In our last newsletter we announced that we would like our customers to ask professional musher, Gary Rolfe, some questions. We had a great response and here are some of the answers he gave.

1 ) I find it interesting that you have 17 male Greenland Dogs and only 1 female, are any of your males neutered and is your female spayed? If not do they all get along especially if the female isn’t spayed and comes into season? Thank you.

GR: To ascend and descend mountainous regions, struggle through deep snow and negotiate rough and tough sea ice, male Greenland Dogs are without question physically stronger than bitches. And that’s what counts here, a hair’s breadth from the Greenland Ice Cap. On top of that litter sisters can of course bring each other simultaneously into heat but so too can bitches from separate litters. Result? It could decimate the number of dogs available to me, sending training and conditioning running routine into turmoil. And despite what other people say, when it comes to training lead dogs I’ve never found bitches to be smarter than males for the role. Bitches are kept to breed from. So that’s a no to spaying. Even if I did choose to neuter or spay, my nearest vet is 2,400 km away.

Yes my only brood bitch at the moment is Girly. She’s young, very healthy and with a litter already behind her I don’t see keeping a lone bitch as that risky but she is very precious to me. She’s more than a brood bitch actually. She’s exceptional. She’s highly motivated, strong and her intelligence has her run in front with her brother Loads but most of the time she’s alongside Vital or Bigness, one of her 2007 whelps. On top of all that Girly is stunningly good looking.

Unwanted litters do not bother me. If Girly comes into heat I don’t run her, simple as that, otherwise it does cause fights between males. It can be really, really annoying especially if I’m on a journey when I already have enough to deal with. But Girly’s cycle is consistent so if I anticipate her heat coinciding with being away I leave her at home. I have a sectioned pen that becomes Girly’s home while she is in season. It’s the world’s biggest contraceptive. Take a peep at:

http://www.garyrolfe.com/diary/page553.htm

Neutering? I don’t know anyone serious about running Greenland Dogs who neuters in the hope of never witnessing another dogfight, if that’s what you mean.

Fact is, working Greenland Dogs live and run as a pack and that is governed by hierarchy, the dynamics of which are determined by fighting. My dogs know each other inside out because they are running from November until sometimes July, a nine-month sledding season, probably the longest in the world. I also let my dogs loose especially after running and for the three poor sledding months I hike a lot with them in what amounts to our summer. The point is, I do my best to use and channel that inherent aggression into the breeds’ phenomenal desire to run and pull in the cold. But run and hike them all I want and they will still fight since pack dynamics are always jostling for change. Nature of the beast I’m afraid.

To understand this it’s good to know where the breed came from. Today in Greenland, the dogs carry the genes and traits of the generations that survived terrible cold and starvation alongside the migrating Inuit. Hunters wanted dogs that pulled huge sled loads whatever the circumstances, responded to commands, held polar bears and musk-oxen at bay and required little food to remain healthy. They still do. I know a little about the will to survive and don’t find it hard to understand why the breed can be a little feisty. That’s the way I see it anyway.

There are many forms of aggression and too much detail to go into here but it pays to be aware of what’s what. Essentially, you learn what to ignore and when to intervene. It’s all about knowing your dogs inside out and knowing why they’re doing what they do. For instance, I’ve read a few opinions that say you can’t add a new dog to an existing team without a blood bath. Well that’s just garbage. They settle and before long an order is once again established and maintained.

Within every dog team a boss dog naturally selects himself by fighting. I consider a boss dog an ally. Knuckle doesn’t start fights he finishes them. But since nothing lasts forever younger and stronger dogs will continue to challenge and eventually depose a boss dog. It’s very sad to see and there is no alternative but to retire the old boss for his own safety. And so the cycle goes on.

