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A Kid's Thoughts
Dog
injuries, sicknesses and extreme stress
How can sick, injured or exhausted dogs love running?
Statistics tell sad stories
Lung
damage
Stomach Ulcers
Iditarod exhausts dogs
Dogs suffer from extreme stress
Kidney toxicity and kidney failure
Reduction of antioxidant levels
Airborne fecal material makes dogs sick
Dogs
foam from profuse sweat in freezing weather
Dogs have trouble sleeping in bitter cold
Dogs
commonly get sick
Dogs are more susceptible to illness in the winter
Contagious viruses spread at checkpoints
Mushers start race with sick dogs
Sick
dogs not responding to medicines
List of many dog injuries and sicknesses
Mushers
force sick dogs to race
Dogs
face hypothermia and frostbite hazards
Warm
weather hazards and stresses for the dogs
Dogs
get sick from eating spoiled food
Damage to dogs may appear after race
Diminished repair of damaged connective tissue
Dogs
in pain prompt musher/physician to give up Iditarod
Dogs who vomit while racing are at high risk for illness and death
Dogs behind front-runners have
greater risk of getting sick
Dogs become dehydrated
Dogs refuse to eat
Iditarod wants dogs weakened
from sickness to keep racing
Harnesses
encourage sick or injured dogs to pull
Booties don't protect dogs' paws
Did animal urine and feces
contaminate dog food?
Straw used for bedding can be very
dangerous for dogs
How can sick, injured
or exhausted dogs love running?
Craig Medred, outdoors columnist for the Anchorage Daily News,
told Weekly Reader Current Events (3/3/06), "It's pretty hard to
imagine the enthusiasm these dogs have for racing...."
But dogs feel pain just like humans do. They are not machines.
How can dogs be enthusiastic about running when they're sick, injured
or exhausted?
Do you think these dog are enthusiastic about running in the Iditarod?
"Brutal winds and temperatures to 20 degrees below
zero were terrorizing those who hadn't yet made it through Rainy Pass."
"Wind chill temperatures were pushing down to 55 to 60 degrees below zero."
"Conditions were so grim dog teams hoping to continue down the Iditarod
Trail were having a hard time just getting out of this checkpoint Monday
night and early this morning. They struggled in the dark, wind and cold."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 6, 2007
[Read the information on this page about frostbite.]
"'(The winds) literally picked your whole team up and threw them off the
trail.'"
- Musher Donald Smidt talking about the 2007 Iditarod
- Carlos Muñoz, Fond du Lac Reporter, December 30, 2007
Statistics
tell sad stories
Dogs who couldn't make it across Iditarod finish line:
| Year | Number of dogs starting race | Number of dogs finishing race | Number of dogs not finishing race | Percentage of dogs not finishing race |
| 2002 | 1,024 | 524 | 500 | 49% |
| 2003 | 1,024 | 381 | 643 | 63% |
| 2004 | 1,391 | 734 | 657 | 47% |
| 2005 | 1,264 | 585 | 679 | 54% |
| 2006 | 1,328 | 737 | 591 | 45% |
| 2007 | 1,308 | 564 | 744 | 57% |
| 2008 | 1,517 | 807 | 710 | 47% |
| 2009 | 1,072 | 575 | 497 | 46% |
| 2010 | 1,136 | 550 | 586 | 52% |
Average percentage of dogs not finishing race from 2002 to 2010: 51%
[We are rarely told what happened to these dogs.]
Race officials encouraged injured musher to continue racing tired and
sick dogs:
"Coming into the Ruby checkpoint, 615 miles from
Anchorage and just under 500 from Nome, Madsen had just come through a
hard run along the Yukon. He and his team had endured miles of fighting
50 mph sustained winds with gust up to 75 mph. There were places the trail
was blown out.
Madsen was burned out, and the dogs were not rested. He knew they were
going slowly.
Some of the dogs had been sick with diarrhea and treated at a prior checkpoint.
They showed little spark after that.
Battling the winds, Madsen could practically see their body fat melting
off. Not only that, the sled hit a stump on the trail forcing Madsen's
upper body into the handles. An X-ray at a later checkpoint revealed a
rib broken in several places."
"After two or three hours of sleep, some food and a pep talk from race
officials, he felt he could go on." [Emphasis added]
- Kay Richardson, The Columbian, April 16, 2006
Dogs
who finished Iditarod with lung damage:
According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine in 2002, 81 percent of the dogs who finish
the Iditarod have lung damage.
| Year | Number of dogs finishing race | Number of finishing dogs with lung damage |
| 2002 | 524 | 424 |
| 2003 | 381 | 309 |
| 2004 | 734 | 595 |
| 2005 | 585 | 474 |
| 2006 | 737 | 597 |
| 2007 | 564 | 457 |
| 2008 | 807 | 654 |
| 2009 | 575 | 466 |
| 2010 | 550 | 446 |
- Statistics come from data on Iditarod website
Dogs who finshed Iditarod with ulcers or ulcerations:
According
to a study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
in 2005, 61 percent of the dogs who finish the race have ulcers or ulcerations
compared to zero percent before the race.
| Year | Number of dogs finishing race | Number of finishing dogs with ulcers or ulcerations |
| 2002 | 524 | 320 |
| 2003 | 381 | 232 |
| 2004 | 734 | 448 |
| 2005 | 585 | 357 |
| 2006 | 737 | 450 |
| 2007 | 564 | 344 |
| 2008 | 807 | 492 |
| 2009 | 575 | 351 |
| 2010 | 550 | 336 |
- Statistics come from data on Iditarod website
Dogs
who finished Iditarod with lung damage AND ulcers or ulcerations:
Using
the above mentioned studies, each year from 42 percent to 61 percent of
the dogs finish the Iditarod with lung damage AND ulcers or ulcerations.
| Year | Number of dogs finishing race | Number range of finishing dogs with lung damage AND ulcers or ulcerations (42% to 61%) |
| 2002 | 524 | 220 to 320 |
| 2003 | 381 | 160 to 232 |
| 2004 | 734 | 308 to 448 |
| 2005 | 585 | 246 to 357 |
| 2006 | 737 | 310 to 450 |
| 2007 | 564 | 237 to 344 |
| 2008 | 807 | 339 to 492 |
| 2009 | 575 | 242 to 351 |
| 2010 | 550 | 231 to 336 |
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.
Serious stomach ulcers from racing as little as 100 miles:
"I reviewed a recent study about gastrointestinal
damage resulting from training and racing sled dogs which appeared in
a well-respected veterinary journal. Two of the more interesting conclusions presented
were:
Training alone, without the additional stress of racing, results in significant,
measurable gastrointestinal damage.
and
Serious stomach ulcers and other significant, measurable gastrointestinal
damage results from racing as little as 100 miles."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, President, Association of Veterinarians for Animals
Rights
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on December 17, 2006
Stories of dogs with stomach ulcers:
"But
the dog [Mark] was in bad shape. He was dehydrated and hypothermic. His
gums were white, indicating anemia and possible shock, [Lannie] Hamilton
said."
"A few minutes after the vets administered the IV, Mark vomited three
liters of blood. Hamilton said that was an indication the dog likely had
a bleeding stomach ulcer."
- Lannie Hamilton is a veterinarian in Wasilla,
AK
- Mark is one of DeeDee Jonrowe's dogs
- Paula Dobbyn, Anchorage Daily News, March 13, 2002
"I
had a dog that was just doing this horrible, projectile vomiting. It turned
out it was an ulcer."
-
Diana Dronenburg Moroney, Iditarod musher
-
Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
Jonrowe's dog Mark dies from surgery to repair his ulcer:
"The Iditarod Trail Committee was notified
today by Musher Dee Dee Jonrowe that her lead dog Mark died during surgery
to repair a stomach ulcer."
-
Iditarod Race Advisory, Iditarod website, March 15, 2002
-
Dan, a 3 year old dog dies; ulcers are found in his stomach:
"Race officials said preliminary
findings of a necropsy performed on the 3-year-old male named Dan showed
fluid in the lungs."
-
Associated Press, March 12, 2001
"Preliminary aspects of the necropsy have been
completed on Dan..."
"The
dog's death was determined to have been caused by pulmonary edema, or
fluid in the lungs. The only other significant abnormalities observed
included a decrease in esophageal and gastric (stomach) muscle tone combined
with gastric ulcerations."
- Iditarod website, March 10, 2001
Backen's
dog dies from blood loss associated with ulcers:
Preliminary findings of a necropsy indicate the
7-year-old male [Takk] died of blood loss associated with gastric ulcers,
according to race officials.
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 16, 2004
Dr Jim Lanier's dog Cupid dies from ulcers:
"The gross necropsy performed on Cupid, a 4 year
old female from the team of Jim Lanier's that died on March 12 has been
completed. The cause of death appears likely to be the result of regurgitation
and aspiration, secondary to the presence of gastric ulcers."
- Iditarod Advisory Update, Iditarod website, March 13, 2006
Ken Anderson's dog has a bleeding ulcer:
"It was pretty scary. He had a bleeding ulcer. I've
never seen that before. I stopped and he vomited a big pool of blood."
- Ken Anderson talking about his sick dog
- Interview with Gabriel Spitzer, Alaska Public Radio Network, website,
March 9, 2006
Karen Ramstead's dog Snickers died from acute hemorrhage due to a gastric
ulcer:
"A gross necropsy was performed on Snickers, a six and a half year
old female in the team of Karen Ramstead. Preliminary indications showed
that Snickers expired as a result of and acute hemorrhage due to a gastric
ulcer."
- Iditarod Advisory, Iditarod website, March 14, 2006
Other dogs who died from having ulcers
Bruce Linton's dog has black and tarry stools - a sign of an ulcer
"I rested there about five hours and was about
to leave when I noticed a stool that was black and tarry next to one of
my lead dogs Possum."
- Bruce Linton, Iditarod Journals, 2007
High incidence of ulcers in Iditarod dogs:
"A pilot study of dogs that were either dropped
from the 2000 Iditarod Sled Dog Race because of illness or that finished
the race indicated that, approximately 5 days after competing, 10 of 28
dogs (35%) had endoscopic evidence of gastric ulceration, erosion, or
hemorrhage. The next year, an endoscopic study of 73 dogs participating
in the 2001 Iditarod race was performed in order to evaluate a larger
population of dogs. Data from 70 of these dogs could be used; 34 (48.5%)
had ulceration, erosion, gastric hemorrhage, or some combination of these
findings. When this group of 70 dogs was compared retrospectively to a
control group of 87 dogs presented to the Texas A&M University (TAMU)
Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, the Iditarod sled dogs had a significantly
higher prevalence (P = .049) of gastric lesions."
- Davis MS, Willard MD, Nelson SL, Mandsager RE, McKiernan BS, Mansell
JK, Lehenbauer TW, "Prevalence of gastric lesions in racing Alaskan sled
dogs." Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 2003 May-Jun;17(3):311-4,
article abstract on National Library of Medicine website
- Erosion is "an eating away, destruction
of the surface of a tissue, material or structure."
- On-line Medical dictionary
- "P" means P-value, which
is "the probability (ranging from zero to one) that the results observed
in a study (or results more extreme) could have occurred by chance. Convention
is that we accept a p value of 0.05 or below as being statistically significant."
- Bandolier, a journal about evidence-based healthcare, written
by Oxford scientists, website article
- High incidence of ulcers in Iditarod dogs caused by NSAIDs:
Many Iditarod dogs have gastric ulcers and some
have died from this condition. Ulcers predispose the dogs to vomiting.
Normally, the trachea closes the airway so that foreign material does
not enter the lungs. But because these dogs run at such high speeds for
such a long period of time, they cannot stop gasping for air despite the
vomiting. Consequently, dogs inhale the vomit into their lungs which causes
suffocation and death.
According to Michael Matz, a highly regarded expert in gastrointestinal
disorders in small animals, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) is the most common cause of gastrointestinal ulceration
in small animals (Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XII- Small Animal
Practice). Aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen are just some of the NSAIDs that
cause ulcers. These drugs reduce swelling, inflammation, relieve pain
and fever, which allows the dogs to run farther and faster. Unfortunately,
some dogs pay with their lives for the use
of these drugs.
- High incidence of ulcers in Iditarod dogs caused
by stress:
Andrea Floyd-Wilson: "What are they thinking
is the cause that these dogs are getting, and it really seems like a very
high number of them do get ulcers?"
Dr. Paula Kislak: "That's correct. And it's almost universally known
to be as a result of the amount of stress that they endure and the medication
they're given. Just like people under extreme stress develop ulcers. This
is the exact same etiology or cause in these dogs as well."
-
On February 23, 2003, Andrea Floyd-Wilson, the host of All About Animals
Radio Show, interviewed Margery Glickman, Director of the Sled Dog Action
Coalition, and Paula Kislak, DVM, President of the Association of Veterinarians
for Animal Rights.
- Sustained strenuous exercise associated
with 61 percent ulcer rate postrace compared to zero percent prerace:
"Sustained strenuous exercise
was associated with an increased frequency of gastric erosions or ulcerations
seen endoscopically (0% prerace versus 61% postrace). A significant
postrace increase occurred in the median lactulose to rhamnose ratio in
both serum and urine (0.11 versus 0.165, P = .0363; 0.11 versus 0.165,
P = .0090, respectively). No significant differences were found in median
serum or urinary sucrose concentrations when pre- and postrace values
were compared. No correlation was found between visible gastric lesions
and the concentration of sucrose in serum or urine samples obtained 4-5
hours after administration of the sugar solutions. We conclude that sustained
strenuous exercise is associated with increased intestinal permeability,
but the sucrose permeability test as we performed it did not correlate
with visible gastric lesions."
