Dog Yard, Ilulissat, Greenland

Howdy, Macgellan here!

I recently returned from an 8-month exploration of the North Atlantic, including some time in Ilulissat, Greenland. While I was there, I spent some time checking out the local dogs — of course! — and thought I’d share this brief video with you.

Ilulissat claims to be the “dog capital of the world” by dint of having some 3,500 dogs, a number which almost matches the human population. Although tourists are warned not to touch the dogs due to their unfriendly temperament, I was welcomed to handle them by the mushers/owners I spent time with and found the dogs to be just about as friendly and outgoing as any other dogs I’ve met in the world.

As far as I can tell from conversations in broken English, the dogs work a variety of jobs in support of local fishing, research expeditions and even pulling tourists around. They are generally bigger and beefier than our beloved Alaskan Huskies, obviously bred for strength and durability rather than speed. The dogs appeared to be in very good shape and quite well suited to their environment. As you will see, many of them have really, really furry coats!