Comments on: Dog goes missing on Iditarod Trail http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/03/11/dog-goes-missing-on-iditarod-trail/ a site for dog lovers Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:21:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Anne-n-Spencer http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/03/11/dog-goes-missing-on-iditarod-trail/comment-page-1/#comment-946 Anne-n-Spencer Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:44:11 +0000 http://www.ohmidog.com/?p=6481#comment-946 I've done a complete re-think on the whole race, and I've decided to advocate "back to the roots." If they want to commemorate the original race to get the vaccine to Nome, then let them do it the way those original people and teams did it. The first 600 or so miles were covered by train. Where the railroad line stopped, the dog teams took over. Their route was carefully planned, and no team ran more than about 90 miles, with 50 or 60 being closer to the norm. The objective was far too important to risk running the dogs to death or to risk injuring them. I'm convinced that the dogs really do enjoy being out running and pulling, and any team of healthy dogs could put 60-90 miles behind them and still enjoy a good dinner. That innate enjoyment is being done to death with these modern races. And of course the other question is what happens to the dogs that don't make the cut. There are rumblings, and they're getting a bit louder, such as this one in USA Today a couple of weeks ago: http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/pettalk/2009-02-09-sled-dog_N.htm I suspect they could tap a whole new community of dog-loving tourists with deep pockets who would genuinely enjoy seeing something a lot more authentic and a whole lot less cruel. I’ve done a complete re-think on the whole race, and I’ve decided to advocate “back to the roots.” If they want to commemorate the original race to get the vaccine to Nome, then let them do it the way those original people and teams did it. The first 600 or so miles were covered by train. Where the railroad line stopped, the dog teams took over. Their route was carefully planned, and no team ran more than about 90 miles, with 50 or 60 being closer to the norm. The objective was far too important to risk running the dogs to death or to risk injuring them. I’m convinced that the dogs really do enjoy being out running and pulling, and any team of healthy dogs could put 60-90 miles behind them and still enjoy a good dinner. That innate enjoyment is being done to death with these modern races.

And of course the other question is what happens to the dogs that don’t make the cut. There are rumblings, and they’re getting a bit louder, such as this one in USA Today a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/pettalk/2009-02-09-sled-dog_N.htm

I suspect they could tap a whole new community of dog-loving tourists with deep pockets who would genuinely enjoy seeing something a lot more authentic and a whole lot less cruel.

]]> By: Eighteenpaws http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/03/11/dog-goes-missing-on-iditarod-trail/comment-page-1/#comment-942 Eighteenpaws Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:38:09 +0000 http://www.ohmidog.com/?p=6481#comment-942 Geez!! I hesitated at the first "I" blog and now I am infuriated by the second. I know that it can be an unpopular and controversial position, but who in their right mind still supports in any method, active or inactive, the Iditarod? I was delighted to read about this year's great decline in participants and advertisers and supporters. I am hoping that it is more CONSCIENCE than the current economic strife. Racing dogs to their near or actual death -- please don't tell me that "they love it" -- is akin to greyhound racing and perhaps worse. Let animals be animals, as natural as possible. They do not exist for our cruelly-tainted thrills. The spectre of Michael Vick can be everywhere. Geez!! I hesitated at the first “I” blog and now I am infuriated by the second. I know that it can be an unpopular and controversial position, but who in their right mind still supports in any method, active or inactive, the Iditarod? I was delighted to read about this year’s great decline in participants and advertisers and supporters. I am hoping that it is more CONSCIENCE than the current economic strife. Racing dogs to their near or actual death — please don’t tell me that “they love it” — is akin to greyhound racing and perhaps worse. Let animals be animals, as natural as possible. They do not exist for our cruelly-tainted thrills. The spectre of Michael Vick can be everywhere.

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