- Davis MS, Willard MD, Williamson
KK, Steiner JM, Williams DA. "Sustained strenuous exercise increases intestinal
permeability in racing Alaskan sled dogs." Journal of Veterinary Internal
Medicine 2005 Jan-Feb;19(1):34-9, article
abstract on National Library of Medicine website
[The sucrose permeability test is used to detect
ulcerations in dogs.]
[Increased intestinal permeablity also known as
Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS) results from an overly-permeable
intestinal lining with spaces between the cells of the gut wall. These
spaces allow “foreign” material (bacteria, toxins and food) to leak into
the body where they should not be, placing an additional burden on the
immune and detoxification systems.]
Iditarod exhausts dogs
"As late as the Elim checkpoint
on the coast, only about 130 miles from the finish, he still held out
hope for that small trophy [a belt buckle]. El Toro was still pulling
six teammates along the trail. El Toro, John [Stewart] confessed, was
doing almost all of the work.
It was on Thursday, on the march up and over a 1,000-foot mountain mushers
call "Little McKinley" to White Mountain on soft trail in the heat of
the day Thursday, when El Toro finally wore out."
- Every musher who finishes the Iditarod gets a belt buckle.
- Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch, March 20, 2010
"He’s feeling good, he [Jeff
King] said moments before stepping on the runners of his sled, but his
dogs are tired."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily
News - The Sled Blog, March 13, 2010
"Libby Riddles mushed her weary dog
team into Nome today and became the first woman to win the arduous 1,135-mile
Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race."
- UPI, The New York Times, March 21, 1985
"There they lay, whimpering, licking their
paws. Too tired to eat; too tired, even, to sleep."
- The author is talking about Rick Mackey's dogs when they reached Nome.
- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February 5, 1984
"Too tired even to bark, his huskies settled
on their haunches, tongues lolling, and waited expectantly as the musher
hacked apart a mammoth chunk of beef, tossed the red meat into the steaming
pot, then added fish meal, tallow, dried dog food, and powdered vitamin
compound."
- The author is talking about Eep Anderson's tired dogs.
- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February 5, 1984
"The dogs start getting -- at this point they're
getting to the point where they're going to be falling asleep," [Emmitt]
Peters said. "Just like the mushers -- they get tired, overtired."
- Emmitt Peters won the Iditarod in 1975
- Jason Lamb, KTUU-TV, KTUU.com, March 12, 2010
Dogs suffer from anemia:
-- Enzymatic and electrolyte imbalances
create anemia:
"There are all kinds of enzymatic
and electrolyte imbalances that create a decreased ability to form connective
which is very important in repairing the damage done during the races.
It also creates anemia."
-
Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, president of the Association of Veterinarians for
Animal Rights
- - Her remarks were made on the Animal Voices radio show, Toronto, Canada
on February 28, 2006
"A race lasting 12-15 d[days]
depressed activities for both plasma ceruloplasmin and erythrocyte superoxide
dismutase in dogs consuming commercial dog foods and meats. A shorter,
3-d[day] training run for dogs fed a commercial balanced diet also depressed
ceruloplasmin activities but not superoxide dismutase activities. Dogs
fed the same diet but that did not run showed no changes in either parameter.
Activities of a third copper enzyme, plasma diamine oxidase, also decreased
after a 3-d[day] training run. In summary, blood activities of three
copper enzymes were depressed by sustained strenuous exercise in sled
dogs.
- DiSilvestro RA, Hinchcliff
KW, Blostein-Fujiia. "Sustained strenuous exercise in sled dogs depresses
three blood copper enzyme activities." Biological Trace Element Research.
2005 Summer;105(1-3):87-96
-- Anemia is a sign of copper deficiency:
According to the National Academy
of Sciences Board on Agriculture & Natural Resources, copper is a helper
in enzymatic reactions. "The function of copper includes: Connective
tissue formation; iron metabolism; blood cell formation; melanin pigment
formation; myelin formation; defense against oxidative damage. Anemia
is a sign of a copper deficiency."
- Board on Agriculture & Natural Resources,
National Academy of Sciences, website, 2005
-- Training and racing (exercising) cause
anemia:
"Research based on racing sled dogs
published in the March 15, 2008 Journal of the AVMA states: 'anemia of
moderate severity was present after exercise' and 'training and racing
caused progressive decreases in RBC counts.' It goes on to clarify that
'Both training and exercise caused significant decreases in PCV and hemoglobin
concentration' and that 'acute blood loss secondary to gastrointestinal
tract bleeding was likely responsible for the decrease in PCV.'
PCV and hemoglobin are measurements of red blood cell levels and their
reductions have very real and detrimental consequences for dogs because,
just when the greatest athletic burden is laid on them, their oxygen carrying
capacity and other critical systemic functions are failing.
Reference is made to the fact that there was reported a dramatically significant
'10% decrease in hemoglobin concentration during the Iditarod sled dog
race and a 14% decrease in PCV during a 170 mile exercise.' The researchers
go on to say 'we believe the exercise-induced decrease in RBC count was
related to blood loss. Exercising sled dogs are known to have a predisposition
to gastrointestinal ulceration.'
They further claim 'It is noteworthy that serum protein, albumin and globulin
concentrations follow a similar pattern during exercise, providing further
support for blood loss as the cause of exercise- induced RBC loss.'
And while red blood cells were diminishing, this research also proved
that white blood cells were increasing as a result of training and exercising.
Although this may sound good, it is not. The mechanism but which various
populations of white blood cells increased in this study indicates an
extreme stress reaction. This is not surprising since it has been elucidated
in many other studies as well, including one that showed 'serum cortisol
concentration was increased in sled dogs.'
[How many studies does it take (30 were referenced in this article alone),
before we say enough is enough? Repeatedly there are demonstrations of
the harmful and fatal consequences of sled dog training and racing. We
need to proclaim that tradition and financial gain are not good enough
reasons to subject dogs to such unacceptably high risks.]"
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, president,
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, email to Sled Dog Action
Coalition, May 18, 2008
Exhausted dogs may rather sleep than eat:
"Iditarod dogs have to consume enormous
amounts of food during the course of the race. Recent studies have shown
that a 50-pound sled dog can burn more than 10,000 calories a day while
distance racing.
Yet, after running for six-hour stretches, if a dog’s dinner isn’t extremely
enticing, they may decide to curl up and sleep rather than eat, and once
that happens it’s the beginning of the end for that mushers chances of
making it all the way."
- Joseph Robertia, Kenai Peninsula, March 5, 2006
Dogs suffer from extreme stress
Cortisol levels elevated by as much
as 900 percent:
"A recently published study out of the Ohio State
University clearly demonstrated the stressful conditions under which sled
dogs labor. The researchers measured cortisol which is widely recognized
as the major hormone that is released from the adrenal glands in response
to extreme stress. They found that in dogs who raced as few as 260 miles,
the cortisol levels were elevated by as much as 900 percent! At levels
of just a fraction of these, serious complications that degrade a dog's
immune system and deteriorate his overall health are know to regularly
occur."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, President of the Association
of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, email to the Sled Dog Action Coaliton
on March 1, 2007
Study in 2004: dogs stressed after 500 miles:
"'Dogs get sick, especially because of stress,'" [Manjo] Pastey said.
'Without globulins, they can't fight diseases and they could pass them
onto other dogs in the race. The lower the globulins, the worse it is.'
The new project stems from a previous 2004 research endeavor which featured
running dogs in a simulated 500-mile race. One notable finding of the
study was a significant decrease in the dog's blood globulin levels during
the event."
"'Sled dogs have comparatively low globulin levels during training, and
those levels fall considerably during racing,' [Erica] McKenzie said in
a press release."
- Professor Manjo Pastey and Professor Erica McKenzie
are working on a study based upon the 2004 research findings. Both are
associated with the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University.
- Katie Thorn, The
Daily Barometer, March
9, 2007
Sleep deprivation causes extreme stress:
Margery Glickman: "Dogs
like to sleep a lot. And, maybe Dr. Kislak would like to speak about it.
My understanding is that the average dog likes to sleep anywhere from
14 to 18 hours a day."
Dr. Paula Kislak: "Yes,
that's correct. If we are going all the way back into the instinctual
behavior of dogs, they sleep all day and hunt for maybe two to four, maximum
six hours in the evening. The rest of the time is spent in the cave cleaning
and sleeping. I certainly have found in my practice and with my own animals
that that's probably an overestimation of the amount of time they'd really
like to be sleeping. They'd really like to be sleeping much more, obviously,
since they don't have to hunt. They'll typically sleep anywhere from 14
to 20 hours in a day. Which brings up the point that when the musher is
sleeping [while the dogs race], of course, the dogs are not able to sleep.
Not only does that create extreme stress and exertion on the dogs, but,
also leads to accidents where the dogs do get strangled by the towlines
and gouged by the sleds. It's completely irresponsible behavior."
- On February 23, 2003, Andrea Floyd-Wilson, the
host of All About Animals Radio Show, interviewed Margery Glickman, Director
of the Sled Dog Action Coalition, and Paula Kislak, DVM, President of
the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights.
"Runyan's
thinking was that if the teams did their 24-hour rests there [at the Ruby
checkpoint], they would be able resume the race with so much energy restored
that they could catch any teams that might pass during the layover. The
strategy didn't work. Runyan took so much out of his dogs that they ended
up getting sick."
-
Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 12, 2004
Stress
causes dog to lose fur:
"The
McGrath vet blamed Rock's hair loss on stress." "Rock was shivering
under her thinning coat, putting the dog at risk if the weather turned
bad."
-
O'Donoghue, Brain Patrick. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian, New York:
Vintage Books, 1996
- O'Donoghue was a reporter
with the Fairbanks News-Miner
Stress causes vomiting and diarrhea:
"The
inherently stressful conditions of endurance races like the Iditarod predispose
dogs to vomit and
and
have diarrhea while racing."
-
Dr. Paula Kislak, President of the
Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, September 7, 2004 email
to the Sled Dog Action Coalition
Training and racing (exercising) causes stress:
"Research
based on racing sled dogs published in the March 15, 2008 Journal of the
AVMA states: 'anemia of moderate severity was present after exercise'
and 'training and racing caused progressive decreases in RBC counts.'
It goes on to clarify that 'Both training and exercise caused significant
decreases in PCV and hemoglobin concentration' and that 'acute blood loss
secondary to gastrointestinal tract bleeding was likely responsible for
the decrease in PCV.'
PCV and hemoglobin are measurements of red blood cell levels and their
reductions have very real and detrimental consequences for dogs because,
just when the greatest athletic burden is laid on them, their oxygen carrying
capacity and other critical systemic functions are failing.
Reference is made to the fact that there was reported a dramatically significant
'10% decrease in hemoglobin concentration during the Iditarod sled dog
race and a 14% decrease in PCV during a 170 mile exercise.' The researchers
go on to say 'we believe the exercise-induced decrease in RBC count was
related to blood loss. Exercising sled dogs are known to have a predisposition
to gastrointestinal ulceration.'
They further claim 'It is noteworthy that serum protein, albumin and globulin
concentrations follow a similar pattern during exercise, providing further
support for blood loss as the cause of exercise- induced RBC loss.'
And while red blood cells were diminishing, this research also proved
that white blood cells were increasing as a result of training and exercising.
Although this may sound good, it is not. The mechanism but which various
populations of white blood cells increased in this study indicates an
extreme stress reaction. This is not surprising since it has been elucidated
in many other studies as well, including one that showed 'serum cortisol
concentration was increased in sled dogs.'
[How many studies does it take (30 were referenced in this article alone),
before we say enough is enough? Repeatedly there are demonstrations of
the harmful and fatal consequences of sled dog training and racing. We
need to proclaim that tradition and financial gain are not good enough
reasons to subject dogs to such unacceptably high risks.]"
-
Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, president Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association,
email to Sled Dog Action Coalition, May 18, 2008
Kidney toxicity and kidney failure
Dogs at greater risk for kidney toxicity
and kidney failure:
"Exercise
is associated with an increase in the production of oxidants that may
be instrumental in the development of exertional rhabdomyolysis."
- Hinchcliff KW, Constable PD, DiSilvestro, RA, "Muscle injury and antioxidant
status in sled dogs competing in a long-distance sled dog race." Equine
and Comparative Exercise Physiology, Vol 1, Number 1, February 2004,
pp 81-85
"Exertional
rhabdomyolysis occurs when exercise, often of the eccentric type, damages
myofibrils and sarcolemma, with release of the enzyme creatine kinase
and pigmented myoglobin into the serum. Severe muscle soreness and dark
urine are the hallmark symptoms, and renal failure may develop."
-
Hammer R, South Med Journal, May 1990 (5): 548-51
"Exertional rhabdomyolysis is known to cause a form
of kidney toxicity and subsequent failure."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, President, Association of Veterinarians for Animal
Rights, email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, May 24, 2007
Reduction of
antioxidant levels
Racing
reduces a dog's level of antioxidants:
"We
conclude that completion of a long-distance sled dog race involving prolonged
and repeated submaximal exercise results in a reduction in enzymatic antioxidant
activity in the blood of sled dogs."
