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A Kid's Thoughts
Abuse
in Iditarod kennels
What the Alaska SPCA says
Don't risk your health by visiting an Iditarod dog
kennel
Permanent
chaining of dogs is cruel, dangerous and makes dogs aggressive
Killing or culling unwanted dogs
Some culled Iditarod dogs are skinned for fur
Mushers charged with animal cruelty
and reckless neglect
Dog's feet "candled" with propane torch
Chained dogs get little attention and exercise
Chained dogs go "mad" or become "kennel
crazy"
Adequate dog care is too costly for mushers
Dogs are inbred
Big Kennels Big Suffering
Mushers can't bond with all their dogs
Many dogs have no names
Dogs in remote areas don't get veterinary care
Sick and injured dogs often get no veterinary care
Amputation (cutting) of canine teeth in sled dogs
Dogs don't get fresh water every day
Horrific conditions in Iditarod
champion's kennel
Few sled dogs are
adopted
Iditarod kennels compared to recreational musher
kennels
Dogs suffer in frigid
weather
Dogs fed expired food and rotting meat
Volcanic
ash from Mount Redoubt eruptions dangerous for dogs
Yukon River flooding obliterates
dog kennels
Law classifies sled dogs as livestock
Dogs have no shelters
From
age 9-weeks, puppies fed once a day
Dogs starved
Dogs punished when they
don't eat
Sled dog trucks can be
dangerous for dogs
Musher Melanie Gould abandoned
her dogs
Dog feces creates unsanitary,
infectious living conditions for dogs
Unsanitary dog food
Mushers break the
law
Iditarod mushers devocalize
(debark) their dogs
Dogs rejected from racing
in Iditarod not given vaccinations
Dead dogs fed to other dogs
Were sick horses fed to dogs?
Dogs deprived of
food and water
Dogs endure mud, dust, slop
and filth of ungodly magnitude
Plastic
and metal houses are hazardous for dogs
Dogs eat their
own stools (coprophagia)
Chained
dogs likely to develop heatstroke
What the Alaska SPCA says
Alaska SPCA has criticized the Iditarod and has
condemned how mushers treat their dogs:
"The race should not be a race! The original serum run was done in
relays. It is what happens "BEHIND THE SCENES" during the rest
of the year that needs to be told.... The breeding, culling [killing]
and poor treatment needs to be exposed."
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, March
4, 2002
- Ethel D. Christensen, is the founder of the Alaska SPCA. She recently
retired as its Executive Director
Alaska SPCA director says Iditarod magnifies cruelties:
Margery Glickman: "The
dogs who can't meet the standard are killed."
Rob Moore: "They're just killed or possibly
abandoned."
Margery Glickman: "From what I understand,
normally the dogs are simply killed with a shot to the head or they're
bludgeoned or even drowned. I've heard that the puppies, especially, are
easy to drown. The mushers will tie a rope to their neck and a rock and
throw them in the river. But they bred large numbers of dogs just to get
a handful of good one. There was a TV documentary where a famous Iditarod
musher said that she bred 300 dogs to get five good racers, and this is
typical."
Rob Moore: "300 to get five racers."
Margery Glickman: "Yes."
Rob Moore: "Ethel, you work with the SPCA and I
want you to comment on this and this incredible surplus of dogs and what
happens to these dogs and the kinds of calls that you get."
Ethel Christensen: "Well, first of all Rob, let
me say that I found the Alaska SPCA in 1966. At that time, I was an aviation
pilot weather forecaster briefer, international airport, and I traveled
around Alaska a lot.
And what Margery is saying is correct. And, unfortunately it's been magnified.
The Iditarod has done nothing but magnify that and we get all sort of
calls."
- Ethel Christensen is the founder of the Alaska SPCA. She recently retired
as its Executive Director.
- Rob Moore hosts Animal Voices, a radio show in Toronto, Canada.
- Margery Glickman is the director of the Sled Dog Action Coalition
- This interview was done on February 28, 2006
Don't risk your health by visiting
an Iditarod dog kennel
Pre-race Iditarod vet check finds Salmonella in 69 percent of the dogs:
"Twenty-six normal asymptomatic dogs representing
13 teams were sampled during a routine prerace veterinary inspection.
Of these, Salmonella was isolated from 18/26 (69%)."
- Cantor, Glenn H.; Nelson, Stuart; Vanek, Jerome
A.; Evermann, James F.; Eriks, Inge S.; Basaraba, Randall J. and Besser,
Thomas E. "Salmonella shedding in racing sled dogs." Journal
of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation : Official Publication of the American
Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc. 1997
(October);9(4):447-448.
Iditarod dogs have a high prevalence of
Salmonella compared to other dogs:
"These results show a surprisingly
high prevalence of Salmonella in Alaskan sled dogs compared to the prevalence
reported in other dogs."
- Cantor, Glenn H.; Nelson, Stuart; Vanek, Jerome
A.; Evermann, James F.; Eriks, Inge S.; Basaraba, Randall J. and Besser,
Thomas E. "Salmonella shedding in racing sled dogs." Journal
of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation : Official Publication of the American
Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc. 1997
(October);9(4):447-448.
Salmonella shedding by dogs is a possible source
of Salmonella infection in humans:
"The high prevalence of Salmonella reported here
may have significant public health implications."
- Cantor, Glenn H.; Nelson, Stuart; Vanek, Jerome A.; Evermann, James
F.; Eriks, Inge S.; Basaraba, Randall J. and Besser, Thomas E. “Salmonella
shedding in racing sled dogs”. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation
: Official Publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory
Diagnosticians, Inc. 1997 (October);9(4):447-448.
"Veterinarians and public health officials have
recognized shedding salmonellae by dogs as a possible source of Salmonella
infection for dog owners and their communities."
- Finley, Rita; Ribble, Carl; Aramini; Vandemeer,
Meredith; Popa, Maria; Litman, Marcus and Reid-Smith, Richard. “The risk
of salmonellae shedding by dogs fed Salmonella-contaminated commercial
raw food diets.” Canadian Veterinary Journal. 2007 January; 48(1):
69–75.
Tourists who visit Iditarod kennels may face significant public health
risks:
"The study ["Salmonella shedding in racing
sled dogs"] shows that while living in musher kennels, the majority
of dogs carry the Salmonella organism, substantially more than in dogs
in many other parts of the world. Some Iditarod mushers give tourists
kennel tours (one cruise line gives a kennel tour as part of its tour
package). As a result, tourists who visit Iditarod dog kennels may be
subjecting themselves to significant public health risks and cruise lines
that offer these tours could be culpable."
- Veterinarian Nedim C Buyukmihci, V.M.D., email to Sled Dog Action Coalition
on February 25, 2013
Permanent
chaining of dogs is cruel, dangerous and makes dogs aggressive
Keeping
dogs continuously chained is massive psychological cruelty:
[Iditarod
dogs are tethered on chains as short as four feet. Each dog is kept in
one spot and cannot interact normally with other dogs. Many kennels have
more than 100 dogs and some have more than 200 dogs. In his introduction
to the book Father of the Iditarod, Joe Redington,
co-founder of the race, admitted that by 1990 he had 527 dogs living in
his kennel.]
"Dogs are naturally social beings who thrive
on interaction with human beings and other animals. A dog kept chained
in one spot for hours, days, months or even years suffers immense psychological
damage. An otherwise friendly and docile dog, when kept continuously changed,
becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and often aggressive."
- King 5 Television, Seattle, December, 2002, website
"Canada's best-known expert on dog behaviour says
keeping a dog on a short chain its whole life and depriving it of social
interaction is as cruel as depriving a two-year-old child of the same
basic necessities.
Dr. Stanley Coren, a University of B.C. psychology professor, was commenting
on a case in Victoria, where the SPCA seized an 11-month-old rottweiler
from a house at 510 Raynor Ave. after it was alleged that the dog spent
her entire life on the end of a 2.5-metre chain. [From the Sled Dog Action
Coalition: A 2.5 metre chain is 8.202 feet. Iditarod dogs are kept on
chains 4 to 5 feet long.]
It was the first time in the B.C. SPCA's history that the society seized
an animal on grounds of psychological, rather than physical, abuse."
"I think the easiest way to think about what's going on is to remember
that a dog has the mind of a two-year-old human child," Coren said. "If
someone took a two-year-old child and tied him to his bed area, forced
him to eat near his feces, allowed him to get cold and in the way of drafts,
and didn't give him any social support, I think we would agree that everyone
in the world would claim that this was massive cruelty.
That's the mind you're dealing with when you're dealing with a dog. The
same kind of things that will damage that two-year-old's mind will damage
a dog's mind."
-
Nicholas Read, Vancouver Sun, February 28, 2002
"Watching 16-week-old puppies habituate to a tether's
lack of freedom, as I did when researching sled-dog kennels in Quebec,
is truly unsettling. They fall into a condition psychologists call "learned
helplessness" -- the futility of their fight for freedom results in a
passive depression-type acceptance of their condition."
"Tethering from an early age similarly reduces dogs' exposure to novelty,
making them poor prospects for successful re-homing. It also makes them
unable to express normal behaviours. Dogs, like us, are social animals
and desire contact with others of their species."
- Jill Taggart holds a PhD in Behavioural Psychology and a Master of Science
in Animal Behaviour. She is a practicing Clinical Animal Behaviorist.
- Jill Taggart, Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2011
"Kim Schoolcraft, director of the Galveston County
Animal Control division of the health district, said a dog’s nature was
to be part of a pack or family.
'When a dog is isolated every day, for extended periods, it’s going to
take a psychic toll, just like it would on a human being,” Schoolcraft
said.'"
- Scott Williams, The Galveston County Daily News, October 13,
2006
"Chaining them drives them insane, basically, and they don't know how
to behave."
- Ellie Choate, Doña Ana County animal control supervisor
- Renée Ruelas-Venegas and Jason Gibbs, Las Cruces Sun-News, December
16, 2006
Iditarod kennels are canine concentration camps or madhouses for dogs:
"These social animals, bred to run, spend nearly
all of their time confined to a 5-foot chain to keep them near their small
doghouse, food bowl, water dish and, most unnatural for a dog, their own
excretions. Some veterinarians contend, quite reasonably, that chaining
a dog leads to aggression and stress and, in fact, it appears that sled
dogs suffer from a high rate of stomach ulcers brought on, some believe,
by their living conditions. To some, 120 small identical doghouses, each
with a restless howling dog chained next to it, may look like a "summer
camp," but it's not hard to picture it as a canine concentration camp
or a madhouse for dogs."
- John M. Crisp, Scripps Howard News Service, August 20, 2007
Tethered
dogs are often unsocialized:
"[Terry]
Erhart, 27, walks up to a black sled dog cowering against the fence. The
dog's stance is not unusual. Nearly all Iditarod dogs are raised and trained
in bush Alaska. They grow up knowing few people and open landscape."
- Terry Erhart was an inmate Hiland Mountain Correctional
Center who took care of dogs dropped from the Iditarod.
- Andrew Perala, Anchorage Daily News, March 21, 1987
"A number of their dogs were terrified of humans,
even in their later years. You had to grab their chain and pull them in
to you, harness them and then walk them to the team and snap them in.
They walked as far away from you as they could, with their tails tucked,
and clung to the ground when you hooked them into harness. They just wanted
you to get away from them. A lot of sled dogs are like this, sadly."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Tethering may cause repetitive behaviors:
"Tethering also causes behavioural responses.
Dogs may perform repetitive behaviours such as incessant pacing, circling,
barking, licking or self-mutilation, or learned helplessness."
- Jill Taggart holds a PhD in Behavioural Psychology and a Master of Science
in Animal Behaviour. She is a practising Clinical Animal Behaviourist.
- Jill Taggart, Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2011
"Many dogs run around their chain is circles
as it is their nature to be very active. Several of the young dogs especially
actually wear deep circular trenches in the snow and earth around their
pen about four metres in diameter, as a result of constantly running in
a circle on the end of their chain."
- Jane Stevens, email sent to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on March 28,
2011
- Jane Stevens was a dog handler for a top 10 Iditarod musher.
Chained dogs wear feet to shreds:
"When there are females in heat around, your peaceful
property will take on a new personality females will howl for hours. Males
will bark all night." "They will run in circles and slam against
their collars, wearing their feet to shreds."
- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling:
Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008
Dogs damage teeth chewing on chains:
"I've
seen dogs at numerous kennels that have teeth damage from chewing on their
chains."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel
employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
The necks of chained dogs become raw and infected:
"In many cases, the necks of chained dogs
become raw and covered with sores, the result of improperly fitted collars,
and the dog's constant yanking and straining to escape confinement."
Sebastian County Humane Society, Fort Smith, AR, December, 2002, website
Tethering makes dogs easy targets for attacks by other animals, etc:
"A chained animal may suffer...stinging
bites from insects, and, in the worst cases attacks by other animals."
- King 5 Television, Seattle, December, 2002, website
"It jeopardizes the dog's welfare by exposure
to attacks, accidents, direct and indirect poisoning, sick animals, etc."
- Dennis Fetko, Ph.D. December, 2002, Dr. Dog website
- Dr. Fetko is and expert in animal training and behavior
Dogs on chains are easy marks for wolves, foxes, bears, coyotes, moose
and musk oxen:
"Dan [Seavey] (my grandpa) and I [Danny Seavey] share a dog lot, and I
live next door.
"We have moose in the yard all the time, so I didn't think much of it,
but when I got there, poor Grits (a Peach grandson) was hiding in his
house while the moose was jumping up and down on top of it. I shot him
from a long ways away with some bird shot, enough to sting him but not
hurt him. He stopped pouncing on Grits, and stood in the middle of the
yard licking his lips. Our houses are 55 gallon plastic barrels bolted
onto railroad ties. They are big and heavy enough the dogs can't pull
them around. Grits was trying to hide in his house, but it had been kicked
off it's base, and was rolling around his circle."
- Iditarodblog, Anchorage Daily News, March 9, 2012
"'We had wolves actually killing dogs in lots,'
[William "Middy"] Johnson told me a few days before the race began.
'"I know there were two pups missing and two other dogs were taken
right in the lots,' he said."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily New - The Sled Blog, March 14,
2010
"A pack of wolves killed about a half-dozen
sled dogs from three teams in Marshall on Wednesday night before residents
of the Yukon River village chased them out of town, according to village
officials and Alaska State Troopers."
"Dogs tied up on an 18-inch chain are simply
too good to pass up, he [Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Matt Dobson] said.
'These wolves have more than enough to eat,' he [Dobson] said. 'It's just
an easy treat for them."
- James Halpin, Anchorage Daily News, October 26, 2007
Follow-up: One the wolves tested positive for rabies:
"A wolf killed [by humans] during an attack on sled
dogs in the Yukon River village of Marshall last week has tested positive
for rabies, and state officials Wednesday night said unvaccinated dogs
in the village should be euthanized.
