Having raised large breed dogs, German Shepherds, and lived around sled dogs, the worst thing you can do is to pen them in. They need exercise. They need to be what they are. Shepherds will find something to herd. kids, chickens, whatever is available, because that is what they do.
Sled dogs pull sleds. They have been pulling sleds for thousands of years, and if you don’t make provisions for that need, you will get bad behavior.
The dogs bounce back a lot quicker than the mushers, but you have to watch them or they will do too much.
Michael Telpin has a team of Chukchi sled dogs, who are probably the ancestor breed for all of the modern variants, and they howl to go when they are harnessed. His people have been using the dogs to pull sleds for millennia.
My general opinion is that if you don’t want to do it. don’t, but leave other people alone unless you can prove a harm to society.
]]>Dog deaths in these two races is well below the level of human deaths in the New York Marathon, and has been significantly reduced by new procedures, and better training for the mushers.
The large number of dogs who do not finish reflects the scrutiny of the vets at check points to ensure the dogs are in good shape. There are almost no medical doctors on the race routes, but there are a lot of vets.
This is called ‘sled dog’ racing because the sled dogs are the athletes, not the mushers.
I guess you are OK with the hundreds of dogs who will be euthanized if the races are banned, because long distance races are what they are bred to do, and they are very expensive to keep.
The races are run on the old mail and transportation routes. If the temperatures drop, dogs are the only way of moving about in a lot of the interior of Alaska and the Yukon. If you live out in a cabin you would be a fool not to have dogs and a sled for emergencies.
You are entitled to your opinion, but those of us who have lived in the Arctic, enjoy following these ultimate athletes competing in the ultimate races. We are saddened when dogs are injured or die. We also take the trouble to learn the names of the dogs, as they are individuals, not numbers.
]]>The distance is too long, and the conditions and rough terrain too grueling for them. They are among the best-conditioned dogs in the world due to their training year-round, yet only about half of the dogs make it to the finish line as in the Iditarod. There are laws in at least 38 US states against over-driving and over-working animals, which is exactly what these marathon races do.
When the dogs are not racing or training they are each kept on a short chain, attached to their small enclosure. This is considered inhumane and illegal in many communities.
Many organizations, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Friends for Animals, In Defense of Animals, Sled Dog Action Coalition, and Sled Dog Watchdog want this race and the Iditarod to end.
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