#i mean if you're only looking to do recreational stuff a working malamute is going to serve you just as nicely if not better

[darkwood-sleddog]

I know this is a very long ask with a lot of questions, but do you think an inuit qimmiq could ever be ethically kept by a pet home below the treeline? A lot of sources suggest they're a hardcore working dog that needs an actual job like a belgian malinois, but in a home that regularly engages in casual/hobby bikejoring, weight pull, hiking & packing etc, would it be possible to have one as a companion animal? Also do you think it may be culturally insensitive/ignorant to own one of these dogs as a non-indigenous (no inuit ancestry or any connection to inuit culture)? I don't actually have any plans to acquire one of these dogs anytime soon but I'm really fascinated by them and if I ever own one (if its acceptable) it'll be after I have enough experience with other dog breeds (mostly asian spitz, probably, im fascinated by how very similar yet very, very different inuit qimmiq are to these dogs). Also, I read that inuit qimmiq puppies need to be raised with at least one other inuit qimmiq puppy to have proper, well-rounded social skills with humans and dogs as an adult, do you know if this is true? Again sorry for bothering you and if you aren't equipped enough to answer my questions it's fine.

When it comes to questions like "do i think *insert dog breed/type here* can be ethically kept in a situation" I will alway default to the fact that dogs can be kept ethically in many situations and there's a lot more nuance to ethicality than defining a home as "working" or "pet" or "above tree line" or "below tree line". My main question will aways hinge on: is the dog being fulfilled?

There is a fundamental difference between working dogs like qimmiq other indigenous bred working dogs and working dogs like malinois. The malinois, especially the working malinois has been fundamentally changed from its traditional role to better suit people's working needs. From a working perspective it is much more common for the work malinois do to not be herding or herding adjacent, but rather protection, police, military and bite sport related. The malinois is changed from what it was, the qimmiq is not. It is very much unchanged from its traditional role and way of being. To understand why this difference is meaningful first one must understand what traditional work often means for dogs. A good working dog outside of the modern context is a dog that can settle, a dog that does not need constant upkeep physically, a dog that can weather the elements, a dog that is temperamentally sound within its basic breed specific behaviors, a dog that is not quivering with unsprung energy and with qimmiq they are not worked in the summer. In this aspect, qimmiq are very much the opposite of modern working & sport malinois, but it does not mean they are content to be couch potatoes and they are very much dogs that need outside space. I know several in pet type homes, but they are pet homes like mine where the dogs work consistently several times a week and often live outside. (however a majority of canadian qimmiq i know of are in working homes in some regard). The difference between qimmiq and my working bred malamutes is that my dogs have been bred for work AND for in home companionship. Usually, the qimmiq is bred to pull sleds, not to live inside your house (because again they are very unchanged).

You must ask yourself, as you should do with any breed/type of dog: what can I provide for this dog? Why do I want this dog? Will I commit to changing my lifestyle for this dog?

I cannot personally speak on if owning qimmiq is culturally insensitive as a non-inuit. I know several that do and they are, or have been before their own deaths, welcomed in the community as part of cultural exchange (there are whole populations of Canadian Inuit Dogs in the UK and Italy that work their dogs in harness and often import native dogs from indigenous sources in northern Canada for example), but that does not mean that other individuals may not be. Personally, I think as long as you are looking to learn more about traditional dogsledding, to learn about the context of the dogs in the culture, the history, all from the people that originated the dogs there are not going to be problems. I have strong personal feelings that the development and standards of what these dogs should look like and be capable of should be in inuit hands, but imo that does not close the dogs off from being owned and culturally exchanged to non inuit. I think the biggest hurdles you'd run in to are that there aren't many Canadian qimmiq in general due to various factors in Canada itself (past RCMP dog culls, lack of accessible vaccination for dogs, cost of keeping a team of dogs vs cost of a single snowmobile in the arctic etc.)

Now your last big question about puppies being raised together I have some big feelings on. I do not think you need two puppies, although I know a quite a few breeders of differing sled dog breeds that swear by this method. A majority of people are not equipped to raise two puppies together in a way that avoids littermate syndrome, so raising two puppies is detrimental to the dogs themselves. But, on the other ends of things, I have personal experience with the difference of primitive dogs that are traditionally kept in family groups being raised both within that family group and without. 2/3 of my dogs (Zombie and Slash) were raised in a multi generational pack of dogs. They are incredibly adept at dog body language in a way that Sigurd is not. Sigurd was an only dog for the first year of his life, and despite him coming from that same family group, having a very nice stable, temperament, and a lot of work being done on our end to ensure he had proper socialization, he lacks the dog language skills and pure poetry of proper interaction within a larger dog social group that my other two have. I will never raise a malamute puppy into a single dog household ever again, the difference in socialization is just so obvious to me. The behaviors of dogs are both part genetic, but also part environmental. But let me be clear, I do NOT think that two baby puppies can learn this type of socialization just from each other. Adults of various genders and age groups are needed for this kind of adept dog social language to be taught and exist. Sigurd isn't necessarily bad at it, he is pretty dog neutral and very friendly with people (as all my dogs are), most people would probably think he exhibits great dog body language compared to a majority of pet dogs, but once I got Slash and had two dogs out of three that were VERY ADEPT little dog language mozarts it became so strikingly clear to me what Sigurd lacks compared to them (something that often causes conflict in my pack btw because the way he exhibits behaviors and does not understand the signals my other dogs perceive as clear is considered rude by the other dogs). Now malamutes are pretty kennel clubified compared to Qimmiq, so take what I'm saying and increase it for them. I do not think they would thrive without at least one other existing dog in the house (even if that dog was a different breed) around, but certain outlying individuals i'm sure exist.

My final thoughts are that i think freighting sled dogs and indigenous sled dogs are super cool. So i understand why you are drawn to them. I dedicate a lot of time each and every day ensuring my working pet malamutes get what they need, am considering a 4th dog in 2026 due to sled dog brain rot, and even I have my doubts that I would be able to provide a qimmiq what i needs. If i were to get one, I'd have to get a lot more intense than I already am about putting the dogs to work, not because I think the dog wouldn't be content with pet life, but because I would feel guilty as hell purchasing a dog meant for traditional work in the arctic only for it not to get what I deem as the correct and appropriate amount of work due to other constraints that often come up in my life. Hell sometimes I feel this way about Slash because he's bursting with so much potential I feel I'm incapable of properly tapping.