The wolf was part of a pack that killed a half-dozen dogs the night of
Oct. 24 before villagers chased them out, killing the one wolf and wounding
others. Tests returned late Wednesday showed that animal had rabies, and
the state's wildlife veterinarian said it's possible other wolves in the
pack also have the disease. Dogs could have been infected as well."
- Don Hunter, Anchorage Daily News, November 1, 2007
"I remember the time a grizzly bear came into the
dog yard, which is situated with view of our house. It is not an everyday
event for sure, but it does occur almost every summer at our home in Denali."
"The dog closest to the bear was Hickory, and he was standing on his back
legs at the forward end of his chain...." "Before the incident was over,
I ended up having to shoot that grizzly bear who went down less than ten
feet away from by great lead dog."
- King, Jeff. Cold Hands Warm Heart, Husky Homestead Press,
2008
"The roughly 700-pound animal charged,
goring Snoopy, a prized lead dog. Harris grabbed his .30-06 rifle and
ran toward the yard in time to see the musk ox bull turn on a second dog
and charge.
That dog was able to dodge away, but the musk ox plowed through its metal
post and sent it flying, freeing the dog. When the musk ox turned and
charged a third dog, Harris shot and brought the animal to the ground."
Snoopy had been stuck in the belly during the attack...."
- James Halpin and Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, August 28,
2008
"We've actually had dogs that were actually killed by musk ox."
- Alaska Wildlife Trooper Eric Lorring was quoted.
- James Halpin and Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, August 28,
2008
"A Kenai Peninsula man shot and killed a brown
bear with a shotgun slug while the young boar threatened a chained dog,
according to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist."
- Anchorage Daily News, May 15, 2007
"'A dog on a chain is an easy mark,' [Howard]
Golden said. He said the size of the dogs attacked suggests wolves, not
coyotes, are responsible. Coyotes weigh 40 to 50 pounds. An adult wolf
typically weighs 85 to 115 pounds."
- Howard Golden is an Alaska state Fish and Game biologist
- Ben Spiess, Anchorage Daily News, April 6, 2003
"But when he looked out, he saw an arctic fox
pulling dog-food pans to the side of the yard and licking them out. [Randy]
Romenesko said he shooed the fox away with a shovel, but it came back.
It tried stealing a pan from one of his chained sled dogs, which lunged
at the fox and missed."
"'I kind of threw the shovel at him. But he didn't run off, he ran toward
me.'
'Then I realized I was no longer armed,' he said. He ran in the house,
grabbed his .22-caliber rifle, waited for a clean shot and dispatched
the fox.
It had behaved so oddly that he contacted local authorities, who shipped
the fox's head to the state virology lab in Fairbanks. The results: positive
for rabies".
- Steve Rinehart, Anchorage Daily News, March 20, 1997
Dogs easily made sick from eating animal feces and bird droppings:
"Dogs are scavengers by nature, taking treats
where they can find them. It's impossible to explain to a dog that eating
a particular item could cause injury or death. As a result, it has become
a human responsibility to protect dogs from foraging instincts that might
have been useful in the wild but can be deadly to companion dogs.
Risky Business:
Several things your dog can find outdoors are harmful if swallowed. You
can see some of the hazards, but others you cannot:
- Animal feces and bird droppings. Animal feces can transmit parasites,
bacterial infection, or virus to the dog."
- VeterinaryPartner.com, January, 2005
Larvae in the soil makes dogs sick:
"Buildups of hookworm larvae in the soil of poorly managed kennels can
migrate through the skin of the feet and cause chronic dermatitis."
- Dr. Dawn Brown, DVM, Mushing, January 1, 2010
"Most drivers park their dogs on dirt because
it costs nothing (its one great attribute). Unfortunately, worm eggs thrive
in dirt."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the
Serious Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
Flies who bite are attracted by odor of waste on the ground:
"When you see a dog house with a circle
of dirt around it, you know you are looking at the 'home' of a chained
dog. The area where the dogs can move about becomes hard-packed dirt that
carries the stench of animal waste even if the owner picks up fecal material.
The odor of waste draws flies, which bite the dog's ears often causing
serious bloodly wounds."
- Jean V. Johnson, WHS/SPCA News, 1991
Chaining can result in heat stroke and dehydration:
"Interior summers can have high temperatures
over 90 degrees."
- Alaska.com, Anchorage Daily News, June 2, 2009
"Long-term chaining during the hot summer months
can result in countless insect bites, dehydration, and heat stroke."
- Cincinnati Enquirer, May 29, 2009
"Dogs that are chained up can easily wind the
chain around a tree, a post, or even their own legs. With a tangled chain,
they can't get to their water bowl."
- American Animal Hospital Association, healthypet.com, June 2, 2009
Chaining can result in dogs getting sunburn, solar dermatitis and skin
cancer:
"Dogs, cats and even horses suffer from sunburn,
solar dermatitis and skin cancer.
The skin of a sunburned animal is red and painful, just as in people.
Hair loss may also be evident.
The most common sites for sunburn include: the bridge of the nose, eartips,
skin around the lips, groin, abdomen and inner legs. Pets that have light-colored
noses and skin, thin or missing hair, or have been shaved for surgery
are at greater risk for solar-induced skin diseases.
Sunburn can progress to solar dermatitis which is characterized by redness,
hair loss, crusting and ulceration of the skin. With continued sun exposure,
skin cancer (such as squamous cell carcinoma) may occur."
- Dr. Chris Riney, Providence Journal, June 21, 2009
Alaska's intense sun--
"Alaska has long hours of sunlight during the summer,
and the sun's rays are even more intense when they are reflected off snow
or water." "The sun will burn you even if you feel cold...."
- Jim DuFresne, Paige R. Penland, Don Root. Alaska, Lonely Planet,
Melbourne, Vic., 2003
Dogs on chains are vulnerable to lightning strikes:
"Dog houses are not safe, and dogs which
are chained to metal chains or wire runners are particularly vulnerable
to a nearby lightning strike."
- National Weather Service, Public Information Statement, May, 2002
-- Lightning storms occur during winter and summer months:
"Usually they [thunderstorms and lightning]
are observed along the Outer Coast as strong cold fronts move in from
the Gulf of Alaska. Interestingly, these storms can occur during the winter
months as well as during summer."
"Very active thunderstorm days may feature 2,000 to 5,000 lightning
strikes, mainly occurring during the late afternoon hours in late June
and early July."
- National Weather Service, Juneau, Lightning Page, website article,
April, 2003
Dogs on chains are vulnerable to attacks by rabid animals:
"But
when he looked out, he saw an arctic fox pulling dog-food pans to the
side of the yard and licking them out. [Randy] Romenesko said he shooed
the fox away with a shovel, but it came back. It tried stealing a pan
from one of his chained sled dogs, which lunged at the fox and missed."
"'I kind of threw the shovel at him. But he didn't run off, he ran toward
me.'
'Then I realized I was no longer armed,' he said. He ran in the house,
grabbed his .22-caliber rifle, waited for a clean shot and dispatched
the fox.
It had behaved so oddly that he contacted local authorities, who shipped
the fox's head to the state virology lab in Fairbanks. The results: positive
for rabies".
- Steve Rinehart, Anchorage Daily News, March 20, 1997
Chained dogs easily attacked by insects, including wasps, bees, mosquitoes,
flies:
"No discussion of northern summer and northern
sled dogs in that season would be complete without mention of the bugs:
mosquitoes, blackflies or sandflies, deer flies, 'bulldogs,' 'no-see-ums,'
the works.""…These hordes can be almost life-threatening in their ferocity."
- Olesen, Dave. Cold Nights Fast Trails, Minocqua: NorthWord
Press, Inc., 1989
"Horseflies are maddening to the dogs and bite
until they make small bloody wounds…."
"Canadian black flies can get so thick that they practically choke a panting
dog. They bite around the eyes and ears until scabs form."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the
Serious Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
--Many more wasps in Alaska than in 1900:
"There are now about 11 species of yellow jackets
in Alaska, and many more species of other types of wasps, [Dr. Derek]
Sikes said. That far surpasses the total of two species of wasps observed
a century earlier by the 1900 Harriman Expedition to Alaska."
- Dr. Sikes is an entomologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
- George Bryson, Anchorage Daily News, May 18, 2008
"Long-term chaining during the hot summer months
can result in countless insect bites, dehydration, and heat stroke."
- Cincinnati Enquirer, May 29, 2009
-- Stings cause erythema, edema, pain and even death:
"Four possible reactions are seen after
insect stings: local reactions, regional reactions, systemic anaphylactic
responses, and less commonly, delayed-type hypersensitivity. Clinical
signs of bee and wasp stings include erythema, edema, and pain at the
sting site. Occasionally, animals develop regional reactions. Onset of
life-threatening, anaphylactic signs typically occur within 10 minutes
of the sting."
- Fitzgerald, KT and Flood, AA. Clinical techniques in small animal
practice. 2006 Nov.; 21 (4):194-204
-- Mosquitoes can infect dogs with heartworm:
"All dogs are at risk for fleas, ticks,
heartworms, and internal parasites. Left untreated these parasites can
be dangerous to your dog's health."
- VCA East Anchorage Animal Hospital, Anchorage, Alaska, website article,
2012
--- Heartworm disease - What it is and what causes it?
"Heartworm disease is a serious disease
that results in severe lung disease, heart failure, other organ damage,
and death in pets, mainly dogs, cats, and ferrets. It is caused by a parasitic
worm called Dirofilaria immitis. The worms are spread through the bite
of a mosquito. The dog is the definitive host, meaning that the worms
mature into adults, mate, and produce offspring while living inside a
dog. The mosquito is the intermediate host, meaning that the worms live
inside a mosquito for a short transition period in order to become infective
(able to cause heartworm disease). The worms are called “heartworms” because
the adults live in the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels of an
infected animal."
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), website article, 2012
--- The air is thick with mosquitoes:
'If
you're Dallas Seavey, it's living in a two-story yurt in Alaska where
mosquitoes are so thick you hang a bug zapper inside your living room,
about 10 feet away from where your toddler's swing hovers above a couch."
- Jill Burke, Alaska Dispatch, July 17, 2012
--- Big mosquitoes:
"The snow is almost gone and we begin to see tufts
of green here and there. Mud (the kind that sucks off your boots) will
be a perpetual hazard for the next few weeks. We expect the first 'bird-sized'
mosquitoes soon."
- The SP Kennel Dog Log, May 5, 2012
- The SP Kennel is owned by Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore
--- Cloud of mosquitoes:
"They [Tom Daily and his with Fidaa] were living
in a cloud of mosquitoes, surrounded by hungry dogs…."
- O'Donoghue, Brian Patrick. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian, New York:
Vintage Books, 1996
Dogs on chains are vulnerable to attacks by humans:
"Alaska State Troopers and school officials
are investigating the slaying of a Teller teacher's dog by some of her
students, officials said Tuesday.
Five kids -- three girls and two boys -- between the ages of 13 and 15
have been linked to the stabbing death of the sled dog Willow, a member
of the teacher's mushing team.
Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said two of the girls were present when
the dog was killed but didn't participate in the stabbing. The third girl
held the dog's head and comforted it while the two boys stabbed it with
knives, troopers said."
- Tataboline Brant, Anchorage Daily News, November 10, 2004
"Alaska State Troopers found the 18 sled dogs
that were reportedly shot to death in the village of Manley three weeks
ago.
The dogs disappeared on April 8. The dogs were gone when their owner,
recreational musher Chuck Parker, returned home from work that day. There
was evidence the dogs had been shot and removed from a dog lot in the
small town at the end of the Elliott Highway."
- Staff Report, Fairbanks News-Miner, April 28, 2005
"A Russian Mission man charged with stabbing
four chained sled dogs, leaving two of them dead, pleaded no contest to
animal cruelty Tuesday in a Bethel courtroom.
Carl Vaska, 20, was drunk on home brew the night of Dec. 7, when he took
a knife and slashed the animals where they were chained in a yard, according
to an affidavit from an investigating state wildlife trooper. Vaska's
parents later found bloody gloves in his room."
- Julia O'Malley, Anchorage Daily News, February 12, 2009
"A veteran Iditarod musher returned home to
find his best lead dog dead. Chris Knott's dog, named Charlie, died from
a gunshot wound. 'It suggests it was somebody that knew me and was staking
out the kennel,' said Knott, who lives in nearby Two Rivers."
"A necropsy determined Charlie quickly bled to death after being
shot from behind, possibly by a rifle."
- Associated Press, Seattle Times, August 26, 1999
Tethers can strangle dogs:
"Chains/ropes can get tangled and result
in the dogs's being strangled or dangerously restricted."
Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society, New York, December, 2002,
website
Chained dogs can get frostbite in less than an hour:
"According to the American Animal Hospital Association,
animals are vulnerable to frostbite and hypothermia in less than an hour."
- Bill Curtis, Bakersfield News, January 14, 2008
[Information
about frostbite and hypothermia hazzards]
Frozen water, maggot infested food, defecation packed down as dirt or
mud:
"Fiske painted a picture of misery: frozen
or overturned water bowls, maggot infested food, defecation in a confined
area that gets packed down as dirt or mud, neck sores from yanking on
collars, or even collars embedded in the dog’s neck because of owner negligence."
- Robert Fiske is the director of Maine Friends of Animals
- Lucy L. Martin, The Lincoln County News, May 4, 2005
Dogs chained next to incompatible dogs are constantly stressed and
on alert:
"A dog tethered next to an incompatible dog
will constantly be [on] alert and stressed because it can't escape the
situation. The animal's emotional and physical health will decline."
- Jill Taggart holds a PhD in Behavioural Psychology and a Master
of Science in Animal Behaviour. She is a practising Clinical Animal Behaviourist.
- Jill Taggart, Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2011
Continuous confinement by a tether is inhumane:
"Our
experience in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act has led us to conclude
that continuous confinement of dogs by a tether is inhumane."
-
The United States Department of Agriculture, 1996
"What we've done we've done for the citizens of
this town because of safety first, and it's a humane thing to do for the
animals."
- Councilman Woody Jumper of Big Spring, Texas talking about the city
council voting to ban tethering
- Thomas Jenkins, Big Spring Herald, July 28, 2004
"If you need to secure your dog, get a
big fence. If you need a security system, install an electronic one. If
you want a dog but aren't willing to love it and consider its needs, get
a stuffed one.
Chaining a dog all the time is no way to treat a thinking, breathing,
trusting, loving creature."
