tales-of-Fogo-Island

Man's Best FriendToday, most dogs are lovable pets that know nothing about 'working for aliving'. In the past, dogs were used for hauling wood and providingtransportation. In fact, most mail arrived by dog team!One man remembers when he owned several dogs:I can mind when the dogfish was as thick as grass in the garden. Mybuddy and I would go catch a boat load of them for the dogs. We alsogot the old flour up to Earles. They did not sell that flour because therats had got into it. In any case, it did not cost much, perhaps fifty-centsor a dollar for one-hundred pounds. My wife would make bread anddough boys for them and they would get so fat!The most dogs I ever kept at once was seven. I figured it was just as wellfor me to have seven, than have two or three and work just as hardmyself! I would harness them to pull sleds using ropes. There was onlyone problem with that - when going down a hill, they would have to run'savage' to keep ahead of the sleds. I couldn't have that, I got along withmy dogs just fine, so I rigged up a brake system for them.When we got to the top of a hill, I would take out two pieces of chain andput it on the sled runners. This slowed the sled and they could hauldown the hill to their liking. When they got to the bottom, they wouldlook behind and wait for me to release them.When I was at something in the stage, I would tie them on down by theflake. When they saw me coming, they would get crazy. The leaderwould be flicking his ears and when I'd untie the sled - 'chook'! They'dtake off across the harbour!Sometimes, we would get halfway across the harbour when we'd strike alittle drift bank and slouse! I'd fall off. Perhaps they would go on acrossthe harbour before they noticed I was gone. They always came back toget me. They were good dogs and were broke in like that. They were wellfed and never used to fight.Besides being helpful with day-to-day travel and chores, dogs also madetimely mail delivery possible. Two of the people who brought the mail by dogteam were Alan Torraville (Fogo) and Daniel Budden (Little Seldom).