Dogsong

Russel arrives at Oogruk’s house and stops to look at his five dogs. Oogruk dogs are fat and aloof, crosses between wolf, Mackenzie River huskies and Coppermine River village dogs. Russel hesitates before going into Oogruk’s house, preparing himself for the smell of caribou skins, thick smoke and dim light. Oogruk still lives the old Inuit way. He has no electricity and lights the house with a seal-oil lamp. Oogruk sits against a wall inside his smoky house, wearing only a small loincloth, and welcomes Russel in.

Even though Oogruk is blind, the house is well kept, with old hunting equipment such as lances, harpoons, arrow bags, and bows hanging on the walls beside the skin cloths, and the lamp is well tended to. Russel sits, and Oogruk starts to talk about the similarities between white people and dogs, specifically their inability to “get a settled mind” (16), and their anger and frustration when things go wrong. He tells Russel about the songs his people had for everything and how the songs could work with nature. For example, there was a man “who could sing a song for whales and make them come to his harpoon” (16). He talks about his three wives and how he misses having a woman in the house. Russel asks Oogruk if there were songs for women, too, and Oogruk laughingly answers that the “women were the songs” (19). Russel fetches the eyes from the caribou heads he brought to Oogruk, the eyes being a delicacy. Russel declines the offer of an eye, and as Oogruk is enjoying them, he says to Russel, “They are good. Later, when you are gone for the long time, you will wish you had eaten of them” (19).

Oogruk continues with memories of songs and how his old friend Ulgavik knew songs that could communicate with, and control, flocks of birds and teams of dogs. When old Ulgavik lost his sight, he knew the dogs so well that what they saw was transmitted through the sled to him, the dogs essentially becoming his eyes. Russel listens but is still fixated on the earlier comment referring to him being gone for a long time. Russel and Oogruk talk about the lack of muktuk, squares of fermented whale blubber, in the village and agree that it is likely because the machines have scared away the seals and whales. Oogruk thinks it is also because they no longer have songs and therefore do not deserve muktuk anymore. Oogruk can sense what Russel is thinking and feeling and tells Russel that the reason he has come to visit is to find “the way it was” (22). Russel realizes Oogruk is right—the reason he feels bothered is because there is “something wrong with the way things were now” (22). Russel needs Oogruk to teach him everything he can about the old culture and ways, and Oogruk agrees.

When Russel goes out to the food cache, he sees the dogs again, but no sled. Oogruk explains that the sled is in a lean-to by the house; it is old but strong and good. Oogruk tells Russel how they used to hunt before they had guns, how everything was different and quiet and even the way the hunted animals died for them felt different. Russel gets up and examines the ancient weapons hanging on the wall. They are all in perfect condition, made from wood laminated with horn, rawhide, bone, and antler, and look like weapons Russel has seen in the mining town museum. While Russel looks at the weapons, Oogruk tells him about how, long ago, he and four friends settled on the seacoast and eventually, as more people joined them, formed the village they live in now. Everyone had their own song, and life was good. Oogruk explains that everything changed after the first missionary came. The missionary introduced the concept of hell and considered both singing and dancing sinful activities that would condemn people to hell. Eventually, Oogruk explains, people became too afraid to dance and sing, and the songs were lost.

Sadly, Oogruk says that the only way the songs might come back is if people start to live the right way again, the old way, “but nobody is doing that” (29). Russel immediately knows what he must do. He must go back to the Inuit tradition and “become a song” (29). Oogruk agrees to teach Russel everything he knows about the old ways, and for a long time the two sit together in silence and finish the meat. Once the meat and broth have been eaten, Russel relaxes into a sleeplike trance, and only then does Oogruk begin to talk.