- Marty Becker, DVM, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, January 21, 2003
"Dogs
offer people undying loyalty and unconditional love. In return, they ask
for nothing more than a sense of belonging." "To banish a dog
permanently to the backyard, while the rest of his 'family' enjoy one
another inside, is a betrayal of this loving pact -- that is not way to
treat man's best friend"
- Nathan J. Winograd, The Ithaca Journal, November 21, 2003
- Winograd is the executive director of the Tompkins County SPCA
Chaining makes dogs aggressive:
"In a 2004 study I conducted in a commercial sled-dog
kennel in Quebec, I found that tethering significantly increased aggression
with neighbouring dogs, and led to less exploratory behaviours, fewer
social behaviours, more injury and, importantly, less sleep than in an
untethered group pen of three compatible dogs. Untethered, there was no
aggression and the dogs began to self-regulate their behaviours and form
hierarchies."
- Jill Taggart holds a PhD in Behavioural Psychology and a Master of Science
in Animal Behaviour. She is a practising Clinical Animal Behaviourist.
- Jill Taggart, Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2011
"Some communities want dogs to stay on their own
property. In a land without many fences or boundaries, this means tying
the dogs up with chains. This practice comes with dangerous side effects.
Bored and frustrated dogs lunge at people. As frustration mounts, so does
their aggression. The practice of chaining dogs is detrimental to public
safety, so much so that many industry professionals want the practice
to be banned."
"A different picture emerges in the areas where dogs are allowed to roam
freely. These dogs do not suffer from chain rage. Their behaviour is nothing
short of amazing. There is little aggression. Contrary to popular belief,
no alpha leader emerges to rule the pack with a firm hand. They behave
like family and friends."
- Yvette Van Veen, Toronto Star, Friday 27, 2012
- Yvette Van Veen is an animal behaviour consultant.
"NAPASKIAK, Alaska — Authorities say a sled dog
mauled to death a 3-year-old girl in the southwest Alaska village of Napaskiak
(nuh-PASS'-key-ack).
Alaska State Troopers say Krystal Brink was playing outside Thursday night
with other children and wandered into a dog yard when she was attacked
by one of the dogs — even though the owner had the team tied up."
- Associated Press, May 21, 2010
"Sled dogs attacked and killed a four-year-old boy
in a remote Nunavut village this week, according to police. RCMP officers
in the town of Pangnirtung responded to a call Monday morning reporting
that a boy had been mauled by three dogs who had broken free from chains."
"The three animals, all part of an area sled team, were later 'located
and put down by a local.'"
- Vancouver Sun, March 25, 2010
"Confine your dog in a fenced yard or dog run when
it is not in the house. Never tether or chain your dog because this can
contribute to aggressive behavior."
- American Veterinary Medical Association, website article, May 15, 2003
"He [Eric Blow] said more effective are laws like
the one in Louisville that bar dogs from being chained for more than one
hour a day because chaining a dog has been shown to create aggressive
behavior"
- Eric Blow, director of Metro Animal Services in Louisville, KY
- Andrew Wolfson, The Courier Journal, May 13, 2004
"'These are the dogs that bite,' said Robert Goldman, president of the
Southern California Veterinary Medical Assn. 'When someone ties a dog
to a chain in their yard, you've got a dog that is a time bomb.'"
- Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times, August 19,2004
"'You wouldn't tie your children outside,' he [Roger
Mugford] said. 'Keep them indoors with you. And if you can't do that,
don't keep a dog.'
'Dogs, just like human beings who get locked up for no reason, will get
mean and bitter,' he said."
- Roger Muford is an international dog expert
- Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun, April 28, 2003
"It triggers a built-in thigmotaxic
(opposition reflex) response to lunge toward stimuli.
It introduces the pain or discomfort of the restraint into any interaction.
Both are common motives for aggression on their own; added to perceived
threats and thigmotaxis, they are explosive.
It exacerbates defensive aggression by preventing escape but offering
no protection from actual or perceived threats.
It reinforces aggression because passersbys "flee" when the dog lunges
at them, thereby rewarding the lunge."
-
Dennis Fetko, Ph.D. December, 2002, Dr. Dog website
- Dr. Fetko is and expert in animal training and behavior
"In addition to frustration, the constant
physical restraint promotes excessive territoriality, which may be manifested
as aggression. These attacks are completely unnecessary as they are easily
preventable by using a secure fence for containment."
- Elizabeth Shull, DVM, president of the
American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
- Marty Becker, DVM, Knight Ridder/Tribune
News Service, January 21, 2003
"Close to home, a child would wander away from
playmates and enter a neighbor's dog lot. The huskies there were sometimes
hungry and ill-tempered. No one played with them, no one petted them.
Some of the males were aggressive. So, when the child tried to cross the
lot, a dog might lunge, taking down his victim as quickly as a predator
on easy prey."
'''Virtually none of the serious attacks in (Bush) Alaska come from roving
bands of dogs,' DeGross said. 'They're always attacked when they wander
into the area where dogs are chained up.'''
- Denny Gross is the former executive director of
the Alaska Native Health Board
- Doug O'Harra, Anchorage Daily
News, November 3, 1996
"On Oct. 23, 1994, when 2-year-old Tracy Ann
Ishnook was playing outside her house in Koliganek. Her parents were installing
insulation in the house and believed their daughter was outdoors with
other children. But Tracy had wandered into a relative's dog lot.
When her father, Wassillie Ishnook Sr., found her, a sled dog had torn
her nose nearly off and was attacking her legs.
''Her face was all bloody, her leg was torn -- and when I saw her leg,
I thought we'd lost her,'' Ishnook said."
"Outside of the village, the horror of the Koliganek attack struck people
with as much impact as a death. Yet it was hardly an isolated case. A
boy had died only a few months earlier in the Yukon River village of Pitkas
Point in a mauling by a loose sled dog. A girl in the Brooks Range village
of Ambler had been scalped by a dog that was secured."
- Doug O'Harra, Anchorage Daily News, November 3, 1996
"A 2-year-old girl in a southwest Alaska village
lost her leg and was badly bitten in the face last weekend after wandering
into a sled dog lot. A week earlier in a village near Kotzebue, a dog
tore the scalp off a 4-year-old girl.
The two maulings are the latest examples of what public health officials
describe as a serious, long-standing threat to children throughout rural
Alaska dogs."
- Tom Bell, Anchorage Daily News, November 4, 1994
"A village toddler who set out for a short walk
to his grandmother's house was found an hour later near his uncle's dog
lot mauled to death by a sled dog."
- Natalie Phillips, Anchorage Daily News, June 10, 1997
"A 3yearold Talkeetna boy died Saturday afternoon
after being attacked by a HuskyMalemute sled dog that had broken its tether.
The youngster, Jerry Lee Cornell, was declared dead at Valley Hospital
in Palmer. The dog, belonging to musher John Barton, was taken by animal
control officers."
- Larry Campbell, Anchorage Daily News, May 7, 1990
"Chained in a prison runway, surrounded by barbed
wire and unclimbable fence, these canine convicts have been known to be
pretty tough dudes and dudettes, capable of killing each other over scraps
of meat and bits of territory."
- Andrew Perala, Anchorage Daily News, March 21, 1987
- Mr. Perala was talking about dogs dropped from the Iditarod who were
sent to Hiland Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
"Extended tethering to dog houses, trees and
poles increases the likelihood of the dog developing aggressive tendencies."
- Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, May 19, 2005
"'Chaining dogs makes them more aggressive--the
shorter the chain, the greater the aggression,' said Nicholas H. Dodman,
a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, Mass."
-
Michael Zitz, The Free Lance-Star, December 12, 2006
"'This bill helps protect dogs from cruelty and
enhances public safety by preventing aggressive animal behavior that can
result from inhumane tethering,' California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
said when he signed the it into law."
-
Michael Zitz, The Free Lance-Star, December 12, 2006
Children have a greater chance of dying from dog attacks:
"Statistics show that the younger the person who's attacked, the greater the chance they'll die. For example, of the 36 dog-bite deaths in Alaska since 1940, all were children under 10, according to the state epidemiology office."
"The
deaths of these children make Alaska's rate of dog-attack fatalities 26
times the national average, says a 1979-to-1994 study by the Centers for
Disease Control in Atlanta."
"The biggest threat is in the villages where there can be as many as 400
to 500 sled dogs, said Ron Perkins, who oversees injury prevention programs
for Indian Health Services."
- Linda Weiford, Anchorage Daily
News, April 14, 1998
Chaining forces dogs to go against their natural instincts:
Dr. Paula Kislak:"The other thing besides social
interaction, and dogs definitely are pack animals and they do well and
would normally chose to live in a social grouping, is that they're also
very clean animals, which is why we're able as humans to house-break them,
because we take advantage of their natural fastidious tendencies to not
want to soil the area that they live in their "cave." So when they're
tethered on four foot tethers and that's the extent of the distance they
can go, the area becomes completely soiled with fecal contamination and
urine, stench, and ammonia. And it's just a mess. And the dogs are forced
to live in this, which is also completely contrary to their nature. And
that's the type of thing that the newspapers don't see or report as well.
And that's day to day to day, year after year after year. It's just bad."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, is president of the Association of Veterinarians
for Animal Rights
- She made these remarks in an interview with Janice Blue, the host of
Go Vegan Texas (KPFT), on February 27, 2006
"Their inability to reach another dog -- an evolutionary necessity,
as those on the margins of a pack are potential prey -- is not normal."
- Jill Taggart holds a PhD in Behavioural Psychology and a Master
of Science in Animal Behaviour. She is a practising Clinical Animal Behaviourist.
- Jill Taggart, Vancouver Sun, February 5, 2011
"When the dogs are first put on a chain, they tend to throw a temper-tantrum."
- Freedman, Lew and Jonrowe,
DeeDee. Iditarod Dreams, Seattle: Epicenter Press, 1995
Four-month-old puppies live on chains:
"At age 4 months they are put
on a chain."
- Nicki Nielsen is talking about Susan Butcher's dogs.
- Nielsen, Nicki J. The
Iditarod: Women on the Trail, Anchorage: Wolfdog Publications, 1986
Chaining
creates abnormal conditions by keeping dogs in solitary confinement:
"Virtually every dog who spends most of the day on the end of a chain will show temperament problems- no surprise to those who understand canine behavior. Chaining by definition, keeps a dog in solitary confinement, continually thwarting its pact instinct to be with other animals or with its human 'pack'."
-Jean V. Johnson, WHS/SPCA News, 1991
"Dogs are very social creatures. They need to interact. The permanent tethering of dogs denies them any possibility for normal social behaviors. In fact, this situation denies them any possibility of normal exercising, as well."
-
Suzanne Cliver, D.V.M., Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights,
July, 1998
Killing or culling unwanted dogs
Iditarod
kennels are puppy mills:
"The goal is to produce 70 or more quality pups
a year."
"Now, for the rest of the readers, the real answer to the question 'Are
you running a puppy mill?' is essentially 'yes.' Let's face it you made
the decision to raise 70 pups and pick out the 15 or 20 best ones. That
means there are 50 pups left to see, give away, or put down. You can't
keep the average dogs because it will ruin your focus on developing a
championship team and besides that, unless you are independently wealthy,
you cannot afford it."
-
Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
"That’s a sad reality of this sport,
most mushers have no problem breeding litter after litter in an attempt
to be the next big thing, but few mushers want to step up and actually
give a dog a home that may not be able to help them get to the finish
line in first place."
- Colleen Robertia, Rogues Gallery
Kennel Blog, December, 2011
Killing unwanted dogs doesn't bother mushers:
Ethel Christensen: "Our
philosophy and goal at the Alaska SPCA is prevention, not destruction.
And, what they're doing is breeding and breeding and then they cull and
cull and cull. And culling to the musher doesn't bother them one bit.
And they use to take them into animal control here and then also up in
the valley, but they got such criticism so now they're doing their own
killing. And it's not humane. Believe me it's not humane."
-
Ethel Christensen is the Executive Director of the Alaska SPCA
- She made these remarks on Animal Voices, a radio show in Toronto, Canada.
- She was interviewed by Rob Moore on February 28, 2006
"The top mushers raise 30 or 40 or even 100 pups
a season and have the luxury of keeping only the very best."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000.
"Letter to the editor: Dog abuse even worse
than column describes
Margery Glickman has stated the truth about this inhumane race, and all
her facts are accurate. What she did not cover is the after-race dog deaths
that no one seems to think are important. There are no statistics to support
this occurrences as no records are maintained. But it is true there are
many after race deaths either from sickness or from a bullet in the head
by the owner to end the suffering of an injured or sick dog. Dogs have
no value if they cannot run.
Also not mentioned is the pre-race culling. When you have 50 to 100 dogs
to care for you have one massive problem, especially when you bring to
life two to four more litters each year. What to do with all the dogs
that don't make the team? Some are given away, but there are few takers.
The pounds in Alaska are full of unwanted dogs, so most of them will be
shot and at the ripe old age of a year or two. Sad, isn't it? This is
animal exploitation at it worst. Take the money out of the race, and it
would end. This is something I urge all supporters to do. Don't help to
finance this inhumane race."
- Thomas J. Classen, Fairbanks, Alaska - The Vero Beach Press Journal,
March 5, 2007
- Tom Classen is a retired Air Force colonel who has lived in Alaska over
20 years.
- He wrote this letter in response to an article the paper published about
the Iditarod.
Dogs shot for fun:
"One kennel I worked at the manager would walk
through the dog yard with his pistol shooting dogs for fun. He thought
it was great sport."
- Mike Cranford, dog handler, Two Rivers, Alaska, letter sent to the Sled
Dog Action Coalition on February 28, 2000.
Young dogs who goof off are shot:
"Some of the younger dogs that are just goofing
off and don't look like they will make it, I just go ahead and shoot those
dogs right now."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Dogs who look back are killed:
"When a dog in your team looks back, and looks back,
and keeps looking back, the whole team knows that dog is looking back,
and pretty soon the rest of the dogs are looking back. So it's best to
discard that one."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Dogs who can't keep up are killed:
"When I start training dogs in the fall, anything
that can't keep up with the rest goes to the happy hunting grounds."*
*"Happy hunting grounds" means "North American Indian heaven."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Older dogs who won't run downhill are killed:
Question to George Attla: "What
do you do about older dogs that won't run down hill?"
George Attla's answer: "I don't waste
time on them. I get rid of them."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Dogs who are scared when the team runs wide open are killed:
"Any one of these three dogs - a dog that looks
back, or one that is scared when the team runs wide open, or a dog that
is scared to run downhill - I wouldn't have anything to do with. I'd get
rid of them right now."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Dogs who don't keep their back line tight are killed:
"I don't care how many ways a dog's legs are flying.
If they are flying in all directions, it don't make no difference to me,
just so long as when that dog is moving his back line is staying tight.
If it isn't, I wouldn't monkey with a pup like that. I'd discard him right
now."
- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About
Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974
Dogs killed for being slow, not wanting to run, throwing their legs out
funny, not keeping lines tight:
"If a pup is slow, I am not going to mess with them.
It is not worth messing with a pup if it hasn't got any speed and doesn't
want to go- yes, I am talking about draggers.