- Hinchcliff KW, Constable PD, DiSilvestro, RA,
"Muscle injury and antioxidant status in sled dogs competing in a long-distance
sled dog race." Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology, Vol
1, Number 1, February 2004, pp 81-85
What are antioxidants?
"Antioxidants
protect the body from damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals.
Many experts believe this damage is a factor in the development of blood
vessel disease (atherosclerosis), cancer, and other conditions."
-
Webmd website article, May 24, 2007
Airborne fecal material
makes dogs sick
"The inherently stressful conditions of endurance races like the
Iditarod predispose dogs to vomit and have diarrhea while racing. Loose
fecal material flying into the faces of dogs behind induces serious occular,
respiratory and gastrointestinal infections with such virulent organisms
as E. coli and Salmonella."
- Dr. Paula Kislak,
President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, September
7, 2004 email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition
Dog poo constantly in the air:
"Because the dogs never stop running, they poo on
the go and the poo bounces up into your face when they run through it,
so you're constantly dodging these little poo pellets...."
-
Mike Rowe, "Dirty Jobs" program, April 12, 2009
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: It's unlikely
that the dogs know they should dodge poo pellets or that they are able
to do it while running and breathing heavily. As described above, loose
poo pellets flying into the faces of dogs can cause infections. Noteworthy:
It's abnormal for dogs to run while they defecate.]
Dogs foam from profuse
sweat in freezing weather
"[Ramy]
Brooks came in at 5:10 p.m., his dogs looking tired and lathered."
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: According to
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, lathered means "foam or froth from profuse
sweat."]
- Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March 12, 2002
Dogs have trouble sleeping in bitter cold
"When they got to Cripple to take their 24-hour break, the thermometer
plunged to 50 degrees below zero. That made it more difficult for Swingley
and his dogs to get a long, comfortable rest...."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 16, 2006
Back to the top
Dogs commonly get sick
"
Some [mushers] were also fretting over dogs beginning to catch the inevitable
stomach bugs."
-
Jon Little, Cabelas website, March 8, 2004
- Little
was a reporter with the Anchorage Daily News and was and Iditarod
musher
"Many
mushers are reporting that their dogs are ill from tainted food or other
causes, not an uncommon occurrence."
- Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March
7, 2002
"[Arne
Oddvar] Nilsen said, ...Bedding down where other teams have been before
is increasing the risk of being infected."
-
Nilsen discussing musher Sorlie's main concern of avoiding his dogs getting
any gastric infection from other teams
- Nilsen
is a member of the board of the 1,000-kilometer Finnmarkslopet
- Craig
Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 7, 2003
"'My
dogs always get sick. It just seems I can't get it right on the Iditarod,'
[Hans]
Gatt said."
- Maureen Clark, Associated Press, March 6, 2002
"'Linwood's just had sick dogs, " Kathy
Fiedler said."
- Kathy Fiedler talking about her husband's
sick dogs
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 9, 2002
"The former Wisconsin resident [Todd
Capistrant] who moved to Alaska this year scratched in 2003 when his dogs
got sick with vomiting and diarrhea."
-
Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 7, 2004
"One
of the factors in a long distance race is doggy diarrhea. Every year,
there is some new stomach bug that circulates through the dog teams. It
can't be helped with 79 dog teams converging on one narrow trail from
all over the world. This year is no exception."
- Jon Little, Cabela's website, March 9, 2005
Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News
Dogs get sick from racing as little as
500 miles:
"'Dogs
get sick, especially because of stress,'" [Manjo] Pastey said. 'Without
globulins, they can't fight diseases and they could pass them onto other
dogs in the race. The lower the globulins, the worse it is.'
The new project stems from a previous 2004 research endeavor which featured
running dogs in a simulated 500-mile race. One notable finding of the
study was a significant decrease in the dog's blood globulin levels during
the event."
"'Sled dogs have comparatively low globulin levels during training, and
those levels fall considerably during racing,' [Erica] McKenzie said in
a press release."
- Professor Manjo Pastey and Professor Erica McKenzie are working on a
study based upon the 2004 research findings. Both are associated with
the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University.
- Katie Thorn, The Daily Barometer, March 9, 2007
Dogs are more susceptible to illness in the winter
"In
the wintertime, dogs are more susceptible to illness."
-
Article by Petplace.com veterinarians, Petplace.com website, October,
2003
"Like
people, animals seem to be more susceptible to illness in the winter."
- Oak Ridge Humane Society, ASPCA article, Oak Ridge Humane Society website,
2003
"Like
people, dogs and cats are more susceptible to illnesses in the winter."
- Charles E. Brown, The Seattle Times, January
10, 2007
Contagious viruses spread at checkpoints
"[Rodney] Whaley's team, which had dropped from
16 to 13 dogs, became ill near the halfway point of the race. He suspects
the dogs picked up a virus after reaching Ophir, the 11th of 23 checkpoints."
- Mike Organ, Gannett Tennessee, The Daily News
Journal, March 13, 2008
"Another
checkpoint complication is canine virus. Like children bringing home sickness
from school, dogs from one part of the state (or from other states) may
become ill when exposed to new viruses as they congregate."
- Hood, Mary. A Fan's Guide to the Iditarod,
Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1996
"Many mushers in the back of the Iditarod pack
have reported sick dogs. Veterinarians say it is easy for an infection
to get passed because so many of the teams camp and feed in the same areas
at checkpoints."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News,
March 11, 2003
Mushers start race with sick dogs
"He
[veterinarian Terry Adkins] saw very little diarrhea along the trial from
the ceremonial start Saturday, he said, adding though that John Barron
of Helmville told him his dogs had it. Loose stools are a sign of ill
health. Sled dogs relieve their bowels on the run."
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Because the dogs "relieve their bowels
on the run," it is likely that the dogs running in back of those who were
stricken with diarrhea inhaled this fecal material. The bacterial material
it contains could cause infection and death. Sick dogs should be pulled
out of the race.]
-
Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March 4, 2002
"Alto, one of my experienced
leaders and especially important to the team started to slow with his
head low. He was in obvious distress. Only 5 miles from the start I had
to stop and put him in the sled bag with severe stomach cramps. He was
very sick."
"I had Alto checked by the vets in Yenta.... But when the vet checked
him, she noticed he couldn't stand without hunching his back. We surmised
that he may have been accidentally poisoned, perhaps automotive coolant
leaked where he could reach it."
- James Warren, Iditarod '06 Journal, published on the Internet
"One
of his dogs caught a virus three days before the start and it went dog-to-dog
through his team through the first two-thirds of the race, he [John Barron]
said."
- Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March
14, 2002
"Zirkle,
of Two Rivers, limped along the trail Tuesday morning with an ailing dog
team. A few of her dogs got sick just before the race, and the bug has
spread through her entire team she said."
-
Aliy Zirkle, musher in 2001 Iditarod
- Elizabeth Manning, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2001
"Two of his [Bartlett's] veteran dogs were
unable to keep running." "Bartlett suspects the dogs were suffering
from a virus. They had not wanted to eat since the ceremonial start Saturday
in Anchorage...."
- Rachel D'Oro, Associated Press, Wednesday, March 5, 2003
[In 2003, the Iditarod restart was in Fairbanks on Monday, March 3, two
days after the Anchorage ceremonial start. According to the AP report,
Barlett's dogs raced for at least three days even though they were too
sick to eat.]
"One dog had a cough the day the race started
and that illness spread through the team, he said."
- Terry Adkins, DVM, discussing musher Karen Land's dogs
- Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March 8, 2003
"Even on Fourth Avenue [in Anchorage] I had
two dogs coughing." We spent the night in Wasilla, and there were
five dogs coughing and hacking."
- Aliy Zirkle, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press, 2004
"Jim, March 3: The dogs are feeling pretty poorly.
Some are not eating with what looks to be some kind of intestinal bug."
- Jim Warren talking about his dogs before the March 6 start of the 2004
Iditarod.
- Warren, James and Warren, Christopher. Following My Father's Dream,
James and Christopher Warren, 2005
Sick
dogs not responding to medicines
Susan Butcher's dogs not helped by medications:
"Not
so lucky was the trail virus picked up by her dogs, who were not responding
to the veterinarians' medicines."
- Author Ellen Dolan talking about musher Susan
Butcher's dogs
- Dolan, Ellen. Susan Butcher and the Iditarod Trail, New York:
Walker Publishing Co., 1993
Paul
Ellering's team not helped by medication and ran 226 miles with diarrhea:
"Looking over the team, I saw the dogs had picked
up an intestinal bug. They had the runs, and it was not the kind of running
that gets you anywhere."
(Paul Ellering was at the Galena checkpoint.)
"The diarrhea had taken the spark out of the team."
"I hoped the medicine the vets gave me would work...."
(Paul Ellering was at the Nulato checkpoint.)
"I wanted to give the dogs six hours of rest because
of the diarrhea problem that still had a grip on the team."
(Paul Ellering was at the Shaktoolik checkpoint.)
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
(There is 226 miles between the Galena and Shaktoolik checkpoints. Ellering
doesn't say if or when the diarrhea stopped.)
Rachael Scdoris's sick dogs don't respond to medicine:
"It was obvious from the thinness of the dogs, but the veterinarian
was trying to make conversation and asked if the diarrhea medicine had
helped. I was honest"
"'I haven't been able to keep weight on them, not since Takotna. That's
when the diarrhea started getting bad and they began losing weight. Until
now they've eaten pretty well, but it doesn't matter how much they eat,
or how much fat I pump into them, it all goes straight through their systems.'"
- Rachael Scdoris talking about her sick dogs
- Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight:
My Life as a Blind Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin,
2007
List
of many dog injuries and sicknesses
"Among
injuries that may befall a sled dog are generalized crippling, localized
crippling, muscle or tendon tears, disc syndrome, cramping, dislocations,
fractures, ice balling broken toenails, worn toenails, worn or torn footpads
and dehydration. Viruses may also strike a team."
- Mattson, Sue. Iditarod Fact Book, Seattle: Epicenter Press, 2001
Dogs have diarrhea:
--Fresh blood not uncommon
in dog's diarrhea:
"Anecdotally,
diarrhea is a commonly reported condition in racing sled dogs, and hematochezia
(fresh blood) in such stools is not uncommon. Hematochezia suggests the
presence of colonic disease."
Michael Davis, et al., Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine,
Volume 20 (2006)
"The
dogs lay right down, although a few are still standing, stuggling with
hemorraghic diarrhea."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance
Mushers, Sacramento: Griffin Printing Co.,1997
- Joe Runyan reported on the Iditarod for Iditarod sponsor Cabela's Incorporated
- Runyan is talking about Doug Swingley's dogs.
--Many
dogs get diarrhea:
"One
of the factors in a long distance race is doggy diarrhea. Every year,
there is some new stomach bug that circulates through the dog teams. It
can't be helped with 79 dog teams converging on one narrow trail from
all over the world. This year is no exception.
Diarrhea has forced several teams to pull over for their 24-hour layovers
earlier than anticipated. One of them is Mike Williams, who stopped at
McGrath for a layover for the first time in 12 years of racing. Despite
having sick dogs and hitting a tree headfirst earlier in the race, Williams
was in remarkably high spirits."
-
Jon Little, Cabela's website, March 9, 2005
Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News
"It
was obvious from the thinness of the dogs, but the veterinarian was trying
to make conversation and asked if the diarrhea medicine had helped. I
was honest"
"'I haven't been able to keep weight on them, not since Takotna. That's
when the diarrhea started getting bad and they began losing weight. Until
now they've eaten pretty well, but it doesn't matter how much they eat,
or how much fat I pump into them, it all goes straight through their systems.'"
- Rachael Scdoris talking about her dogs being sick
- Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a
Blind Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
"Many
of his dogs [Greg Parvin] were stricken with diarrhea early on...."
-
Rachael D'Oro, Associated Press, March 12, 2005
"Defending
Iditarod champ Lance Mackey says he'd hoped to take his 24-hour layover
in Ruby instead of here, but dog troubles such as diarrhea and sore muscles
forced an earlier rest."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News - The Sled
Blog, March 10, 2010
"'I've got four sick dogs,' he said. 'Make that five,' as another one
squatted and [Chad] Schouweiler observed its output. Diarrhea."
- Jon Little, Cabela's Iditarod Coverage, Cabela's
website, 2006
- Jon Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.
"...She
[Aliy Zirkle] was disheartened to see that some of her dogs started getting
diarrhea."
- Jon Little, Cabela's Iditarod Coverage, Cabela's
website, March 17, 2006
- Jon Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.
'"Some
of the dogs had been sick with diarrhea and treated at a prior checkpoint.
They showed little spark after that."
- Kay Richardson, The Columbian, April 16,
2006
- She is talking about the dogs that belong to Steve Madsen
McGrath checkpoint person near Steer's dogs: "Do
you have any meds on you?"
Musher Zack Steer: "Yeah, they're all medicated."
- KTUU website video taken March 6, 2007
[The video showed pools of fresh diarrhea under
Steer's dogs.]
"And two-time champion Robert Sorlie of Norway, lagging much of the race
with dogs suffering from diarrhea...."
- Anchorage Daily News, March 10, 2007
"I've a really nice team. I was threatening to charge
to the front. And yesterday they all got diarrhea and got sick on me."
