FRENCH CANADIAN CANINE CARTS By Rebecca Morris

French Canadians (Québecois) used cart dogs (Figure1) for over two hundred years and these canine carts are mentioned in many diaries and journals. In 1751, the Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm wrote about the oral history and the use of canine carts in Quebec (1). In September 1850, the American philosopher Henry Thoreau wrote dog carts were used “extensively to pull groceries, milk, people, and wood” (2). In 1853, Mr. William H. West of Canada exhibited his dog team and sulky at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition (3). His four-wheeled dog sulky was similar to horse racing sulkies depicted in Currier and Ives prints. On July 14, 1910, William Brown of Saint John, Newfoundland won a $10,000 bet for traveling 24,000 miles in a dog wagon (Figure 2). His dog team consisted of 5 dogs. In the early 20th century, the people of Newfoundland gave a cart dog (Figure 3) to the children of King George, the 5th. From 1890 to the late 1960s, many Canadian dog cart postcards were published.

The canine carts of Quebec and Newfoundland fall into two categories; a vehicle to transport a person or a vehicle to pull cargo (Figures 4 and 5). Dog sulkies (Figure 6) are shown in postcards and photographs until the late 1930s. After the 1930s, a fancier two-wheeled dog carriage called a “Calèche” appears (Figure 7). By the mid 1950s, the dog carts of Quebec had become mainly tourist attractions, but were still being used as transportation by a few locals. Through the 1960s, the postcards depict progressively cruder dog carts used to attract tourists to the roadside tourist trap (Figure 8).

A final note: The extinct cart dog of eastern Canada that was known by three names; the Saint John’s Dog, the Newfoundland Dog, and the Labrador Dog. To avoid confusion with modern pedigreed breeds, I refer to the un-pedigreed Canadian cart dog as the Saint John’s Dog. My photograph and postcard collection shows the Saint John’s Dog was the Canadian cart dog of Newfoundland, Quebec, the Gaspe region, and along the Saint Lawrence River. This cart dog was named after the Newfoundland town of Saint John. Late 19th and early 20th century photographs show that they were yellow and black lab types of dog. They frequently had white hairs on their paws, chest, and muzzle, as seen in an 1852 photograph (Figure 9). Some examples of the Saint John’s Dog had curly, longish (rough) coats (4) (Figure 3). These dogs died out when automobiles and motorcycles became affordable for even poor families in Canada.

The Saint John’s dog had a strong retrieving instinct and was used by fishermen to retrieve items which fell over the sides of boats, fishing nets, and the occasional man over board. In the mid 19th century, English water fowl hunters discovered their excellent retrieving instincts and the Saint John’s dog became a popular bird dog among British hunters. In 1895, the British quarantine act (5) put strict rules on the importation of dogs and the Saint John’s Dogs were effectively isolated from their British cousins. English breeders created two breeds out of the Saint John’s dog; the Labrador Retriever and the Newfoundland. White markings were breed out of the pedigreed Labrador Retriever and, initially, yellow and brown puppies were culled (4). Today, the occasional puppy in a black Lab litter with white markings on the paws and chest is displaying the color markings of the ancestral breed, the Saint John’s Dog.

End Notes (1) John Bartram, Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Rivers, Productions, Animals, and Other Matters, 1751.

(2) Henry Thoreau, An Excursion to Canada, 1850. http://www.walden.org

(3) Souvenir from the 1853 New York Crystal Palace Exhibition in the collection of Rebecca Morris

(4) Ken and Laurie Dollevoet, 2003. http://personal.pitnet.net/ldoll/labrador%20Retriever%20history.htm

(5) Katherine MacDonogh, Reigning Cats and Dogs, 1999, Published by St. Martin’s Press, New York. ISBN: 0 312 22837 6. Page175