That is the first culling - they just plain don't want to go. Then I look
at their gaits or if they throw their legs out funny or obviously are
too slow, if their lines are slack all the time. There is no sense wasting
good dog food and your time on a dog that isn't fast enough to keep up."
"If you want to have trotters, you can save yourself a lot of dog food,
keeping the faster ones and eliminating the others."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
-- How many dogs has Rick Swenson killed?
"But on the average, a fellow like myself, who raises
a minimum of 50 pups every year, using almost all proven breeding stock,
still doesn't get more than two pups out of a litter that wind up making
the race team when they are three years old."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
Dog shot for being "funny looking:"
"As a new handler with about two weeks of experience,
walking through the dog lot with the main handler, I pointed to a dog
and said, 'That's a funny looking dog.' I found the dog shot, still at
his house on his chain."
- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition,
2012
Mushers
drown unwanted puppies:
"...The [Iditarod] board was silent
when Iditarod musher John Cooper wrote a story for this newspaper's magazine
talking about getting rid of unwanted puppies by tying them in a bag and
tossing the bag in a creek."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, April
20, 1992
"I drowned one litter at birth because
they were born to my main lead dog at the start of the fall training season."
- Olesen, Dave. Cold Nights Fast
Trails, Minocqua: NorthWord Press, Inc., 1989
Old saying: "Those who cannot drown
should not breed:"
"There is an old saying in the dog
world: 'Those who cannot drown should not breed.' It is true. Many pups
will be born and some pups will be culled."
- Olesen, Dave. Cold Nights Fast
Trails, Minocqua: NorthWord Press, Inc., 1989
Musher kills puppies with an
ax, shoots ones left alive:
"Iditarod musher Frank Winkler was
charged Friday with animal cruelty for bludgeoning 14 sled-dog puppies
with an ax handle, although he said in an interview earlier this month
that he reluctantly shot them. After a neighbor reported hearing puppies
whimpering in the night, an animal-control officer visited Winkler's trailer
Sept. 7 and found the battered puppies piled in a crate in the back of
his pickup. Two were barely alive and the rest were dead.
One of the live pups 'was crying and was cold, clammy, wet, bloody and
showed clinical signs of shock,' Assistant District Attorney Mindy McQueen
wrote in a charging document. The other was half-buried in the pile of
dead pups. Both live dogs had crushed skulls and were later killed by
animal-control officers."
- Marilee Enge, Anchorage Daily News, September
21, 1991
"The small pups were only a week
old, [Frank] Winkler said. The older pups ranged from
5 to 10 weeks old, he said."
- Don Hunter, Anchorage Daily News,
December 7, 1991
"Winkler tries to kill some of his
puppies by hitting them with the blunt end of an ax. He doesn't hit all
of them hard enough to immediately kill them.
He tries to shoot some others with a borrowed .22-caliber rifle, but trying
to hold down a puppy while cradling a rifle is no easy task. Winkler has
to be careful to avoid shooting himself. He is lucky in that he succeeds.
He is unlucky in that the shots only wounded some of the puppies.
Two live. Winkler, unaware of this, throws them into a box in back of
his truck with the corpses of their brothers and sisters. He goes home.
The dying puppies whimper while Winkler sleeps. A neighbor hears the whimpering."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, April 20, 1992
Dan MacEachen, former Iditarod musher,
shoots unwanted dogs:
"MacEachen has run Alaska's Iditarod
- at 1,150 miles, the world's premier dog-sled race - seven times."
- Gwen Florio, Rocky Mountain News, April
6, 2005
"Unwanted dogs at one of the largest
tourist sled-dog operations in the country are shot in the back of the
head and buried in a pit filled with excrement...."
"Dan MacEachen, owner of the Krabloonik sled-dog center in Snowmass Village
for 31 years, said several dogs have been shot with a .22-caliber rifle
and buried in a pit where feces from about 250 dogs are deposited. The
exact number of animals that have been shot is in dispute, but a former
employee said it has been as many as 30 in one year."
- Thomas Watkins, Denver Post,
April 6, 2005
"Dan MacEachen, who acknowledged
that he shot and killed old or injured Alaskan huskies - and some younger
dogs that didn't take to pulling sleds - with a .22-caliber rifle, faced
heavy criticism after his method of destroying the animals came to light
this week."
- Steve Lipsher, Denver Post, April 7, 2005
Mushers unable to find homes for unwanted dogs:
"Who out there is dumb enough to believe that some musher living in the middle of nowhere is ‘able to find good homes for the dogs?"
-
Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 5, 1993
Killing dogs is part of sled dog industry:
"Killing unwanted sled-dog puppies is part of doing business, many Alaska mushers say."
-
Anchorage Daily News, October 6, 1991
"[Brad]
Muir admits euthanizing dogs is an unavoidable part of the dog sled industry."
- Brad Muir is a musher who has been raising sled
dogs for 11 years.
- CTV.com, February 4, 2011
Culling
or killing puppies:
"[Musher] Plettner said she checks her dogs at 5 weeks old for size, appetite and aggressiveness. Then she tries to work with ones that need improvement, testing the pups weekly until they are about 12 weeks old. After she rates the dogs on feet, coat, digestive system, angulation of legs, drive and smarts, she culls."
-
Anchorage Daily News, October 6, 1991
"Pups culled at birth are picked according to size
and vitality. Experts can judge angulation in the very young by feeling
leg and shoulder bones. You can also compare bone structure and leg and
neck length and cull on the basis of whether you want heavier or lighter
dogs."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the Serious
Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
Mushers
getting rid of dogs who run a mile an hour too slow:
"They [the big racing outfits] can't keep a dog who's a mile an hour too slow."
-
Musher Lorraine Temple, Currents Magazine, Fall 1999
Dogs culled for "the sake of the team:"
"You might need to cull a dog for the sake of your
team. Even an outstanding dog might not fit in."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the Serious
Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
Unwanted
dogs clubbed or dragged to death:
"On-going
cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats
and if they don't pull dragged to death in harness. (Imagine being dragged
by your neck-line at 15 miles per hour while suffering a major heart-attack!)
...."
- Mike Cranford, Two Rivers, Alaska
- The Bush Blade Newspaper, serving Cook Inlet and Bush Alaska,
March, 2000, website article
Famous musher bred 300 dogs to get 5 good ones:
"On a recent TV documentary and typical of many
[mushers], a famous Iditarod musher stated that she bred 300 dogs to get
5 good ones!"
"...Help stop the culling and killing."
- Ethel D. Christensen Alaska SPCA Executive Director
- The Alaska S.P.C.A. website April, 2001
Unwanted dogs are killed:
"'I'm definitely going to have to cull some
dogs. There's no way we can keep them,' he [Charlie Campbell] said."
"The culling won't start until the mushing season begins and he and
his wife can assess each dog. 'We're going to have to be ruthless about
who we keep.'"
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, September 30, 2002
Competitive dog mushing is built on dead dogs:
"Competitive dog mushing is built on dead dogs,
from the time slow-looking puppies are culled to the moment some overbred,
undersized racing hound expires of overexertion."
- Mike Doogan, Anchorage Daily News, April, 1994
"'Competitive kennels, or even kennels that may
not be competitive but aspire to be, often breed more dogs than they're
actually going to be able to keep, afford to keep and pay for the vet
bills, the food and all the other associated costs,' [Frank] Turner told
CBC News in a recent pre-race interview.
'If you added up the numbers, there's no way all those other puppies or
young dogs are going to be sold or given away to homes. We're just breeding
too many dogs.'
The Yukon Quest should admit that culling is part of the competitive racing
world and take measures to discourage it, he said."
- Frank Turner is a musher
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Feb. 9, 2007
"When I was active in the mushing community, other
mushers were open with me about the fact that larger Iditarod kennels
frequently disposed of dogs by shooting them, drowning them or setting
them loose to fend for themselves in the wilderness. This was especially
true in Alaska, they said, where veterinarians were often hours away.
They often used the phrase 'Bullets are cheaper.' And they noted that
it's more practical for mushers in remote parts of Alaska to do it themselves."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
"The nature of the large scale racing sled
dog operation I worked at was something like a concentrated farming operation.
The dogs in the yard were exclusively of commercial value, for racing
and the associated tourism industry.
I was told dogs are sent to a 'special place' which was code for they
are shot. There are dozens of dogs bred each season, I observed about
three dozen puppies, in a large kennel of over 100 dogs when I was working
as a dog handler. Not all of these puppies would be chosen to race or
operate as sled dogs during the tourist season, or be sold as racing puppies."
- Jane Stevens, email sent to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on March 28,
2011
- Jane Stevens was a dog handler for a top 10 Iditarod musher.
Dead dogs thrown into pits:
"At one musher's dog lot, I stumbled across a pit
of dead dogs. I asked another handler who had been working there for a
while: Do you reckon he's killed a hundred dogs? He laughed and said it
was closer to a thousand and that the cabin I was living in was built
on a big pit of dead dogs."
- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition,
2012
"I worked in an Iditarod kennel where the dog waste
was put in the same pit where they dumped their dead dogs."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs.
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, June 20, 2011
Brutal dog killings like these could happen in an Iditarod kennels:
"[Robert] Fawcett says he asked one veterinarian
to put down the dogs for him, but the vet refused to kill 100 healthy
dogs. So on April 21 and 23 of 2010, he took a gun and a knife and brutally
slaughtered them, in plain view of 200 other tethered dogs.
By the time he'd killed 15 dogs, the rest were starting to panic. This
made it harder to get a clean shot on every dog, and as a consequence,
the report states, "he wounded but did not kill one dog, 'Suzie.' Suzie
was the mother of (Fawcett's) family's pet dog, 'Bumble.' He had to chase
Suzie through the yard because the horrific noise she made when wounded
caused him to drop the leash. Although she had the left side of her cheek
blown off and her eye hanging out, he was unable to catch her.
Fawcett went and got a gun with a scope and shot her when she lay down
with a group of other dogs, who attacked him when he went to retrieve
her body. He also realized that, when shooting Suzie, he'd also wounded
another dog, Poker, not slated for death, who was 'one of his favorites.'
Poker suffered for 15 minutes before dying.
That day Fawcett says he slaughtered 55 dogs. He had to wrap his arms
in foam to protect himself from the frenzied attacks of the dogs when
he tried to handle them. He had to wrestle the dogs to the ground and
stand on them before he killed them -- in his words -- 'execution style.'
In the report, he described 'a guttural sound he had never heard before
from the dogs and fear in their eyes.' Two days later, he did it again.
This time, he said, it was worse. One dog, Nora, had been shot 20 minutes
before but was still crawling around in the mass grave he had dug for
the dogs."
- Robert Fawcett is a manager of a sled dog tour company in Whistler Canada.
- Christie Keith, San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 2011
"His [Robert Fawcett] memory of the final 15 dogs
is fuzzy. Some he shot cleanly, others he had to chase. In some cases,
it was simply easier to get behind the dogs and slit their throats and
let them bleed out. By the end he was covered in blood."
- Robert Fawcett is a manager of a sled dog tour company in Whistler Canada.
- Report by Allan Wotherspoon, Review Officer, Review Division, Review
Decision, Review Reference #R0119660, Canada, January 25, 2011.
AVMA
does not recommend routine euthanasia by gunshot:
"Gunshot
should not be used for routine euthanasia of animals...."
-
2000 Report of the American Veterinary Medical Association Panel on Euthanasia
AVMA says only people skilled and trained in using firearms should
kill by gunshot:
"A
properly placed gunshot can cause immediate insensibility and humane death.
In some circumstances, a gunshot may be the only practical method of euthanasia.
Shooting should only be performed by highly skilled personnel trained
in the use of firearms and only in jurisdictions that allow for legal
firearm use."
- AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia, June, 2007, AVMA website
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: How many mushers
are "highly skilled" and "trained" in the use of firearms?]
Agents
and Methods of Euthanasia:
| Species | Acceptable | Conditionally acceptable |
| Dog | Barbiturates, inhalant anesthetics, CO, potassium chloride in conjunction with general anesthesia | N2, Ar, penetrating captive bolt, electrocution |
-
From 2000 Report of the AVMA Panel on Euthanasia
-
Dr. James B. Nichols, University of Vermont, Office of Animal Care Management
website
Some culled Iditarod dogs are skinned for fur
Dogs skinned for parka ruffs and mittens
"....As a dog handler myself, I rescued two
old Iditarod stars before their owner ended their fame with a shot to
the brain. Culling unwanted dogs is an on-going mushers' practice and
one racer had numerous pits full of dead dogs from puppies to oldsters---
some skinned for parka ruffs and mittens!"
-
Mike Cranford, Two Rivers, Alaska
- The Bush Blade Newspaper, serving Cook Inlet and Bush Alaska,
March, 2000, website article
Dogs skinned to make hats and mittens:
"At one Iditarod and Yukon Quest veteran kennel,
there was a dog who wasn't very fast. Like many sled dogs, he lived on
a short chain with nothing but a cruddy dog house and a rusty food bowl
for company.
Sometimes, he was whipped in harness with pine branches or "bumped" with
the all terrain vehicle he and his teammates were pulling (meaning the
mushers hooked him up closest to the machine and then sped up to hit his
backside). His owners didn't care much for him, as he was not the best
worker and was also neutered – thus he had no value as a breeding animal.
His owners often talked about shooting him if he didn't shape up.
One day, I was told that I had to accompany this dog to the veterinarian
to "see what happened to dogs that didn't make the cut." Without a physical
examination or owner counseling, this dog was simply euthanized because
he was too slow. He was perfectly healthy, and indeed could have made
a great team dog on a recreational team.
The dogs body was taken back to the mushers' home and placed in a larger
freezer (where meat for dog food was stored). I was then shown a pair
of mittens that were made from a previous sled dog who wasn't fast enough.
I was told that it's important to kill them (sled dogs) when they are
young, because their pelts (fur coats) are in better condition and will
make better garments."
-
Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008
"He
(Colonel Tom Classen) confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving
dogs to maintain their optimum racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens."
-
Tom Classen is a retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over
40 years
- Jon
Saraceno, USA Today, March 3, 2000
Actress
Sylvia Miles wore pelt from dead Iditarod dog:
"Spruced up like an Ewok princess,
thespian beauty Sylvia Miles bundled up in luxurious skins for a NYC premiere
on Monday. Clad in Davy Crockett headgear, a cotton candy mane, the pelt
from an Alaskan Iditarod sled dog.... "
- TMZ.com, December 12, 2007
- TMZ.com is a joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL
Chained
dogs get little attention and exercise
Most
dogs stay on their chains:
"Each dog was not exercised every day. Older dogs
never got off their chains. Dogs who made the main team were run a few
times a week. Puppies were run once or twice a week. Dogs that didn't
make the main team were rarely put into harness. Most dogs just sat on
their chains and that is what their life consisted of."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel
employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
"The dogs that do grow up are chained for their entire
time as adults. Only seasonally when in race training, when actually racing
or during tour operations do they get exercised, and then perhaps once
a day or once a week. As soon as they finish work in the sled team they
are returned straight back onto the chain, there is no free time to move
about freely, run or socialise with other dogs ever."
