Paw patrol: the majestic sled dogs of the Arctic – in pictures

Sled dogs have helped hunters traverse the region for more than 4,000 years – often saving their handlers’ lives. Yet with climate change, the faithful hounds’ days could be numbered. Photographer Ragnar Axelsson’s tribute to the Arctic Heroes

Main image: Arctic Hero Photograph: Ragnar Axelsson

  • The new book Arctic Heroes sees Icelandic photographer and author Ragnar Axelsson retelling the personal stories of hunters in the Arctic. The book bears witness to the magnificence of sled dogs and the integral role they play in hunters’ lives. The photographs included in this book were taken in Greenland between 1986 and 2020. Arctic Heroes: A Tribute to the Sled Dogs of Greenland by Ragnar Axelsson is published by Kehrer Verlag
    The new book Arctic Heroes sees Icelandic photographer and author Ragnar Axelsson retelling the personal stories of hunters in the arctic. The book bears witness to the magnificence of sled dogs and the deep, integral role they play in the hunters’ lives. The photographs included in this book were taken in Greenland between 1986 and 2020. Arctic Heroes: A Tribute to the Sled Dogs of Greenland by Ragnar Axelsson is published by Kehrer Verlag

  • In Greenland, where the melting ice sheet is irrevocably disrupting the hunters’ 4,000-year-old way of life, the stark reality of global warming is an immediate and direct threat to the everyday survival of the Greenlandic sled dog
    In Greenland, where the melting ice sheet is irrevocably disrupting the hunters’ 4,000-year old way of life, the stark reality of global warming is an immediate and direct threat to their everyday survival of the Greenlandic sled dog

  • For more than 40 years, Axelsson has been photographing the people, animals and landscapes of the most remote regions of the Arctic, including Iceland, Siberia, and Greenland
    For more than 40 years, Axelsson has been photographing the people, animals and landscapes of the most remote regions of the Arctic, including Iceland, Siberia, and Greenland

  • The Greenland dog, essential to Inuit settlement and survival, now faces extinction as hunters are forced to adapt to the vanishing world around them
    The Greenland dog, essential to Inuit settlement and survival, now faces extinction as hunters are forced to adapt to the vanishing world around them

  • The sled dog population has shrunk from about 30,000 in 2009 to as little as 12,000 in 2019
    The sled dog population has shrunk from about 30,000 in 2009 to about 12,000 in 2019.

  • Axelsson captures the elemental, human experience of nature at the edge of the liveable world, depicting the extraordinary relationships between the people of the Arctic and their extreme environment
    Axelsson captures the elemental, human experience of nature at the edge of the liveable world, depicting the extraordinary relationships between the people of the Arctic and their extreme environment

  • This relationship is now being altered in profound and complex ways by the unprecedented changes in climate
    This relationship is now being altered in profound and complex ways by the unprecedented changes in climate

  • Winter days are short in the Arctic. There are hardly any glints of daylight
    Winter days are short in the Arctic. There are hardly any glints of daylight left

  • A woman who has lived through the old times and the new: ‘There would be no Inuit without the Greenlandic dog,’ she says. ‘It has kept us alive for 4,000 years.’ Nothing under the sun lasts for ever. And now the importance of the dog is waning. The snowmobile has taken over, and the dogs are dwindling in number, just like their owners
    A woman who has lived through the old times and the new: ‘There would be no Inuit without the Greenlandic dog,’ she says. ‘It has kept us alive for 4,000 years.’ Nothing under the sun lasts for ever. And now the importance of the dog is waning. The snowmobile has taken over, and the dogs are dwindling in number, just like their hunters

  • Young Greenlanders rarely want to become hunters, although there remain a few who choose this path. But it’s a brutal life. At -49°C with wind chill, the cold on the sea ice sinks its teeth into everything – except the dogs
    Young Greenlanders have no ambition to become hunters, although there remain a few who choose this path. But it’s a brutal life. At -49°C with wind chill, the cold on the sea ice sinks its teeth into everything – except the dogs

