‘Dogs are muses’: Anchorage Museum celebrates man’s best friend in latest exhibit

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Anchorage Museum’s newest exhibit takes an intimate look at the relationships between pooches and their people in the far north.

“When most people think about dogs in Alaska, they think about mushing. But dogs are so much more than animals who pull,” Anchorage Museum Associate Curator Rachel Boesenberg explained. “They have also been our companions, our hunting helpmates, and really, we have co-evolved alongside them for the last 15,000 years.”

Dog Show explores that coevolution specifically in Arctic and Subarctic communities, taking a deeper look at how canines have shaped history and culture in Alaska and beyond.

Boesenberg said the exhibit is “truly a celebration” of how dogs and their humans have coexisted for centuries.

“Everybody has their own relationship, whether it’s a dog that they currently live with or a dog they had in their childhood, a friend’s dog, a parent’s dog. But each one of those relationships is unique,” she explained. “I think this exhibition really reflects that, whether it’s an exciting, joyful, playful relationship, or one that’s a little bit more tender, and you hold each other. Or if the dog is your hunting companion, who helps you with subsistence living.”

The exhibit is open to the public and on view in the Patricia B. Wolf Family Galleries at the Anchorage Museum through April 2026.

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