Dogs are susceptible to this killer condition where a full stomach twists and prevents gas from escaping that’s why there’s no playtime with me after feeding.
Journey routine is another routine. During the day and on the move I never stop my dogs dipping for snow. At night I melt 90 litres of snow to get 10 litres of dog water. Most of the time I can be assured my tent will stay put while I feed. Sometimes it’s not so good and I fear my tent will be ripped away as I feed. For storm feeds I drag myself on all fours along the stakeout chain because I can never see from one dog to the next.
After spring – June/July – break-up my dogs have access to water at all times. Summer rarely tops 5°C and by frosty August nights water buckets are put away. From this point on in freezing weather but without snow on the ground I give my dogs water twice daily in their feed bowls. Once we have snow I add water to daily feed.
Either way it’s all hard work. At home I live without running water and hauling it is a hard graft but I know why I do it. I love my dogs.