"Even elder dogs who had run the Iditarod
many times spent their retirement days looking listless on the end of
a chain and never being set free. I observed two old dogs who had run
the Iditarod many times continuously chained, one legendary dog had completed
over six Iditarod races."
- Jane Stevens, email sent to the Sled Dog Action
Coalition on March 28, 2011
- Jane Stevens was a dog handler for a top 10 Iditarod musher.
Dogs don't get daily attention:
"The dogs didn't get daily attention. Unless the
dogs were being run, they didn't get handled. Handlers scooped poop around
them and fed them by throwing their food in a rusty, disgusting food dish
or on the ground. The mushers themselves had little interaction with their
dogs except for riding on the training ATV or the sled behind them. Their
handlers did everything else."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel
employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Chained
dogs go "mad" or become "kennel crazy"
"'They basically go mad,' [Nicholas] Dodman said,
when chained for extended periods of time."
- Nicholas H. Dodman, a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine at Tufts University
in Grafton, Mass. - Michael Zitz, The Free Lance-Star, December
12, 2006
"Most dogs don't get off
the chain. These dogs go 'kennel crazy.' Some obsessively licked their
paws and legs raw. Many run their circle perimeter over and over and
over and wear a deep path in the ground from doing it so much. Others
obsessively dig holes. It's very, very sad to watch."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel
employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Mushers charged with animal cruelty and reckless
neglect
Doug Bartko starves dogs to death:
"PALMER,
Alaska -- Mat-Su Animal Control officials say they have uncovered one
of the worst cases of animal cruelty they have ever seen.
Officials found 25 dogs, many of them nearly starved to death and some
chained to a short wire, left in a remote location with no food or water.
Investigators seized the animals over the last two days."
"Animal Care Chief Dave Allison says all were emaciated, dehydrated and
clearly neglected.
'If you put your hands on them you can feel pretty much every bone in
their body,' he said.
Allison says the dogs' teeth are broken from trying to eat rocks too.
Doug Bartko owns the dogs. He says it's been a rough spring.
'My system broke down and I was just in the process of getting it back
up again,' he said.
That system is clearly flawed, even for Bartko. His food supply has been
rotted salmon heads.
It appears Bartko let things go too far and it's not the first time. Court
records show he was cited for animal cruelty back in 2006."
" Bartko was cited for five counts of interference with an investigation,
ten counts of failure to provide humane animal care and his kennel license
has been revoked."
- Megan Maldino, KTUU-TV, May 7, 2008, website article
-- Doug Bartko found guilty of 39 counts of animal cruelty
"Musher
Doug Bartko was found guilty of 39 counts of animal cruelty, failure to
provide care for his dogs and interfering with an investigation in a Palmer
court Tuesday."
- Lori Tipton, KTUU-TV, July 30, 2008, website article
John T. Hessert plead guilty to animal cruelty:
"BOZEMAN, Mont.—A West Yellowstone
man accused of abandoning 33 sled dogs without food, water or shelter
pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty as part
of a plea agreement.
John T. Hessert, 24, wore a vest embroidered with an Iditarod logo as
he made his plea before District Judge Holly Brown."
"Hessert initially pleaded not guilty to one felony count of aggravated
animal cruelty and 33 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. The felony
charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement.
According to court records, a man called animal control Jan. 30 to report
that the dogs were being kept in an unsafe environment outside West Yellowstone
near Targhee Pass.
A veterinarian examined the dogs and determined that they were all "well
below normal health and had not been being fed enough food," according
to court records. One of the dogs had a collar embedded in its neck and
other dogs had frostbite."
- Associated Press, The Boston Globe, July
22, 2008
--John Hessert worked for Martin
Buser and was instructed by him:
"Hessert,
who ran the race with a group of young dogs out of Martin Buser's kennel,
wound up in 50th place. Sixty-three mushers finished the race, while another
16 scratched along the fabled Iditarod Trail."
- John Holyoke, Bangor Daily News,
March 24, 2005
"He
[John Hessert] is living in Big Lake, Alaska where he is learning more
about training dogs under the tutelage of four-time Iditarod winner Martin
Buser."
- North Yarmouth Academy, Alumni News Archive for 2005
David Straub was not feeding
his dogs:
"Animal control officers removed 28
dogs from the property of a Willow musher Saturday and cited him with
17 counts of animal cruelty after authorities said they found the huskies
with rib, hip and tail bones protruding through their thick fur.
David Straub, a three-time Iditarod racer, was not feeding his dogs, said
a Mat-Su Borough animal control officer.
Ten of the dogs were found to be emaciated, animal control officials said."
- Megan Holland, Anchorage Daily
News, Oct. 20, 2004
-- Straub's dogs running in circles, foaming
at the mouth, and one died:
"The complainant, Daniel Blythe, stated
in writing that when he saw the dogs Oct. 10 they were starving, dazed,
running in tight circles and foaming at the mouth.
Straub, who moved to Alaska from Missouri in 1996 to pursue dog-sledding,
admitted one of his dogs died that day. He said it wasn't from starvation,
but from the flu."
- John Davidson, Frontiersman, Oct. 22, 2004
-- David Straub found guilty of animal cruelty:
"A Palmer magistrate on Wednesday found
Willow musher David Straub guilty of animal cruelty for failing to provide
his dog team with enough food, water or veterinary care last fall."
- Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, April 7, 2005
-- David Straub receives 25 citations for violations in 2009
"The Mat-Su Borough on Tuesday
cited former Iditarod musher David Straub of Willow for 25 violations
stemming from running a dog kennel without a license.
Chief Mat-Su Animal Care Officer Bob Haskell said 21 citations are for
dogs not registered with the borough, three are for dogs without immunization
records and one is for operating a kennel without a license."
- Anchorage Daily News, June, 2009
Charlotte Fitzhugh charged with reckless
neglect:
"Bush musher Clay Farnham had heard
all the horror stories about his neighbor's dog yard before he went over
to investigate two years ago. Word was that more than 100 animals were
going days without food and water at Charlotte Fitzhugh's place in Chistochina.
A misguided sled dog breeder with a history of dog neglect, her animals
were reportedly left to fend for themselves at temperatures beyond 50
below while she worked as a taxi driver in Fairbanks, more than 250 miles
away.
Even with the warning, Farnham was unprepared for what he saw. "All the
dogs were skinny and wild-eyed, he said. Some were chained to clapboard
boxes offering little shelter; others were chained to trees.
A
half dozen dogs lay dead across the snow, Farnham said. Hunks of flesh
were missing from their emaciated bodies. 'It wasn't very hard to figure
out what had happened,' he said. 'The live dogs were starving, and they
were eating the dead ones.'"
"Eventually, the state filed 17 charges of reckless neglect against her
[Charlotte Fitzhugh]."
"'We have 60 plus below here and they don't all have houses," said Terry
Endres, who owns the Chistochina Lodge. 'Some nights, when it was still,
you could hear those dogs crying all night long.'"
"'You've seen pictures of people starving to death in Somalia? That's
what they looked like,' [Will] Forsberg said. 'I saw some dogs there so
skinny I wondered if they could even get up.'"
"On Christmas Eve 1993, Alaska State Trooper Don Pierce searched Fitzhugh's
yard after several of her neighbors reported she hadn't been seen for
days. They were worried a cold snap would take a toll on the dogs.
'As I walked onto the property, I started seeing dead dogs,' Pierce said.
'They were dead on the ends of chains. ... It was real grim.'
Pierce said he found five bodies that day. Necropsies later showed the
dogs had less than 1 percent body fat. 'The dogs were essentially feeding
on their own tissue and organs,'
he said.'"
- Peter S. Goodman, Anchorage Daily News, April 7, 1995
Norman Mac-Alpine charged with animal cruelty:
"An Anvik man who competed in the 1983 Iditarod
and often runs the Yukon 200 has been charged with animal cruelty after
four of his dogs died while he was out of town. Alaska State Troopers
said Norman Mac-Alpine, 29, left his dogs without food or water for almost
five days while he was in Grayling, a nearby village."
- S.J. Komarnitsky, Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 1993
Frank Winkler charged with animal cruelty:
"Iditarod musher Frank Winkler was charged Friday
with animal cruelty for bludgeoning 14 sled-dog puppies with an ax handle,
although he said in an interview earlier this month that he reluctantly
shot them. After a neighbor reported hearing puppies whimpering in the
night, an animal-control officer visited Winkler's trailer Sept. 7 and
found the battered puppies piled in a crate in the back of his pickup.
Two were barely alive and the rest were dead.
One of the live pups 'was crying and was cold, clammy, wet, bloody and
showed clinical signs of shock,' Assistant District Attorney Mindy McQueen
wrote in a charging document. The other was half-buried in the pile of
dead pups. Both live dogs had crushed skulls and were later killed by
animal-control officers."
- Marilee Enge, Anchorage Daily News, September 21, 1991
Matthew Calore received 17 citations for "MSB24.05.080: 1st Offense
Failure to Provide Humane Animal Care"
-
3PA-08-11766MO Matanuska-Susitna Borough vs. Calore, Matthew C
- Alaska Trial Court Cases website, State of Alaska, Case 3PA-08-11766MO,
filed 9/24/2008
-
Matanuska-Susitna Borough Code:
24.05.080 HUMANE
ANIMAL CARE. (A)Humane animal care includes, but is not limited to, providing:
(1)sufficient wholesome and nutritious food daily which will keep the
animal in healthy physical condition; (2)sufficient daily quantities of
fresh water which meet the hydration requirements for the animal; (3)adequate
shelter and freedom of movement which provides adequate air, ventilation,
and space which prevents the animal from being exposed to inclement or
adverse weather conditions, overheating from sunlight, unsanitary conditions,
and dirty, wet, and uncomfortable conditions which may endanger the health
or welfare of the animal; and (4)veterinary care when needed to treat
the animal for sickness, disease, injury, or to prevent suffering of the
animal. (B)No owner shall fail to provide humane animal care or place
an animal in a situation where the animal's life, safety or health is
endangered. (1)A rebuttable presumption of a violation shall exist where
the animal is separated from basic needs such as food, water, shelter,
or necessary medical attention or is placed in a situation where the animal's
life, safety and health is endangered and the regulation office receives
no response in 24 hours after providing notice to the owner of the situation
or posting notice at the property where the animal is located. (C)Failure
to provide humane care to animals is an infraction. (Ord. 08-013(AM),
§ 2, 2008: Ord. 05-165, § 2, 2005: Ord. 03-065(AM), § 1, 2003; Ord. 92-013(sub1),
§ 3 (part), 1992)
Dog's feet
"candled" with propane torch
"You also need to trim the hair on the bottom of
the dogs' feet to prevent ice balls from forming and clinging to the hair.
You can use a scissors or an electric clipper to trim it even with the
pads. Don't take it out from between the toes though, because dogs without
any hair between their pads can form big ice balls in there when running
barefoot in the snow.
After you've trimmed the hair you need to 'candle' their feet, or singe
the ends of the hair that you trimmed. This make snow even less likely
to collect in the foot hair.
Notice the term is 'candle' the feet. My boys are always looking for faster
ways to do their chores. I suppose that is why they started using a propane
torch to 'candle' dogs' feet. That in turn explains why, upon entering
the shop one winter's day, I observed the back half of my best leader
apparently going up in flames. This gives a whole new meaning to the term,
'Put the dog out, son!"
Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride
Publishing Company, 2008.
Adequate dog care
is too costly for mushers
Many mushers have large kennels. Think about how much it costs
to take care of just one dog. A healthy dog needs veterinary checkups
every year and other items like food, enteric worm medication, toothpaste,
toothbrushes, shampoo, vaccinations and professional teeth cleaning. Think
about how much more it costs to care for a sick dog.
Dogs don't get routine veterinary care:
Consider how expensive it is to get annual check-ups,
routine vaccinations and year-round heartworm, flea and tick preventative
for just one dog. Could you imagine doing all this for a kennel of 50,
75, 100, 150, 200? It's not practical, and it doesn't happen. The dogs
get the bare minimum of vaccines to be able to legally cross borders and
compete in sled dog races."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Dogs don't always get vet care when they are sick:
"The dogs don't always get vet care when they are
sick or injured. And it is cheaper to just let the dog die. God forbid
parvo or something like that ever hit one of these places - it would be
a mess. With some dogs, mushers have a 'wait and see' policy. It's horrid
to see the dogs sitting there in obvious discomfort, let me tell you.
The more valuable dogs get better vet care."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
"Veterinary treatments are expensive, and I
was told the dogs receive little or any veterinary treatment as they 'are
so hardy' they never get sick. I found this hard to believe, and did witness
some dogs with eye infections that were not treated."
- Jane Stevens, email sent to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on March 28,
2011
- Jane Stevens was a dog handler for a top 10 Iditarod musher.
"I've seen firsthand dogs left on chains for months
on end with basically no attention other than being given food and water,
some with inadequate shelter from the elements, others with unattended
illnesses or injuries."
- Rebecca Knight, Anchorage Daily News, May 30, 2007
- Rebecca Knight lives in the Mat-Su Borough with her husband and nine
huskies. She also volunteers for an animal rescue organization.
"Professional
treatment is expensive and not always successful, and many mushers won't
try to throw good money after a sick pup (or they simply can't afford
to)."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage:
Publication Consultants, 2000.
Some
mushers have more than 100 dogs:
"The sprawling Matanuska-Susitna Borough is Alaska
sled dog country, a hub for professional and recreational mushers lured
by a vast network of trails and the freedom to keep kennels that can number
as many as 100 dogs or more."
- Rachel D'Oro, Associated Press, May 2, 2005
Lance Mackey has 120 dogs:
"There's plenty of work to be done, but Tonya and
Lance own everything: the house and the hilltop land that gives them a
view of the lights of Fairbanks to the south, the Dodge Charger and three
Dodge trucks that came with the four Iditarod wins, and the 120 huskies
in the yard, each of which is worth thousands of dollars and is well fed
thanks to a sponsorship from Redpaw dog food."
- David Epstein, Sports Illustrated, March 7, 2011
Lynda Plettner has over 300 dogs:
"We
have over 300 dogs at our kennel...."
- Plettner Kennels website, 2005
Joe
Redington, Sr. had 527 dogs:
"By
1990 we had five hundred and twenty-seven dogs."
- Joe Redington, Sr., May, 1999, preface to Lew
Freedman's book Father of the Iditarod
Rachael
Scdoris has from 90 to 100 dogs or more:
Helen
Fields: "How many dogs do you have?"
Rachael
Scdoris: "About 90."
