I think this is a cool story about a Jamaican dog sled team.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4629754.stm
How would you go about acclimatize a dog, born in Jamaica, to the cold climates?
What about vice-versa?
Would it be easier or harder to acclimatize a dog from the Caribbean to cold climates?
Dogs with thick coats like Huskies are entirely unsuited to climates like the Carribean. It’d be the equivellent of you going to the tropics wearing a thick winter coat over a sweater-- you might be able to survive, but you’d be as miserable as hell, and would probably get heat stroke. Dogs are worse off. They have no sweat glands, so all they can do to rid themselves of body heat is to pant heavily. If they had to be active, they’d probably collapse.
Cold-weather dog breed can acclimatize somewhat to warmer temperatures. I have a Norwegian Elkhound, and she’s built for the cold outdoors: she has two thick coats of fur: a downy undercoat and a thick long fur overcoat. She does just fine in a warm house, because she sheds a good deal of fur year-round. (I’ve theorized that she automatically grows in her winter fur, and then sheds it when her body doesn’t need it for warmth.) But the shedding wouldn’t be enough to keep her comfortable if we lived in the Carribean.
Dogs who are used to warm environments can have the same reaction as humans when exposed to cold, especially if their coats aren’t designed for it. My Jack Russell Terrier shivers so hard in the cold that I had to buy him a little coat to get him to go outside on cold days.