Comments on: Yukon Quest 2017 – Day 6

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 00:45:34 +0000

The loss is hard on the rest of the pack, as well. A good team is a pack, like wolves. The effect is related to where that dog fit in the hierarchy of the pack.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 22:48:39 +0000

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry! I know that was a painful loss. And if you’re anything like me, I always keep second guessing myself: “Could I have done something to stop this?” But yeah these things happen,and there isn’t anything you can do. My largest dog is a gulper like that, and it amazes me the size of food pieces he can swallow in one go. I make an effort now to give him smaller segments.

I can certainly understand her not wanting to continue. I wouldn’t either.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 21:52:32 +0000

She couldn’t bear it, and scratched. We lost a young shepherd to gulping and it really hurt. The immature female swallowed a bone and it got stuck. You hate it. but you get another dog anyway.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 17:56:54 +0000

I know. It just breaks my heart to hear of a dog not making it. Of course, in any subset of 250 to 300 dogs, there will always be something that will or can happen even if they are just at home being a pet. Being a person owned by two dogs, I just hate thinking about it. I don’t think I could finish a race after that.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 17:29:06 +0000

It is really sad to hear about Yuka’s loss. She runs on a shoestring, and the odd-year seems to be bad karma for her. I suspect it was eating related. These temperatures cause a much larger intake of food and huskies, like most large dogs, gulp rather than chew. She teaches in Whitehorse, so getting a team together is not easy for her.

By: JuanitaM

JuanitaM — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 17:09:48 +0000

It’s 12:00 noon EST, and Brent Sass is well ahead of Hugh Ness at this point. Still, they have those three great mountains to get over, but it looks like Brent would have to make a big mistake at this point.

You mentioned Yuka Honda earlier and the issues that she has had in the prior races. The latest news on the Yukon Quest site is that she has lost a dog. I don’t think they know yet what has happened. The Quest has not been lucky for her apparently.