-
Helen Fields, U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 24, 2006
"I
have an enormous kennel and about 100 dogs...."
-
Rachael Scdoris talking about her dog lot
- Gillian Gifford, The Star, July 24, 2006
Doug
Swingley owns from 150 to 200 dogs:
"Swingley, a four-time Iditarod champion, owns a stable of about 150 dogs...."
-
Paul Strelow, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, March 3, 2006
"'(Swingley) has usually got between 160 and 200 dogs in his kennels,'
[Matt] Anderson, who bought his first dogs from Swingley, said."
- Bren T. Boyce, The Nonpareil, August 20, 2006
Mitch Seavey owns 200 dogs:
"[Fawn Wilson] She also spent last summer in Seavey's
camp, with its 200 dogs."
-Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Star, March 14, 2008
Susan Butcher and husband had 200 dogs:
"Back in the 1980's when I worked for ABC Sports
and ABC covered the Iditarod every winter, I was their race announcer.
Those were the days when Susan Butcher was Queen of the huskies. Our film
crew traveled up to the Arctic Circle line one year to do a background
story on Susan and her husband Dave training before the big race. Susan
had some 200 dogs at that point, all living outside, shackled with 5-
to 10-foot chains to small wooden houses."
- Diana Nyad, KCRW, The Score, March 26, 2009
Dick Mackey had 150 dogs:
"For the first time in almost thirty-five years
I didn't have any racing dogs. At one time we had 150."
- Mackey, Dick. One Second to Glory, Alaska: Epicenter Press, 2001.
Duane "Dewey" Halverson has 140 dogs:
"[Duane 'Dewey'] Halverson has been training sled
dogs for a number of years. At one point he had 140 dogs."
- Ann Gill, The Free Press Newspapers, March 2, 2010
Hank DeBruin owns over 140 Siberian Huskies:
"We have over 140 registered purebred Siberian Huskies...."
- Hank DeBruin, article on DeBruin's website, 2010
"He [Hank DeBruin] left Wolfe Island 20 years ago,
but he and Tanya and the children get back to the island to visit their
families a couple of times a year.
'It’s hard to do when you have 160 dogs,' he said."
- Mike Norris, The Whig-Standard, March 22, 2012
Martin Buser has about 100 dogs:
“'If you’re aggressive, you’re never going to have
sex,' said Buser, who still breeds huskies and owns a kennel with about
100 dogs."
- Don Norcross, The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 26, 2011
Ed
Stielstra has 150 dogs:
"The Michigan musher's kennel of roughly 150
dogs have to eat, after all."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News, March 11, 2011
- Mr. Hopkins is talking about Ed Stielstra's kennel in Michigan.
Peter Kaiser's kennel with 58 dogs is considered small:
"Pete Kaiser's kennel is the largest dog yard in
Bethel but at 58 dogs it's considered small for competitive Iditarod standards."
- Angela Denning-Barnes, KYUK, Alaska Public Radio, website, March 1,
2012
Tom Thurston owns 50 dogs:
"I was envisioning, like, cows and horses and stuff,"
said Tami Thurston. "Now we have 50 dogs."
- Tami Thurston is the wife of musher Tom Thurston.
- Anne Herbst, Denver Post, February 26, 2012
Lolly Medley owned 300 dogs:
"She [Lolly Medley] keeps adding to her dog lot.
Now numbering between 60 and 70, it has been as high as 300 in the past."
- Nielsen, Nicki J. The Iditarod: Women on the Trail, Anchorage:
Wolfdog Publications, 1986
Diana Dronenburg owns 70 or so dogs:
"While she would like to continue her college education,
Diana Dronenburg seems to have found her niche at present amidst the 70
or so dogs at the D&D Kennels and the beautiful Alaskan countryside."
- Nielsen, Nicki J. The Iditarod: Women on the Trail, Anchorage:
Wolfdog Publications, 1986
Don Bowers has nearly 100 dogs:
"Even our half-mile driveway from the road to the
dog lot has turned interesting. A young cow moose has come to regard it
as her own and is often grazing there when I drive through in my minivan.
Usually she will turn and run up the driveway until she nears the dog
lot and hears nearly 100 dogs barking at her."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000.
DeeDee Jonrowe owns nearly 100 dogs:
"In all, I have nearly a hundred dogs in my kennel."
- Deedee Jonrowe is talking about her kennel.
- Freedman, Lew and Jonrowe, Deedee. Iditarod Dreams, Seattle:
Epicenter Press, 1995
Mike Santos owns 80 dogs:
"[Mike] Santos has been racing dogs off and
on for 20 years and has a kennel of 80 dogs."
- Suzanna Caldwell, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 2, 2012
Dallas Seavey owns 90 dogs:
"'My job is to be in the wilderness with a
bunch of sled dogs,' said [Dallas] Seavey, 25. 'My daughter thinks heaven
is 90 dogs in Willow.'"
- Dallas Seavey lives in Willow, Alaska.
- Andrew Wellner, Frontiersman, March 15, 2012
Jeff King owns close to 80 dogs:
"They [Jeff and Donna King] had three daughters
and close to eighty dogs."
- Frederic, Lisa. Running with Champions, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest
Books, 2006
Raymie Redington owns over 100 dogs:
"I have over one hundred dogs now."
- Raymie Redington, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics: Tales of the Trail Told by
the Men & Women Who Race Across Alaska, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
Dogs are inbred
"The first Scotty x Freckles breeding produced Grover,
Blue, Coolie, Swift, Mutt, Trader and Rex. Everyone of these pups made
George [Attla's] team." "He also bred Trader back to Scotty."
- Welch, Jim. The Speed Mushing Manual, Eagle
River: Sirius Publishing, 1990
"I got an in-bred bitch from Joe Redington named 'Nugget,' out of
the Roamer line."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
"I have done quite a bit of in-breeding recently
trying to establish some characteristics that will breed true. Whenever
you do in-breeding you have to realize that you are probably going to
get a below average percentage of acceptable quality dogs."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
Inbred dogs often have more health problems and physical defects:
"Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives,
such as brother and sister."
"Inbreed animals often have more health problems and physical defects.
Genetic problems are more common; there is increased infant mortality,
slower growth rate, smaller adult size, loss of immune function and other
possible problems."
- Dr. Jon Rappaport, Petplace.com, 2012
"Dogs that are inbred often have a much lower
immune system function than other dogs. This means that they'll be much
more likely to suffer from illnesses and harmful conditions of all types,
from minor infections and colds to serious conditions. The inbred dog
has a weaker immune system that is less able to fight off these infections
than dogs that have a wider range of genetic diversity."
- Vetinfo.com, 2012
-- Rick Swenson killed dogs for being slow, not
wanting to run, throwing their legs out funny, not keeping lines tight:
"If a pup is slow, I am not going to mess with them.
It is not worth messing with a pup if it hasn't got any speed and doesn't
want to go- yes, I am talking about draggers.
That is the first culling - they just plain don't want to go. Then I look
at their gaits or if they throw their legs out funny or obviously are
too slow, if their lines are slack all the time. There is no sense wasting
good dog food and your time on a dog that isn't fast enough to keep up."
"If you want to have trotters, you can save yourself a lot of dog food,
keeping the faster ones and eliminating the others."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
-- How many "unacceptable" dogs has
Rick Swenson killed?
"But on the average, a fellow like myself, who raises
a minimum of 50 pups every year, using almost all proven breeding stock,
still doesn't get more than two pups out of a litter that wind up making
the race team when they are three years old."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
Big Kennels
Big Suffering
When mushers have large
kennels, dog injuries and illnesses can very often go unnoticed.
Some medical conditions affecting sled dogs:
- "Hot Spots"
"Any breed of dog can be affected by "hot spots,"
but they are most common in dogs that have a thicker hair coat with a
lot of undercoat, such as retrievers and sled dogs. A hot spot is created
by anything that causes inflammation and breaks down the natural barrier
in the skin that protects against infection." "Allergies, insect
bites and minor trauma to the skin are the most common underlying problem.
Regular grooming, either at home or professionally will decrease the chance
of your pet getting this ugly, painful infection. Hot spots can spread
rapidly and often require prescription medications to control them."
- Nancy, Wilber, DVM, DogsAreOK Magazine, July-August, 2010
- Eating rocks (pica):
"Sled dogs eating rocks is a common problem
in many kennels and unfortunately, it often leads to death."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Website lakotasong.com, 2010
-- Swallowing sharp rocks can cause serious internal
damage in dogs:
"If the foreign body has managed to move to the colon, it will probably
successfully pass. But, defecating a sharp object may prove painful and
may even need veterinary assistance. Never pull protruding objects from
your pet’s rectum. If it is still lodged inside, you can cause serious
damage to the internal tissues."
- Ingrid Pyka, DVM, VPI Pet Health Zone article, 2013
-- Rocks obstructing dog's gastrointestinal tract
cause necrosis, pain, holes in the intestine and death:
"If an intestinal obstruction has occurred, the dog or cat’s condition
will decline. Repeated vomiting causes dehydration and electrolyte loss.
This can severely weaken the patient.
The effect of the object on the gastrointestinal tract itself will also
prove devastating to the body. The pressure of the foreign body against
the intestinal wall together with the continued stretching or bunching
of the intestines result in poor blood circulation to the tissues. This
ultimately causes necrosis (dying off) of those tissues. In addition to
being extremely painful, toxic enzymes release into the blood stream,
initiating shock.
Eventually, the intestinal wall may break down and perforate (develop
a hole). Once this occurs, the acidic and bacterial-contaminated intestinal
contents leak into the abdomen. This results in peritonitis (infection
of the abdominal space) and sepsis (infection of the bloodstream).
At this point, the patient is very critical. Without intensive intervention,
this animal will die. With treatment, such patients can recover. Even
the best of efforts, however, some may not survive."
- Ingrid Pyka, DVM, VPI Pet Health Zone article, 2013
-- Dogs can break teeth chewing on rocks:
"Dogs can break their teeth by chewing on inappropriate items such as
rocks, bones, treats (antlers, hooves, etc) and ice cubes that are too
hard."
- Shelter Island Veterinary Hospital, San Diego, CA, website article,
2013
- Hypothermia and frostbite:
"All dogs reach their cold-tolerance limit at some
temperature, the Cornell husky-trainer said. 'If it's so cold that you
can't go out without extreme cold-weather gear, your dog shouldn't be
outside at that temperature either.' 'Bring the dogs inside then' he advised."
- Arleigh Reynolds, D.V.M., Ph.D. was an assistant professor at Cornell
- Cornell University Science News press release, Dec. 9, 1996, on its
website
"The other problem is frostbite of the flanks and
frostbite of the penis."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
"Frostbite can occur on a dog's paw but do not usually
occur in this area. Frostbite is more commonly seen in area where the
hair covering is sparse and the circulation is poor, such as the ear tips,
tail tips, and scrotum."
- Dr. Vern Otte, DVM, DABVP, Critter Connection website, January, 2003
"'There's a particular thing that happens with these
sled dogs in certain snow conditions where the hair is lost off the back
of their wrists, exposing the flexor tendons to potential frostbite. It
was a lot of work for me to take care of my dogs,' said his dad, Mitch
Seavey."
- Kevin Wells, KTUU-TV, KTUU.COM, March 17, 2010
"'I asked [Frank] Rich how he thought those dogs
had died. Rich stated that they either starved or froze to death,' [Trooper
Shayne] Calt wrote."
- Andrew Wellner, Matsu Valley Frontiersman, January 14, 2011
"Severe frostbite
causes blisters, tissue death, open wounds and gangrene: "In more severe
cases of frostbite, blisters may form. In even more serious cases however,
the deeper tissues become involved, and patches of skin may shrivel and
die, sloughing off to leave raw, open wounds. In the most severe cases
this may result in gangrene. It is often difficult to distinguish mild
and severe cases of frostbite for the first few days...."
- Dr. Linda Aronson, DVM. VetSpeak Section of the Shaggy Sentinel,
November, 1997
- More medical conditions affecting sled dogs can be found in the following
section: Permanent
chaining of dogs is cruel, dangerous and makes dogs aggressive
Mushers can't bond
with all their dogs dogs
Rob
Moore: "Now the mushers do say their dogs are treated
very well. And, I read that they have these romantic statements about
the strong bond between musher and dog. But can there be a strong bond?
And, can there be proper treatment in these kennels or between them and
these dogs that they're breeding to race in this one race? Ethel, I'll
direct that to you."
Ethel Christensen: "It's all media hype. I mean,
you can't have anything negative in the media about the Iditarod. And
it's all hype. I'm sorry but it's just not true. But, don't get me wrong.
I love mushing. I love the recreational mushing and there's of good people
that are mushers out there, but the race is not humane. It's inhumane
and I don't see how they could possibly bond with all their dogs."
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Iditarod mushers
routinely have kennels of 90 to 200 dogs.]
-
Ethel Christensen is the founder and former Executive Director of the
Alaska SPCA
- Rob Moore hosts Animal Voices, a radio show in Toronto, Canada.
- This interview was done on February 28, 2006
Click DOGS
to get an idea of how many dogs mushers own.
Many dogs have
no names
"The mushers don't have much interaction with the
dogs, it's mostly the handlers that are responsible for their upkeep.
In the large kennels, the mushers don't know one dog from another unless
the dog is on the main team. The dogs who are not on the main team don't
have names."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Dogs in remote areas don't get veterinary care
Dr. Paula Kislak: "Most of these mushers live really
out in very remote areas, so there is no way that these dogs are getting
any veterinary care at all, except what's being administered by the musher
him or herself. And, of course the euthanasia, they would never bring
an animal in by airplane or lengthy drives to be euthanized. So, they're
going to use whatever they find the most expedient. And of course a gunshot,
well that uses a bullet and it's cheaper even just to drown them, because
every penny that they spend, litterally every penny that they spend going
into animal care or animal destruction is out of their profit or bottom
line. And they look at it that way."
Janice Blue: "It's really disgusting."
- Janice Blue is the host of the radio program Go Vegan Texas, KPFT
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, is president of the Association of Veterinarians
for Animal Rights
- The interview was done on February 27, 2006
Sick and injured
dogs often get no veterinary care
No veterinary care for sick and injured dogs:
"Professional treatment is expensive and not always successful, and many
mushers won't try to throw good money after a sick pup (or they simply
can't afford to)."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage:
Publication Consultants, 2000.
"Because there are so many dogs in the larger kennels, handlers just clean
up the poop and give the dogs food, so the socialization aspect is definitely
lacking along with personal care for toenails, grooming, etc. In these
kennels, handlers don't know the individual dogs well and often don't
recognize when the dogs are sick. Also, most handlers don't stay long
and don't get to know the dogs. The dogs that get the most attention are
those who run the fastest.
