Cruel dog training for Iditarod

There is no accounting of how many dogs die in training for the Iditarod each year.

[During the Iditarod, mushers are alone with their dogs most of the time. Mushers could easily use force on their dogs without ever being seen. When they habitually train their dogs using force, why wouldn’t they also do it during the Iditarod when there is far more at stake? Greed fuels the Iditarod.]

Musher John Baker shot and beats dogs:

“[Tollef] Monson said Baker has ‘anger management issues’ and suggested, though did not specifically say, that dogs sometimes took a beating because of that.”

“[Rick] Townsend said he left Kotzebue after Baker shot a dog because it was not performing. “

- Craig Medred, craigmedred.news, April 6, 2019

“No, last season, he [John Baker] was such a prick, but that’s not such a problem, just when he was beating the dogs and we had to clean their gashes and cracked bones….”

- Post written by Tollef Monson
- Screen grabs taken by Tollef Monson and sent to Craig Medred
- Craig Medred, craigmedred.news, April 6, 2019

Dog’s beating left dog handler appalled, sick and shocked:

“It is around one year ago today as I write this, fewer than two weeks before the legendary 2011 Iditarod race start, that, as a dog handler at a private kennel location in Alaska, I witnessed the extremely violent beating of an Iditarod racing dog by one of the racing industry’s most high-profile top 10 mushers.

Be assured the beating was clearly not within an ‘acceptable range’ of ‘discipline’.

Indeed, the scene left me appalled, sick and shocked.

After viewing an individual sled dog repeatedly booted with full force, the male person doing the beating jumping back and forth like a pendulum with his full body weight to gain full momentum and impact.

He then alternated his beating technique with full-ranging, hard and fast, closed-fist punches like a piston to the dog as it was held by its harness splayed onto the ground.

He then staggeringly lifted the dog by the harness with two arms above waist height, then slammed the dog into the ground with full force, again repeatedly, all of this repeatedly.

The other dogs harnessed into the team were barking loudly and excitedly, jumping and running around frenzied in their harnesses.

The attack was sustained, continuing for several minutes perhaps over four minutes, within view at least, until the all-terrain vehicle I was a passenger on turned a curve on the converging trails, and the scene disappeared from view.

This particular dog was just under 10 days out from commencing racing in the long distance Iditarod race. It was later seen to have survived the attack, although bloodied as a result.

Personally, I have never witnessed such a violent attack on a living creature before. The image of that explosion of anger and physical force of one man on a smaller animal is burnt to my memory.”

- Jane Stevens, Australia
- Letter to the Editor, Whitehorse Star, February 23, 2011

Dog beaten with shovel:

“I bought one of my dogs from a musher who bragged about beating him with a shovel. The musher’s son collaborated* this and was amused by the abuse.”

*GB Jones wrote “collaborated” but probably meant to write “corroborated.” Mr. Jones raced in the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011 Iditarods.

- Jones, GB. Winning the Iditarod: The GB Jones Story, Wasilla: Northern Publishing, 2005

Musher Mitch Seavey tells people to hit dogs:

“Call his name and a command, like ‘hike up.’ When he doesn’t respond, stop, go up to the dog, pull back on his tug line and with a pre-selected will stick about 1/2 inch in diameter and three feet long, give him a good whack on the butt as you repeat the command. You have to whack him good, too.”

“Distance racing does have its negative moments (gasp!); time when Fluffy would rather not do what I want him to do, like pull the dang sled.

‘Fluffy, hike up!’

Fluffy thinks, ‘No thanks. Actually I’m a little tired here, and pulling would be a negative experience so I don’t think I would like to pull the sled. No, I definitely don’t want to pull the sled right now.’

‘Fluffy, quit-your-screwing-around-you-miserable-excuse-of-a-fur-covered-garbage-disposal-before-I-whack-your-worthless-hiney-so-hard-you-will-need-two-stamps-to-send-back-a-postcard.’

Collect yourself a stick, give the verbal command ‘hike up; stop the sled, pull back on Fluffy’s tug line, and whack Fluffy’s butt.”

- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008

Beating puppies:

“People sometimes ask me if I whip my dogs. Only when they are puppies. And they never forget. To discipline one of my grown dogs, all I have to do is slap it with my glove, and he will act as though he had a real beating.”

- Okleasik, Isaac, musher and writer. Vaudrin, Bill, compiler of articles. Racing Alaskan Sled Dogs, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1977

“On many occasions, I witnessed the mother in law of an Iditarod musher strike puppies with a wiffle ball bat (a hollow plastic bat, approximately three feet long) to quiet them in harness and teach them to line out before a run. The puppies yelped and hit the ground, whimpering and clawing at the ground to try and get out of the way, trapped by their harnesses being hooked into the gangline.”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007

“Due to my heavy involvement in this “sport,” I’ve been able to witness atrocities that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to. These include: Puppies being beaten with plastic bats to ‘quiet them’ while hooking them into harness.”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008

Dogs beaten into submission:

“They’ve had the hell beaten out of them.””You don’t just whisper into their ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.’ They understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And you know what? They are all lying.”

-Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40 years
-USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon Saraceno’s column

Whips made of eight strands of leather and weights:

“The old whips were made of seal leather, eight strands, as thick as a thumb and five feet long. The handle is about ten inches long. The leather is weighted about inches from the handle with a slender fill with shot.”

- Wendt, Ron. Alaska Dog Mushing Guide, Wasilla: Goldstream Publications, 1999

Dogs who don’t pull are dragged to death in harness:

“Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don’t pull dragged to death in harness. (Imagine being dragged by your neck-line at 15 miles per hour while suffering a major heart-attack!)…”

- Mike Cranford, Two Rivers, Alaska - The Bush Blade Newspaper, March, 2000, website article

Musher whips dogs who aren’t perfect:

“The main thing is to get the dogs to respond when you ask them to do something. You have got to get that message across. Every time you ask for something, they go to give it to you. If they don’t, they have to be corrected. There is only one way for me to correct and that is with the whip.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

Dogs get whipped if they stop while running up hills (even steep ones):

“In winter training I never get off the sled going up a hill. The dogs soon learn that they have to pull me up no matter how steep.”

“If the team should stop without any command from me, they will be whip corrected instantly because the rule is that they are not allowed to stop unless told to by the driver.”

- Welch, Jim. The Speed Mushing Manual, Eagle River: Sirius Publishing, 1990

George Attla whips dogs for slowing down on hills:

“When I am training my dogs and I come to a hill, I want my dogs to lope up that hill and not quit on me. I know they can do it. When I am half way up and they slow down to a trot, if I tell them to ‘Get up’ and they just won’t give it to me, then, that is another time I would whip them.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

— George Attla’s book telling mushers to beat their dogs is still the musher’s bible:

“His book, Everything I know about Training and Racing Sled Dogs, is still considered the musher’s bible.”

- Hegener, Helen. The First Iditarod - Mushers’ Tales From the 1973 Race. Wasilla: Northern Light Media, 2015

Dogs beaten for going off of trail to sniff or lift a leg and for going too slowly:

“Punishable offenses include pulling off of the trail to sniff or to lift a leg, going too slowly, not keeping the tugline tight, disobeying a command, being aggressive to humans, or fighting with each other.” “…A ‘spanking’ may be administered with…a birch/willow switch.”

- Hood, Mary H. A Fan’s Guide to the Iditarod, Loveland:Alpine Blue Ribbon Books, 1996

Dogs get whipped for stopping to relieve themselves:

Question asked of George Attla: “What do you do about a leader who stops to relieve himself?”

George Attla’s answer: “When I am starting a leader and he does this, I give him a whipping every time he does this.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

— George Attla’s book telling mushers to beat their dogs is still the musher’s bible:

“His book, Everything I know about Training and Racing Sled Dogs, is still considered the musher’s bible.”

- Hegener, Helen. The First Iditarod - Mushers’ Tales From the 1973 Race. Wasilla: Northern Light Media, 2015

Musher Mitch Seavey says to beat dogs on their noses:

“If he turns around and goes back, catch him and cuff him on the nose. Line him back up, push his rump forward, and repeat the command, ‘stay.'”

- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008

Beating dogs who scream:

“I find that licking a dog that doesn’t scream is not the right way to discipline it. Dogs that don’t scream simply don’t respond to whipping. The screamers do.”

- Redington, Joe, Sr., musher and writer. Vaudrin, Bill, compiler of articles. Racing Alaskan Sled Dogs, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1977

Leaders who won’t run faster are whipped:

Question asked of George Attla: “A leader sets a pace, but not as fast as the team is capable of going. How do you get him to pick it up?”

George Attla’s answer: “If the dog has got it, if for that first mile he could really put out, really motor, and say you had four more miles to go, there is no reason in the world why he shouldn’t give it to you. Like you say his name is Ring. If I say, ‘Ring, get up!’ he knows I want more. If he doesn’t do it, and if I give this command three or four more times and he still doesn’t do it, I use my whip on him.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

Any dog who won’t run faster gets whipped:

“Maybe his name is Ring. You holler, ‘Get up, Ring!’ You try that three or four times and he doesn’t pick it up. Then you go there with your whip and whip him.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

— George Attla’s book telling mushers to beat their dogs is still the musher’s bible:

“His book, Everything I know about Training and Racing Sled Dogs, is still considered the musher’s bible.”

