Referring to dogs as “man’s best friend” is more than just hyperbole – canines have been invaluable companions throughout human history.
The American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog in New York City is a testament to that enduring bond, housing one of the largest collections of dog-focused fine art in the world.
The museum will soon be home to Mancos-based artist Veryl Goodnight’s painting “Perseverance,” an oil on canvas depicting eight huskies pulling a musher through a raging blizzard. The work honors the tenacity of sled dogs.
“It’s a huge honor,” Goodnight said. “They have one of, if not the largest, collections of canine works in the world. And some of these paintings go back to the 1600s and 1700s. They have extremely good artists in there, and for contemporary artists to be included is truly an honor.”
For the past 60 years, Goodnight created Western and animal-focused art – much of it centered on huskies. Her inspiration stems from a joke between friends, she said, when they harnessed her Jack Russell terrier to a recreational team of sled dogs.
“I taught him how to mush,” Goodnight said. “His enthusiasm was absolutely contagious. He was leading with two big dogs next to him, and he got in the harness and was jumping and leaping and excited to go just like the Huskies were.”
That little Jack Russell’s innate drive to run in a pack got her thinking about the long, storied history of humans and dogs. It inspired a series of paintings highlighting that story – particularly winter scenes featuring sled dog teams.
“Huskies have been bred for thousands of years to thrive in winter,” Goodnight said in a news release about the painting. “These amazing dogs launch into the face of a blizzard and plunge through deep snowdrifts, forging ahead in unimaginable conditions. The sensation is primal. The codependency between dog and man is humbling.”
Durango Kennel Club Vice President Barbara Schwartz said she contacted a club representative who knew the Museum of the Dog curator after learning about “Perseverance,” hoping to see more Western dogs represented in the museum.
“The museum is very prestigious,” Schwartz said. “The northern breeds aren’t that well represented. And from what I’ve heard, they have a lot of paintings and representation of the pretty dogs. But (Goodnight’s) work is totally different, because it shows the animal doing its thing under the worst circumstances.”
The Durango Kennel Club donated $1,000 toward the purchase of Goodnight’s painting, Schwartz said, with the rest coming from donors across the country.
The donation was part of the club’s efforts to work with the community, Schwartz said, which included providing $10,000 to the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office to buy two police dogs, supplying an emergency disaster trailer to rescue animals during disasters in the Four Corners, donating $1,500 for regional search and rescue teams to buy search dogs, and providing rattlesnake avoidance training.
One of the reasons Goodnight chose sled dogs was because they played a crucial role in human life when people first came to the Americas. There is strong evidence that dogs were domesticated by humans as far back as 23,000 years ago, and accompanied humans across the Bering Land Bridge roughly 15,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian Museum.
“Dogs were domesticated from wolves, and good dogs have made an enormous difference for humans,” said Fort Lewis College history professor Andrew Gulliford. “Dogs have been used for hunting, they’ve been used for security, they’ve been used for companionship.”
Mail delivery by dog teams in snowy regions from Maine to Colorado to Alaska lasted from the late 1800s until 1963, outliving the famed Pony Express – which was only around for 18 months – by almost a century.
During a tonsillitis outbreak in Nome in 1925, it was dog teams that brought crucial medicine to remote villages in Alaska, Gulliford said. One notable example was the race to bring vaccines from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, during a blizzard.
“There was no way to get (to Nome),” Gulliford said. “There weren’t airplanes yet, and the boats couldn’t get there because everything was frozen.”
The race through the frigid interior of Alaska saved lives, and today’s Iditarod race commemorates that heroic act. Dog sled racing as a whole is also popular, with a series of events hosted every winter by the Rocky Mountain Sled Dog Club, including the Flying Dog Silverton Sprint in Silverton.
“There’s still dog sledding here,” Goodnight said. “We still have it in Hesperus. Dog racing is one of Colorado’s sports.”
Goodnight said “Perseverance” being put on display in the Museum of the Dog pays homage to the hearty breed’s years of dedication, even in the harshest of environments and toughest of jobs.
“Sled dogs have passion in spades,” Goodnight said.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