The dogs don't always get vet care when they are sick or injured. And
it is cheaper to just let the dog die. God forbid parvo or something like
that ever hit one of these places - it would be a mess. With some dogs,
mushers have a 'wait and see' policy. It's horrid to see the dogs sitting
there in obvious discomfort, let me tell you. The more valuable dogs get
better vet care."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
"I've seen firsthand dogs left on chains for months
on end with basically no attention other than being given food and water,
some with inadequate shelter from the elements, others with unattended
illnesses or injuries."
- Rebecca Knight, Anchorage Daily News, May 30, 2007
- Rebecca Knight lives in the Mat-Su Borough with her husband and nine
huskies. She also volunteers for an animal rescue organization.
"Veterinary
treatments are expensive, and I was told the dogs receive little or any
veterinary treatment as they 'are so hardy' they never get sick. I found
this hard to believe, and did witness some dogs with eye infections that
were not treated."
- Jane Stevens, email sent to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on March 28,
2011
- Jane Stevens was a dog handler for a top 10 Iditarod musher.
Amputation
(cutting) of canine teeth in sled dogs
American Veterinary Dental College opposes crown amputation:
"The American Veterinary Dental College expresses concern regarding the
amputation (‘cutting’) of canine teeth in sled dogs. It is felt that there
are methods available that are more modern, less painful and associated
with fewer complications. AVDC encourages practitioners to use currently
accepted dental techniques."
- Adopted by the American Veterinary Dental College Board of Directors,
April 21 1996, website article, 2009
Canadian Veterinary Medical Association describes an amputation:
"The actual procedure involves manual restraint,
the use of a mouth gag, and breaking off the four canine teeth near the
gum line using metal snippers (large bolt or wire cutters). Typically,
no anesthetic nor analgesic is used during the cutting, and no care is
provided to the dog following this extremely painful procedure. Infection
and chronic pain are the major complications arising from this procedure.
The procedure conducted in this manner is inappropriate and inhumane."
- Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, revised 2003, website article,
2009
Dogs don't get fresh
water every day
"I know of very few kennels that provide fresh water
every day. Most don't give any water in the winter except with meals (a
soup mixture) because it's near impossible to keep hundreds of water buckets
from freezing without hours of extra work every day."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Horrific conditions
in Iditarod champion's kennel
"When I traveled to work for a champion Iditarod
and touring kennel in Alaska, I found that over two hundred dogs lived
in dilapidated wooden dog houses and plastic barrels, without straw. Even
though the temperatures were below zero at night, the few elderly dogs
that were present received no bedding or extra care. They slowly crawled
out of their dog houses each morning, arthritic and constantly growing
thinner from the cold. Poorly constructed and maintained houses are bad
because they provide little to no warmth for the dog. Temperatures are
bad enough in Alaska, but wind chill factors make it even worse."
- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007
Few sled dogs are
adopted
"She [Marcie Moriarty] added the SPCA has always
maintained it is difficult to find adoptive homes for sled dogs because
of the way they are raised and kept on tethers."
- Marcie Moriarty is the SPCA's head animal cruelty investigator in British
Columbia.
- Sam Cooper, The Province, February 2, 2011
"So far this spring, the shelter [the North Star
Borough Animal Shelter] has reached its maximum at 25 huskies. In one
week, three were put to death. Five were adopted, which is encouraging
but it's very rare to have that many find homes in one week, said Sandy
Klimaschesky, the lead animal tender at the shelter.
Sometimes because the shelter is so full, some dogs go right from the
front door to be euthanized, she said."
"But the facts are that each year, more than 1,000 sled dogs wind up at
the shelter and of those, only about a third are adopted."
- Associated Press, Anchorage Daily News, May 7, 2007
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: The Fairbanks
North Star Borough is one of 32 geographic areas listed by the United
States Census Bureau.]
Iditarod
kennels compared to recreational musher kennels
"Few recreational mushers cull or sell dogs, choosing
instead to keep them for the duration of their lives. Doing so inevitably
produces a retirement-home-type situation.
'My yard is really big because I have a lot of old dogs,' [Helyn] Lefgren
said. 'I don’t get rid of them when they get old or can’t run fast enough.
All the recreational mushers I know have the same commitment to the dogs,”
she said."
- Tim Mowry, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, March 20, 2008
Dogs suffer in
frigid weather
Frostbite of the scrotum, nipples, vulva,
ear tips and tails:
"Frostbite occurs when body parts
actually freeze, and ice crystals form in the tissue, causing it to die.
Most frostbite lesions in dogs and
cats are in areas that are more exposed and have less hair, such as ear
tips, tails, scrotum, nipples, and vulva."
- Dr. Marvin Ordway, DVM, Friends
and Neighbors Magazine, December 15, 2011
Dogs forced to whelp outside in frigid
temperatures :
"Due to my heavy involvement in this 'sport,' I've been able to witness
atrocities that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to.
These include: "Pregnant dogs forced to whelp outside, in the middle
of a frigid winter, in uninsulated wooden huts."
-
Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008
Dogs can't get warm:
"And the dogs were thoroughly miserable to boot,
shivering in their houses and under their trees in the bone-chilling drizzle."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000.
"I defy anyone to walk through a dog yard at
40 below and see the dogs in their houses (if they have a house) trying
to stay warm in their frozen urine soaked straw."
- Mike Cranford, dog handler, Two Rivers, Alaska, letter sent to the Sled
Dog Action Coalition on February 28, 2000.
Frigid
temperatures:
"'You can work indoors today,' said Jeff [King]
one morning. I smiled wryly. Good idea. The temperature was -40 degrees
F."
Frederic, Lisa. Running with Champions, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest
Books, 2006
Dogs fed expired
food and rotting meat
"Due
to my heavy involvement in this 'sport,' I've been able to witness atrocities
that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to. These include:
Dogs being fed expired dog food and rotting meat."
-
Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008
Volcanic
ash from Mount Redoubt eruptions dangerous for dogs
Alaska Volcano Observatory says dogs shouldn't
breathe in ash:
"What was I going to do with a team of huskies who,
according to Alaska Volcano Observatory recommendations, should not breathe
in the fine glass-like particles found in Redoubt's emissions?"
"My dilemma is small compared with that of mushers of large kennels, whose
lots further north and northeast are much more at risk. What about the
mushers off Petersville Road, where the ash has already been reported?
What are Jeff King's dogs doing up in Denali, where there also have been
trace amounts of ash found?"
- Melissa DeVaugh, Anchorage Daily News,
March 27, 2009
Alaska Red Cross says bring dogs inside to protect
them from breathing volcanic ash:
"What to Do During a Volcanic Eruption:
Bring animals and livestock into closed shelters to protect them from
breathing volcanic ash."
- Alaska Red Cross, website article, March, 2009
Volcanic ash can be a persistent hazard
for dogs:
"Even after a series of ash-producing eruptions
has ended, wind and human activity can stir up fallen ash for months or
years, presenting a long-term health and economic hazard."
- U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, website, 2009
After Iditarod,
dogs with compromised lungs face ash hazards:
- 81 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod
have lung damage:
"To investigate, the team of researchers examined
the airways of 59 sled dogs 24 to 48 hours after they completed the long
and arduous race. Their findings are published in the September issue
of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The researchers found that 81% of the canines had "abnormal accumulations"
of mucus or cellular debris in their lower airways. This accumulation
was classified as moderate to severe in nearly half of the animals, according
to the report. There was no evidence that the lung damage could be due
to bacterial infection, the authors note. Instead, they say, it was likely
caused by cooling and drying out of peripheral airway passages, resulting
in injury and inflammation."
- Reuters Health,Tue Oct 8, 2002, 2:17 PM ET
- Airway dysfunction persists despite 4 months
of rest:
"CONCLUSIONS: Racing Alaskan sled dogs have airway
dysfunction similar to 'ski asthma' that persists despite having 4 months
of rest. These findings suggest that repeated exercise in cold conditions
can lead to airway disease that does not readily resolve with cessation
of exercise."
- Davis M, Williamson K, McKenzie E, Royer C, Payton M, Nelson S., "Effect
of training and rest on respiratory mechanical properties in racing sled
dogs." Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 2005 Feb;37(2):337-41
on PubMed website.
What
is Volcanic Ash?
"Small jagged pieces of rocks, minerals, and
volcanic glass the size of sand and silt (less than 1/12 inch or 2 millimeters
in diameter) erupted by a volcano are called volcanic ash. Very small
ash particles can be less than 1/25,000th of an inch (0.001 millimeter)
across.
Though called "ash," volcanic ash is not the product of combustion, like
the soft fluffy material created by burning wood, leaves, or paper. Volcanic
ash is hard, does not dissolve in water, is extremely abrasive and mildly
corrosive, and conducts electricity when wet.
Volcanic ash is formed during explosive volcanic eruptions. Explosive
eruptions occur when gases dissolved in molten rock (magma) expand and
escape violently into the air, and also when water is heated by magma
and abruptly flashes into steam. The force of the escaping gas violently
shatters solid rocks. Expanding gas also shreds magma and blasts it into
the air, where it solidifies into fragments of volcanic rock and glass.
Once in the air, hot ash and gas rise quickly to form a towering eruption
column, often more than 30,000 feet high. Larger rock fragments more than
2 inches across ejected by the explosion typically fall within a few miles
of the eruption site. However, wind can quickly blow fine ash away from
the volcano to form an eruption cloud. As the cloud drifts downwind from
the erupting volcano, the ash that falls from the cloud typically becomes
smaller in size and forms a thinner layer. Ash clouds can travel thousands
of miles, and some even circle the earth."
- U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, website, 2009
Yukon
River flooding obliterates dog kennels
"Villages damaged by recent Yukon River
flooding are sending out an urgent plea for dog food."
"One Tanana musher, Pat Moore, lost his fish camp and with it, his
dog food supply.
'His entire camp got obliterated,' [Mark] Haglin said, noting Moore is
not alone.
'Everybody’s saving table scraps and things to feed the dogs,' he said.
In other places, such as Stevens Village, raging water wiped out dog yards
as it washed into the community. Canines are tied to trees with bowls
of water, waiting for new doghouses as residents begin the slow process
of rebuilding homes."
- Mark Haglin is Tanana's Fire Chief
- Rena Delbridge, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, May 20, 2009
Law classifies sled
dogs as livestock
"'Livestock' means outdoor animals (i.e. cows, goats, horses, pigs, sled
dogs, barnyard fowl, etc.) kept for the purpose of providing food, clothing,
work or recreation."
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough ordinance number 08-161
Dogs
have no shelters
The dogs had slept on snow all winter on the trapline, had very thick
coats, and did not adapt well to the warm weather."
- Joe Runyan is talking about the dogs he raced in his first Iditarod
in 1983.
- Joe Runyan, Alaska Dispatch, March 8, 2011
"The dogs were spread out in the woods, trap-line
style, tethered by their chains to logs and black spruce."
- Lance Mackey. The Lance Mackey Story, Fairbanks: Zorro Books,
LLC, 2010
"Out the door and down to the dogs. They are tethered along a narrow band
of alders on the shore of a small frozen backwater of the Churchill."
- Olesen, Dave. Cold Nights Fast Trails, Minocqua: NorthWord Press,
Inc., 1989
From age 9-weeks, puppies fed once a day
"Feed the pups twice a day for about two weeks after
weaning or until about nine weeks of age. Then, being the mean so-and-so
that I am, I go to feeding only once a day for pups. Ignore the bag. Ignore
the vet. Just feed them as much as they will 'wolf down' (interesting
term there) in about thirty seconds, once a day."
Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride
Publishing Company, 2008.
Dogs starved
"I have witnessed the following with my own eyes
and have on more than one occasion stepped in and stopped the beatings,
killing and abuse: 1. Dogs fed only a watery soup in order to control
their weight."
- Mike Cranford, dog handler, Two Rivers, Alaska, letter dated January
26, 2001
"He (Colonel Tom Classen) confirmed dog beatings
and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their optimum racing weight."
- Jon Saraceno, USA Today, March 3, 2000
- Tom Classen is a retired Air Force colonel who has lived in Alaska over
20 years.
Dogs hoard their own feces to eat:
"I defy anyone of compassion to walk through a dog
lot at - 40 and not realize the sad situation of these dogs. Hoarding
their own feces to eat and laying on a frozen block of urine."
- Mike Cranford, dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition
Dogs
punished when they don't eat
"If the dog doesn't eat everything in about 30 seconds,
do not just leave food laying around thinking he may eat more at a later
time. Take the food away. Give the dog only clear water the next day and
half rations the following day. Resume regular feeding the fourth day."
Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride
Publishing Company, 2008
"I have also skipped the evening meal on a few dogs
that decide they don't want their morning broth."
- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling:
Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008
Sled dog
trucks can be dangerous for dogs
"Many mushers transport sled dogs in trucks that
have several rows of compartments or crates without doors stacked on top
of each other and open to the inside of the vehicle. The dogs are chained
into the compartments. A dog being transported in this manner is at risk
of suffering strangulation, asphyxiation or a crushed larynx (windpipe)
by their chains and collars if they fall or jump out of their open crates,
especially from the upper levels, when the vehicle turns sharply, or in
excitement, or from compulsive circling from the boredom of lengthy transport.
In addition, the wooden compartments cannot be adequately sanitized and
are subject to fecal and urine contamination which can result in inflammatory
and infectious diseases of the ocular, respiratory and digestive systems.
Dogs chained into the same crate are likely to fight and get injured."
- Paula Kislak, DVM, Director, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association,
May 18, 2011, email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition
Dog injured bolting out of box on dog truck:
"It was finally time to get the dogs out, put their
booties on and harness them up. Then…… a major bummer blow. Margi [Eastman]
was getting Hermione out, when Herm bolted out of the box for some reason,
catapulting over Margi’s head and landing on top of Margie in a big crazy
mess. Herm came up lame, very lame, on a back leg. Her hock was swelling
before our eyes."
- Dr. Tamara Rose, DVM, her blog entry on May 11, 2010
Spontaneous combustion of straw in dog box:
"One musher's box almost burned up in the summer
because of spontaneous combustion in the damp straw."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the Serious
Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
Dogs doubled up in one compartment fight:
"We stopped once to check on two dogs we'd had to
double up in one compartment. They were already arguing."
- Riddles, Libby and Tim Jones. Race Across Alaska, Harrisburg:
Stackpole Books, 1988
Musher Melanie
Gould abandoned her dogs
Gould disappeared without making provisions for dogs to get food and
water:
"The search for former Iditarod musher Melanie
Gould, who has been missing since she clocked out from her job at the
Talkeetna Roadhouse on May 30, was still ongoing Monday, with few new
details emerging, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Gould disappeared from her hometown of Talkeetna without telling anyone
where she was going, and without any provisions for care for the animals
in her small dog kennel."