- Hegener, Helen. The First Iditarod - Mushers’ Tales From the 1973 Race. Wasilla: Northern Light Media, 2015

Musher says Alaskans like dogs they can beat on:

“I heard one highly respected (sled dog) driver once state that “‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'”

- Welch, Jim. The Speed Mushing Manual, Eagle River: Sirius Publishing, 1990

Beatings are very commonplace:

“Beatings are very commonplace. Many mushers will even brag about it to their friends and all will have a hearty laugh and then look you right in the eyes and tell you how much they care about their dogs.”

- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, 2012

Whip is called an “effective tool”:

“A whip is an effective tool and can be used as a warning, as punishment, or as encouragement.”

- Collins, Miki and Julie Collins. Dog Driver: A Guide for the Serious Musher, Loveland: Alpine Publications, 1991

Dogs who mess up while passing are whipped:

Question asked of George Attla: “How do you train your leaders to pass?”

George Attla’s answer: “A lot of times the leaders, or even the dogs behind will try to hook the dogs they are passing with their heads. Then they get tangled up in their lines. Usually these dogs are just looking for a way of stopping with that team. I whip the dogs when they do this.” “After they pass, I teach them to pick it up. If I say ‘Get up!’ and they don’t pick it up right, or they start looking back at the other dogs, then I whip them for it.”

Question asked of George Attla: “How do you teach a new lead dog to pass?”

George Attla’s response: “I have a double lead, a new dog and one of my older leaders. My older leader naturally wants to go by real fast. If the new dog drags back too much or messes up the team, then there is hardly any way to get around giving him a whipping.”

- Attla, George, and Bella Levorsen, editor. Everything I Know About Training and Racing Sled Dogs, Rome: Arner Publications, 1974

Musher says beating dogs is very humane:

“Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective…A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective.” “It is a common training device in use among dog mushers…A whip is a very humane training tool.”

“Never say ‘whoa’if you intend to stop to whip a dog.” “So without saying ‘whoa’ you plant the hook, run up the side ‘Fido’ is on, grab the back of his harness, pull back enough so that there is slack in the tug line, say ‘Fido, get up’ immediately rapping his hind end with a whip….”

- Welch, Jim. The Speed Mushing Manual, Eagle River: Sirus Publishing, 1990

Musher says mushers should always have the whip with them:

“Denis Christman passed on a piece of advice that he had gotten from Bill Taylor years earlier. Never let the dogs see the whip until you are actually going to use it. Hide it, but always have it with you.”

- Welch, Jim. The Speed Mushing Manual, Eagle River: Sirus Publishing, 1990

Bullwhip:

“Although the miles have tended to run together over time, there is one constant that I learned from my first race that stays with me even today. And, no, it isn’t to leave the bullwhip at home.”

- King, Jeff. Cold Hands Warm Heart: Alaskan Adventures of an Iditarod Champion, Denali: Husky Homestead Press, 2008

Dogs whipped and hit with ATVs:

“Due to my heavy involvement in this “sport,” I’ve been able to witness atrocities that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to. These include: Dogs whipped with pine branches to “encourage” them to go faster and maintain distance from an ATV. Some mushers even run the ATV up close enough to “bump” the dogs closest to the ATV when they are going too slow.”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008

Bolting dogs get physical punishment:

“You must take control. When a dog bolts anywhere you must make the time he bolts an unpleasant experience without disturbing the other dogs in the team too much.”

“Chances are if this has happened more than two or three times, ‘No’ will not be enough and this is where you have to know what region you live in and what it allows for animal discipline in teaching your dog. Will it allow for you to go up and pinch the dog’s ear or to strike your bolting dog with your hat?

You have to make these decisions because sometimes physical control may be the only way you can break a bolting dog.”

- Barve, Lavon. The Art of dog Mushing, Wasilla: Northern Adventures Publications, 2000

How to whip a dog without bothering teamates:

“If a dog messes up badly enough that he needs discipline, don’t whip it in the team. With animals as sensitive and high-strung as top racing dogs, whipping one is like whipping the whole team… Take the one that messed up out again the next day in a three-dog team, preferably with seasoned teammates who won’t be bothered. The dog will mess up again. Then lick him.”

- Redington, Jr., Joee, musher and writer. Vaudrin, Bill, compiler of articles. Racing Alaskan Sled Dogs, Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, 1977

Alaska veterinarian says mushers crack ribs, break jaws or skulls:

“Veterinarian Jeanne Olson talks of cracked ribs, broken jaws or skulls from the use of two-by-fours as a punishment enforcer.

‘There are mushers out there whose philosophy is…that if that dog acts up I will hit that dog to the point where it would rather die than do what it did, `cause the next time it is gonna die.’

Olson looks me right in the eye when she says this, and I ask her if people have actually said this to her. ‘Yes,’ she says ‘and they’re even proud of it.’

Sled dogs most often don’t get another chance. Many mushers kill dogs who fight, act up, don’t run as fast or even contain traits that are not desirable.”

- Stephanie Land, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Department of Journalism website, 2007
- Dr. Olson has been practicing veterinary medicine in Alaska since 1988.

Mushers beat their dogs with whatever is handy:

“Mushers use whatever is at hand to beat their dogs: Trail stakes, limbs, clubs, ice hooks, etc.”

- Mike Cranford, Iditarod dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, 2012

High-profile musher seen beating dog:

“Ten years ago, this sled dog was saved by one of [Arna Dan] Isacsson’s friends, who came across her as she was being beaten by a musher while still harnessed to the team. Isacsson asked me not to use the dog’s name for fear the incident will be linked to that high-profile musher even today.”

- Lisa Wogan, Bark Magazine, Jan/Feb 2008
- Arna Dan Isacsson lives in Fairbanks, Alaska

Mushers bite dog’s ears as punishment during training:

“Each Thursday on the Dog Sledding Examiner we will talk about training of sled dogs.”

“Some experienced mushers bite a dog’s ear to punish him, and they feel that it is a natural form of communication.”

- Robert Forto, Ph.D., Team Ineka Blog, June 3, 2010
- Dr. Forto is a canine behaviorist. He’s been a professional musher for 15 years and is training dogs for his participation in the 2013 Iditarod.

Dogs are choked, smothered and beaten:

“The abuse occurs during training and out of the public’s eyes. I’ve seen the dogs choked, smothered and beaten with everything from clubs to steel snowhooks. One musher showed me his club made out of chain and how well it worked and he was proud of it.”

- Mike Cranford, dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, 2012

From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Some mushers attach “jigglers” or “poppers” to their whips. When they whip their dogs, the “jigglers” or “poppers” make a noise. As a result, the dogs become conditioned to think that the noise from a “jiggler” or a “popper” means the musher will inflict pain by whipping them. For these dogs, those noises alone are terrifying.

“If a dog growls or tires to nip at the other one, I always reprimand them right then, even though I have a dog in one hand. The next time I may have a small popper in my pocket. If so, I can discipline the dog if he tries to bite the other dog.”

- Barve, Lavon. The Art of dog Mushing, Wasilla: Northern Adventures Publications, 2000

“Cim Smyth of Big Lake said while any kind of force should not be allowed on the Iditarod Trial, he doesn’t know of many mushers who don’t discipline their dogs during training.”

- Mary Pemberton, Associated Press, April 28, 2007

“You are trying to train the dog. I think some pretty common training techniques that have developed are the possibility of biting or twisting their ear of slapping them with a short leather quirt*.”

*A quirt is a whip consisting of a short stout stock and a lash of braided leather.
- Swenson, Rick. The Secrets of Long Distance Training and Racing, 1987

Iditarod dogs routinely drugged:

“Sources connected to or once connected to the Iditarod organization and some mushers have told craigmedred.news the recent doping case involving tramadol was not the first Iditarod doping positive. They said there have been more than a few others.”

“Because of the [Iditarod’s] gag order and more, no mushers wanted to be named in this story, but a couple suggested that the likelihood of doping in the Iditarod should be obvious to knowledgeable observers.

They pointed out the 4,000 to 10,000 miles some mushers now claim to put on dogs in training for Iditarod. Most dogs can’t run that kind of mileage without the aid of drugs, they said.”

“It [The Iditarod] appears to have kept positive tests secret in the apparent belief they did not influence the competition and that revealing them might damage a musher’s reputation.”

– Craig Medred, blog, craigmedred.news, October 23, 2017
– Mr. Medred is an independent Alaska journalist.

“i’ve spent my life in and around sports, and i know a bit about doping. given the Iditarods lack of out-of-competition testing, why wouldn’t mushers dope? if you’re trying to put 5,000 or 10,000 miles on a team in training, dogs are gonna breakdown. drugs can minimize the breakdowns. if this were any other elite-level endurance sport lacking out-of-competition testing – be it marathoning, cycling, horse racing, greyhound racing, camel racing, you name it – somebody would be doping. are we to believe dog mushers are somehow purer than the competitors in all other sports? i know mushers who i’m pretty sure aren’t doping (though one never knows), and i believe them because they mainly tell me they can’t put 5,000 miles on their dogs in training without a bunch of dogs ending up injured.”