Oogruk keeps talking, and Russel falls from the trance into a deep sleep. When he wakes up, the room is cold, and Oogruk is fast asleep. Russel knows what he must do. He takes off his store-bought pants and coat and puts on a set of Oogruk’s traditional bearskin pants, squirrel undergarments, squirrel innerparker, deerskin outerparker, and sealskin mukluks, takes the lances and bow and arrows from the wall, and goes out to the sled in the lean-to. He has never seen anything as beautiful as the old basket sled. It is made of delicate hardwood lashed with rawhide, with birch rails and a steel snowhook. Although the sled has not been used for a long time, Oogruk has maintained it in excellent condition, so all Russel needs is a dog team. Russel has seen mushers run by in races but has never run a team himself, but he doesn’t let that inexperience stop him. He takes Oogruk’s lead dog off his chain and tries to attach him to the gangline, but the dog fights back. Russel struggles to control the dog, but suddenly, subconsciously drawing on knowledge imparted to him by Oogruk during his trance, Russel knows what to do. He crouches over the dog and growls; the leader backs down and lets Russel attach the harness. The other dogs follow nicely.

Russel leaves the hunting equipment and spends the rest of the short three hours of daylight trying to run the dogs. Despite being tipped off, dragged, and cold, he persists until finally the dogs pull in a coordinated line out across the ice. Russel understands that he needs to connect with the dogs, to become one with them. Russel feels alive and satisfied as the dogs run the sled back to the village. Oogruk is awake and up when Russel returns and is happy that the dogs ran for Russel. Oogruk has the fire and pot ready to heat up deer meat, and as they sit and eat Oogruk prepares Russel for the next step: hunting small game such as hare or ptarmigan.

The following day Russel takes to the ice with the dog team and Oogruk’s bow, but his arrows miss the plentiful ptarmigans. Russel closes his eyes and from the trance gets the help he is looking for. Oogruk’s words come back to him: “Look to the center of the center of where the point will go. Look inside the center” (42). Following Oogruk’s words, Russel kills his first ptarmigan the old way. He has killed many before with a rifle, but never with a bow. Oogruk told Russel that you must thank the animal and leave its head with food in its mouth as a gesture of gratitude. Russel feels uncomfortable doing this but leaves the ptarmigan’s head with some dried berries in its beak before putting the rest in his bag.

Before returning to the village, Russel runs the dogs further out over the snow and ice to practice. Russel sees the caribou in the dusk as he reaches the bottom of a snow mound. She stands still for him as he releases his arrow and guides it in his mind to the center of her. The caribou falls down dead. The dogs descend on her, but Russel gets them under control and thanks her—“Thank you for this meat, deer. It will be enjoyed” (47)—and he places some sweet grass in her mouth. Russel is cold, his fingers painful and slow, but he is ecstatic and heads back to the village with the deer and ptarmigan. The dogs, too, are content, full of deer and in sync with Russel as they run through the cold, clear night. In the joy of the moment, Russel feels himself bond with the dogs, and words form in his mind: “Out before me they go taking me home. Out before me they go I am the dogs” (50). He realizes that this is a song, maybe his song, and he is excited to share it. 

Four days after returning to Oogruk with the deer, Russel takes the team out to hunt for seal. Oogruk doesn’t ask Russel to go, but he needs seal oil for his lamp and has told Russel all about the old ways of hunting for seal where the ice meets the sea. Russel wants to embrace all the old ways, so he takes a harpoon and goes with the team out onto the ice. He is 20 miles out when a storm hits, but even though the storm is fierce, he draws on his own and Oogruk’s knowledge and builds a small shelter using the sled and snow and rides it out with the dogs, who curl into tight balls to keep warm under the snow. After the storm passes, Russel lines up his team, points towards where he thinks the village is, and shouts for them to run. The dogs resist, run a few yards then stop and turn. Russel keeps pushing the dogs, at times losing his patience, and after a few more stops and redirections the dogs finally run reluctantly in the direction he is forcing. After a few hours, Russel realizes that he is lost and the village is not where he thought. The large plate of ice that Russel and the dogs sheltered on has rotated during the storm, throwing Russel off course. The dogs knew the way home, and now Russel understands their reluctance to follow his commands.