- Ben Anderson, Alaska Dispatch, Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Although Gould knew she abandoned her dogs, she stayed away from rescuers:
"Volunteers found Iditarod veteran Melanie
Gould alive Saturday in the Cantwell area, more than 11 days after the
Talkeetna musher disappeared."
"'She indicated that she saw search efforts but stayed away,' [Megan]
Peters wrote in an email."
- Megan Peters is the Alaska State Trooper's spokesperson.
- Kyle Hopkins and Casey Grove, Anchorage Daily News, June 12,
2011
Melanie Gould competed in seven Iditarods:
"Gould competed in seven Iditarods, beginning in 2000."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News, June 11, 2011
Dog feces creates unsanitary, infectious living
conditions for dogs
Dog waste can attract flies and pests (rats, mice, etc.):
"The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the typical dog
excretes three quarters of a pound of waste per day—or 274 pounds per
year.
A musher with a modest-sized kennel of 20 dogs must dispose of more than
two tons of dog waste annually!
To get an idea of the scale of the dog waste generated in Alaska, consider
that in Fairbanks and Anchorage alone, an estimated 20 million pounds
of dog waste is produced each year.
Left alone, dog waste can pollute ground and surface water, attract flies
and pests, cause an unpleasant odor, and create unsanitary living conditions
for dogs. Dog waste can also transmit parasites and infectious diseases."
- Natural Resources Conservation Service, Alaska Office, website article,
June, 2011
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: When there
are piles of dog feces on the ground or in open holes near the dogs, pests
(rats, mice, etc.) and flies can easily attack the dogs and contaminate
their food and water.]
Fly bites are painful and can become infected:
"Ticks, biting flies, and mosquitoes can cause
red swollen areas of the skin, which itch and can sometimes become infected.
Fly bites can pose a special nuisance to outdoor pets. Fly bites can cause
crusty bumps or sores, especially around the ears or face, that can become
infected if left untreated."
- Written and reviewed by John A. Bukowski, DVM, MPH, PhDand Susan E.
Aiello, DVM, ELS
- Webvet.com, June, 2011
"Fly bites cause a common condition in outside
dogs, often called "fly strike." It most frequently occurs...when flies
land on and bite the tips and top surface of the dog's ears. They may
also bite the bridge of the nose. They are biting the dog to obtain a
blood meal and the bite is often painful. Because of the thin skin and
hair on the ears and the inability of the dog to defend his ears, flies
will seek out this location. Some of these dogs will endure hundreds of
bites a day for weeks at a time. Anyone that has ever been bitten by a
stable fly knows how painful the bite is. If you see blood spots or flies
congregating near your dog's ears then you can assume fly bites are occurring.
The bite wounds attract flies which may lay their eggs in the damaged
tissue. These will later hatch into maggots."
- Peteducation.com, June, 2011
Dogs chained near hole where dog feces and dead dogs were dumped:
"I worked in an Iditarod kennel where the dog waste was put in the
same pit where they dumped their dead dogs. The hole was close to the
dogs. I had to walk next to or behind dog houses to dump the wheelbarrel
of dog feces into the pit."
-
Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues
and rehabilitates abused sled dogs.
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition,
June 20, 2011
Dogs chained close to large hole containing dog feces:
"I worked in an Iditarod kennel where dogs' fecal
matter was dumped in a large hole in the ground located close to where
the dogs were chained."
- Jane Stevens, former Iditarod kennel employee
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, June 23, 2011
Unsanitary
dog food
Dogs' meat left sitting around all day to thaw:
"Add enough hot water to cover the stuff in
the bucket and let it thaw all day."
"Some people get pretty finicky about dirty buckets
and bowls, and bacteria counts in food, etc., so I probably should defend
myself and my unsanitary practice of leaving meat sit around thawing all
day.
But I won't."
- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling:
Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008
Mushers
break the law
The law in Mat-Su, a borough in Alaska, requires people owning five
or more dogs to register as a kennel:
23.10.020(A) "Registration required. In addition
to the registration requirements of MSB 24.10.010, no person shall own
or operate a kennel or cattery or own five or more dogs or cats over the
age of six months without registering as a kennel or cattery operator
for each location of a kennel or cattery."
- Mat-Su Borough Code, Mat-Su Borough website
Iditarod mushers who break the law by not registering their kennels:
Martin Buser
Kathleen Frederick
Kelley Griffen
Matt Hayashida
Lynda Plettner
Ryan Reddington
Ray Reddington, Jr.
Justin Savidis
Heather Siirtola
Cim Smyth
- Mat-Su Borough documents about unlicensed kennels in the borough, May
17, 2011
- Current Internet information shows that these mushers have five or more
dogs who are over the age of six months.
Iditarod
mushers devocalize (debark) their dogs
"Squeaky (formerly known as 'Rob') was bred and
spend the first part of his life in the US, but in the summer of '01,
he came up to live with us. He has quickly adapted to working life and
is a valued team member. I often mistake him in harness for his Grandfather,
Spud - that is quite a complement! Squeaky gets his nickname from his
debarked status. Major Races: Iditarod 2003, Iditarod 2004."
- Iditarod musher Karen Ramstead, her website northwapiti.com, January
20, 2012
"I debarked Jewels Monday August 1st. Most of my
dogs are debarked, I used to debark all of them, because of the neighbor
problems."
- Iditarod musher Eric Rogers, his website northbounddogs.com, January
20, 2012
"Iditarod musher and veterinarian Dr. Roland "Doc"
Lombard says debarking 10 of his 50 dogs has made no difference in their
performance."
- Amy Bermar, Anchorage Daily News, June 15, 1982
"We're just in a unique circumstance where we live,
in that we don't have a lot of close neighbors, and I do tend to de-bark
the loud dogs, which helps considerably," [Robert] Bundtzen said.
- Melissa Devaughn, Anchorage Daily News, February 22, 2003
- Robert Bundtzen is an Iditarod musher.
"KEIKO is Rom's sister, Female, DOB 5/28/02 (7 of
9’s pup). Approx. 50 lbs, debarked, spayed, a little shy. Keiko is a
young, happy, hard driving, fast, girl who has been leading since she
was a pup. As a two year old she is rapidly becoming one of my main leaders. Finished
the Iditarod in 2006, but as the team has gotten faster has not wanted
to run lead very often."
"ROM is Keiko's brother - debarked, neutered and very affectionate. DOB
5/28/02 (7 of 9’s pup). Runs anywhere from wheel to swing. Makes an excellent
wheel dog. Rom finished the 2006 Iditarod."
- Dogsled.net, January 20, 2012
Here's what experts say about the cruelties of debarking:
- Debarking is inhumane:
"'Debarking is not a medically necessary procedure,'
Dr. Klausner said. 'We think it’s not humane to the dogs to put them through
the surgery and the pain. We just do not think that it should be performed.'"
- Dr. Jeffrey Klausner is the senior vice president and chief medical
officer of Banfield, the Pet Hospital, which has more than 750 veterinary
practices across the country.
- Sam Dolnick, New York Times, February 2, 2010
"These amputations are strictly for the benefit
of the owner. They serve no therapeutic or medical purpose. They are not
surgeries in the true sense of the word.
The word mutilation is much more appropriate."
- Charles Danten, DVM, in a speech presented to the Montreal Rotary Club
on January 6, 2000, and published on Dr. Danten's website
- Debarking surgery is very dangerous:
"[Dr. Nicholas] Dodman said there is a risk to any
surgery, but operating in the vocal cord area is very dangerous because
it’s hard to administer anesthetics and there’s a lot of blood in the
area. Animals may suffer from infections, scar tissue, trouble breathing,
and hemorrhaging or aspiration pneumonia from devocalization procedures.
'Some dogs have died in different stages (of the procedure),' said Dodman.
'This is what’s called a convenient surgery. Some surgeries are necessary.
But this is a cosmetic surgery like ear cropping and tail cropping. You’re
removing a natural part of a dog.'”
- Dr. Nicholas Dodman, DACVB is a veterinarian behaviorist of about 50
in the world.
- David Ertischek, West Roxbury Transcript, June 16, 2009
- Debarking interferes with breathing: "Excessive
tissue removal results in scar tissue formation that can interfere with
breathing."
- Letter from Christine M. Runnels, DVM, Diplomat, American College of
Veterinary Surgeons, March 7, 2005
"Dr. Gary W. Ellison, of the College of Veterinary
Medicine at the University of Florida, cautioned that the procedure can
lead to complications. He said he has had to operate on debarked dogs
after excess scar tissue built up in the throat, making it difficult for
the dog to breathe."
- Sam Dolnick, New York Times, February 2, 2010
- Debarked dogs more prone to aspirate digestive
juices leading to pneumonia:
Dr. Paula Kislak: "This
surgery is especially bad, because even under the best of circumstances
animals, because of the messing around in the throat area, that are debarked
are more prone to aspirate their own digestive juices. And when dogs are
put under these intense circumstances of racing and they're gasping all
the time, they're constantly aspirating or inhaling any vomit or digestive
juice that comes up in their mouth, and that sets them up for life-threatening
aspiration pneumonias. So that's a double whammy of the debarking."
Rob Moore: "This debarking,
what is the procedure?"
Dr. Paula Kislak: "It's
a surgical procedure requiring general anesthesia. There's two actual
procedures one goes from the outside of the throat and one goes from the
inside of the throat, but it's the cutting of the vocal cords basically."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, is president of the Association of Veterinarins
for Animal Rights - Rob Moore hosts Animal Voices, a radio show in Toronto
Canada.
- This interview was done on February 28, 2006
Listen to the sounds made by a devocalized dog and get more information.
Dogs
rejected from racing in Iditarod not given vaccinations
"Mackey said he thinks this year’s mandatory kennel
cough vaccinations are a good idea, though the price to get shots for
every dog was steep. Without mandatory vaccinations, he said, there is
often a lot of skimping on the part of mushers.
'I was one of those people,' he said. 'The team that we know we’re taking
we’ll vaccinate."
- Andrew Wellner, Frontiersman, March 2, 2012
Dead dogs fed to
other dogs
"Sometimes the dogs were skinned and the fur
used to make mittens and parka ruffs, and in some kennels the dogs are
fed to other dogs."
- Mike Cranford, dog handler, Two Rivers, Alaska, letter sent to the Sled
Dog Action Coalition on February 28, 2000.
Were sick
horses fed to dogs?
"My shop was set up to handle carcasses, such as
horses. A meat saw quickly put the meat into chunks that could be gobbled
by a meat grinder."
"The Fairbanks area supports about 4,000 horses, which is a lot. At any
one time there is likely to be a 1200 LB hay burner [horse] with a
problem [emphasis added] available for the giant maw of a meat grinder.
To me, it was a $500 dollar windfall of great dog feed when I got the
call."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers,
Sacramento: Griffin Printing Co., 1997
Dogs
deprived of food and water
"If we have ten puppies in the pen, we give them nine dippers of food.
There is never quite enough so that everybody has their fill."
"They will get water in the morning, maybe they will get water again in
the afternoon and maybe they will get water at night.
But the rest of the time, they are not going to have full pans of water
sitting around in their pan. I dump the pans of water back in the bucket
or spill them. The dogs drink when there is water and they eat when there
is food."
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing,
1987
-- Dogs need to have fresh water available at
all times:
"Clean, thawed drinking water should always be available".
- The Pet Stop, Anchorage, Alaska, website article
KEEP FRESH WATER AVAILABLE AT ALL TIMES!!! Change
your pet’s water daily or more frequently if necessary.
- Hudson Road Animal Hospital, Woodbury, MN, website article
"It’s important to always keep plenty of fresh water
around where your pets have easy access."
- Princeton Veterinary Animal Hospital, Princeton, IN, website
article
Dogs endure
mud, dust, slop and filth of ungodly magnitude
"I will admit to having kept some kennels over the
years that should by rights have landed me in jail, facing a firing squad
manned by the local humane society. My dogs have for days at a time endured
mud, slop and filth of ungodly magnitude."
- Olesen, Dave. Cold Nights Fast Trails, Minocqua: NorthWord Press,
Inc., 1989
"Mud is a real problem during rainy spells and dust
plagues you during dry spells."
- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the Serious
Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991
Plastic
and metal houses are hazardous for dogs
From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Some mushers have plastic or
metal houses for their dogs.
Plastic and metal houses are too hot in summer and too cold in winter:
"Plastic and metal houses are not a good idea, as
they are either too hot during summertime or too cold during the winter."
- New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, website
article, 2012
A dog's tongue could freeze to metal dog house:
"Besides being cold, if a dog licked a dog house
made of metal, their tongue would freeze to it."
- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition,
2012
Dogs eat their own stools (coprophagia)
"No one could walk through a dog lot at -40 and
not be moved at the sight of a shivering dog chewing on his poop that
he had stored in his house.”
- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition,
2012
Why do adult dogs eat their own poop?
"When adult dogs begin to eat stools, it may also
be due to malabsorption of nutrients or to dietary nutritional deficiencies.
In addition, any condition that might cause an increase in appetite or
an unusual appetite, such as diabetes, Cushing's disease, thyroid disease,
or treatment with certain drugs such as steroids may lead to an increase
in stool eating. Dogs that are placed on extreme calorie restriction or
that are fed poorly balanced diets may also begin to eat their stools."
- VCA Animal Hospitals, website article, 2012
Chained dogs likely to develop heatstroke
Iditarod dog kennels have no shade; shelters don't
permit airflow:
Most Iditarod dog shelters are on open plots of land that have no shade.
The vast majority of shelters are so close to the ground the dogs can't
go underneath them. Inside their shelters, dogs get no relief from the
heat, since most don't permit enough airflow to create a cooling effect.
These shelters are small. Each one has a solid flat roof and floor, three
solid walls and a fouth wall with a small hole.
- Sled Dog Action Coalition
Heat stroke common in chained dogs deprived of water and/or shade:
"Nonexertional heatstroke most commonly develops
when dogs are confined in an overheated enclosure or chained outdoors
and deprived of water and/or shade."
-
Flournoy SW, Wohl JS, Macintire DK. Heatstroke in dogs: Pathophysiology
and predisposing factors. Compen Contin Educ Pract Vet. 2003;25:410–418.
Limited airflow prevents loss of body heat:
"Static air also prevents the movement of warm air, decreasing convection
and further loss of body heat."
- Flournoy SW, Wohl JS, Macintire DK. Heatstroke in dogs: Pathophysiology
and predisposing factors. Compen Contin Educ Pract Vet. 2003;25:410–418.
-- Summers in Alaska can be hot:
Temperatures in Willow, Alaska during the summer
have been as high as 89 °F; in Fairbanks they’ve been as high as 94 °F.
- weather.com, 2013
Back to the top
Articles
about the Iditarod
Dog deaths
Poor veterinary
care
Mushers
mistreat their dogs during race
Dog injuries,
sicknesses and extreme stress
Problems
with Iditarod rules
Greed
fuels the Iditarod
Cruel
dog training
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