Some of the work of Godsal and Bellars- (1963 – 1968) (continued)
His arrival coincided with the first of the new Eliason motor toboggans. These were much more powerful on the right surface than dog teams, when they worked. Initially they were far less reliable than dogs and attempts were made to control them remotely by ropes. These machines were to usher in a new era which represented a threat to the ‘dog men’. They were nicknamed ‘Elsans’, the trade name of a well known brand of self contained ‘privvys’, and were rudely referred to as such in all messages back to England, especially when they broke down. The writing was on the wall but the use of dogs for travel in the field was to continue for another ten years or more..
Mike Godsal was given the unenviable job of reducing the overall dog numbers registered with BAS by around 40 and to carry out post mortems to try and find out why the dogs appeared to be ageing before their time, in case it was something hereditary. It had always been a tradition with BAS that if dogs had to be put down it was the particular driver of that team that was expected to do it. Godsal was able to do this with proper injections and this was much appreciated. There was a worry at the time that some of the problems were related to inbreeding of the dogs which had not in fact had any injection of new bloodstock since 1954 when dogs were brought in from Greenland and Canada.
In 1967/8 Andrew Bellars, also a vet, was given a free hand to see if there was any foundation for this worry. He brought down with him portable equipment to X-ray all the dogs to see just what could be wrong. He was able to confirm that the premature ageing of the dogs was due to the heavy work that they were expected to do and the joints, particularly the hip joints, were literally wearing out. There was no evidence of inherited osteoarthritis.
He suggested a much more rigid adherence to the regulations about breeding and the age at which dogs should first be used for long journeys. He recommended that dogs could be trained at 9 months but they should not be put to long field trips until they were at least one year old.
Because BAS was concerned about the possibility of inbreeding Bellars was able to use the dog record cards and a lot of personal local knowledge to work out an extensive genealogical tree for each animal and a small portion of one such is shown. Compared with ‘Kennel Club’ style returns this was a remarkable achievement. The relatively sparse records of earlier years did not help. In those years a bitch in season was a disrupting influence and under the conditions that existed all dogs were veritable Houdinis when it came to escaping !
While he was in the field Malig, a dog with haemophilia was reported this had been diagnosed through an illegal, from a BAS point of view, amateur radio consultation with a vet in Yeovil, England.! Malig was immediately banned from all possible breeding and was brought back to U.K. Sadly, after the research work had been completed, there was not enough money available to complete the quarantine and Malig had to be put down ..
Andrew Bellars, however, having suggested that new bloodstock should be introduced, was invited to go to East Greenland the following year to purchase fresh dogs and these were delivered to BAS a year later. Analysis of films taken of dogs when working very hard suggested that dogs with narrower hips were less likely to suffer from early osteo- arthritis. Never, before, were dogs selected with such professional care and competence. Rumour has it that his trip to Greenland with his wife was his honeymoon !
Guide to Antarctic Sledge Dog Chart [From Appendix 2 “Of Dogs & Men”]
The chart attempts to trace the genealogy of the present B.A.S. Huskies from the original dogs that have been imported from the Arctic. The original dogs were brought from Labrador in 1945-6, and there have been small additions to the population from Greenland (1954 and 1961), and from Canada. The present generation of B.A.S. sledge dogs is, as far as is known, the only permanent breeding population of sledge dogs in the Antarctic.
Firstly, the apologies; although there has been a marked improvement in the appearance of the chart since it was started at Stonington, thanks to the drawing office of the Engineering Laboratories at Cambridge, it still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of design and utility. However, even if this had been done, the basic picture is still very complicated. If any base members find winter too long, and have great patience, we would be most grateful for any attempts at clarification. Perhaps some sort of competition between bases could be devised?
Several past ‘FIDS’ have drawn attention to errors in the chart, e.g. the litter by Flash out of Millie is apparently incorrect, but for this I do not apologise, as all the information was taken from the records now held at Stanley Office.
I apologise, however for the fact that there has been very little attempt at establishing chronology in the chart. In order to get all the names on one piece of paper, some several times, e.g. Toscaig, Venus, Spark, it was not possible to take account of dogs from different generations mating.
As signals have come from the bases informing me of the new litters registered during 1968, these have been included, I hope correctly.
Finally, the bottom of the chart has become very full as new dogs have been included. I would suggest that this first edition is allowed to stay as it is, and that future breeding on each base is recorded on a separate sheet of paper to avoid further confusion. In this way, when fresh Huskies are imported from the North, base members will be able to see more clearly how to use the breeding potential. This chart appears at the back of ‘Of Dogs and Men’.
Double line between dog name indicates successful Mating.
When using the chart for determining the relationship between a dog and a bitch, the complications can be minimised if the lines are traced out on a separate piece of paper. From this it will be found that the majority of the dogs at present on base stem from the Captain x Dainty, and ? x Beauty lines. Thus most of the dogs are closely related, but by using the chart it should be possible to restrict breeding from dogs more closely related than first cousins, and also to avoid breeding from dogs affected with either of the two hereditary diseases, Entropion and Haemophilia, or from those dogs closely related to them. Thanks are especially due to George Mcleod, without whose knowledge this chart would never have been started.
Andrew Bellars