become that he
may be any cur or mongrel. He is a wonderful little worker, and the
loads he will pull are astonishing. Sometimes, with it all, he is an
attractive-looking fellow, especially when there has been a good moose
or caribou killing and he has gorged upon the refuse and put some flesh
upon his bones. And if one will take a little trouble to make friends
with him he likes petting as much as any dog. Most Indian dogs "don't
sabe white man," and will snap at one's first advances. On the whole, it
is far better to let them alone; for, encouraged at all, they are
terrible thieves--what hungry creatures are not?--and make all sorts of
trouble with one's own team. The pure malamute and the pure husky do not
bark at all, they howl; barking is a sure sign of an admixture of other
strains.

[Sidenote: DOG BREEDING]

Here it may be worth while to say a few words about the general belief
that dogs in Alaska are interbred with wolves. That the dog and the wolf
have a common origin there can be no doubt, and that they will
interbreed is equally sure, but diligent inquiry on the part of the
writer for a number of years, throughout all interior Alaska, amongst
whites and natives, has failed to educe one authentic instance of
intentional interbreeding, has failed to discover one man who knows of
his own knowledge that any living dog is the offspring of such union.

While, therefore, it is not here stated that such cross-breeding has not
taken place, or even that it does not take place, yet the author is
satisfied that it is a very rare thing, indeed, and that the common
stories of dogs that are "half wolf" are fabulous.

Indeed, it seems a rare thing when any sort of pains is taken about the
breeding of dogs. In a country where dogs are so important, where they
are indispensable for any sort of travel during six or seven months in
the year over by far the greater portion of it, one would expect that
much attention would be paid to dog breeding; but this is not the case.
Here and there a man who takes pride in a team will carefully mate the
best available couple and carefully rear their offspring, but for the
most part breeding seems left to chance. A team all of malamutes or all
of huskies, a matched team of any sort, is the exception, and excites
interest and remark.

The market for dogs is so uncertain that it is doubtful if there would
be any money in scientific breeding for the trail. When a stampede to
new diggings t