Dogs dying cold and alone

Published 12:30 am Saturday, December 13, 2025 By Darrell Greer Northern News Services For as much good as members of Kangiqliniq Spay/Neuter and Rescue do in Rankin Inlet, it’s still not enough to save some dogs from a miserable death during the winter months. Fire Chief Mark Wyatt heads up the organization and he said, unfortunately, not everyone takes good care of their dogs. Last week, they had to go and pick up a frozen dog, he said. “I think that’s the third frozen dog already this winter, so I’m going to have to do a post reminding people to maybe think about taking their dog inside or getting proper shelter for it and that sort of thing because it’s starting to get really cold,” said Wyatt. “Huskies are Arctic dogs. They’re, kind of, built for this kind of weather. I had a beautiful husky for 10 years and she just recently passed away. She loved being outside. Even in the blizzards she was outside, but she also liked coming inside and she could do whatever she wanted, you know. “Half the time she’d sleep on my bed and the other half she’d be outside curled up. She had a house with straw in it and everything, so she was, kind of, set, but a lot of people up here just have their dogs on chains. Some of them have houses and some of them don’t. “They just expect the dog to survive no matter what and dogs don’t.” Wyatt said there are a lot of dogs that you may think are suited to Arctic weather and they’re just not. He said the dog that died last week was a German shepherd. “Shepherd’s are not outside dogs in the winter and neither is a Kane Corso. Unless it’s an Arctic dog with the double-thick coat, it’s just not going to survive. “It wasn’t that cold the night the shepherd died. I mean it got down to -20 C, which really isn’t that bad, but that dog froze solid. “Certain dogs will and certain dogs won’t. The age of the dog and the health of the dog really make a difference too. “Huskies and Arctic dogs are comfortable in the cold, but anything else, probably not.”