– Craig Medred, blog, craigmedred.news, November 13, 2017
– Mr. Medred is an independent Alaska journalist.

“‘The challenge is, of course, off-season doping,’ he [John Schandelmeier], told Alaska Public Media only days ago, ‘and there is no way of testing for it.'”

- Craig Medred, blog, craigmedred.news, January 10, 2018
- Mr. Medred is an independent Alaska journalist.
- John Schandelmeier won the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

— Counterfeit opioid pills could kill Iditarod dogs (when these pills kill people, you know they’re deadly to dogs):

“Law enforcement officials and medical professionals say that counterfeit opioid pills like those found in Macon have been flooding the illicit drug market and have been sickening — and killing — those who are seeking out powerful prescription drugs amid a worsening national opioid crisis. There is widespread fear that users who believe the prescription drugs are safe — because they are quality-controlled products of a regulated industry — could now unwittingly end up ingesting potent cocktails of unknown substances. In many places, the pills contain fentanyl, a synthetic drug that is driving a nationwide surge in overdose deaths.”

“The pills or their component parts come to the United States from either Mexico or China, officials say. In Mexico, cartels process the pills and ship them over the southwest border. Chemicals needed to make the pills are typically bought via the dark web from China. When the chemicals reach the United States, many of the fake pills are created in home operations, akin to the meth labs that proliferated about a decade ago.”

– Katie Zezima, Washington Post, November 19, 2017

[According to safemedicines.org, Alaska is one of the states with confirmed counterfeit fentanyl pills.]

Iditarod’s drug-testing is easy to beat:

“A study of 23 Iditarod dog deaths from 1994 to 2006 reported one of the abnormalities “detected frequently” was “centrilobular hepatic fibrosis” or, in layman’s terms, cysts on the liver. Among humans, this is an abnormality most often seen in alcoholics.

No Alaska sled dogs are known to have a drinking problem, but there is another well-known cause for these sorts of liver problems. In human athletes, the use of anabolic steroids to increase performance has been linked to “hemorrhagic cystic degeneration of the liver, which may lead to fibrosis,” according to the Encyclopedia of Sports Medicine and Science.”

“The race’s drug-testing program would, however, be easy to beat given that there is no out-of-competition testing. Stanozolol was the drug regularly mentioned in the 1990s, according to mushers active then. It’s now sold under the trade name Winstrol.

The drug is used to build lean muscle-mass in humans. It is said to do the same in dogs. The website Anabolic.Co offers advice on how to beat drug tests. On average, it says, Winstrol is undetectable after nine weeks.”

– Craig Medred, craigmedred.news, April 13, 2017
– Mr. Medred is an independent Alaska journalist.

Chief Iditarod vets think it’s OK for mushers to give dogs opioids and steroids during training:

- - Chief veterinarian, Karin Schmidt, helps mushers avoid drug detection:

“All prohibited drugs must be out of the dogs system at the time of the pre-Race veterinary check. Most anti-inflammatories such as pherrylbutazone and aspirin, which may be used on an injured dog during training are out of the system by 72 hours after they are given. To give a wide safety margin, I recommend that you discontinue all prohibited medications 2 weeks before the start of the Race unless they have been authorized by the head veterinarian.”

– Chief Iditarod veterinarian, Karin Schmidt, DVM
– 1994 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Musher’s/Veterinarian’s Handbook

- - Chief veterinarian, Stu Nelson, helps mushers avoid drug detection:

“To protect your dogs from a positive drug test, it is recommend that all medications containing prohibited substances be discontinued at least TWO WEEKS prior to the race start, with the exception of ‘long acting’ repository products, i.e., Betasone, DepoMedrol, Vetalog and others. These should be discontinued at least FOUR WEEKS prior to the race.”

- 2018 Iditarod Drug Test Program Specific For Mushers, KTVA website, February 23, 2018

Iditarod works with mushers to hide dog doping:

“The doping manual for the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is now out.

Gone is the “strict liability’ rule that made mushers responsible for a doped team unless they could present evidence to demonstrate they didn’t juice the dogs.

In its place is a new sense of cooperation.

‘A drug testing violation is extremely serious, likely resulting in substantial penalties and career damaging consequences,’ it says. ‘For many reasons, precautions should be taken to avoid such a scenario. This includes a joint effort by mushers and the ITC (Iditarod Trail Committee.)’

The latter appears to have taken to heart the complaints voiced by four-time Iditarod champ Dallas Seavey after his dogs were found to be doped in 2017. He protested that Iditarod was supposed to protect mushers, not bust them.

The race is now advising mushers on how to avoid trouble.

‘Prevention measures generally include the following: musher knowledge and respect for clearance times of commonly used medications,’ the manual says.”

“It [The Iditarod] does no out-of-competition testing and makes no attempt to monitor what is done with or to dogs before or after what it calls The Last Great Race.”[Emphasis added.]

– Craig Medred, craigmedred.news, October 19, 2019
– Craig Medred is an independent Alaskan journalist.

“There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in dog mushing.”:

“‘I want to say something . . . about this humane thing,’ [Susan] Butcher said. ‘There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in dog mushing. We wouldn’t, as a group, pass anybody’s idea of humane treatment of animals. As a group, we don’t pass my standards of humane treatment of animals.'”

- David Hulen, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 1992

[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: Mushers have promoted the myth that sled dogs are the only dogs who love to run. However, the love of running is inborn in all dogs. A study in The Journal of Experimental Biology* found that dogs’ bodies release a marijuana-like substance when they run for a long period of time. This substance encourages them to run. But, just like us, dogs don’t want to run when they’re exhausted, sick or injured. Mushers beat, club, kick and bite dogs to get them to run or to run faster.]

The love of running is inborn in all dogs:

“Searching, retrieving, running and chasing are all natural forms of work and play for dogs.”

- Bethel Mill Animal Hospital, New Jersey, website article 2013

“Running is very high on most dogs’ lists of favorite things to do. He’ll do it as often as you’ll let him. Dogs are exuberant creatures.”

- Petcentric.com, website article, 2013

“Dogs love to run….”

- Orchard Animal Clinic’s advertisement in The Loveland Reporter-Herald, July, 2013

Nature rewards dogs who run with euphoria-inducing buzz, which encourages more running:

“Researchers at the University of Arizona have found that dog’s bodies release a chemical similar to one found in marijuana when they run for a prolonged period of time.

David Raichlen and his team studied endocannabinoids and found that “‘a neurobiological reward for endurance exercise may explain why humans and other cursorial mammals habitually engage in aerobic exercise.'”

“Dogs are considered to be cursorial animals, meaning that they have legs adapted for running.”

- Jennifer Viegas, News.Discovery.com, May 14, 2013
- Oregon State University Vet Gazette, May 31, 2013
*Raichlen, David A.; Foster, Adam D.; Gerdeman, Gregory L.; Seillier, Alexandra and Giuffrida, Andrea. “Wired to run: exercise-induced endocannabinoid signaling in humans and cursorial mammals with implications for the ‘runners high.’” Journal of Experimental Biology, April 15, 2012, pages 1331-1336

Training results in significant gastrointestinal damage:

“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

Training creates negative metabolic and physiological imbalances:

“Hypoglobulinemia in resting, conditioned sled dogs may reflect the immunosuppressive or catabolic effects of intense endurance training.”

- McKenzie EC, Jose-Cunilleras E, et al. “Serum chemistry alterations in Alaskan sled dogs during five successive days of prolonged endurance exercise,” Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, May 15, 2007

“Hypoglobulinemia is a lower than normal concentration of globulins proteins.”

- vetconnect.com.au, September 1, 2007

Anabolic steroids an issue because dogs are forced to pull trucks and heavy sleds:

“The dogs are pulling sleds totaling more than 400 pounds each. To prepare, teams might pull a truck. No wonder anabolic steroids are an issue.”

- Greg Cote, Miami Herald, March 5, 2002

Dogs forced to pull almost 600 pounds for 50 miles, four times a week on hills, sand, gravel and paths of boulders and pot holes:

“He [Spencer Thew] commissioned dog teams of 14 to pull nearly 600 pounds for 50-mile runs, four times a week to build strength and discipline for the long race ahead.

‘At home, we intentionally ran in wind, rain, and hail to try to instill that ‘run no matter what’ mentality in younger teams,’ Mr. Thew said. ‘Trails on the property are hilly, varying from sand and gravel roads to roughed-in paths of boulders and pot holes.'”

- Alisha Rexford, The Journal, April 2, 2015

Dogs pull 400 to 500 pounds in the sled:

“Whether we are just crawling up a steep hill with four hundred or five hundred pounds in the sled, or traveling fast on a hard-packed trail, I like to break up training runs every two hours.”

- Lance Mackey. The Lance Mackey Story, Fairbanks: Zorro Books, LLC, 2010

Dogs pull trucks:

“How is Emmet [Peters] training with no snow on the trails? ‘Well, I saw Emmet hook a team to his truck,’ Mark [Nordman] reported.”

