We therefore naturally made every effort from the first to quench their love of fighting, and the dogs very soon began to understand that we were not particularly fond of their combats; but we had here to deal with a natural characteristic, which it was impossible to eradicate; in any case, one could never be sure that nature would not reassert itself over discipline.  When the dogs had once been let loose, they remained free to run about wherever they liked for the remainder of the voyage; only at meal-times were they tied up.  It was quite extraordinary how they managed to hide themselves in every hole and comer; on some mornings there was hardly a dog to be seen when daylight came.  Of course they visited every place where they ought not to have gone.  Several of them repeatedly took the opportunity of tumbling into the forehold, when the hatches were open; but a fall of 25 feet did not seem to trouble them in the least.  One even found his way into the engine-room, difficult as it might seem to gain access to it, and curled himself up between the piston-rods.  Fortunately for the visitor, the engine was not started while he was there.

When the first furious battles had been fought out, a calm soon settled upon the dogs’ spirits.  It was easy to notice a feeling of shame and disappointment in the champions when they found that all their efforts led to nothing.  The sport had lost its principal charm as soon as they saw what a poor chance there was of tasting blood.

From what has here been said, and perhaps from other accounts of the nature of Arctic dogs, it may appear as though the mutual relations of these animals consisted exclusively of fighting.  This, however, is far from being the case.  On the contrary, they very often form friendships, which are sometimes so strong that one dog simply cannot live without the other.  Before we let the dogs loose we had remarked that there were a few who, for some reason or other, did not seem as happy as they should have been:  they were more shy and restless than the others.  No particular notice was taken of this, and no one tried to find out the cause of it.  The day we let them loose we discovered what had been the matter with the ones that had moped:  they had some old friend who had chanced to be placed in some other part of the deck, and this separation had been the cause of their low spirits.  It was really touching to see the joy they showed on meeting again; they became quite different animals.  Of course in these cases a change of places was arranged between the different groups, so that those who had associated from their own inclination would in future be members of the same team.