- Mitch Seavey is talking about his dogs.
- KTUU-TV, KTUU.com, March, 2009
Paul Ellering's team not helped by medicine and ran 226 miles with
diarrhea:
"Looking over the team, I saw the dogs had picked
up an intestinal bug. They had the runs, and it was not the kind of running
that gets you anywhere."
(Paul Ellering was at the Galena checkpoint.)
"The diarrhea had taken the spark out of the team."
"I hoped the medicine the vets gave me would work...."
(Paul Ellering was at the Nulato checkpoint.)
"I wanted to give the dogs six hours of rest because
of the diarrhea problem that still had a grip on the team."
(Paul Ellering was at the Shaktoolik checkpoint.)
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
(There is 226 miles between the Galena and Shaktoolik checkpoints. Ellering
doesn't say if or when the diarrhea stopped.)
Dog
coughs up blood:
"'He just stopped pulling,'' said the 56-year-old
physician who specializes in infectious diseases. 'He's one of my best
pullers too. (Then) he was coughing up blood. Some dogs, when they feel
ill, cough food, water and blood. This was just blood.'"
- Craig Medred and Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 13,
2006
Pneumonia:
"Veterinarians thought Zorro had pneumonia; blood
tests confirmed it."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 2007
Virus:
"[Rodney] Whaley's team, which had dropped from
16 to 13 dogs, became ill near the halfway point of the race. He suspects
the dogs picked up a virus after reaching Ophir, the 11th of 23 checkpoints."
- Mike Organ, Gannett Tennessee, The Daily News Journal, March
13, 2008
Fever:
"When [Tom] Thurston stopped to rest the team, most
of the dogs didn't want to eat. The temperature was 46 degrees below zero.
A veterinarian with whom the musher consulted said several of the dogs
were running temperatures and appeared to have come down with something."
- Craig Medred. Graveyard of Dreams: Dashed Hopes and Shattered Aspirations
Along Alaska's Iditarod Trail, Anchorage: Plaid Cabin Publishing,
2010
Dog fights injure dogs:
Lance Mackey's dogs fight --
"In the hours before the race began, however,
Mackey had to break up a scuffle between two of his stalwarts, Larry and
Hobo.
'Larry looks like he's aged in the last week because of it,' Mackey said.
'He's got battle scars all over his nose. Hobo's got a few little puncture
wounds up and down his forearm, which was unfortunate and something of
concern.'"
- Mike Campbell, Anchorage Daily News, March 4, 2008
Tom Roig's dogs fight --
"'Tom Roig! Tom Roig! Is Tom Roig here?' a man
yelled, bursting through the door of the cabin. 'You have a dog fight
going on down there. They've been fighting for half an hour. There's blood
all over the place.'
At minus 25 degrees, Roig couldn't simply put on a pair of slippers and
run outdoors to check on the dogs. Hurriedly, he bundled up and ran to
his pups. They were calm and lying down. But Jughead, one of his lead
huskies, had a puncture wound on his leg and two other dogs had nasty
gashes on their foreheads. And, just as the stranger said, the snow was
splattered with blood."
- Kim Hone-McMahan, The Akron Beacon Journal, April 15, 2007
Martin Buser's dogs fight --
"Buser
had to drop a key leader named Marlin after the dogs was injured in a
fight. "
"'He wasn't using his (right rear) leg,' said veterinarian Harvey Goho
from North Carolina."
- Craig Medred and Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 11,
2007
DeeDee Jonrowe's dogs fight --
"[DeeDee] Jonrowe, meanwhile said she had her hands
full with a feisty lead dog named Bristol."
"'She's so happy to be on the coast that she's getting sassy and
biting the dog next to her, said Jonrowe.'"
- Tim Murray, Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 1993
Dan Dent's dogs fight --
"The
dog named Storm stumbled. Puker - Storm's teammate on the the gangline
- snarled and grabbed (Storm) with his teeth."
"Half the team was snarling and snapping to get a piece of Storm. Blood started to fly."
- Musher Dan Dent discussing his team's dog fight in the 1999 Iditarod
-
Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 10, 1999
Don
Bower's dogs fight --
"Worse, the big males are fighting and before
I can get them separated, Silvertip has cut Yankee's eye and normally
docile Socks has gotten Rocky's muzzle so badly the indestructible Rock
is snorting blood."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage:
Publication Consultants, 2000
Brian Patrick O'Donoghue's dogs fight --
"I heard a quick growl, then the other dogs
turned on Denali as a group, fangs bared, and began tearing into him from
every side."
- O'Donoghue, Brain Patrick. My Lead Dog was
a Lesbian, New York: Vintage Books, 1996
- O'Donoghue was a reporter for the Fairbanks
News-Miner and raced in the Iditarod
Gary Paulsen's dogs fight --
"It was a nightmare. The whole crazy night
turning teams, stopping [dog] fights...."
- Paulsen, Gary, Woodsong. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company,
1990
Lisa
Frederic's dogs fight --
"Coco
had only been added to my team the night before we left Anchorage. Reno
had been bitten in the parking lot. It wasn't serious, but I had made
him lame and regrettably I decided to replace him with Coco."
"Shuman, my muscled wheel dog, had picked another fight that had left
him with a puncture in his front leg."
- Lisa Frederic. Running with Champions, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest
Books, 2006
James Warren's dogs fight --
"My leaders were tired and crabby and were fighting with each other."
- Warren, James and Warren, Christopher. Following
My Father's Dream, James and Christopher Warren, 2005
Jessie Royer's dogs fight --
"My two wheel dogs, Egan & Larry, were so greedy
for more food that they got into a fight over a food dish between them.
Egan hurt his back leg during the scuffle and started limping."
- Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2001
Bruce Linton's dogs fight --
"I woke to two dogs growling which is unusual and
before I was able to get out of my sleeping bag and to the dogs they snapped
at each other and one had a puncture wound on its leg."
and
another set of Linton's dogs fight --
"Her [Click's] story started back before Shageluk when I was going
up a steep embankment right before the checkpoint. For whatever reason,
the back leg of hers got very close to another female in the team named
Cobb who took a quick snap at her."
- Bruce Linton, Iditarod Journals, website article, 2007
Blake Freking's dogs fight--
He [Blake Freking] and those two dogs, Roland and
Wat, then had to chase the other 14 dogs for about 3-4 miles before finding
the team a bit tangled and stopped." "Einstein had been bitten by his
teammate and had a slightly sore shoulder."
- Blake and Jennifer Freking's Manitou Crossing Kennel blog, March 13,
2010
Scott White's dogs fight--
"'Dogs were frustrated,' he [Scott White] said.'They
were fighting and chewing (their lines). Four got loose'''
- Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch, March 19, 2010
Dog fight at ceremonial start of Iditarod --
"'I was passing a team at the start, and one
of the dogs in the team grabbed one of my team in the flank,' [Jim] Lanier
said. His dog, Vaca, finished the ceremonial run with a patch of exposed
muscle the size of two grapefruits, he said."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News - The Sled Blog, March 10, 2010
Many dog fights--
"Just
about every male sported tattered ears and a scarred muzzle, mementos
of past tangles over some furry damsel. Even under the stern gaze of their
owners, a fight would erupt every few minutes - a sudden snarl, snap,
and lunge that ended almost as quickly as it began. Leaving the loser
sulking and the snow freckled with blood."
- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February
5, 1984
Seizure:
"Between Rohn and Nikolai, a dog had a seizure
and was running a temperature of 105.3 degrees."
- Aliy Zirkle, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
- Neck, back, shoulder, leg, wrist, ankle and foot injuries:
"Another musher was disqualified early in the race for shooting an injured
dog. The animal had broken its leg in a fight with another team, was in
great pain, and the driver thought it impossible to carry the wounded
beast on to the next checkpoint where a veterinarian might be available."
-
Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, March 15, 1983
"Homey, Pud and Dingle, had small sores on the back of their front legs.
These particular temperatures and snow conditions augmented the problem
because the dogs would flick up loose snow with their toes and it would
accumulate on the sores - forming mini ice balls. The ice balls really
bothered the dogs."
- Aliy Zirkle, Iditarod Trail Notes 2010, SP Kennel Dog Log, July 16,
2010
"I finally got into Finger Lake only to find
that my hardest driving male wheel dog had hurt his shoulder in the corn
snow and I was really saddened to have to drop him from the race."
- Bruce Linton, Iditarod Journals, website article, 2007
"I
found that Kate had a sore tricept in her left shoulder...."
-
Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2004
"[Colleen] Robertia was worried she'd have to leave
the dog here in Ruby because Crumb has been ailing with a shoulder injury."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News - The Sled Blog, March 13,
2010
[According to the Iditarod's website, Robertia did
not leave her dog Crumb at the Ruby checkpoint.]
"Musher Newton Marshall arrives in Galena over the
weekend." "Marshall reported that Larry is limping a bit, but wasn’t sure
he would need to be dropped.
- Alaska Public Radio, March 15, 2010
[According to the Iditarod's website, Marshall did
not drop any dogs in Galena.]
"Cim Smyth, who dropped a dog with shoulder
injuries off at Finger Lake, said the broken tussocks left by Iron Dog
snowmachines bounced along the bottom of his sled like frozen basketballs."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News - The Sled Blog, March 9,
2010
"Dogs suffered a variety of shoulder and ankle injuries
that forced [John] Stewart to drop them."
- Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch, March 18, 2010
"Temperatures in the Interior a week ago plunged
to a face-scarring 45 to 50 below. Everyone struggled to stay warm. Some
of White's dogs got sick. More suffered shoulder or ankle injuries on
hard, rolling trail."
- Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch, March 19, 2010
Laureli Kinneen of KNOM radio interviews DeeDee
Jonrowe:
Laureli Kinneen: "I notice that you dropped some
dogs. Can you explain what happened?"
DeeDee Jonrowe: "Yeah, I did. I dropped five. Yeah,
I dropped five. Four of them were last year's finishers. That was definitely
unplanned. They were sore. I mean, they were really sore. They were brown,
what we call brown urine sore. They had unusual sore muscles and I think
it was from the roughess of the trail both early on when we got into that
soft trail into Finger. And then the next place that was extraordinarily
rough compared to stuff they've been doing was near the Bear Creek Cabin
about 35 miles. It's probably about eight miles of really rough tussocks
without snow in between them and you couldn't go slow over them because
it was so deep you hung up on your brakes."
- The interview took place on March 11, 2010.
Laureli
Kinneen of KNOM radio interviews veterinarian named Ruth:
Laureli: "What were some of the injuries
that you saw? Or some of the problems that you saw?"
Veterinarian Ruth: "At the moment, most of them
are coming with joint problems, because it depends on the surfaces they
going on how serious the problems with the joints are and some cannot
cope so good as others."
- The interview took place on March 12, 2010.
"Bend
sled-dog racer Rachael Scdoris has dropped out of the grueling, 1,125-mile
Iditarod race only about 125 miles from the finish line after her two
lead dogs developed a limp, friends said Friday."
-
KTVZ- TV, March 14, 2008, website article
"They
have some swollen feet,'' he [Lance Mackey] said."
- Kevin Klott and Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily
News, March 16, 2009
"I
checked Lisa and her leg was swollen."
-
Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a Blind
Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
"I had stopped at the Rainy Pass checkpoint for
a couple of hours to give the dogs a 'trail feed,' pick up food, drop
Jake (he had a bicep injury), and have Lolo examined for some small kink
in his gait. The examination of Lolo came up blank. Soon, we were off."
"We were moving along on the slight downhill between the upper part of
the [Dalzell] gorge and the lower part, the part where all the bare ice
is. I was getting ready to give the dogs their food and water when it
happened. Lolo collapsed."
- Rob Loveman, Rob's Writings, April, 2009
- According to the Iditarod's website, Rob Loveman was at the Rainy Pass
checkpoint for two hours and 31 minutes.
(From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Lobo collapsed before reaching the
Rohn checkpoint. The Rohn checkpoint is 48 miles away from the one at
Rainy Pass.)
"I stopped to check him [Tyne] and found his shoulder had a pulled muscle.
Knowing sometimes dogs can work through this I left him on the line. I
didn't need an additional 50 pounds in the sled at this point. Soon, it
was evident he needed to ride. He was hopping on 3 legs and crying out
when his 4th leg hit the snow."
"Most of the dogs had shoulder or other muscle injuries
caused by miles of snow holes."
- James Warren, Iditarod '06 Journal, published on the Internet
"Piko
limped coming out of White Mountain and ran out of gas on the ice."
- The dog Piko belongs to Melissa Owens
- Fort Mills Times, March 14, 2008
"Vitus,
my big wheel dog started limping...." "I pulled the hook at 10:30 at night
and realized after about 10 miles that Vitus was limping again."
-
Bruce Linton, Diary of my Iditarod Journey 2008, website article,
2008
"He
finished with seven limping dogs."
- The author is talking about Rick Mackey's dogs
when they reached Nome.
- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February 5, 1984
"[Darin]
Nelson arrived in Galena, a checkpoint 445 miles away from Nome, with
two dogs in his sled, two limping and only five pulling."
-
Tamar Ben-Yosef, The Cordova Times, March 20, 2008
"They've
gone hundreds and hundreds of miles, their feet are sore, they can hardly
move."
- Bob Bright is talking about the dogs who reach
Nome.