- Mark Nordman, is Iditarod’s Race Marshall
- Joe Runyan, “Weather Confounds Iditarod Mushers” on Cabela’s website, Feb. 22, 2002

“Some people use their truck. This method, though it gives control to the driver, is fraught with pitfalls. The driver is unable to sense how fast and hard the dogs are working.”

- Jim Welch, The Speed Mushing Manual, 1990

“Going into the 2014 race I planned to have more miles on my dogs than at any time in my life. I’ve got a rig with tracks on it and I’ve been training by truck for a long time now. It’s a jeep Wrangler and was my birthday present to myself. It’s got a CD player and a heater and a trailer full of dog booties for the dogs.”

- Jeff King, Chapter 2, Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail
- Freedman, Lew. Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail, Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 2015

“Martin Buser told me of a trick he has used when training with his truck. He has a length of very heavy chain between his front bumper and the rear end of the gangline. The chain is long enough so that he can see it from the driver’s seat and heavy enough so that the dogs have to be pulling fairly hard in order to keep the chain from drooping on the ground.”

- Jim Welch, The Speed Mushing Manual, 1990

Dogs pull ATVs:

“They pull a 500-pound ATV around in summer.”

- Chapoton, C. Mark. A Tale of Two Iditarods, Big Lake: CMC, 2008

“I always try to free-run the dogs with a four wheeler whenever I can.”

- Doug Swingley, Iditarod race winner
- Joe Runyan, “Doug Swingley-The Greatest Ever?” on Cabela’s website, Feb. 25, 2002

“Susan [Butcher] harnesses a team to an ATV.”

- Dolan, Ellen. Susan Butcher and the Iditarod Trail, 1993

“The four wheeler is a great training tool.”

- Joe Runyan, Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers, 1997

“Comparatively few Iditarod fans realize that when the snow is gone, we still mush. Instead of a toboggan sled skimming over the snow, the driver rides an all-terrain vehicle.”

- Lew Freedman & Dee Dee Jonrowe. Iditarod Dreams, Seattle: Epicenter Press, 1995<

“We’ve been running our teams for a couple of weeks with ATVs on unpaved local borough roads.” [Alaska has boroughs, not counties.]

- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2000<

“Dogs are hooked up to all-terrain vehicles for runs.”

- Jon Saraceno, USA Today, March 5, 2001

“As you start out on your four-wheeler training in the first gear, motor off, you will find it hard to believe that 16 dogs can even pull the machine. Then you will come to the first hill and you will think surely I should use the motor here; no way are they going to make it to the top. Well, perhaps not, but then maybe you need different dogs. If you drive your truck up the hill in four-wheel-drive, then the 16-dog team should be able to pull a 300cc four-wheeler up it. Make them pull it up there, step by step, creeping up hill until you level out and speed up.”

- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008

9-month-old puppies pull a four-wheeler on dirt:

“We start serious training in the Fall, but you will work with us to ‘harness break’ our 9 month old puppies using a four-wheeler to run them on a dirt trail.”

- Dallas and Jen Seavey job posting on CoolWorks.com, March 22, 2013

Dogs pull heavy car chassis:

“[Terry] Adkins kept his dogs working through the summer, dragging a heavy car chassis through mountains near his home.”

- 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

Pulling heavy loads harms dogs:

“In order to condition dogs for racing, they are forced to pull heavy loads like vehicles. Not only does this put inordinate stress on their cardiovascular and respiratory systems, but it also causes strains and fractures of their musculoskeletal systems and rupture of the tendons and ligaments of their joints. In addition to painful acute injuries, almost all dogs allowed to survive until middle age will experience crippling arthritis from cumulative, repetitive damage to the spine and joints.”

- Dr. Paula Kislak, President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, September 7, 2004 email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition

Cattle prods used on dogs:

“There is an undeniable need, in some cases for negative reinforcement.

One of the most effective tools for doing this is an electrical shocker. I always bought the small pocket models available at stores that sell stock supplies which are inconspicuous, yet effective.”

“This is the way I do it. Stop the team and snub them to a tree. Say the name of the offender, ‘Blazo,’ in a firm voice and give the slacker a short blast of electrons.”

“When he slacks off again, say his name again. If Blazo doesn’t hit the tow line, try it again. Usually a couple of times is all it takes.”

- Runyan, Joe. Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers, Sacramento: Griffin Printing Co.,1997
- Joe Runyan reported on the Iditarod for Iditarod sponsor Cabela’s Incorporated

“I’ve seen small hand held shockers used to motivate the dogs and they put out quite jolt.”

- Mike Cranford, dog handler, letter to the Sled Dog Action Coalition

Electric collars used on dogs:

“Due to my heavy involvement in this “sport,” I’ve been able to witness atrocities that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to. These include: Dogs shocked with electric collars to prevent them from fighting while running in harness.”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008

Electric shock to terrorize dogs is very detrimental:

“The use of electrical shock to terrorize a dog is very detrimental on many levels. It will force a dog to exceed his reasonable physical limitations and predispose him to painful injuries. And psychologically it creates fear and apprehension which degrades his quality of life. The shock stimulus itself, if inaccurately calibrated, can cause localized burns or sudden cardiac arrest.”

- Dr. Paula Kislak, President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, September 7, 2004 email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition

Tethered dogs forced to train by treading water:

“While [Jeff] King’s idea was to string about 15 dogs at a time between two boats so the dogs can swim laps around the lake for 90 minutes, Another experienced musher’s game plan is much more compact. About eight dogs jump into his 7-foot-deep pool and get a workout for about 45 minutes.

“‘They’re just treading water in the pool, but they tread or otherwise they’ll sink,’ he said, pointing out that treading water for close to an hour is hard work.”

- The photo which accompanied the article showed the dogs treading water in a pool with one tether attached to the collar of each dog.
- Jon Little, Cabela’s Iditarod website, October 27, 2006
- Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.

Forcing a tethered dog to tread water can be harmful:

“Forcing a dog to tread water while tethered by the neck for 45 or more minutes, and the only alternative is to sink and drown, will likely result in over-exertion and exhaustion.

Under these negative circumstances they may easily inhale water and choke or develop pulmonary inflammation or aspiration pneumonia.”

- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, President, Association of Veterinarians for Animals Rights
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition on December 17, 2006

Dog killed by snowmachine:

“The road [Denali Highway] is also laid out perfectly for long training runs, which have become the norm for Iditarod and Quest mushers these days.”<

“The open road allows snowmachiners to travel at high speeds and one musher had a dog killed earlier this winter when one of two snowmachines that were racing down the road ran into the musher’s team.”

- Tim Mowry (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner), Juneau Empire, December 30, 2007

Dog injured by snowmachine:

“Michelle’s [Phillips] lead dog Hickory was expected to run in this year’s Iditarod but he was seriously injured by a snowmachine.”

- Michell Phillips’ Tagish Lake Kennel website, 2012

Dog dies from liver problem:

“We trained all through the summer. We never shut them down, so that team was in training for over two years. I lost a dog. I don’t know when she died. She died in the dog lot from a liver problem.”

- Joe May, Chapter 8, Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail
- Freedman, Lew. Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail, Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 2015

Dallas Seavey’s dog dies after eating rope:

“One of the first major events in training was actually my main lead dog Frig passed away rather unexpectedly, ended up eating some rope, took him into the vet to have everything removed, surgery went great. When they took him off the anesthetics his heart just basically stopped.”

- Dallas Seavey talking in his kennel, video Dallas Seavey – Lead Dogs for 2010 Iditarod uploaded by jjkelleriditarod onto youtube.com on March 1, 2010

Dog killed by moose:

“So as the moose closed with the dogs, they now charged toward it.

‘They couldn’t get up to a very fast speed because of the drag,’ Smyth said, ‘but the leaders got past. The moose started working on the swing dogs. He kind of raised up for a one-two strike.’

One of the dogs was hit hard and went down, then got stomped hard. Smyth thinks now that must have been Fido.

The moose, Smyth said, ‘came down on him with both front feet, and then it just started with the rest of the team.’

As the dogs rolled on, the moose came racing up the gangline, hooves flying, until it got to the sled.” “When Smyth turned back to his team, he saw immediately that Fido was down.”

“When he went to the dog, he found him struggling to breathe. His stomach was distended, his sides swollen. Probably, the blow from the moose had ruptured blood vessels and he was bleeding internally. In that case, there wouldn’t be much that could be done even if a veterinarian was there, and the nearest veterinarian was tens of miles away.”

- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, January 25, 2005

Dogs strangled to death:

“Nine of the 10 sled dogs that kept going when their musher [Jan Stevens] fell off near Willow survived two days of tangles, fights and hunger while trapped together on their gangline before being rescued Wednesday afternoon.”

“One dog, Tappy, was dead, apparently strangled in the mess of harnesses, said Ted English, the veteran musher who owns the team and who had loaned it to another musher.

‘Almost everybody had some type of bite wound on them, and a couple of them had already formed some abscesses…. [Erin] McLarnon said.'”