  • The sled dogs are tenacious creatures who, even at the bleakest point in a raging storm, will bring its hunters home safe and sound
    The sled dogs are a tenacious creature who, even at the bleakest point in a raging storm, will bring its hunters home safe and sound

  • Axelsson says: ‘Time and again, I visited small villages all over Greenland to collect stories of dogs and hunters. Sometimes I’d be lucky to get one story, other times none at all. It was just as difficult to squeeze stories out of these hunters as it was to photograph them out on the freezing cold of the sea ice. But bit by bit, they opened up enough to share them with me’
    A dog leaping towards the camera

  • ‘Their respect for their ancestors, nature and the sled dog was evident in every tale. These were a proud people who told me about the friendships forged between hunters and sled dogs, creatures who in times of trouble fought for their lives and those of their masters in some of the most difficult situations imaginable – dogs with a sixth sense that made them stand out from all the rest. The bond that grew between these creatures and their masters was truly unique. Some of their stories are retold in this book’
    But bit by bit, they opened up enough to share them with me and these hunters and dogs grew in my estimation with each story. Their respect for their ancestors, nature and the sled dog was evident in every tale. These were a proud people who were hap- py to tell me about the friendships forged between hunters and sled dogs, creatures who in times of trouble fought for their lives and those of their masters in some of the most difficult situations imaginable – dogs with a sixth sense that made them stand out from all the rest. The bond that grew between these creatures and their masters was truly unique. Some of their sto- ries are retold in this book.

  • Tallannquaq, a seasoned hunter from the town of Qaanaaq, told us about the time he fell into a crack in the sea ice under similar circumstances. His lead dog, Takku Takkuk, was his only hope, as Tallannquaq couldn’t manage to get out of the water and back on the ice on his own. Like most Greenlandic hunters, he never learned to swim. In no time at all, Takku Takkuk sensed his master was in danger and pulled him up out of the water and back onto the ice. When push comes to shove, there’s no friend more faithful on the sea ice
    Tallannquaq, a seasoned hunter from the town of Qaanaaq, told us about the time he fell into a crack in the sea ice under similar circumstances. His lead dog, Takku Takkuk, was his only hope, as Tallannquaq couldn’t manage to get out of the water and back on the ice on his own. Like most Greenlandic hunters, he never learned to swim. In no time at all, Takku Takkuk sensed his master was in danger and pulled him up out of the water and back onto the ice. When push comes to shove, there’s no friend more faithful on the sea ice

  • From the essay Where the World is Melting by Ragnar Axelsson: ‘Imagine waking up early one morning in the world’s northernmost settlement – midwinter, pitch-black outside. The baying of a lonesome dog pierces the silence. No one is up and about. The howling multiplies as the village dogs wake each other up. The plaintive call of the Greenlandic sled dog bears with it an unexpected solace that soothes the soul. The song of Greenland’s dogs is one that has echoed through the ages. There is a message in its sorrowful baying that ought to be heeded: the world around it is quickly changing’
    From the essay Where the World is Melting by Ragnar Axelsson: ‘Imagine waking up early one morning in the world’s northernmost settlement – midwinter, pitch-black outside. The baying of a lonesome dog pierces the silence. No one is up and about. The howling multiplies as the village dogs wake each other up. The plaintive call of the Greenlandic sled dog bears with it an unexpected solace that soothes the soul. The song of Greenland’s dogs is one that has echoed through the ages. There is a message in its sorrowful baying that ought to be heeded: the world around it is quickly changing’

  • Axelsson: ‘I want to take you across the sea ice on a dog-sledding trip with me to give you a glimpse into the world of these Arctic heroes who have survived in conditions that are both alien and mesmerising, a world that is fraught with peril and comprises some of the most breathtaking nature to be found on Earth … There is something inexplicable about the Arctic that speaks to you, a force that draws you to it like a magnet’
    Axelsson: ‘I want to take you across the sea ice on a dog sledding trip with me to give you a glimpse into the world of these Arctic heroes who have survived in conditions that are both alien and mesmerising, a world that is fraught with peril and comprises some of the most breathtaking nature to be found on Earth … There is something inexplicable about the Arctic that speaks to you, a force that draws you to it like a magnet’
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