Here in Greenland I don’t know of a single castration case but I do know of some Canadian and American tourist outfitters who advertise for novices to drive their own dog team. These outfitters neuter dogs I suppose in the hope of reducing fights and I don’t blame them in trying. I’ve only ever had one neutered dog, he was given to me that way and I called him Bomber. At the time I had two bitches, Thule and Nettle. Intact bitches will fight with neutered dogs. I could never run Nettle or Thule anywhere near Bomber. Thule especially. She absolutely despised Bomber and on one occasion wounded him so badly he missed half a sledding season. This was during my time in the Canadian Arctic. So for me that’s a no to neutering as well I’m afraid.

The lengths that people go to curb fighting and injuries doesn’t stop with neutering; the first year I lived in Greenland it was still law for dog upper front incisor teeth to be removed, reason being that it would reduce fight injuries from what you probably already know as the scissor bite. The law no longer exists here which I’m pleased to report. But, I have heard of people – not in Greenland – who file down incisors to minimise puncture and laceration wounds. This is a really dumb practise in my view.

Today the bond between serious sled drivers and their dogs is much the same as it has always been. The cold and all the dangers of sea ice travel remain, so you have to remember my observations are from where and how I run dogs and how I see my friends do it too. My dogs are not pets. They are workers and live outside all year, even at forty below zero. Nobody selects dogs via the show ring here. The Arctic is the breed’s domain. They want cold, they want to run thousands of miles a year. Greenland has it all and that is why I live here. On top of all that, Greenland Dogs are living cultural icons. I love them passionately.

I take my hat off to you all for what I hope is your love of the breed too.

By the way, I intend breeding Girly this summer with Gibson. If she has a female in her next litter I’ll keep that plus the males, so if anyone has any name suggestions drop snowpaw store an email.

2 ) Do you have any plans to return to England?

GR: No immediate plans. I’ve only left Greenland once in the last three years. Girly will have puppies this summer and I have a few hiking routes planned after ice break-up. If I do come back for a visit or to lecture about adventures with my dogs it’ll be in October or even November. Any later in the year and there’s always a danger of not getting back for a long time. I’ve known flights to be delayed because of storms five weeks either side of Christmas. I couldn’t stand to be away from my dogs that long.

3 ) Where do you get your dogs from?

GR: I live in Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland. Population: 450 people, 400 working sled dogs. Initially I cherry-picked and bought my dogs from local hunters. Law here dictates that hunting is done with dog teams. Food is very expensive so hunting is very important for families to survive. I also have three dogs from an ex-Sirius Patrol friend.

4 ) How long does it take you to plan and prepare for your expeditions?

GR: The recent journey where I reached a region map marked UNKNOWN was over two years in the planning. Considering what was achieved this was a very short planning phase. Training and conditioning my dogs, deciding who came and who stayed behind, took longer. You might like to read this:

http://www.garyrolfe.com/pdf/Gary%20Rolfe%20press%20release%20March%202010.pdf

Last summer I established food and fuel depots along the proposed route by boat before the sea ice froze over. For more on this scroll down the page at:

http://www.garyrolfe.com/diary/page551.htm

Starting point for that journey was literally from the backdoor of my house. The big advantage I have is I live here. If I didn’t live here that journey would have cost a six-figure sum and would have been a logistical headache capable of bringing on nosebleeds.

The training never stops. Personally I train twice-daily running and in summer this intensifies to three daily sessions every other day with weight training. By December I’m running 12 dogs in a team. It’s cold and very dark since we have 56 days without daylight either side of Christmas.

Running through deep snow is not fun, it’s not meant to be, and it requires a will of steel to shove myself outside into the cold to get on with it. I do it because being in this kind of shape saved my life once. It also enabled me to succeed on my last journey. On average I’m away on winter journeys for 100 days a year, mostly alone. The foundation to it all is hard earned supreme fitness.

Dog food, my food, fuel, my clothing and all the other gear paraphernalia necessary for such an undertaking came ashore on one of the two re-supply ships we get here each year. Orders go in months in advance. Get it wrong, well, you just don’t. I’m hopeless at numbers and sums so I always go over and over my crucial calculations. If freight misses the ship relying on winter flights to bring in supplies is fraught with trepidation. Storms delay so much here.