- Erin McLarnon is president of the Will Dog Mushers Association.
- James Halpin, Anchorage Daily News, December 31, 2009

“One of the dogs had become tangled in its harness and was beyond any possibility of resuscitation.”

- Jim Lanier. Beyond Ophir: Confessions of an Iditarod Musher, An Alaskan Odyssey, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

“A year later, [Jon] Terhune entered the Kusko a second time. He viewed it as a final Iditarod tune-up.”

“Dandy, the musher’s favorite, most dependable lead dog, was running inside the team.”

“But the strategy backfired tragically when Dandy fell on the slick ice. She dragged in a tangle of lines while Terhune battled to slow his runaway team. But he couldn’t plant his hook in the hard river ice. Afterward, he spent 20 minutes trying to revive poor Dandy. To no avail. The lead dog was dead.”

- O’Donoghue, Brian Patrick. My Lead Dog was a Lesbian, New York: Vintage Books, 1996

Dogs fatally injured by motorized vehicles:

- - Musher and truck collide near Willow leaving 1 sled dog dead, 3 injured, 1 missing

“A sled dog musher from New Hampshire registered to race in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race saw her dog team collide with a truck while mushing near Willow on Wednesday, which has left one sled dog dead and at least three others injured.

Jaye Foucher of Sibersong Sleddogs was mushing near the Matanuska-Susitna Borough community of Willow on Wednesday afternoon when she says a truck collided with her sled dog team. Troopers received a call shortly after 2 p.m. but neither Foucher nor the driver of the vehicle were on scene at the time troopers arrived.

Foucher said the collision happened as she and her team were attempting to cross the road. ‘I started waving my arms at him to slow down and stop to avoid hitting the team, but they didn’t. I don’t know if they didn’t see me,’ Foucher said. ‘I don’t know how they didn’t see the team, … at least six of the dogs were smack in the road at that point and the guy didn’t even slow down.”

“Foucher told Alaska’s News Source on Wednesday that she was not physically injured, but that one dog had died and one dog remains missing.”

- Tim Rockey, KTUU.com. January 19, 2022

- - Two of Sebastian Schnuelle’s dogs are killed, some injured when his team was hit by vehicle:

“…Sebastian Schnuelle lost two members of his dog team earlier this week after the team was hit by a vehicle during a road crossing.

In a Facebook post, Schnuelle said the team was crossing Chena Hot Springs Road when the vehicle ran ‘right through the middle of the team at full highway speed.’”

- KTUU website, December 29, 2016
- Sebastian Schnuelle signed up race dogs in the 2017 Iditarod.

- - - Schnuelle should have yielded the right of way to traffic:

“Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said she wasn’t familiar with a crash of this type reported to troopers. However, based on the text of Schnuelle’s post it appears the driver had the right-of-way, she said.”

‘If someone is crossing a highway and they are struck — whether they are on a dogsled or a snowmachine — they have the expectation to yield the right of way to traffic, not the other way around,’ she said.”

- Sam Friedman, Fairbanks News-Miner, December 29, 2016

- - Two dogs die:

“A 23-year-old North Pole man was charged with reckless driving in connection with the hit-and-run death of a sled dog last October.”

“According to musher Jeff Holt, Tanner ran through the intersection of Peede and Brock roads and struck Goose, a leader, shattering his jaw so severely the dog had to be euthanized.”

“Goose was the second of Holt’s sled dogs to die at the hands of a hit-and-run driver.

Chip, an older lead dog, was killed during a training run in early 2003 when a six-wheel all-terrain vehicle drove into Holt’s 10-dog team and over the sled Holt was driving. Two other dogs were injured; the collision left Holt with a broken hand and damaged sled.”

- Amanda Bohman, Fairbanks News-Miner, July 14, 2005

- - Five dogs die:

“[Jon] Little took out a four-wheeler pulled by 13 dogs, and was followed by another four-wheeler pulled by 12 dogs, being driven by Mike Barnett, a friend and past handler of Little’s from the winter of 2006-07. It was getting dark as they neared the tail-end of an 8-mile run, and to finish up they needed to cross the Sterling Highway near it’s intersection with Kalifornsky Beach Road — a busy location, but one Little had safely driven dog teams over for more than 10 years.

‘I got across and then signalled to Mike to hold up because there was a lot of traffic,’ Little said.

Barnett said he got the dogs stopped, briefly jumped off to deal with a tangle, then hopped back on the wheeler and began to wait for several minutes as a stream of continuous vehicles came through. However, as the dogs got their wind while on the break, they got their legs under them too, and started pulling against the four-wheeler’s brakes, which after several training seasons were not as new as they once were.

‘They started pulling me, further and further. Jon was waving to stop and I was riding the brakes, but they got into the road,’ Barnett said.

‘I saw the car and saw the dog and knew something bad was going to happen,’ Little said.

Six dogs — all lead dogs or leaders in training — were struck by a southbound 2007 Subaru Outback driven by Richard Abboud of Homer.”

“Of the six that were hit, one dog miraculously sustained no injuries, but three others were killed instantly. These dogs were Belfast, a 5-year-old female and an Iditarod veteran, Breaburn, a 4-year-old female that, while leased out, finished the Iditarod on Jeff King’s second-place team in 2008 and on Zack Steer’s third-place team in 2007, and Nike, a 4-year-old male and another Iditarod veteran.

Two other dogs were hit and sustained injuries, but did not die at the scene. One was Handel, a 9-year-old female in semi-retirement that had eight 1,000 mile races to her name, including leading portions of the Iditarod last season while leased to Joe Runyan. Unfortunately, Handel had to be euthanized on Tuesday due to the extent of her internal injuries.”

- Joseph Robertia, Peninsula Clarion, October 2, 2008
- Jon Little works for Cabela’s and writes a blog that’s published on the Iditarod website.
- He formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.

- - One dog dies:

“And I had Nugget. She was a great dog. In 1977 I was training my dogs in Anchorage and she slipped her harness and got away from me. She ran off and got hit by a car and was killed.”

- Emmitt Peters, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics: Tales of the Trail Told by the Men & Women Who Race Across Alaska, Kenmore: Epicenter Press, 2004

Sled dog dies from “sudden illness”:

“[Brent] Sass said he had taken his team on a training run Sunday near the Alpine Creek Lodge, at Mile 68 of the Denali Highway, and bedded the dogs down afterward. The dogs were resting and fed, but when Sass returned a few hours later, part of his normal schedule for such a training run, Basin was not doing well, he said, describing the issue as an unknown, sudden illness.

‘He was in a hurtin’ way, and his condition went down really fast,’ Sass said.

Sass and his friends brought Basin inside the lodge to warm up and gave the dog fluids. The remoteness meant they could not get him to a veterinarian in time. For a brief time it looked like Basin might pull through, but he died a while later, Sass said.”

- Casey Grove, Newsminer, January 14, 2016

Brent Sass’s dog Basin killed in dogfight:

“Musher Brent Sass, another Iditarod favorite, lost his best lead dog to injuries incurred in a dog fight during a training run along the Denali Highway early last year, according to the musher who broke up that fight. He said Sass left his team staked out while taking a break in a lodge along the route.

Some dogs in the team chewed themselves loose and pounced on the dog named Basin, who was still tied down.”

- Craig Medred, craigmedred.news, December 10, 2017

Burt Bomhoff’s dog dead from dogfight:

“Meanwhile Ivor and a male named Dancer kept trying to join the battle. I kept throwing them aside as I hung on to Tiger in a frantic attempt to save him from Wayne’s powerful jaws.”

“Each time Way was able to get a firmer, more deadly grip until Tiger was seriously injured.”

“We were at Dr. Sept’s office at eight o’clock the following morning. Bob operated on Tiger until noon, attempting to patch him back together.”

“Tiger died on the operating table.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013
- Burt Bomhoff served on the Iditarod’s board of directors, as Iditarod president for many years, and ran dogs in the race seven times.

Dick Mackey’s dog killed by another dog after training run:

“I broke my right shoulder in November. The dogs didn’t run for two weeks. I hired a gal to go out there and train them with Varona [Thompson]. I was back home in Wasilla recuperating. I tried to fly back and forth every day to see how things were going.

Things weren’t going well. After a run, one of the dogs killed another.”

- Mackey, Dick. One Second to Glory, Alaska: Epicenter Press, 2001

Sled dogs killed by poison set out for wolves and foxes:

“Similar stories have come from places such as Alaska and Canada, where valuable sled dogs were lost to poison set out for wolves and foxes.”

- Keith LaCaze, Louisiana Sportsman, November 23, 2015

Running on bare ground is murder on paws and tendons:

“His [Kurt Reich] ragtag band of 24 mutts has had to practice for weeks by pulling an ATV because there is not enough winter around Pikes Peak for a sled.”

“Of course, training in the semi-rural hills of Teller County poses its own challenges. Dirt bikes have almost hit the dogs on forest trails. Trouble-making neighborhood retrievers like to chase the ATV. And the lack of snow is murder on the dogs’ paws. Two are out with tendonitis and Reich has to rub his pooches’ pads with Vaseline to sooth dry cracks.”