- Alex Ward, The New York Times, February 24, 1985
"I
covered the Iditarod dog-sled race ten times. Walking out onto the ice
of the Bering Sea in February, the Northern Lights dancing a spectacular
show above, is a distinct memory. But watching those huskies' paws bleed
and crack during their 1100-mile, 22-hour-a-day run across the Alaskan
tundra, was heartache for a dog lover."
- Diana Nyad, The Score, KCRW Radio, November 2, 2006, website
transcript
"She
[Molly Yazwinski] was not moving and explained that her best lead dog
broke her toe and had to be dropped and that her second main lead dog
became sick and had to be dropped as well."
- Bruce Linton, Diary of my Iditarod Journey 2008, website article,
2008
"A
few miles north of Eagle Island, [Dave] Monson toiled along such a stretch,
howling encouragement to his team. The dogs slipped and scrambled, legs
a blur of motion, advancing inch by painful inch up the immense river
- torn paws leaving spoors of blood that froze instantly on the black
ice."
-
Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February 5, 1984
"In
another room, Rick Mackey of Wasilla, Alaska, a veteran musher at the
age of 29, was rattling on about the sorry condition of his lead dog's
paw pads."
-
Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, February 5, 1984
"Slushy
rain freezes into jagged ice, which can cut the pads of dogs' feet."
-
Emily Langer, Washington Post, March 2, 2008
"As the mixture warmed, he [Eep Anderson] carefully
inspected each of the 14 dogs, massaging the ears of one, whispering encouragement
to another, frowning at the bloodied paw of a third."
- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, March 15, 1983
"Norwegian
Sven Engholm is reported to have run into a moose on the trail. One of
his dogs has a broken leg."
- Alaska Public Radio Network, 1996 Iditarod audio files
Outdoor
Life Network Announcer: "One
of Buser's dogs has a broken leg."
- Outdoor Life Network (OLN), Nikolai checkpoint, Iditarod, 2005
"I
finally got to into Finger Lake only to find that my hardest driving male
wheel dog had hurt his shoulder in the corn snow...."
- Iditarod musher Bruce Linton, "Bruce's Journal
- Part I, " Burlington Free Press website, March 26, 2007
"The
dog (Swenson's dog) suffered a severe neck injury...."
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 10, 2000
"'Our
speed required all my strength to manhandle the sled. I hit a tree, breaking
the sled's main runner. This made it impossible for me to steer properly,
resulting in two dogs spraining their backs.'"
-
DeeDee Jonrowe talking about an incident in the 2000 Iditarod
- Grace Fox, The Salvation Army War Cry, February 16, 2002
"One
[dog] pulled too hard and injured its back, another was injured jumping
over a bale of hay in a checkpoint and the third wore out."
-
Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 13, 2001, writing about Rick Swenson's
best dogs.
"...Her
[Barrie's] last decent front-end dog pulled a shoulder on the trail between
Ophir and Iditarod."
"Tim
Triumph's best leader, Victory, pulls a shoulder in Farewell Burn."
-
Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000
"Land's
leader, Pig, was one of several dogs in her team to suffer strains or
sprains to a shoulder or wrist, he said."
-
Terry Adkins, DVM, discussing musher Karen Land's injured dogs
- Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March 8, 2003
"His
[Ken Chase's] dogs were bummed after cutting their feet on the icy trail
out of Knik."
"His [Roy Monk's] dogs' feet were too sore to continue."
"After 275 miles on the trail, three of my [Brian O'Donoghue's] dogs
had troublesome cuts or splits in their pads."
"Doc diagnosed Skidders's [O'Donoghue's dog] limp
as resulting from a sprained toe."
-
O'Donoghue, Brian Patrick. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian, New York:
Vintage Books, 1996
-
O'Donoghue was a reporter for the Fairbanks News-Miner
"The
only injury was to one of her [Rachael Scdoris] dogs, which had wrapped
a line around its leg a day earlier. The leg started to swell on the next
day's run."
-
Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 10, 2005
"Clint Warnke of Fairbanks massages ointment
on the sore front leg of Cobalt."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2007
"All was going well until the 48-year-old veteran
[Martin Buser] hit a tree stump...."
"Buser lost his best lead dog, Hot Foot, because of this stump. The impact
was so powerful, it "bummed out" her shoulder, he said."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 12, 2006
[Sound of a dog crying]
Rick Swenson: "Oh yes, your foot is so
sensitive."
Annie Feidt: "Swenson rubs a clear gel on the
lower leg of one of his lead dogs and wraps it in it a red neoprene-like
material. He holds up the tiny bottle and calls it the magic ointment."
Rick Swenson: "That's like 25 bucks.
We buy it by the case-- about like drinkin scotch, good scotch."
- Rick Swenson was a musher in the 2006 Iditarod
- Annie Feidt interviewed him for the Alaska Public Radio Network, March
16, 2006, website.
"...dog named Elton, had a swollen Achilles
tendon...."
- The writer is talking about Tom Thurston's dog.
- Joel Reichenberger, Steamboat Pilot & Today, April 5, 2009
"Dottie was one of my young 2 yr olds and an extremely
hard pulling dog. She worked so hard through the soft snow that her back
leg was sore."
"Chase had a sore back leg."
- Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2001
Dogs
get blisters on their pads:
"They [the dogs] had gone through a river overflow
and gotten their paws wet, which lead to blisters on their pads."
- Nancy Russell, whose dogs raced in the Iditarod
- Laurie Arendt, Greater Milwaukee Today, November 24, 2003
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: The blisters can easily become infected.]
Broken tooth:
"Weasel
has a broken tooth and has very sore feet."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000
Dogs injured by moose:
"A cow moose that wouldn't get out of the trail
near Nikolai ended up running over his [Dallas Seavey] dogs.
'It just ran right through the middle of the team,'' he said. 'We didn't
even hardly slow down.'
The moose, however, did knock over two dogs. Seavey eventually had to
drop both -- one because of the moose injury; the other from a sore shoulder."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 2009
Dogs
injured by stepping in moose holes:
"...But 10 miles out of Ophir a dog stepped
in a moose hole and was injured."
- Discussing Musher Juan Alcina's dog
- Staff report, Anchorage Daily News, March 17, 2000, website article
"The most insidious moose-generated problems
don't even require the perpetrator to be present. A moose walking on a
trail tends to punch through the hard crust with its hooves. These holes
become traps for fast-moving dogs, who can dislocate shoulders and even
break legs by stepping into a foot-deep moose print."
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants,
2000
Soreness and tendinitis:
"Defending
Iditarod champ Lance Mackey says he'd hoped to take his 24-hour layover
in Ruby instead of here, but dog troubles such as diarrhea and sore muscles
forced an earlier rest."
- Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News - The Sled
Blog, March 10, 2010
"As
far as dog injuries and soreness go, this is the worst of any Iditarod
he's run, he said."
-
Boulding, musher in 2000 Iditarod
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 11, 2000
"The punchy trail, he [Martin Buser] said,
caused several dogs to develop tendinitis in their wrists."
-
Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 12, 2004
"[Sonny]
Lindner said the trail this year was soft and punchy in spots and some
of this dogs were suffering from soreness early in the race."
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 6, 2007
Vomiting:
"This
guy in the wheel if you can check him over. He threw up a little while
ago and it was like he had straw and it looked like there might be a little
blood in it."
-
Musher Ramy Brooks
- Outdoor Life Network (OLN), Iditarod, 2005
"When
we pulled in Lycos had caught a bug, vomited on the trail, and was running
a fever."
-
Eric Rogers, "A Rookies Journey - Race Synopis," 2006, R Northbound
Dogs website
"I
guess my hiccup is how it seems like it's always early in the race coming
for a remote kennel here about three days into the race we get massively
sick and then so I felt I was, you know I, I actually stopped at Ophir
and then I stopped at Rainy and then I stopped again at Rohn, which was
unplanned and then I stopped at Salmon River and I stopped at McGrath
and I stopped at Ophir and then I camped again on the way to Iditarod
just trying to keep my team together because they were just really throwing
up, really sick."
"It was hard to get them to eat, because they couldn't keep anything down."
- Musher Ed Iten talking about his dogs
- Interview with Steve Heimel, Alaska Public Radion Network, February
28, 2006
Laureli Kinneen: "So, what types of problems, what types of injuries
have you been dealing with?"
Jason Barron: "It all kind of started back
in the John Beargrease in Minnesota in the end of January I raced and
I had a lot of nicks and cuts coming out of that race. And I kind of patched
them up but they're all breaking loose on this race. And then about the
time I was just establishing a decent healthy core group around Cripple
my remaining dogs were just ravaged by this sickness that came through--
and don't want to eat, and when they do eat they can't really hold it
down very well, so I mean I essentially had to pull all the plugs on my
race plan."
- Laureli Kinneen of KNOM radio interviewed Jason
Barron on March 16, 2010 in Unalakleet.
Harness
irritation:
"Brooks
also said he had to drop one dog, which had lost weight earlier in the
race and had developed chafing problems because its harness no longer
fit correctly."
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 11,
2003
Weight
loss, illness and injuries:
"As temperatures plummeted to 45 or 50 degrees
below zero, things only got worse. Both John and the dogs suffered in
the cold. The dogs started losing weight. John [Stewart] dropped some
due to illness, others to injury."
-
Craig Medred, Alaska Dispatch, March 20, 2010
Coughing:
"They had a virus with a fever, and they were coughing mucus."
-
Aliy Zirkle, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
"I heard Jamie's dogs, and they sounded like a convention
of pleurisy victims. Hack-hack." "Jamie went on to finish with all sixteen
of her starting team."
- Musher Paul Ellering talking about Jamie Nelson's dogs
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
Kennel cough:
"Kate was also coming down with kennel cough which
was going around the other teams too." "Souix was a young two year old
dog that had also come down with kennel cough on the way to Rohn and was
not eating good."
- Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2004
Cuts:
" My oldest dog, Skitters, got cut when the sled caught him, a pretty
nasty looking cut."
-
Brian O'Donaghue, Iditarod musher and former reporter for the Fairbanks
News-Miner
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
Constipation:
"His dogs had eaten some straw in White Mountain and were bound up in
their bowels."
- Paul Ellering is talking about Dan Govoni's dogs
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
Stiffness:
"The dogs were stiff in the hindquarters, he [Tollef
Monson] said."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 11, 2007
Many different illnesses and injuries:
"[Susan] Butcher started with the maximum of 20
dogs, but most of them got sick and had to be dropped. She finished with
eight, the minimum allowed.
Four of those eight were Iditarod rookies, and two of the eight weren't
pulling their weight."
- Natalie Phillips and Tim Murray, Anchorage Daily News, March
15, 1994
"Siirtola started the race with 16 dogs, but finished
with only eight, as soreness and an intestinal virus sidelined half the
team."
"There were a couple of times that Siirtola thought about pulling out
of the race, especially when the intestinal virus forced her to use only
eight dogs, who carried on for the entire second half of the race."
- Gordon Weixel, Bismarck Tribune, March 17, 2008
"Two dogs have been dropped because of minor shoulder
strains, one was coughing from a low-grade infection; dogs, like people,
catch bugs from other dogs...."
- John Schandelmeier, Valdez Star, March 5, 2008
- Shandelmeier is talking about Rich Corcoran's dogs
"But her shoulders were sore. She had diarrhea. She ran with her head
down, aware only of her own misery."
- Rachael Scdoris talking about her dog Pia.
- Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a
Blind Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
Undisclosed injuries and illnesses:
"Another dog, an important leader named Tony, got sick."
- The writer is talking about Tom Thurston's dog.
- Joel Reichenberger, Steamboat Pilot & Today, April 5, 2009
"The 36-year-old musher [Jason Barron] told race
officials his dogs were ill."
- Associated Press and Great Falls Tribune Staff, March 6, 2008
"The
tussocks were really bad. The grass clumps, some of them were eighteen
inches high and there's big holes between them. And it just beats the
dogs up and they fall in holes and fall down."
- Iditarod musher Cim Smyth, KTUU-TV website video, March 8, 2007
"That's where [the Finger Lake checkpoint] Roig noticed two of his dogs,
Sunny and Only, were showing signs of illness and injury."
- Kim Hone-McMahan, The Akron Beacon Journal,
April 15, 2007
"The
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is over for Rachael Scdoris. The legally
blind woman from Oregon scratched Wednesday in Eagle Island."
"She apparently decided to call it quits for the well-being of her team
-- her dogs are sick."
- Lars Peterson, KTUU-TV, Anchorage, KTUU.com, March 16, 2005
"Some of his [Shane Goosen] dogs were sick."
-
Jon Little, Cabela's website, March 9, 2005
Little formerly reported for the Anchorage Daily News.
"I've
got three leaders hurt and pups in lead."
- Sue Allen, talking about her dogs two days into the race
- Jon Little, Cabelas website, March 8, 2004
- Little was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and was an
Iditarod musher
"Matray
indicated that his dogs were sick and unable to continue."
"Barron indicated that his dogs were sick and unable to continue."
- Iditarod press releases, March 6, 2003, Iditarod website
" Veteran
musher Charlie Boulding scratched Sunday in Anvik because his dogs were
ill."
-
Rachel D'Oro, Associated Press, March 11, 2003
"A
dog from the team of five-time champ Rick Swenson was injured on the trail
to Rohn after apparently colliding with a tree." "Sketchy reports
suggested that the dog collided with the tree hard enough to break the
gangline."
