Very little is known of the ancestry of these dogs, but they probably accompanied the Eskimos on their gradual migrations, lasting many hundreds of years, from Mongolia along the Arctic coasts of Canada, and eventually to Greenland itself.

Less than a thousand inhabitants live on the east coast of Greenland, nearly all of them being in the Angmagssalik and Scoresby Sound districts; and the Eskimo there depends mainly on his hunting kayak for his livelihood. The snowfall is comparatively heavy, especially during the spring, and on account of the windless conditions prevalent at this season, surfaces are very soft and heavy. For this and other reasons these Eskimos do not sledge very much, and there are no expert dog-drivers on the whole of the east coast. Their dogs are for the most part poor, and during the summer months, invariably underfed.