Until now, there has been very little written about the enigmatic Coast Salish Woolly Dog. According to Indigenous Oral Histories of the Pacific Northwest, this small dog was bred for thousands of years for its woolly fibres, which were woven into traditional blankets, robes, and regalia. Although the dogs were carefully protected by Coast Salish peoples, by the 1900s, the Woolly Dog had become so rare it is now considered extinct.
Esteemed researcher and author Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa has joined forces with Sḵwx̱wú7mesh weavers and knowledge keepers Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George and Senaqwila Wyss to publish The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog. The book tells the true story of how the pelt of a dog named “Mutton” languished in a drawer at the Smithsonian for 150 years until it was discovered, almost accidentally, by an amateur archivist.
The authors are bringing their story to the West Vancouver Memorial Library on Wednesday, June 18. Together, they will explore what Mutton’s story can teach us about Coast Salish Woolly Dogs and their cultural significance.
About the Authors:
Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa holds an MA in Educational Technology and a Master Spinners Certificate. Retired from Vancouver Island University, where she was Director of Research Services, she spends much of her time studying Coast Salish textiles. She is a Research Associate with the Smithsonian and VIU’s Anthropology Department. Liz has written articles on the subject of the Coast Salish Woolly Dog for magazines such as Selvedge, Spin-Off, Ply, and BC Studies and the latest one, “The History of Coast Salish’ Woolly Dogs’ Revealed by Ancient Genomics and Indigenous Knowledge,” was published in Science. She also reviews books for The British Columbia Review.
Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George is a hereditary chief of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw. She is an acclaimed weaver, educator, and trained museum curator. Janice has spent decades reclaiming the Salish weaving tradition and teaching others throughout the Salish-speaking territory and beyond. Her work began in Squamish Territory, weaving the technical, spiritual, and generational teachings together. Janice co-founded the L’hen Awtxw Weaving House and co-authored Salish Blankets: Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth. Don’t miss her TedxWhistler talk, The Spirit Moves Like a Storm.
Senaqwila Wyss is Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, Tsimshian, Sto:lo, Hawaiian, and Swiss. She holds a BA in the faculty of Communications, Arts and Technology, a minor in First Nations Studies and a First Nations Languages Proficiency Certificate and Diploma in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim. She and her husband, Lil̓wat filmmaker Justin Leo, are raising their children to be first language speakers, a first for her family after four generations of colonial policies. Senaqwila practices ethnobotany with traditionally trained mom Cease Wyss. She was raised learning these ancestral teachings and uses plants as teas, medicines, tinctures and ceremony. She has been working for years to bring awareness to the Salish Woolly Dogs, Pa7pa7ikn, who Canada eliminated in the early 1900s through colonial means. Senaqwila is highly sought after for her work in event planning, festival programming, education, and public and Indigenous knowledge expertise.