The Samoyeddogs in Siberia before and right after the breed was established in the Western world
To better understand the origin of Samoyed dogs, one needs some background/history of the people and area the dogs are believed to have originated. What we think of today as "Samoyeds people" were not originally called that term, but it was a term the Russians used to group people whose language was the same or very similar. The Samoyeds of the tundra were of 3 groups: Nganasan, Nenets and Enets (Entsy). The Nganasan lived on the Taimyr peninsula, which lies between the Lena and Yenisey Rivers. The Enets (Samadu) were their neighbors to the west, near the lower Yenisey and Taz Rivers. The third group, Nenets (Samoyeds or Yuraks), lived in the largest territory on both sides of the Ural Mountains, going from forest and the Arctic coast into the Kanin, Gydan and Yamal peninsulas.
The Nganasan used dogs as a means to hunt geese that were molting. And it was not till the mid 19th century did reindeer breeding become important to this group of Samoyed people. Their reindeer were "wilder", and roamed farther in search of food.
The Enets before the Revolution (1917) were called Khantayka and Karasin Samoyeds and they used reindeer for transportation but no mention was made of dogs for any use in the history books and literature. There were Nenets that were relocated to Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach Islands by the Russians, so they (the Russians) could claim the land, and these relocated Nenets did adopt the ways in using dogs for transportation. The larger and wealthier families among the Nenets kept larger reindeer herds and used a smaller dog variety for controlling their large herds of reindeer.
Another group of people that were neighbors to the "Samoyed people" and are mentioned frequently in the explorer diaries' and in historical writings about the people of Siberia that did use dogs multiple ways were the Khantys (Ostiaks). This group of people occupied the area from the mouth of the Ob and the northern Urals, up to where the Ittyoh joins the Ob and east into theheart of Siberia. Some of The Khantys families did adopt the nomadic reindeer culture from the Nenets, and used their dogs for controlling their herds. But they also used dogs for transportation in the winter and in the warmer seasons the dogs were used to pull their boats up river.
There was a great variety among the lifestyles and means of subsistence of these polar peoples. Some families took up quantitative reindeer husbandry, while others continued the traditional life as hunters and used the dogs for hunting and as draft dogs for transport.
Link to a photo album about the life of the Samoyed people, etc: https://museovirasto.finna.fi/Search/Results?dfApplied=1&lookfor=samojedi&type=AllFields&sort=main_date_str%20asc&lng=en-gb&fbclid=IwAR0G0TO3Qsrksk5OEfnzupOda8RR7DT03mg5GrgGVLQ6NfGpIQz_KFWngog