- Dave Phillips, The Gazette, February 14, 2009

“The scant snowfall across the state has forced frustrated mushers to leave their sleds in the garage and instead train their dogs with four-wheelers.””Some mushers have reported that running on the hard, frozen ground has damaged the dogs’ paw pads.” “‘With the frozen ground, the little rocks become like very rough sandpaper,’ he [musher Linwood Fiedler] said.”

- Ron Wilmot, Anchorage Daily News, November 17, 2002

20 dogs drown in freezing water training for Iditarod:

“I got out on the ice with the lead ten-dog team. My wife [Kristen] was behind me, following with ten more dogs. I got about a mile and a half out, and the ice didn’t seem safe to me. Sure enough, the sled broke through the ice and I went into the water.”

“Then my team pulled the sled out of the water and I was able to get myself out.”

“I said to Kristen, ‘Let’s start for home and the dogs will follow us.’ For a while it looked like it was going to work. The dogs would have a lighter load and the ice might hold.

But then the dogs got farther and farther from shore, and they got tangled up in a big ball in the harness. From twenty dogs all spread out, now there were twenty dogs all concentrated in a small area. It was a thousand pounds of dogs. Kristen and I were almost to shore when we turned back and saw this mayhem of splashing dogs. I was in shock. Kristen said, ‘The dogs have fallen in.’ I said, ‘Get the canoe.’

By the time we got back with the canoe, there was nothing moving there.”

“I remember looking down into that hole and seeing a gang line and dogs and black water, and I knew that we had lost them.”

- Dave Olesen, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics: Tales of the Trail Told by the Men & Women Who Race Across Alaska, Kenmore: Epicenter Press, 2004

Dogs injured running downhill - “Dogs aren’t designed to run downhill”:

“Besides the less-than-ideal training weather, eight of Dr. Knolmayer’s 20 dogs were injured at some point this winter.

‘It was more injuries than I expected, and some of it might have been because of our training in the mountains — dogs aren’t designed to run downhill.'”

- (Major) Dr. Thomas Knolmayer, of the 3rd Medical Group, is chief of surgery at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska
- Capt. Amy Hansen, 3rd Wing Public Affairs, U.S. Air Force website, March 4, 2005

Dogs almost drown:

“‘Earlier this winter, I fell in the little Su training and I damn near drowned my team,’ says [Jason] Mackey.”

- Emily Schwing, KUAC.org, March 8, 2013

- At 50 degrees below mushers and dogs fall through ice:

“No matter the temperature, moving water under the ice can break the surface, which explains why dog mushers fall through rivers and lakes in the Bush while the temperature is a raging 50 degrees below, [Marc] Scholten said.”

- Andrew Petty, Juneau Empire, December 4, 2005

Dogs caught in leg-hold traps suffer horrific injury and pain:

“Some trappers, especially wolf trappers, set their traps in the middle of the trail hoping to catch something running the trail. She [Libby Riddles] said her dogs had gotten into traps twice. One of her wheelers got a hind foot caught in a trap, which must have been murderously painful. Before she could put on the brakes, the rest of the team had stretched the poor wheel dog to the point where his leg must have been ten feet long.

She said it was extremely difficult to remove the dog from the trap because of its pain, which cause it to snap, bite, and growl every time she got near it.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Hard impact causes hole bigger than 1/8 inch in dog’s eye:

“Sometime during a training run she [Rhu] ended up getting poked in the eye. It left an 1/8”+ sized hole in one of her eyes. It was disgusting!!!”

- Ed Stielstra, Nature’s Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures, blog, November 25, 2012

Dog’s nose gets bloody injury when a stick is thrust up his nostril:

“He [Scissors] was running along and snagged a stick up his nostril! Blood was pouring out of his right nostril and he couldn’t stop sneezing.”

- Ed Stielstra, Nature’s Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures, blog, November 25, 2012

Sharp granular snow makes paws bleed:

“We were on a long run and I began to see tiny spots of blood on the trial from the dogs’ feet. Snow is quite granular during extremely cold weather and can become as sharp as bits of broken glass. “

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Eight dogs injured:

“Eight of Dr. Knolmayer’s 20 dogs were injured at some point this winter.

It was more injuries than I expected, and some of it might have been because of our training in the mountains — dogs aren’t designed to run downhill. They’ve all improved, but a week and a half ago Tomahawk was injured. He’s my best and toughest leader, but I don’t think he’s going to make the race,” Dr. Knolmayer said.”

- Capt. Amy Hansen, Air Force Link, March 4, 2005

Lead dog injured before the race started:

“Gebhardt had a trying winter training and nearly lost his chief leader to injury before the race began in Anchorage on March 3.”

- Lew Freedman, Anchorage Daily News, March 21, 2001

Dog collapses:

“’One is healing from surgery and is not recovered enough and the other in training the other day collapsed on us and was just sluggish, so better safe than sorry, [G.B.] Jones said.”

- Robert DeBerry, Frontiersman, March 6, 2011

Dogs get banged-up:

During a training run Wednesday, [Kelly] Maixner noted a few dogs having some trouble.“I got a few little banged-up dogs,” said Maixner.

- Robert DeBerry, Frontiersman, March 6, 2011

Ice hook snagged dog’s leg; dog needs 10 stitches:

“Two weeks ago, Jonrowe said she had a mishap with her new lead dog, 3-year-old Softail. An ice hook snagged his back leg while she was practicing with another team. The injury required 10 stitches. ‘I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t say anything. I just picked him up and put him in the sled,’ she (Jonrowe) said.”

- Anchorage Daily News, “Mushers into Skwenta,” March 6, 2000

Dogs trained next to most dangerous highway in Alaska: George Parks Highway

— Parks Highway most dangerous in Alaska:

“[Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bill] Tandeske surprised many when he said it is not the notorious Seward Highway that is the most dangerous in Alaska, as previously thought, but sections of the Parks Highway just outside Wasilla city limits.”

- Kristen Seine, The Frontiersman, February 10, 2006

— Mushers train dogs next to George Parks Highway:

“[Dallas] Seavey, who lives in Willow, said he’s put thousands of training miles on his dogs by running them alongside the highway.”

- Suzanna Caldwell, Alaska Dispatch News, November 26, 2014

“’It’s always in the back of your mind that it’s kind of scary to be running next to the highway, but there a lot of mushers in the Willow area and they are stuck with running near the highway,’ she [Karin Hendrickson] said.” “‘I had 14 dogs hooked up to a four-wheeler, we are still running four-wheelers because there’s not enough snow,’ said Hendrickson, who was traveling south on a trail just a few feet from the road.” “When she recovers and begins training again, Hendrickson says she won’t be changing her route.”

- Kate McPherson, KTVA TV, November 27, 2014

Dogs hit and killed by semi tractor on George Parks Highway:

“During a training run along the George Parks Highway, a pair of his (Dave Straub’s) lead dogs bolted across the pavement in front of a fast-moving semi tractor and trailer.” “The semi slammed into the dogs at almost full speed, instantly killing three, injuring another.”

- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, March 7, 2000

Dogs suffer lacerations and road burns on George Parks Highway:

“Musher Karin Hendrickson is in the hospital with a broken back and leg after a car veered off the Parks Highway Tuesday night and hit the Iditarod finisher and her sled dogs.”

- KTVA TV, November 26, 2014

‘Not all came away unscathed. Two dogs, Spartan and Fly, suffered lacerations and road burns.”

- Blake Essig, KTUU, November 26, 2014

Wade Marrs’s dogs hit by oncoming car:

“A Willow Iditarod musher says his dog team was struck by a car Friday evening with one dog [Sockeye] suffering a broken leg. The car drove away without helping, the musher claims.

Wade Marrs, a six-time Iditarod finisher, posted to social media to say one of his teams being run by rookie Iditarod musher Andrew Nolan was struck by an oncoming vehicle.

‘The team was running on the side of the road very close to his home and despite the flashing of the ATV lights and headlamp, the vehicle proceeded to hit the lead dogs and continued to drive away,’ said Marrs on social media.”

- Sean Maguire, KTTU-TV website, November 9, 2017
- Sockeye is a 2-year-old dog.

Ryan Redington, Jr., dogs got hit twice:

“Now you have to have some crossing guards or you’re going to get run over. People don’t look for us with dog teams anymore. It’s no different in Knik. Ray Redington Jr., in the capital of the musing world got hit twice.”

- Jason Mackey, Chapter 6, Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail
- Freedman, Lew. Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail, Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 2015

Moose attack injures dogs:

“Whatever the catalyst, the animal wasn’t looking for a way out of the situation, and instead of fleeing to the woods, turned on Paul [Gebhardt] and his team. Laying her ears back, the [moose] cow immediately charged into the team - hooves slashing at the defenseless dogs. Attacking the dogs in the lead position first, she then proceeded to work her way the entire length of the team, stomping and slashing with her hooves as she went.”

“The ones bearing open, bleeding wounds were the most obvious. But we would sooner learn, that it was the hidden injuries that did the most damage.”

