Dog Sledding - Cruel and Inhumane?

I can hear everyone wondering how an animal lover, such as myself, can possibly continence dog sled racing. In years gone by, we have been regaled with stories about how cruel and inhumanely these dogs are treated.

To me, dog sledding does not, for the most part, involve animal cruelty. Yes, there are some people that do not treat their sled dogs well. But those people usually don?t make it to such a long race as the Iditarod. I will admit I am not an expert, but we, and some friends of ours, had the opportunity to train and run sled dogs - just for fun and for short distances, and certainly not for competition. The dogs loved it because the dogs used for dog sledding live, breathe and love to run.

Sled dogs are picked for the trait of loving to run. If you have ever seen dogs being hooked up to a sled, it is very apparent that they enjoy it. There is pandemonium because the dogs are so excited when they see their harnesses and leads. There is barking and howling, jumping and leaping, and generally showing how pleased they are that they will be hooked up to the sled. As the, June Price, the author of This Site so astutely observes:

As three time Iditarod champion Jeff King has said, you can't push a rope, and if the dogs decide not to pull, well, that musher isn't going anywhere. Just ask DeeDee Jonrowe, whose hopes were crushed in the 1999 race when her veteran team of dogs stopped and made it clear they'd had enough. The same thing happened to others in Iditarod 2000, with several teams simply stopping and declining to move one step closer to Nome, despite the musher's best entreaties, a rebellion that earned the dogs a plane ride home, not sudden death.

June's essay refutes a lot of criticisms aimed toward mushers and sled dog races. I would be stupid to try to recreate her efforts (especially since she took the time and resources to go directly to sources), so just go read it!

As added food for thought - if mushers are so cruel to their animals, then why

• Is the "Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award", which is awarded to the musher with the best cared for dog team, regarded as so prestigious and why is it coveted?.
• Are there nurses, therapists and vet technicians (who, most would agree, get into those professions because of their compasion for others) among the teams for the Iditarod?

Update

More things to think about: 2 teams have scratched; one 164 miles into the race where the musher felt that his dogs did not have enough milage (training) behind them to avoid injuring the dogs; the second 224 miles into the race, whose dogs were off their feed and "that it was in the best interest of his dogs to scratch from this year's race." Sounds like these mushers have the well-being of their dogs forefront in their minds - not cruel at all.

Comments

[Melissa]

Yes, but isn't the long distance the dogs have to run exhausting? I mean, hundreds of miles...

[bogie]

So is a marathon, climbing Mount Everest, competing in a tri-athelon, competing in the eco-challenge and mushing in a sled-dog race (where the musher gets much less rest than the team does). The people that compete in these types of contests think it is fun.

If you have ever seen the dogs jump and cavort about when they are hitched up, or even at the end of the race - yes, they jump and cavort about at the end of the race - then you would see how much they enjoy it.

[dogsled101]

If you ever have a chance to go to a dogsledding race, you will see that these dogs couldn't get happier. They are jumping up and down with giant smiles on their faces and when your sled holders let go, they run. If they didnt like it, then they would stop dead. We do it because they LOVE to do it.