- Staff report, Anchorage Daily News, March 9, 2000, article on
website
"Accounts of the trail, like Dee's [Jonrowe],
report [that] some dogs are injured slipping on glare ice."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
"Dr. [Tom] Knolmayer finished the race with
nine dogs out of his original 16-dog team. The others were sent home at
various checkpoints along the route because of illness or injuries...."
- Capt. Amy Hansen, 3rd Wing Public Affairs, Airforce Link, March 21,
2005
"After finishing 48th in his rookie attempt in 2004
and being forced to scratch from the competition due to a sickness that
ran rampant through his dogs in 2005, [Scott] Smith entered the 2007 Iditarod
confident he and his team could break into the top 40 and perhaps even
the top 30."
- Ken Waltz, Knox County Times, February 29, 2008
"OLN announcer: 'The race moves to day two.
Dogs begin to have issues' 'There's a retirement.'
Unidentified person at checkpoint who's walking with a dog: 'He's
just eleven years old. He just can't go through this.'"
- Outdoor Life Network (OLN), Iditarod, 2005
"When time came to feed and get ready to go I found
they were definitely very sick and not thrilled about running." "With
meds from the vet I medicated the dogs."
- Warren, James and Warren, Christopher. Following My Father's Dream,
James and Christopher Warren, 2005
Tangled lines injure the dogs:
"The dogs can injure their feet in
the lines, or strangle when they wrap around each other."
- Wood, Ted. Iditarod Dream, New York: Walker Publishing Company,
1996
"It's been tangle after tangle, and going down wrong
trails...."
- Musher Kris Swanguarin
"One of the tangles led to injury of his [Swanguarin's] best leader...."
-
Fairbanks News-Miner, undated 1998 article on website
- Dogs injured by passing sleds:
"On the trail out of Knik there was an icy sport and a lot of teams
passed me there. It was a bad spot where their sleds were getting by and
hitting my leaders."
- Brian O'Donaghue, Iditarod musher and former reporter for the Fairbanks
News-Miner
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
- Dogs injured by being mashed against a tree:
"'I had the wrong foot on the right side of the
sled. By the time I changed it, it was too late,' [Spenser] Thew would
say later.
Of course, that is not what Thew was saying at the time as his dog sled
missed a curve at the top of the hill and went off a snow-covered cliff.
The only thing that kept it from rolling 75 feet to the bottom was the
cottonwood tree. Thew ended up with his team partially on the trail, and
his sled hanging from its gangline around the tree with his wheel dogs
mashed up against it and yelping."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 9, 1993
- Dog injured by snowmachine:
"Jennifer Freking of Finland, Minnesota and her
husband Blake had stopped on the Yukon river to feed their dogs, when
they heard machines approaching.
'They heard snowmobiles coming for quite a distance, and he just didn't
slow down, and ran through their team,' related Freking's sister Cindy
Elkins, who runs Jennifer's website. 'She felt like she was watching half
her team die as it happened.'
The snowmobile killed Lorne, a 3 year old female Siberian Husky, and injured
Aries, a male."
- Dana Thiede, KARE 11 TV News, March 12, 2008, website article
Warm weather results in dogs becoming sick and getting injured:
"Rookies usually have rookie dog teams, and Parvin's
was not prepared for the warm weather they found at the start of the race.
That forced Parvin to drop four younger dogs and dampened the others'
appetites."
"Parvin was doing his best to keep his Iditarod dream alive, even if meant
slowing down and nursing his team back to health."
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2005
"'Across the Alaska Range right now, all the way
through the Kuskokwim and all the way up to the banks of the Yukon, we
have quite a warming trend. And along with that, we have a low-pressure
system. That means a lot of snow falling. And at the same time we have
rain,' said Iditarod Spokesperson Chas St. George.
That combination has turned the Iditarod trail into a thousand miles of
slush and ice, which is causing big problems for the health of the dogs.
'Feet: problems with the snow building up, and wrist injuries. And if
the snow is punchy, if the dog is going through the snow, they can hurt
their shoulders and their wrists a lot easier,' said Jason Uitvlugt of
the Manitou Crossing Kennel, Minnesota."
- Andrea Gusty, KTVA-TV, Anchorage, March 5, 2008, web article
"Fresh, deep snow and warm weather – about 30 degrees
and sunny – slowed the race between Willow and Rainy Pass, about 150 miles
into the world's longest sled dog race. The dogs, whose bloodlines stem
from several arctic breeds, prefer running in colder weather.
'It was real soft and punchy,” said Paul Gebhardt, of Kasilof, who's running
his 10th Iditarod. “The dogs go slower and you get a few more injuries
because they start falling in holes.'”
- Jeannette J. Lee, Associated Press, March 6, 2006
Dogs get nasty stomach bugs:
"Gatt and Burmeister crossed their fingers
that dogs that had gotten a nasty stomach bug would recover in a day."
- Jon Little, Cabela's website, March 9, 2005
Little formerly reported for the Anchorage Daily News
"Sørlie, a former Iditarod winner, is only in
16th place and has had trouble along the way, with stomach problems plaguing
his dogs."
- Stein-Erik Kirkebøen, Aftenposten, March 9, 2007
Wind-swept and hard-packed trail damages the dogs:
"The 48-year-old [Martin Buser], one of three four-time champions
hoping to join Rick Swenson of Two Rivers as the race's only five-time
champion, expects a wind-swept, hard-packed trail. That means sore muscles
and bruises for dogs...."
- Staff and wire reports, Anchorage Daily News, March 5, 2007
Mushers
force sick dogs to race
"'I'm
still dealing with some diarrhea issues that I can't seem to get control
of for whatever reason,' said [Lance] Mackey, speaking about his dog team's
health and performance."
- Kevin Wells, KTUU-TV, March 7, 2008, web site article
"The
intestinal virus that was plaguing the team earlier continues.
But, after talking to friend and fellow dog owner Kathleen Holden, [Heather]
Siirtola apparently decided to keep going."
- Tony Spilde, Bismarck Tribune, March 11, 2008
"One mile out of Nome, Harley began staggering.
I stopped the team for about 10 minutes. He stood motionless with his
head low but wagged when I called his name. I showed him the lights of
Nome across the ice covered sea. We pressed on. I was hoping he could
make it. As we neared the snow ramp up onto Front Street he was staggeringly
badly."
- James Warren talking about his dog Hartley in
the 2004 Iditarod
- Warren, James and Warren, Christopher. Following
My Father's Dream, James and Christopher Warren, 2005
[From the Sled Dog
Action Coalition: Warren could have carried Hartley on his sled.]
"I heard Jamie's dogs,
and they sounded like a convention of pleurisy victims. Hack-hack." "Jamie
went on to finish with all sixteen of her starting team."
- Musher Paul Ellering talking about Jamie Nelson's
dogs
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
"Two of the MANY (emphasis added) mushers who
battled viruses in their dog teams and placed well below their expectations
were Vern Halter...and John Baker...."
- Lew Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, March 17, 2000
"... (The dog's) recovery in the checkpoints
was slowed by some sort of virus."
- Doug Swingley, the 2000 Iditarod race winner
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 14, 2000
"Around Nikolai, about 350 miles into the race,
some of his dogs caught a virus." "'They had some bad discomfort'" said
Swingley. "'It was hard for me to manage them.'"
- Doug Swingley, the 2000 Iditarod race winner
- Lew Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 2000
"COAXING SICK DOGS: Linwood Fiedler, DeeDee
Jonrowe's Willow neighbor, finished just ahead of her in 19th and had
to nurse sick dogs much of the time."
- Staff report, Anchorage Daily News, March 17, 2000, article on
website
"I just
couldn't keep fluids in them," the musher said. "I'd get in
the checkpoints, and they'd look good, and I'd get out and they'd lose
their hydration."
- Jason Halseth, musher in 2001 Iditarod
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 2001
"Although one or two dogs in his [Ramy Brooks]
team attacked their food bowls with gusto, most poked at their chow or
ignored it."
(From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: According
to the Iditarod website, Ramy Brooks was at the Unalakleet checkpoint
with nine dogs. The race ends in Nome which is 260 miles from this checkpoint.)
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 11, 2003 report from Unalakleet
"With another, he [Lindwood Fiedler] opened
its [the dog's] mouth and fed it antibiotics to fight an infection. 'Better
mushing through pharmacy,' he quipped."
Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 12, 2003
"It was my first Iditarod; I had to finish
the ding-dang thing. The dogs all had fevers. The vets gave them a poweful
antibiotic."
- Aliy Zirkle, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics, Kenmore: Epicenter Press,
2004
"Parvin was doing his best to keep his Iditarod
dream alive, even if meant slowing down and nursing his team back to health."
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2005
"He [Rick Swenson] bellowed at photographers who
tried to take his picture there [Takotna checkpoint], and told race officials
he planned to take his team the 23 miles back to McGrath and scratch."
"Veterinarians in Rainy Pass on Wednesday, a checkpoint 176 miles before
McGrath, said that Swenson had talked about his dogs picking up a virus."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 10, 2005
"I guess my hiccup is how it seems like it's always
early in the race coming for a remote kennel here about three days into
the race we get massively sick and then so I felt I was, you know I, I
actually stopped at Ophir and then I stopped at Rainy and then I stopped
again at Rohn, which was unplanned and then I stopped at Salmon River
and I stopped at McGrath and I stopped at Ophir and then I camped again
on the way to Iditarod just trying to keep my team together because they
were just really throwing up, really sick."
"It was hard to get them to eat, because they couldn't keep anything down."
- Musher Ed Iten talking about his dogs
- Interview with Steve Heimel, Alaska Public Radion Network, February
28, 2006
"Some of the dogs had been sick with diarrhea and
treated at a prior checkpoint. They showed little spark after that."
- Kay Richardson, The Columbian, April 16, 2006
- She is talking about the dogs that belong to Steve Madsen
Paul
Ellering's team ran 226 miles with diarrhea--
"Looking over the team, I saw the dogs had picked up an
intestinal bug. They had the runs, and it was not the kind of running
that gets you anywhere."
(Paul Ellering was at the Galena checkpoint.)
"The diarrhea had taken the spark out of the team."
"I hoped the medicine the vets gave me would work...."
(Paul Ellering was at the Nulato checkpoint.)
"I wanted to give the dogs six hours of rest because
of the diarrhea problem that still had a grip on the team."
(Paul Ellering was at the Shaktoolik checkpoint.)
- Paul Ellering. Wrestling the Iditarod, Bend: Maverick Publications,
2005
(There is 226 miles between the Galena and Shaktoolik checkpoints. Ellering
doesn't say if or when the diarrhea stopped.)
"Jim: Rohn: Both King and Cookie had been ailing
since the 'snow holes' and to make matters worse several other dogs were
ailing which shifts the burden to the others."
"Jim: Nikolai: After 6 1/2 hours we left for Nikolai. King was ailing
even more and now we were pulling him."
- James Warren, Iditarod '06 Journal, published on the Internet
Rachael Scdoris's dog Karelan was sick at the Rainy
Pass Checkpoint. Scdoris raced this sick dog for 322 miles before dropping
her at the Iditarod checkpoint. Dutchess was also sick at the Rainy Pass
Checkpoint. Scdoris raced this sick dog for 490 miles before scratching
at the Eagle Island Checkpoint.
Rainy Pass Checkpoint
"I noticed Dutchess and Karelan had picked up a
bug and now had runny diarrhea."
Rainy Pass to Rohn - 48 miles
"Their diarrhea had not improved, and I could tell
they were not as healthy as at the start of the race."
Rohn to Nikolai - 80 miles
"Dutchess and Karelan nibbled at their food."" Dutchess
and Karelan and Kitty still suffered from diarrhea and a couple of others
had sore wrists...."
Nikolai to McGrath - 48 miles
"The veterinarian expressed her concern about the
virus sweeping through my team. She said I needed to keep a close watch
on Dutchess and Karelan...."
McGrath to Takotna - 18 miles
Takotna to Ophir - 38 miles
Ophir to Iditarod - 90 miles
"When we were ready to leave [Iditarod] I dropped Karelan.
Iditarod to Shageluk - 65 miles
"I started crying because my dogs were sick and skinny and I had lost
the bootie bag."
Shageluk to Anvik - 25 miles
Anvik to Grayling - 18 miles
"There were long stretches when noting seemed to change. I knew that
for a team of sick dogs this might prove to be our undoing."
Grayling to Eagle Island - 60 miles
"Angel was the only dog in my team that seemed the least bit interested
in leading and she was now my thinnest dog." Bernard, Ned and Dutchess
were nearly as skinny."
"It was obvious from the thinness of the dogs, but the veterinarian was
trying to make conversation and asked if the diarrhea medicine had helped.
I was honest. There was really no sense in trying to be deceitful. My
team was in trouble.
'I haven't been able to keep weight on them, not
since Tokotna. That's were the diarrhea started getting bad and they began
losing weight.'"
"When I saw my spent team and saw the way they were curled up on the straw,
how skinny they had become from the diarrhea-causing virus, my decision
was made for me."
"All that remained of my 2005 Iditarod run was to
make it official. Jim got a piece of paper and a Sharpie. He wrote my
name and the words 'Scratched in Eagle Island.' I signed it."
- Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a
Blind Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
"Dalek was still sick to his stomach." "I decided
to keep Dalek in the team for a little longer and just watch him closely."
- Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2001
Laureli Kinneen: "How are your dogs looking coming
into the coast?"
Jason Barron: "Well, we've been dealing with sickness
and injury for the whole race, so I'd say they look good, but it's kind
of irrelevant to the problems I've been having."
Laureli Kinneen: "So, what types of problems, what
types of injuries have you been dealing with?"
Jason Barron: "It all kind of started back in the
John Beargrease in Minnesota in the end of January I raced and I had a
lot of nicks and cuts coming out of that race. And I kind of patched them
up but they're all breaking loose on this race. And, then, about the time
I was just establishing a decent healthy core group around Cripple my
remaining dogs were just ravaged by this sickness that came through--
and don't want to eat, and when they do eat they can't really hold it
down very well, so I mean I essentially had to pull all the plugs on my
race plan."
- Laureli Kinneen of KNOM radio interviewed Jason Barron on March 16,
2010 in Unalakleet.
Dogs face
hypothermia and frostbite hazards
Examples of sub-zero temperatures the dogs face:
Willow, Alaska - March 4, 2007 - Iditarod start
"Today...Wind chill readings 20 below to 35 below zero in
the morning.
Tonight...Clear. Lows zero to 10 below except 15 to 25 below north
of Talkeetna. North wind 15 to 30 mph. Gusts to 50 mph through broad pass.
Wind chill readings 25 below to 40 below zero after midnight."
Swentna and Finger Lake - March 5, 2007
"Some mushers will stop to rest in Skwentna. Others will push on
another 45 miles to Finger Lake to rest their dogs there. Wherever they
stop, mushers can expect a frigid night. The National Weather Service
was forecasting wind chills down to minus-40 after midnight, with temperatures
on Monday not getting far above zero."
- Anchorage Daily News on the National Weather Service report,
March 5, 2007
130 degree below zero temperature:
"In 1973, during the inaugural Iditarod, the wind chill plummeted to 130
degrees below zero Fahrenheit, making the first race the coldest."
- Emily Langer, Washington Post, March 2, 2008
Mild to moderate hypothermia leads to prolonged internal and external
bleeding:
"We compared hemostatic changes during 72 hours of mild to moderate hypothermia
with data in normothermic [normal body temperature] dogs."
"CONCLUSION: Long-term hypothermia induced platelet dysfunction, leading
to decreased platelet aggregation and prolonged coagulation time."
Ao H, Moon JK, Tashiro M, Terasaki H. Resuscitation. 2001 Oct;51(1):83-90
Cold water causes hypothermia:
"Don’t forget to consider water temperatures; dogs
can suffer from hypothermia."
- Sally Elliott, Lynchburg News Advance, March 16, 2009
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: During the
Iditarod, dogs are often in icy water.]
Dogs can get frostbite during the Iditarod and when they are tethered
outside:
"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
Penile frostbite, frostbite of the flanks and other areas:
"While massaging tired muscles, tending to
bloody paws and treating a case of penile frostbite (emphasis added)
suffered by one of his lead dogs, Bramante said he was fighting the urge
to scratch."
- John Bramante, M.D. raced in the 2002 Iditarod
- Paula Dobbyn and Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, April 1,
2002
"The other problem is frostbite of the flanks
and frostbite of the penis." (emphasis
added)
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
"He had a painful frostbitten scrotum (emphasis
added) and just couldn't run."
- James Warren talking about his dog Duke
- James Warren, Iditarod '06 Journal, published on the Internet
"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."
(emphasis added)
- 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." (emphasis added)
- Kevin Wells, KTUU-TV, KTUU.COM, March 17, 2010
Dogs frozen to the ice:
"Her [Beth Baker's] dogs had curled up,
their fur frozen to the ice. They couldn't move."
- Natalie Phillips, Anchorage Daily News, March 24, 1994
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
Dogs brave temperatures pushing 50 degrees below zero:
"He [Peter Bartlett] braved temperatures pushing
50 below on the way to Cripple...."
- Jon Little, Cabela's Iditarod Coverage, website ariticle, March 11,
2006
- Jon Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.
(Therefore, Bartlett's dogs also braved temperatures
pushing 50 below zero, exposing them to frostbite.)
Icicles dangle from dogs snouts:
"Temperatures rose to minus 15 Friday afternoon
when Iditarod rookie Bryan Bearss pulled into Cripple. Bearss set his
hook. Some dogs shook off icicles dangling from their snouts...."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March
12, 2006
Dog becomes a block of ice:
"[Matt] Anderson's team was full of puppies."
"Maddie received the worst of some of the poor conditions when a river
cracked with Anderson and her on top of it, sending water surging onto
them. It was at the top of his boots and over Maddies' head. Anderson
said she was just 'a block of ice' when he got her out."
- Maddie was one of Matt Anderson's puppies.
- Eric Mandel, The Daily Iowan, March 29, 2007
Kim Darst's dog suffers severe hypothermia:
"The Warren County resident [Kim Darst] was halfway
to her goal of becoming the first New Jerseyan to finish the Iditarod
when a blizzard Monday left one of her dogs, Cotton, with a temperature
nearly 20 degrees below the average 101.3 for dogs."
- Mike Frassinelli, The Star-Ledger, March
19, 2009
"She
was in rough shape," [Blake] Matray said. "Her eyes were starting to roll
back a bit, and she was starting to convulse."
- Blake Matray was talking about Kim Darst's dog
Cotton.
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 28, 2009
Dr. Packer's two dogs froze to death:
"He said, 'the wind was (so strong it) was picking
up pieces of ice and throwing them.'
Packer assessed distances, recalculated and decided he and the dogs had
a better chance of making the woods ahead than the woods behind, so he
turned the team around again. That's when he noticed one of his dogs --
Grasshopper -- really struggling. He unhooked the dog from the gangline
and put it in the sled and started forward again.
'The sled just kept falling over and he looked really bad, and then he
died,' Packer said. 'I sat there and held him. Horrible.'
There was, however, nothing to do but keep going or everyone was going
to die. Packer pressed on. Then Dizzy started to falter.
'I felt his shoulder for hydration, and ice crystals in the skin is what
I felt. I think those two guys probably froze to death in the high winds,'
Packer said. 'I didn't think it possible.'
'Then Dizzy, he died. It was horrible.'
Both of the dogs had been wearing coats to protect them, and one of the
dogs was a thick-coated husky of old, not one of the thin-coated animals
that have become common as mushers contend with warm winters. Necropsies
conducted by veterinary pathologists have found no obvious causes for
the deaths, but hypothermia has not been ruled out."
- Dr. Lou Packer talking about his two dogs dying
- Kevin Klott and Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 17,
2009
Back to the top
Warm
weather hazards and stresses for the dogs
Overheated dogs became dehydrated:
"The overheated dogs became dehydrated
and collapsed in 30- and 40-degree temperatures last week between Anchorage
and Ophir, 90 miles from the halfway point in Iditarod."
- Donna Iacoboni, Cleveland Plain
Dealer, March 13, 2005
- The dogs were on Lt. Thomas Knolmayer's
team
Soft trail causes strains
on dogs' paws:
"...He [Kjetil Backen] feared tendinitis
might be developing from the constant and uneven strains on the dogs'
paws caused by the soft, punchy trail between Nulato and Kaltag."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 14, 2004
Dogs have difficulty cooling off:
"Dogs have difficulty trying to cool themselves
at such temperatures [in the 30s]...."
- Medred is discussing the high temperatures during the 2004 Iditarod
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 14, 2004
Warm weather results in dogs becoming sick:
"Rookies usually have rookie dog teams, and Parvin's
was not prepared for the warm weather they found at the start of the race.
That forced Parvin to drop four younger dogs and dampened the others'
appetites."
"Parvin was doing his best to keep his Iditarod dream alive, even if meant
slowing down and nursing his team back to health."
- Joel Gay, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2005
Running in soft snow injures dogs:
"Fresh, deep snow and warm weather – about 30 degrees
and sunny – slowed the race between Willow and Rainy Pass, about 150 miles
into the world's longest sled dog race. The dogs, whose bloodlines stem
from several arctic breeds, prefer running in colder weather.
'It was real soft and punchy,” said Paul Gebhardt, of Kasilof, who's running
his 10th Iditarod. “The dogs go slower and you get a few more injuries
because they start falling in holes.'”
- Jeannette J. Lee, Associated Press, March 6, 2006
Dog overheating:
"This year, with the mercury hovering near 40, Swenson
charged down the Kuskokwim River and across the huge, snow-covered swamps
where the trail portages overland to cut the oxbows.
It was so warm that Marble, one of Swenson's larger dogs, started to overheat."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 6, 2008
Many
injuries in warm weather:
"'Across the Alaska Range right now, all the way through the Kuskokwim
and all the way up to the banks of the Yukon, we have quite a warming
trend. And along with that, we have a low-pressure system. That means
a lot of snow falling. And at the same time we have rain,' said Iditarod
Spokesperson Chas St. George.
That combination has turned the Iditarod trail into a thousand miles of
slush and ice, which is causing big problems for the health of the dogs.
'Feet: problems with the snow building up, and wrist injuries. And if
the snow is punchy, if the dog is going through the snow, they can hurt
their shoulders and their wrists a lot easier,' said Jason Uitvlugt of
the Manitou Crossing Kennel, Minnesota."
- Andrea Gusty, KTVA-TV, Anchorage, March 5, 2008, web article
Dogs lose their appetite in warm weather:
"Aliy Zirkle, a former Quest winner who was
10th into Nikolai, said her dogs had lost their appetite in the warm weather."
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 10, 2009
Dogs
get sick from eating spoiled food
Contaminated
food gives dogs a virus:
"Sue Allen sat with her sickly dog team on a lonely
stretch of trail between Cripple and Ruby during the 2004 Iditarod Trail
Sled Dog Race, unsure of what to do next.
Beset with a virus brought on by contaminated food, her dogs refused to
move."
- Ron Wilmot, Anchorage Daily News, July
8, 2007
Dogs get runny stools and bloody
diarrhea from eating spoiled food:
[The Iditarod Trail Committee does not insure the
safety of the food the dogs eat. Consequently, dogs often get sick from
eating spoiled food.]
"My food [for the dogs] was all spoiled...."
"There has been a number of teams that has had food that has thawed
and been refrozen and the food doesn't seem to be good and when you push
dry food heavy to them they tend to get runny stool too."
- Musher Keith Aili talking about spoiled dog food
- KTVA.Com, KTVA TV11, Anchorage, AK, March 7, 2002
"A vet admonishes Doug [Swingley]- as if he needs
it. ‘Don't trust the feed because it got warm here.' Doug's dogs still
have bloody diarrhea, a bad development and probably caused by the meat
in Ophir."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
Vet says thawed and re-thawed meats cause digestive and intestinal problems:
"He [Stu Nelson, Iditarod head vet] reports that
meats that have thawed and re thawed with last weeks warm weather have
raised havoc, with many teams reporting intestinal and digestive problems."
- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers. Sacramento:
Griffin Printing, 1997
Dogs vomit after eating bad food:
"Boulding
said his dogs began to vomit after he fed them a bad batch of food."
"Boulding's dogs became ill after he fed them some freeze-dried food
that had gotten wet."
-
Charlie Boulding, musher in 2001 Iditarod
- Associated Press, March 8, 2001
Dogs get food poisoning:
"He [Palmer Sagoonick] believes the dogs
got food poisoning at the Finger Lake checkpoint because mushers' food
drops somehow spoiled there, he said, perhaps by thawing."
-
Mark Downey, Great Falls Tribune, March 7, 2002
Food thaws on airplanes:
"Fortunately, the 'dog food' is stored outside and
is normally frozen solid. Now and again, however, a harried IAF [Iditarod
Air force] pilot forgets what he's hauling and turns up the cabin heat,
resulting in a near in-flight emergency as acrid, eye-watering fumes from
fish or seal oil waft forward from the thawing bags."
- Don Bowers, Iditarod website article, 2000
Did food go bad during the 2008 Iditarod?
There were sustained temperatures in the 40s:
"But the biggest factor affecting his dogs were
temperatures that have reached into the 40s, ...."
- Associated Press, March 6, 2008
"He also struggled with dogs stricken with diarrhea
and slowed by unseasonably warm weather that marked much of the trail."
- Associated Press, March 12, 2008
The USDA recommends throwing out meat and fish that have thawed and
been held above 40 degrees for two hours.
- USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Fact Sheet, September 6, 2006
Damage
to dogs may appear after race
Andrea Floyd-Wilson: "Let's take a look at a dog that is days into the trail and perhaps not in good shape to begin with, and now being asked to pull a heavier load [because dropped dogs cannot be replaced]. What kind of physiological changes will we be looking at in their bodies?"
Dr.
Paula Kislak: "There are a number of them.
There would be hemorrhaging in the lungs and there would be a breakdown
of the muscle tissue. When that muscle tissue breaks down and gets into
the blood stream, it creates a very severe toxicity to the liver and the
kidneys which can fail either suddenly or slowly. And, because of the
stress on the heart, there can be sudden heart failure or there can be
irreparable damage to the heart muscle, that doesn't manifest itself until
after the end of the race like many of other the deteriorating conditions
that occur from the extreme prolonged exertion."
-
Andrea Floyd-Wilson is the host of the All About Animals Radio Show. On
February 23, 2003, she interviewed Paula Kislak, DVM, President of the
Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights.
