Day 38
Distance Traveled: 25.3 km / 15.7 mi
Position: N 80° 24' W 096° 19'

Marvin is a dog, one of the ten on my team, and at first glance you would not think much of him. He is not the largest of my dogs - he is tall and has thin shoulders. He has two black patches on his head and short rounded ears that he folds back when he acknowledges that he has heard his name being called. He is king, and he knows it.

Dogs are not wolves, and these dogs least of all. Though they may look more like wolves, they are as similar to wolves as any domesticated house dog. They do however originate from wolves, about 10,000 years ago man started domesticating wolves, and according to recent genetic data it appears that there were no more than three separate domestication events, all which occurred during a short period of time. Since then man has altered our dogs using natural selection to give us the huge variations in dogs that we see now. Dogs are also mans first domesticated animal.

Even though dogs and wolves have gone their separate paths for so long they have retained some of the characteristics of wolves, one is the assertion of a hierarchy, and pack mentality. Currently Marvin is at the top of that pack which gives him special privileges and respect from the other dogs. He also has duties to perform such as keeping the rest of the team in line and breaking up fights. There is also a separate hierarchy for the female dogs, of which Denali, our main breeding female, is at the top.

Eric McNair-Landry