Another storm approaches, and Russel feels colder than he has ever been. He starts to feel afraid; he is alone with just the dogs and the sled. Previously, when stuck in a storm, he has always had a snow machine to get home on, but now he has nothing. Russel tries to recall the trance, tries to hear Oogruk’s words about being lost on the ice, but nothing comes. Russel turns to the dogs: “So, there is some trouble. What should we do?” (59). He realizes with a smile that the dogs are the answer. He decides to let the dogs run in the direction they choose, and sure enough, they eventually turn and confidently run in a different direction to the one chosen by Russel. Russel senses that they are heading to the village, but his relief is shattered when they come across an opening in the ice. They hit a lead of open water, “so wide Russel could not see across” (61).

Russel guides the team along the broken edge of the ice for miles, looking for a crossing. Even though his situation is dire, Russel no longer feels any fear. He is aware that he might not make it back, but he is determined to try and feels a surge of strength. He absorbs the beauty of the dogs glistening with ice, and as he is watching them run, he sees large chunks of ice floating on the open water. Russel uses his harpoon to catch a large chunk of floating ice and pulls it to the lead edge of the ice he is standing on, positioning it so that it forms an unstable bridge to the land ice. The dogs refuse to try and cross, so Russel grabs the lead dog and throws him onto the floating chunk, from which he frantically scrambles to the land ice, pulling the rest of the team and the sled to safety with him. Russel and the dog team run on the solid ice until they can see the light of the village fuel tank. They are home safe. 

Russel moves in with Oogruk to learn the old ways. His father is fine with this, and even though he is missing school, everyone understands that he is still learning and getting an education in the old ways. Life in the village continues as usual, with hunters heading out on snowmachines and long winter evenings spent with families playing games and watching the communal television. Everyone joins in except Oogruk and Russel. Russel works hard on his hunting skills, using a net to catch rabbits and birds and practicing with the bow for larger game. He is unsuccessful at getting caribou, so he tells Oogruk that it is time for him to go out onto the sea ice and try again to hunt for seal. Oogruk surprises Russel by agreeing and saying that he will join him on this hunt. When Russel expresses his surprise, Oogruk’s only explanation is, “There are certain things that must be done at this time and it is for an old man to do them when the time is right” (69).

Russel gets the dogs and sled ready, loading it up with two harpoons and a killing lance. Russel then helps Oogruk into the sled, and they race away across the ice towards the sea. Even though Oogruk is blind, he can smell when they get close to the sea, and he tells Russel to stop when the spray smell is heavy. Russel gets ready to go out on foot to hunt for seal and tells Oogruk to wait for him in the sled with the dogs. Oogruk stops him and says they have to talk one more time. Russel is confused and asks Oogruk if he is leaving him, to which Oogruk answers, “It is my time. But there is a thing you must do now to become a man. You must not go home” (72). Oogruk explains to Russel about his own long journey running with the dogs and that it is now Russel’s time to run north with the dogs as far as he can to find himself and to become a man.

Russel realizes what Oogruk is saying and pleads with him to return to the village and see a doctor, but Oogruk is determined to stay: “An old man knows when death is coming and he should be left to his own on it. You will leave me here on the ice” (72). Oogruk gets out of the sled and stands on the ice. He commands Russel to go and not look back. Reluctantly Russel gets back on the sled and runs the dogs out on the ice. He runs for miles without turning but eventually can no longer bear it, so he turns the dogs around and runs them back towards Oogruk, smiling as he thinks how he will persuade Oogruk to return to the village to continue being his teacher. As Russel gets closer, he sees that Oogruk is now sitting and that the life has gone from his eyes. Russel quietly says, “You left too soon, Grandfather. I was coming back for you” (74). He takes a small harpoon for hunting seal from the sled and places it on Oogruk’s lap. Russel gathers the dogs and lets them run north, turning one more time to say, “I will remember you” (74), before following Oogruk’s command to run north for as long as possible.