“X-Rays revealed her [Zanadoo] collapsed lung and crushed ribs. Sheered off at the spine and disjointed at the bottom, the bones had been crushed with one fatal blow from the moose. Less than a 50% chance of making it through the extensive surgery, not including the possibility of infection later. If she did survive, she would never have the capacity to be a performance athlete again. I cannot imagine the pain Paul must have experienced at having to decide to do the humane thing.”

- Evy Gebhardt, talking about Paul Gebhart’s training run, Aspen Hollow Lodging website, 2009

[With the surgery could Zanadoo have survived? Did Paul Gebhart euthanize Zanadoo because she would never again be a performance athlete?]

“Macky said the moose jumped the team again, stepping in the one empty slot where a dog was missing.

‘She was just ornery,’ Macky said….

One of Mackey’s dogs was kicked between the shoulder blades.”

- Jenni Dillion, Peninsula Clarion, March 10, 2004

“When she was two years old, a moose stomped through [Ed] Iten’s team during a training run, shattering Zoey’s leg with a single stamp of its cloven hoof. Her leg was literally flopping around.”

- Jon Little, Cabelas Iditarod Coverage, website March 11, 2006
- Jon Little formerly wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.

“Joe Redington Sr., had to sit out this year’s Iditarod because of injuries suffered a few weeks ago when an irate moose trampled his team during a practice run.”

- Colin Nickerson, Boston Globe, March 15, 1983

“Irving, a 5-year-old, must remain behind. He’s on the disabled list this year with a muscle tear in his hind leg. The consequence of what [Karen] Ramstead calls an ‘ambush’ attack during a recent training run on popular dog sled trails outside Willow.

Every musher has a moose story. Tales of charging bulls, or shattered sleds or head-on collisions with 1,000-pound cows.”

- Kyle Hopkins, iditablog, Anchorage Daily News, February 25, 2012

One dog dies of heart attack and another injured in Iditarod qualifier, the Knik 200:

“Only six days off the jet from London, standing on the runners of a dogsled for only the third time in his life and still trying to shake the jet-lag our of his head, Englishman Allen Garth wondered what he was doing in the middle of a sled dog race through the frigid Alaska wilds.”

“He’d signed with the legendary Joe Redington to train for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race….”

“Only a few hours away from the starting line, Garth endured the trauma of a dog death in his team.”

“‘I had a dog die after 18 or 15 miles out,’ Garth said.

Veterinarians determined the animal had a heart attack.”

“He was loading the carcass of the dead dogs into his sled when a fight broke out in his team. That resulted in a serious gash on the foot of one of his lead dogs.”

- Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News, January 15, 1991

Dogs injured fighting with other dogs on team:

“Training these three teams of young pups meant that there were some inevitable behavioral issues: some minor harness chewing, some minor humping and a couple of memorable fights.”

“As we left the kennel, they snapped. Teeth plunged into necks, biting, growling and me unable to find a safe place to stop. When I finally did break them up, I could see Qué Pasa was bleeding from the mouth.”

“Because I didn’t heed the obvious warning signs, Qué Pasa broke a canine [tooth].”

- Sean Maguire, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, April 12, 2017

“My shot at winning the 2008 was ended prematurely when the main leader of what I consider to be the most talented team I ever had, up to that point, was badly chewed up by several other dogs in the team. We were camping at a training location so the tethering arrangements were less than ideal. While I was away from the dogs for a few minutes, one dog got loose and stared a fight. A gang chain broke, and at least five dogs piled on my leader. He managed to survive by getting out of his collar and hiding under the dog truck, though he needed a load of stitches…”

- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008

“He [Irving] had to stay home after fighting with another dog during a training run and suffering a puncture wound in his leg.”

- Irving is Karen Ramstead’s dog.

- Kyle Hopkins, iditarodblog, Anchorage Daily News, March 7, 2012

“Her most ‘hair raising’ Iditarod experience didn’t occur in the race itself. It came in the middle of training when [Shelly] Gill needed more dogs, after a dog fight injured three members of her team during a preliminary run.”

- Nielsen, Nicki J. The Iditarod: Women on the Trail, Anchorage: Wolfdog Publications, 1986

“Tiger and Dancer tried to turn around and follow Mark back to the cabin and got into a fight in the process.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Super Glue used to patch up Iditarod dog’s pad, which was torn by ice:

“The freeze-thaw cycle had resulted in lots of ice crystals on the trail surface. I worried about the dogs’ feet but felt we had to try it once to see how it worked. Not good. We had some minor abrasions and Felix nearly lost a three-eights-inch piece from one of his pads. It was still attached with a narrow tag of skin.” “I took some Super Glue and reattached Felix’s torn pad, a trick I learned from [Iditarod musher] Rick Swenson.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Dog breaks leg:

“Ryan noticed that Pop has a slight fracture. He injured this same leg last year. His season & probably his racing career are over.”

- Emil Curchin, Training Blog & Dog Bios, 2012

Dogs injured by porcupine quills:

“This season the sled dog training at the lower elevations has been wrought by run-ins with porcupines.

‘It seems to be there’s more of them this year,’ [Tim] Osmar said. ‘They’re on the trails, on the beach, they’re everywhere.'”

“‘A porcupine was there,’ he[Osmar] said. ‘Three dogs got quilled: my leaders and a swing dog. One of them had them bad; they were in the dog’s mouth, face and shoulder.’ Osmar couldn’t pull the quills out on site. Also, with several young pups in the main team, and his lead dogs incapacitated from their injuries, Osmar had no way of running the team home, so he flagged down a passing car.

- Joseph Robertia, Peninsula Clarion, October 6, 2009

- Porcupine quills can puncture internal organs, cause abscesses and great pain:

“The one thing you should not do is wait for the quills to work themselves out of your pet’s skin on their own. They won’t. Instead, because quills are barbed, two things may happen. First, your pet is likely to break them off as he tries to paw them out himself. This ultimately makes the quills harder to remove and also may result in abscessing. Second, since quills are designed to travel one way only, they tend to bury themselves deeper with time, and eventually they can even soften and migrate far enough to puncture an internal organ.”

- Bricklin, Mark. Pets as Part of the Family: The Total Care Guide for all the Pets in Your Life, Rodale Press, 1999

- Veterinarians should remove porcupine quills and give dogs anesthesia prior to removal:

“If your pet has more than a few quills embedded in her (a pooch can get several hundred at a time from a single porcupine), don’t fool around. Take her to the vet immediately. She’s probably in a lot of pain and will be much more comfortable if anesthetized before the lengthy process of removing the quills begins.”

- Bricklin, Mark. Pets as Part of the Family: The Total Care Guide for all the Pets in Your Life, Rodale Press, 1999

“Your veterinarian is best-equipped to remove quills. Quill removal is painful and quills may break off inside your pet. Removing quills under anesthesia reduces traumatic removal/quill breakage and allows for more thorough checking. (All muscles and skin are relaxed, making it easier to palpate for quills).”

- Dr. Janet Tobiassen Crosby, DVM, about.com, 2013

- Musher removes porcupine quills and dogs get NO anesthesia:

“A multitude of [porcupine] quills protrude from muzzles, noses, eyeballs, legs, etc. No part of a dog’s anatomy is immune. Some poor pooches are so distraught that I need to restrain them and carry them home. Then comes the night’s main event, in my garage with extractions, utilizing the instrument that best grabs, quill by quill.”

- Jim Lanier. Beyond Ophir: Confessions of an Iditarod Musher, An Alaskan Odyssey, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Dog has severe harness burns:

“I found that Leeda has severe harness burns because one of the handlers had put a harness on her that was too small. The long run gave it plenty of time to chafe.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Dogs develop diarrhea:

“Several of the dogs are developing diarrhea.”

- Don Bower’s is talking about his dogs developing diarrhea during the Copper Basin 300, an Iditarod qualifying race.
- Bowers, Don. Back of the Pack, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2000

Dogs killed by musk ox:

“Bethel radio station KYUK reports on a Russian Mission man who encountered a musk ox that killed his main swing dog and leader.”

Anchorage Daily News, December 22, 2010

Burt Bomhoff socialized while dogs ran endlessly:

“Joe [Redington] would often stop by to visit Burt and enjoy a cup of tea with honey while the dogs made endless circles on the training wheel.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

Sadism:

“Another good plan [for exercising racing sled dogs] is to erect a ‘Russian merry-go-round’ with four or more arms, to each of which a dog is chained. This will give them all the exercise they want. If there are more than two dogs, it very often happens (especially with young ones) that they never all want to lie down at the same time. It is very amusing to watch them jerk the lazy one to his feet and start pulling him around when he doesn’t want to go. The more he pulls back and growls, the more the other seem to delight in keeping him on the jump.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013

[From the Sled Dog Action Coalition: The dog who didn’t want to run could have been injured, sick or exhausted.]

Joe Redington, Sr. watched TV:

“He [Joe Redington, Sr.] invented a dog wheel that looked like a Ferris wheel turned on its side. He could hook up as many as thirty dogs at a time and watch them run in circles, sort of like gerbils. The dogs trotted ten or twelve miles an hour around and around a loop of a hundred and fifty-five feet.

‘You could sit there and watch television and put forty miles on the dogs,’ said Redington who admitted he did that a few times.”

