Marit Holm has 14 years of dog sledding experience and often hits the trail with her own pack in the winter months. She takes them jogging when temperatures warm and the snow begins to melt.
While many owners put their dogs down at the age of three or four — when they become more "cocky" and less productive — Holm has several that are much older.
Despite having been threatened by dog owners "one or two times" during her time in Greenland, she is quick to point out how friendly most owners are and how supportive they have been.
But she also realizes that the best approach is a long-term one.
"I'm trying to change it here. You have to start with the small ones, teaching them to give their dogs enough food and water and take good care of them," she said.
Sure enough, it is easy to find fathers showing their children how to train their dogs, with the youngsters playing with brightly colored plastic sleds while trailing behind a dog or two.
In Ilulissat, which has everything from tourist shops to a small market selling whale and seal meat, kids wrapped in layers of winter clothes brandish dog whips just as other kids might play with plastic light sabers.
Wooden doghouses in the same colors as Ilulissat's brightly colored homes are slowly appearing and it is clear people are beginning to take notice of Holm's work.
Elke Meissner, a German-born tour operator that runs dog sledding expeditions from Ilulissat, summed it up as she watched a car give right of way to a sled: "In town, it's always dog sleds first."
