Domesticated dogs seem to have come across the Bering Strait at the same time as the earliest Native Americans, and probably accompanied them. They were used for hunting, fishing, as pets, as companions, as early warning systems, as protection, and as pullers of travois, those triangular wheel-less supply carts. All but the Inuit or Eskimo (Sled) Dog are extinct. For a picture of a dog pulling a travois, go to http://womenofthefurtrade.com/wst_page16.html.
The Plains Indians had dogs that looked a bit like Australian dingoes but in a variety of colors. The Tahl Tan Bear Dog of British Columbia in Canada was a small dog that was carried in a pouch and was used for hunting and worrying bears. It looked a little like a Papillon. The Clamman Indian Dog of the Northwest was another small dog that was shorn of its hair like sheep, which was then used for making sturdy blankets. (The dog's hair, not the dog, itself.)
As the European immigrants began to encroach on Native North American land, dogs became illegal to own since they could warn the tribe of invaders. And since most of the dogs were very small, they were no match, physically, for the larger, heavier dogs that the immigrants had brought with them from Europe.
On the other hand, we have the Chihuahua, the dog of Mexico. Like the Tahl Tan Bear Dog of British Columbia and the Clamman Indian Dog of the Northwest, the Chihuahua was a small dog, and is now the smallest dog in the world. They are thought to be the descendants of the Techichi, representations of which date back to 300 BC. Given their very intelligent and gallant natures, it seems a shame that the Aztecs raised and sold them as food.
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