Who is Paulsen's Dogs from Woodsong and what is their importance?

Paulsen ran dozens of dogs on his sledding adventures over the years. They were all dear to him, but there were a few dogs that were especially exceptional. The dogs pulled Paulsen on his sled for many reasons, including his initial reasons (trapping beavers) and other considerations (training to run and running the Iditarod). But Paulsen's initial reasons to use the dogs soon became simply a starting point for the reasons he stuck with them and cared for them for many years. The dogs, Paulsen argued, taught him an enormous amount. At the most practical level, they taught him how to manage them, how to run them, but more importantly they taught him to trust them, as they often had better judgment about whether to go on their travels. Paulsen learned about their relative health needs and how to feed and care for them, quite an undertaking for the intense weather conditions they were run under.

But perhaps most significantly, Paulsen's dogs bonded with him emotionally. At times, he claims, they were so close that they could communicate in the most basic, primitive manner, locked into a rhythm of movement that in many ways unified their feelings. Further, a number of the dogs demonstrated impressive levels of intelligence. One experience of one of his dogs' inventiveness was so powerful that it convinced him not to trap or kill another animal again.