Dimished
repair of damaged connective tissue
"There are all kinds of enzymatic and electrolyte
imbalances that create a decreased ability to form connective tissue,
which is very important in repairing the damage done during the races."
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, president of the Association of Veterinarians
for Animal Rights
- - Her remarks were made on the Animal Voices radio show, Toronto, Canada
on February 28, 2006
Dogs
in pain prompt musher/physician to give up Iditarod
Physician knows dogs are hurting and won't run the Iditarod again:
"The Kasilof physician [John Bramante, M.D.]
and father of two won't run the race again, he said, because of the wear
and tear it inflicted on his dogs.
'It's hard to watch the dogs go through what they do and feel comfortable,'
the 38-year-old musher said during a rest stop at McGrath, midway through
the March race.
While massaging tired muscles, tending to bloody paws and treating a case
of penile frostbite suffered by one of his lead dogs, Bramante said he
was fighting the urge to scratch.
'It's a fallacy to think that the dogs aren't hurting,' said Bramante."
- Paula Dobbyn and Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, April 1,
2002
Dogs who vomit while racing at high risk for illness
and death
"The
inherently stressful conditions of endurance races like the Iditarod predispose
dogs to vomit and have diarrhea while racing."
" Dogs who vomit while racing are at high risk of aspirating (inhaling)
the vomitus. The implications of the acidic and bacterial stomach contents
entering the normally sterile respiratory tract are grave. Aspiration
pneumonia and severe inflammatory reactions can be anticipated with only
a small number of dogs showing symptoms acutely (within 24 hours). Most
morbidity (disease) and mortality (death) would be expected to occur days
to weeks later which, coincidentally, is when scrutiny has lapsed."
- Dr. Paula Kislak,
President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, September
7, 2004 email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition
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
Mush with P.R.I.D.E. promotes
the debarking of dogs
Dogs behind front-runners
have greater risk of getting sick
"'Conventional wisdom has always been to draw a
low number [for a starting position]," Hooley said. 'The better the trail,
less traffic from other dog teams, less congestion and less of an opportunity
for teams to pick up bugs and viruses.'"
- Mushers with a low number start the race first
- Associated Press, Juneau Empire, June 27, 2004
- Stan Hooley is the executive director of the Iditarod
"Zack Steer, co-owner of Sheep Mountain Lodge near
Eureka, isn't so sure starting late is a good idea. After numerous teams
pass over the trail, it can get rough."
And dogs can leave behind germs that cause sickness in other dogs, Steer
said.
"It's happened a lot. You get all those teams from different parts of
the country and different parts of the world, and it's like the first
day of school," Steer said. "All those germs that (the dogs) haven't been
exposed to, they haven't had a chance to build up immunity. They get the
canine version of the flu.
- Ron Wilmot, Anchorage Daily News, March 6, 2005
"Daytime
temperatures crept above zero on Thursday, but were expected to plunge
toward 40-below again overnight.
Such cold forces the dogs to burn more calories to stay warm and serves
to dehydrate them with each breath of cold, dry air."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 10, 2006
"I was concerned about Dutchess and Karelan. Their
diarrhea had not improved and I could tell they were not as healthy as
at the start of the race. Although they drank as much as the other dogs
they were becoming dehydrated."
- Rachael Scdoris talking about her sick dogs
-
Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a Blind
Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
Dogs refuse
to eat
Sick dogs refuse to eat:
"I guess my hiccup is how it seems like it's always
early in the race coming for a remote kennel here about three days into
the race we get massively sick and then so I felt I was, you know I, I
actually stopped at Ophir and then I stopped at Rainy and then I stopped
again at Rohn, which was unplanned and then I stopped at Salmon River
and I stopped at McGrath and I stopped at Ophir and then I camped again
on the way to Iditarod just trying to keep my team together because they
were just really throwing up, really sick."
"It was hard to get them to eat, because they couldn't keep anything down."
- Musher Ed Iten talking about his dogs
- Interview with Steve Heimel, Alaska Public Radion Network, February
28, 2006
Eric Roger's dogs refuse to eat:
"I was having trouble getting enough calories down
the dogs and some were getting very thin."
- Eric Rogers, "A Rookies Journey - Race Synopis," R North Bound
Dogs 2006 website
Peter
Bartlett's dogs won't eat:
"'The dogs just wouldn't eat,' he said Friday. 'They
didn't eat Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.'
[Peter] Bartlett couldn't figure out why. Neither could veterinarians
along the trail.
"'My teams are usually great eaters,' Bartlett said. 'It's really strange
... because I've got a couple dogs that would never refuse to eat anything.'
Bartlett tried lamb. He tried turkey. He tried beef, raw fish, ground
fish, liver, and every kind of commercial dog food or dog treat he could
get his hands on.
It didn't matter. Nobody in the team was eating."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2003
Blake Matray's dogs won't eat or drink:
"'They did not eat,' Matray said. 'They did not
drink. It gradually got worse as time went on.' Matray, like Bartlett,
had never before had a problem getting his dogs to eat."
- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 8, 2003
Some of Robert Bundtzen's dogs don't want to eat:
"...Trying to get 'em to eat the best I can. Most
of 'em are eating pretty well. Some of the most important dogs aren't."
- Iditarod musher Dr. Robert W. Bundtzen, MD, KTUU-TV website video, March
9, 2007
Darin Nelson's dogs refused to eat:
"The dogs were not doing well, refused to eat
and left [Darin] Nelson with no choice but to scratch."
- Tamar Ben-Yosef, The Cordova Times, March 20, 2008
Aliy Zirkle's dogs have no appetite:
"Aliy Zirkle, a former Quest winner who was 10th
into Nikolai, said her dogs had lost their appetite in the warm weather."
- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, March 10, 2009
Jessie Royer's dogs refuse to eat:
"Some of the dogs were becoming sick and didn’t
want to eat their food."
- Jessie Royer, Jessie's Sled Dog Page, website, 2001
Bruce Linton's dog won't eat:
"A small young 2 year old female she pulled hard all the way and made
it so far, but she just wasn’t eating enough and she was getting thin."
- Bruce Linton, Iditarod Journals, 2007
Jason Barron's dogs won't eat:
Laureli Kinneen: "So, what types of problems, what
types of injuries have you been dealing with?"
Jason Barron: "It all kind of started back in the
John Beargrease in Minnesota in the end of January I raced and I had a
lot of nicks and cuts coming out of that race. And I kind of patched them
up but they're all breaking loose on this race. And then about the time
I was just establishing a decent healthy core group around Cripple my
remaining dogs were just ravaged by this sickness that came through--
and don't want to eat, and when they do eat they can't really hold it
down very well, so I mean I essentially had to pull all the plugs on my
race plan."
- Laureli Kinneen of KNOM radio interviewed Jason Barron on March 16,
2010 in Unalakleet.
Tom Thurston's dogs stopped eating:
"[Tom] Thurston said his team of 16 dogs contracted
a bug and stopped eating."
- Joel Reichenberger, Steamboat Today, June 12, 2010
Iditarod wants dogs
weakened from sickness to keep racing
Steve Madsen's dogs were weak from diarrhea and battling high winds:
"Some of the dogs had been sick with diarrhea and treated at a prior
checkpoint. They showed little spark after that.
Battling the winds, Madsen could practically see their body fat melting
off. Not only that, the sled hit a stump on the trail, forcing Madsen's
upper body onto the handles. An X-ray at a later checkpoint revealed a
rib broken in several places.
Ruby was a convenient place to withdraw from the race because of regular
air transport going in and out.
'But,' Madsen said, 'a musher never makes a decision without first getting
some sleep.'
So after two or three hours of sleep, some food and a pep talk from race
officials, he felt he could go on."
- Kay Richardson, The Columbian, April 16, 2006
Harnesses encourage
sick or injured dogs to pull
"Traditional harnesses attach to the
leash with a clip on the back. These old-fashioned harnesses actually
encourage dogs to pull -- because a dog's natural reflex is to pull against
something that constrains it. (This is why sled dogs pull naturally in
their harnesses.)"
- Deborah Wood, The Oregonian, June 12, 2007
- Deborah Wood is The Oregonian's Pet Talk columnist and the author
of 10 books.
[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Iditarod sled
dogs wear traditional harnesses, which utilize their natural instinct
pull, so effectively, that they often keep pulling even when sick or injured.]
"Dogs have what we call 'opposition reflex,' which
means they pull against pressure."
- Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, website
article, 2007
Booties
don't protect dogs' paws
Accumulated snow inside booties causes pain:
"I changed dog positions, switched out leaders,
and was becoming frustrated when we finally noticed their protective booties
were allowing snow to accumulate inside causing them pain."
- Jim Warren is talking about his dogs' paws.
- Warren, James and Warren, Christopher. Following My Father's Dream,
James and Christopher Warren, 2005
Ice crystal form on paws with booties:
"I pulled their booties and rubbed their sore muscles.
They licked their feet dry nibbling on small ice that had formed around
their guard hairs, and licked their paws clean."
- Scdoris, Rachael and Steber, Rick. No End in Sight: My Life as a
Blind Iditarod Racer, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2007
Did animal
urine and feces contaminate dog food?
(From the Sled dog Action Coalition: After animals were in the dog
food bags, no one tested the food to guarantee that it wasn't contaminated.)
"A former Iditarod musher, Anderson hadn't been quite so jolly earlier
in the day when he had to chase off a flock of ravens that tore into some
drop bags. The all-volunteer Iditarod Air Force leaves the bags of food
and extra gear at most of the 22 checkpoints along the 1,000-mile trail
days before the race.
These were covered with blue tarps to keep wild animals out, but the ravens
saw through the ploy.
'(The tarp) was like a bull's-eye for them,' Anderson said. 'Those ravens
are pretty smart.'
The big, black crows on steroids were gathered along the lakeshore singing
and dancing in celebration of what they'd found Monday morning, Anderson
said. Between them and the foxes, about a dozen bags had been scavenged.
Four-time Iditarod champ Martin Buser of Big Lake pulled in and immediately
knew he'd been hit.
'Hello, hello!' Buser said. 'So my food was torn into, huh? Any word on
Gatt's stuff?'
Buser was referring to Hans Gatt, a three-time Yukon Quest champion who
had only one drop bag waiting because the plane with his other bags was
stuck in Willow due to poor visibility. When Gatt arrived, he discovered
20 percent of the supplies in his one bag had been stolen by either the
rogue ravens or feisty foxes."
- Kevin Klott, Anchorage Daily News, March 9, 2009
Straw used for bedding
can be very dangerous for dogs
Foxtail seeds can be found in straw for bedding dogs:
"Foxtails are grass seeds that are sometimes
in the straw that we use for bedding."
- Aliy Zirkle SP Kennel Dog Log, July 9, 2010
Foxtail seeds injure and may kill dogs:
"Foxtail barley is a perennial grass, commonly found
in yards, fields, along roadsides, trails and in most canyon areas. They
grow quickly during the rainy months, in almost any soil condition, and
dry out during the warm summer months. Once foxtail grasses dry out, the
seed detaches easily and sticks to clothing and fur. Foxtails can enter
a dog's body in a variety of ways and once they enter, they are like a
barbed fishhook: The seed only wants to move forward, burrowing into the
skin. It's most common for a foxtail seed to enter a dog's body through
the skin, nose, ears, paws, and eyes. Foxtails are very tenacious, painful
and dangerous to your pet."
Foxtails in the ears, nose, and eyes are very serious
and can ultimately be life-threatening if they are not treated promptly."
"Foxtails burrow. The outsides of the 'seedlings'
contain a bacterium with enzymes used to break down vegetation.This bacterium
also allows the seedling to burrow into a dog along the tunnels of pus
created by the enzyme.
A foxtail can literally go anywhere in the dog.
For example, they have been found inside the brain, anal glands, eyes,
ears, jowls, feet, spinal cord, lungs, and vagina."
- Governor Animal Clinic website, 2010
"Foxtails can enter the dog's body through any opening
and can even be inhaled. Once inside the body, they can travel long distances
along with the bacteria embedded with it. Because the foxtail won't show
up on an x-ray, it is hard to find, so surgical removal is not always
successful.
Once embedded, the seed always moves forward. The seed head of a foxtail
can burrow through the dog's skin into his body. Foxtails also cause a
problem when they get between the toes and burrow into the feet. Inside
the body, they can travel long distances along with the bacteria embedded
with it. Because the foxtail won't show up on an x-ray, it is hard to
find, so surgical removal is not always successful."
- High Valley Veterinary Hospital website, 2010
Aliy Zirkle's dog Nacho injured by foxtail:
"I examined him closely and found a swelling on
his cheek. I went and found a Veterinarian to take a closer look. There
was no puncture mark or cut, only a swelling. She thought it looked fresh
because it was soft and pliable. Maybe it was a foxtail. Foxtails are
grass seeds that are sometimes in the straw that we use for bedding. They
have a pointy tip and can get imbedded in skin. This causes an irritation
and if you don’t catch it, an infection. She put him on some simple antibiotics
and she told me to watch him closely."
- Aliy Zirkle SP Kennel Dog Log, July 9, 2010
Back to top
Articles
about the Iditarod
Dog deaths
Poor veterinary
care
Mushers
mistreat their dogs during race
Problems
with Iditarod rules
Greed
fuels the Iditarod
Abuse
in kennels
Cruel
dog training
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