I remember we camped up on the mountain, and my father was shooting caribou there. My mom put this kind of pack on one or two dogs. She told the lead one, ‘Go where they’re shooting.‘ They went up to my father and he put all the meat in the packs and they came back themselves, back and forth to bring all the meat.
—Trimble Gilbert, 2004
Dogs had many roles in traditional Athabascan life – they ran down moose and other large game for hunters, pulled sleds and toboggans, and carried loads of meat, skins, and camping gear on their backs in skin packs. Dog packs were made of tough caribou leg skins, sewn with the fur to the outside. The shape of this Koyukon bag is a long oval, with an opening and drawstring on top. The bag was draped over a dog’s back with the load balanced on both sides, and tied securely with special knots. The tie straps are made of moose skin.
Culture:Athabascan Region:Yukon River, Alaska Object Category:Baskets, bags, boxes Dimensions:Length 66cm Accession Date:1928 Source:M. W. Pope (collector) Museum:National Museum of the American Indian Museum ID Number:161630.000
Gladys Evanoff: This is a dog pack, they used to put everything in it, put it on the dog. And even go through water with it, it was water proof. That’s how they, our ancestor used to get around mostly, with dog packs . . .
The dogs were very useful and that you had to train them to learn how to use those packs, you can’t just get a dog and put a pack on it. Now they wouldn’t know what you’re doing or they’d roll around and try and get it off. A long time ago they trained them to pack, they were packers, so when they used dogs for travelling they used dogs for packing so they won’t have so much to pack on their back . . .
Helen Dick: The old timers used to . . . go hunting up on the mountains. They used to go and they would, when they killed a caribou or a black bear skin them and they put some meat in here [in the dog pack].
The weight is, you know [leveled] not one too much, if you put too much on one side it goes sideways. So, they put all in there, pack the dogs — they took a little piece of meat and put it around the dog’s neck . . . so if they get hungry they can eat it on the way . . . They lead them to the trail and tell them to go down, to go home and bring home the meat. So they go down there, the leader leads them . . . [the people at home] take the meat off and then they [the dogs] eat the rest of their meat [around their neck]. So, they [the people at home] tell them [the dogs] they have to go back to get more [meat] and they go back and get more.
So, this you train your dog, I mean you train them and they’ll learn. You have to train them, they have to be small and if you speak to them they will hail you language, so, in Dena’ina my grandma and grandpa teach their dogs the names and they [the dogs] understand real good, they understand better than I did . . .
Gladys Evanoff: They called them dog packer. Dogs packed for them and they [dogs] were only made for dog packing. Most of the time they had sled dogs too, but they used some dogs for packing just. And that was very important with dogs a long time ago. They were a lot of help to a lot of people, for packing, for hunting — they hold the moose, also they can get it. There were hunting dogs and also sled dogs, but now we have nothing but pet dogs . . .
Helen Dick: So that’s what they used these for — a dog pack. Caribou skin — they tan all those and they make a dog pack, they sew it and that’s how they used to lift in the old ways. In the old days they never had no snowmachine, there’s no car, can’t drive anywhere so you have to walk and get food . . .
Roy Mitchell: Is the pack tied onto the dogs?
Gladys Evanoff: Yes, there is a strap that has to be tied around like this [across the belly] . . .
Michelle Ravenmoon: Helen, you said they put meat around their neck so the dogs would eat that from there heading back instead of getting into the pack.
Helen Dick: Yeah, they do, long time ago, just a little piece of meat in there. I saw my grandma did that, you know they’d go up on the mountains and they make it right there. . .
Roy Mitchell: Do I understand that you say that your grandma used to make the packs right there from the animals they caught right then?
Helen Dick: Mm-hmmm, yeah . . . nowadays, you know they don’t see these a lot . . . nobody makes that stuff anymore . . .
Aaron Leggett: How many dogs did they have?
Gladys Evanoff: One or two . . .
Roy Mitchell: So, these pack could they be used at any time of the year?
Gladys Evanoff: I don’t think they used them in the winter, but [only] in the spring time.
You can’t use them [dog packs] in snow, I don’t think.
Aaron Leggett: They’d have trouble walking in the snow with the pack . . .
Material
Michelle Ravenmoon: What were the packs made out of?
Gladys Evanoff: Sometimes they were made out of skin, some probably made out of canvas. They didn’t have canvas them days, but whatever that was waterproof. They tried to make it waterproof if it is raining or they have to cross a creek — sometimes they put flour, sugar and things that will get wet so they had to make it sort of waterproof. Probably made it out of fish skin too, long time ago . . .
Aaron Leggett: Think that is k’uhda’i eyes [moose hide] on the top or?
Gladys Evanoff: Yeah , tanned, and moose hide on the top to hold it together
Aaron Leggett: Because it is stronger?
Gladys Evanoff: Yep, probably, you see all these little pieces they put together it’s not only one piece it’s the leggings, caribou leggings. You just cut it off so far here [right above ankle and right under the knee] and then you sew it together and you make a backpack out of it . . . People have different methods of making it, I think . . . This is a big dog bag, big dog.
[From the Dena’ina Language Institute workshop hosted by the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center at the Anchorage Museum, from 10/04/2010 – 10/08/2010. Participants: Gladys Evanoff, Helen Dick, Michelle Ravenmoon, Aaron Leggett, Roy Mitchell, Karen Evanoff, Jon Ross, James Kari. (Also participating: Aron Crowell, Dawn Biddison)]
2004(1)
Examining & identifying
Aron Crowell: So the museum information just says, “Large bag of caribou skin.”
Trimble Gilbert: That’s a leg skin, caribou leg skin.