Winters before a big trip are much the same as any other except, with me anyway, the intensity is severe. I do worry a lot but look upon this as advantageous since I strive for perfection. Winter schedules are obviously topped with running dogs but there’s also equipment to make, alterations and repairs to do. Oh yes and my own training routine fits in there too. I’m told it’s not easy to live with.

I couldn’t do what I do without sponsorship and I work hard for those I’m involved with, be it designing cold weather clothing or feedback to my dog food sponsor Hagen’s Nutrience Active.

5 ) You are in a remote place in the world. What do you do if a dog gets ill?

GR: You’re right, I live surrounded by thousands of kilometres of pristine wilderness in a tiny community where dog teams dominate life. There’s nowhere like this left in the world.

There is a vet on the west coast but that’s 2,400 km away. I don’t see this as a major disadvantage. I administer treatment to my own dogs but if there are severe complications I can send digital pictures with a symptom description to that vet. If something really drastic happens it’s about the most expensive place to use a phone so instead I use Skype through my Toughbook laptop with a webcam. Anyway this set-up is more versatile than a phone to get critical information across.

The vet can send a diagnosis and any drugs that I don’t have are flown here but most of the time I have the necessary at home. On a journey and a dog gets ill? I have them on my sled in a zipped up duffle bag and my tent is big enough if ever I have to bring a dog in. My medical kit is comprehensive both for human and dog.

6 ) What is the average distance you and your dogs travel each day?

GR: What’s an average day? Snow, ice, terrain and weather conditions determine distance travelled. This can vary from week to week or even minute to minute. Remember, with a half-ton sled payload I’m no racer. Best is 55 km, worst 400 metres, a 400 metres that took 16 hours. Not a good day. So I suppose average is everything in between. No, you’re right there is an average. I always prepare to cover 16 km per day. Here’s a bit of advice: never ever scrimp on fuel or food. Don’t get it wrong. People and dogs tend to die. Summer or winter I always travel knowing that I can always resort to eating dog food.

7 ) What made you want to continue exploration after your accident?

GR: Accidents happen, life goes on so why would anyone give up on what they love most, would you? Giving up never ever entered my head. I was never going to give in. The one thing that pulled me through being hospitalised and not knowing if I was ever going to use my hands again was planning to live in Greenland to run dogs. I made it. Sure I was scared, no I wasn’t scared I was petrified when I went out on the ice for the first time after the accident, but that was three years ago. What helps is that I live with something inside me that says fear is no reason not to do whatever it is you have set out to do. We all get scared, thing is just don’t let that get in the way. Tell your feet where to go but above all whatever you do, never ever give up on what you hold close to your heart.

8 ) Do you still suffer any after effects from your frostbite?

GR: No, not physically. I train hard, eat well and wear the best available mittens    and gloves from Outdoor Designs. After the accident I exercised my hands for over ten hours a day. There’s more about that frostbite recovery at:

http://www.garyrolfe.com/diary/page500.htm

I pictured nothing but their complete recovery, dreamt of Greenland and planned for it from my hospital bed. Surgeons and consultants all said it was an ‘inexplicable’ recovery.  But I remember one tapping me on the head saying that, “whatever’s going on in there saved you”. By all accounts I was going to lose my hands. I fought it and refused to give in. If the way I live my life now is considered some sort of comeback well that’s all down to confidence in my gear, dogs and ultimately myself. Since every single aspect of that list was lost in 2006 it’s been one hell of a struggle climbing back up.

You have to have a dream else what’s the point. Know what it is you want. For me it took years but I got there, you can too. If you want my advice on that it’s simple; don’t let anyone tell you that your dream is too big. Believe me plenty will try and they will love to see you fail. Just give them the middle finger.

If your dream is to run your own dogs in the Arctic from a log cabin you’ve built yourself, today is day one to find a way of making that dream come true.

Life can be really tough but it all make sense when you work through the crumby times grasping hold of your treasure of a dream. Believe me, I know.

Thank you to Gary Rolfe for taking time out to answer our questions. Gary Rolfe merchandise can be bought direct from us HERE