Phillip Arrow: Right.
Eliza Jones: Made of caribou leg skins.
Judy Woods: Was this a dog pack?
Trimble Gilbert: Yes, I remember that.
Judy Woods: It looks like a dog pack because see there, inside there’s string.
Trimble Gilbert: Yes, łąįį ghwaa [dog pack].
Judy Woods: Dog pack.
Trimble Gilbert:Łąįį is a “dog” and ghwaa is “pack.”
Eliza Jones: Oh, yes. Łeek haał leł [dog pack sack]?
Judy Woods: Yes, łeek haał leł.
Eliza Jones: Okay, so there’s an opening inside with moose hide sewed all around the edge, and then there’s moose skin straps to close it with, I think.
Judy Woods: Mm-hmm. It hangs over the dog.
Aron Crowell . . . Okay, so the openings are on the outside.
Judy Woods: Yes.
Eliza Jones: . . . It would be folded so that when it’s folded over the dog, you could open it or close it and reach in and get stuff.
Use of
Trimble Gilbert: Some are bigger and different size. This is too small [to store a] canvas tent. Ten by twelve, I remember they roll it—
Judy Woods: And they put it in there.
Trimble Gilbert: Yes, put it on each side. . . . And they use that rope on the toboggan over there – same kind of rope – they tie it certain way too. And they also use that caribou skin too. And this short hair, they don’t come off and they don’t get wet so easy.
Eliza Jones: The leg skins of the caribou are very strong.
Trimble Gilbert: Yes, strong.
Eliza Jones: It’s very sturdy, and the fur don’t wear off as easy as the main part of the caribou.
Trimble Gilbert: I remember we put [in] caribou ham, front shoulder—it’s heavy. I haul it on this side and my mom haul on that side, and just barely got it on the dogs, big dogs. But then when we start to go home, they’re way ahead of us. Sometimes they go over way ahead of us and come back like that—back and forth. Strong dogs I’m talking about, working dogs.
Judy Woods: . . . We had one [dog pack] made out of canvas.
Trimble Gilbert: This is too dry [stiff]. They used to . . . work on it. They put water – soak it a little bit, and then it won’t crack that way. And then when [you’re doing] that, your dogs are out there. They listen when you work on this kind of stuff, and they all howl.
Eliza Jones: Oh, they get excited.
Trimble Gilbert: Yes, they know we’re gonna go. . . . In July, they’re getting ready, and August and September they really use this [dog pack]. And I remember we camp up on the mountain, and my father was shooting caribou there. And my mom put this kind pack on one or two dogs. So they tie it on them. And I remember that lead one, she told him, “Go. You know where they’re shooting.” So they turn them loose, and they go up to my father, and my father put all the meat in the pack. And they’re coming back themselves. And then they just send them back and forth to bring all the meat, without anybody leading them. That happen lots of times.
And not only that, some dogs they train and they carry messages too. They tie the letter, anything, to [the dog]. They send it to other camp to bring the message, and they send them back. So this is how smart they are, dogs, long time ago. But they talk lots to them. They talk to them all the time.
Eliza Jones: They talk to them like they’re people.
Judy Woods: Mm-hmm.
[From discussion with Phillip Arrow, Trimble Gilbert, Eliza Jones and Judy Woods at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 5/17/2004-5/21/2004. Also participating: Aron Crowell (NMNH), Kate Duncan (Arizona State University) and Suzi Jones (AMHA).]
1. In this entry, the Elders speak in different Athabascan dialects: Phillip Arrow, Deg Xinag; Trimble Gilbert, Gwich’in; Eliza Jones, Central Koyukon; and Judy Woods, Upper Koyukon.
Dogs had many roles in traditional Athabascan life–they ran down moose and other large game for hunters, pulled sleds and toboggans, and carried loads of meat, skins, and camping gear on their backs in caribou skin packs. The Gwichin, Koyukon, Tanana, and Dena’ina of Alaska, as well as the Han, Tutchone, and other western Canadian Athabascans, all used their dogs as pack animals, especially for carrying fresh or dried meat from hunting locations back to the camp or village.(1)
Dog packs were made of tough caribou leg skins, sewn with the fur to the outside.(2) The shape is a long oval, with an opening and drawstring on top. The bag was draped over the dog’s back with the load balanced on both sides, and tied securely with special knots.(3) This pack has moose skin tying straps. The opening would normally face to the outside so items could be easily put in or taken out of the pack, but this one has been folded the wrong way for museum storage. Large “working dogs” could carry loads of 25-50 pounds.
(4) Some dog packs were made from canvas.(5)
Life stories of the late Johnny and Sarah Frank document the role of dog packing in Gwich’in seasonal activities. In spring, the Franks and others moved between lakes for hunting ducks and muskrats, and into the mountains to hunt moose and caribou. On these foot journeys they were accompanied by dogs wearing caribou skin packs to carry loads of meat.(6) In June, the men of Arctic Village hunted caribou in the mountains where there were few insects, and wind to dry the meat, and then brought the harvest home on the backs of their dogs.(7) Lawrence Roberts, the Franks’ grandson, recalled his grandfather killing a large bull moose in the summer of 1962: “Those dogs were part of us, and I remember every one of them. Shinlįį was the mother, and the other six were all her pups. They were named Leader, Granger, Vat’ai, Blackie, Gray, and Diamond. And those dogs were so big and so strong that between them they packed out that whole bull moose.”(8)
1. Clark 1974:136; Huntington 1993:30; McKennan 1959:92, 1965:42; Nelson 1973:173, 274; Osgood 1936:64,76; Schmitter 1985:3; Simeone and VanStone 1986:20: Townsend 1981:630
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