- Freedman, Lew. Father of the Iditarod, Kenmore: Epicenter Press, 1999

“Training a dog to poop on command is challenging at best, so [Rex] Jones uses the old matchstick-up-the butt trick.

‘The irritation of the matchstick helps them clean their system and therefore run a better race,’ said Jones.”

- Rex Jones is the owner and operator of Arctic Paws Kennel and Sled Dog School in Chugiak, Alaska.
- Jillian Rogers, Yukon News, March 8, 2006

“Due to my heavy involvement in this “sport,” I’ve been able to witness atrocities that many will never hear of or see - nor would they want to. These include: Training regimes so stressful that dogs discontinue eating, lose weight rapidly, and become lethargic and/or depressed within days. These dogs are often still hooked up to run during each training session, so they can ‘work through their physical and mental issues.'”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 30, 2008

Puppies as young as 4-months-old are trained to race in Iditarod:

“There were two teams of adolescents who were being prepped for next year’s race team.

And then there was one team of four-month old puppies.”

- Sean Maguire, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, April 12, 2017

Puppies are very stressed:

Janice Blue: “Dr. Kislak in one interview you did with Andrea Floyd-Wilson who is the host of All About Animals, the radio show, a couple of years ago, you mentioned that a lot of these dogs are very young, and just like children, where their bones are still growing, they’re not fully developed and that creates all kinds of problems.”

Dr. Paula Kislak: “Yes, the growth plates, which are the cartilage plates that are important in bone formation are not mature in large breed dogs for at least up to two years and usually later. And these animals are started training much younger than that, and so it puts unbearable stress on the bones and the tendons and the ligaments and the cartilage and that’s why so many of them wash out early. And the ones that don’t wash out early, that actually make it to the race, then develop crippling arthritis within a year or two after that. And if they’re good breeding stock, then they’re kept alive even despite the crippling arthritis and their kept in these horrible freezing cold outdoor conditions.”

- Janice Blue is the host of the radio program Go Vegan Texas, KPFT
- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, is president of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights
- The interview was done on February 27, 2006

— Puppies beaten:

“On many occasions, I witnessed the mother in law of an Iditarod musher strike puppies with a wiffle ball bat (a hollow plastic bat, approximately three feetlong) to quiet them in harness and teach them to line out before a run. The puppies yelped and hit the ground, whimpering and clawing at the ground to try and get out of the way, trapped by their harnesses being hooked into the gangline.”

- Ashley Keith, former musher and Iditarod kennel employee who now rescues and rehabilitates abused sled dogs
- Email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, April 28, 2007

[Dogs get sick and are injured from racing many miles during training.]

Matt Anderson makes dogs run for 9-hours in a 13-hour period:

“After digging a path into his house, Anderson will hook his dogs up around 5 p.m., pack up enough gear to spend the night outside, and take off.

Anderson and his dog team will run for most of the night. They will camp out approximately four hours.

‘I’ll usually get a couple of hours of sleep then,’ he said.The tired team of dogs and musher will return home around 6 a.m.”

- Bren T. Boyce, The Nonpareil, August 20, 2006

Dallas Seavey forces dogs to run 4,000 to 5,000 miles during winter training:

“I’ll put on as much as 4,000 or 5,000 miles every single winter training and racing with these guys.”

- Dallas Seavey, video made by Dallas Seavey, posted on Youtube on July 18, 2015

On average, Dee Dee Jonrowe forces her dogs to run 2,000 miles before a race:

“After last summer’s fire, ‘it’s been creepy training on trails I’ve been riding for 34 years,”’said Jonrowe, who typically logs 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of training before a race.”

- Reuters, March 6, 2016

During training, Iditarod mushers force their dogs to run for about five hours, five or six days a week:

“During the winter race season, canine competitors generally run harnessed to a sled for about five hours, five or six days a week.”

- Jay Bennett, Outside Magazine, March 14, 2016

Dogs are forced to run 7 days a week, 365 days a year:

“Training the dogs and running the Iditarod is a lot of hard work. You have to run the dogs everyday, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”

- Jerry Sousa, Sundogkennel.com, 2017

Lance Mackey makes dogs run for 19 hours:

“I train the way I’m going to race. And I’m going to race the way I train. So when I go out and do a 19-hour long run it’s not abnormal.”

- Lance Mackey is talking to Patrick Yack, video, Alaska Public Radio, March 7, 2011

Pete Kaiser makes dogs run 120 miles a day:

“During training, [Pete] Kaiser’s team runs 20 to 120 miles a day. Sometimes he strings together several days of long runs….”

- Lisa Demer, Alaska Dispatch News, March 1, 2015

How many dogs are dying of thirst?

Dallas Seavey forces “Glitter” and other his dogs to race on a treadmill before giving them any water to drink. He lets his dog “Glitter”decide how much time the dogs can spend drinking. When “Glitter” gives a signal, Seavey dumps out the water from all the dog bowls. But some dogs may be dying of thirst. They may be thirstier than others or just need more time to drink.

“As soon as the last water bowl is placed in front of the last dog, a veteran timekeeper — Glitter — in the back of the pack begins barking and lunging against her lines.”

“Glitter barks and lunges, signaling the end of another water break. [Dallas] Seavey pours the remaining water on the [treadmill] track….”

- Heather Resz, Frontiersman, August 3, 2015

Dog-fighting operations use treadmills:

“MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Animal welfare workers are looking for homes for 367 dogs rescued as part of what is believed to be the second largest dog fighting raid in U.S. history.”

“Investigators found materials consistent with running a dog-fighting operation at the scenes of the raids, including medicines, staple guns to seal wounds and treadmills for the dogs, [Tim] Rickey said.”

- Scott Johnson, The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, August, 27, 2013

“Treadmills, also found on [Michael] Vick’s property, are commonly used to exercise sled dogs….”

- Michelle Tsai, Slate.com, July 20, 2007

“Michael Vick formally accepted a plea agreement from the federal government today at the United States District Court here, pleading guilty to a felony charge stemming from a dog fighting ring run from a property he owned.”

“Within the statement of facts, which accompanied the agreement, Vick admitted to funding the dog fighting operation and the gambling associated with it and to being complicit in the killing of at least six dogs that underperformed.”

“In the statement of facts, Vick said that he agreed to the killing of “approximately 6 to 8 dogs that did not perform well in ‘testing’ sessions,’ adding that ‘all the dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning.’”

- Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times, August 27, 2007

Dogs punished for not eating all food in 30 seconds:

“Remember you are training the dog to eat everything immediately so he will do the same thing on a race.”

“If the dog doesn’t eat everything in about 30 seconds, do not just leave food laying around thinking he may eat more at a later time. Take the food away. Give the dog only clear water the next day and half rations the following day. Resume regular feeding the fourth day.”

- Seavey, Mitch. Lead, Follow or Get Out of The Way!, Sterling: Ididaride Publishing Company, 2008.

Dogs punished for not eating food immediately:

“If a dog messes around with their meal or doesn’t dig right in, I take their meal away and give it to their neighbor.”

- Karin Hendrickson, blog, 2014

“The night before the start on March 8, I continued to cut back on the team’s feed ration, because I wanted them sharp for the start. Hungry and a little edgy.”

- Lance Mackey. The Lance Mackey Story, Fairbanks: Zorro Books, LLC, 2010

“Like humans, members of the canine species start experiencing deterioration of the musculoskeletal, GI (gastrointestinal), kidney, liver, immune and other organ systems by middle age. After 4-5 years of age, desiccation (drying) of bones and soft tissues cause them to become more brittle, putting older dogs at increased risk for fractures and painful, persistent tendon, ligament, and muscular injuries. Degradation with age of other protective biological mechanisms and systems, like immune function, result in an inability to withstand the rigors and stresses of endurance training and racing, and are likely one of the factors in the prevalence of bleeding ulcers.”

“When dogs under 40-50 lbs. are endurance trained and raced, their health and welfare are compromised by subjecting them to forces and loads greater than their musculoskeletal frames should carry.”

- Dr. Paula Kislak, DVM, Director, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, email to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, June 18, 2011

“As a musher the only drug I personally have ever encountered others using — either while training, or even more infrequently during racing — was marijuana.”

- Joseph Robertia, Peninsula Clarion, December 11, 2009

Libby Riddle’s dogs stepped in traps:

“Some trappers, especially wolf trappers, set their traps in the middle of the trail hoping to catch something running the trail. She [Libby Riddles] said her dogs had gotten into traps twice. One of her wheelers got a hind foot caught in a trap, which must have been murderously painful. Before she could put on the brakes, the rest of the team had stretched the poor wheel dog to the point where his leg must have been ten feet long.

She said it was extremely difficult to remove the dog from the trap because of its pain, which cause it to snap, bite, and growl every time she got near it.”

- Bomhoff, Burt. Iditarod Alaska: The life of a Sled Dog Musher, Anchorage: Publication Consultants, 2013
- Burt Bomhoff served on the Iditarod’s board of directors, as Iditarod president for many years, and ran dogs in the race seven times.

Lance Mackey’s dog steps in a trap:

“Training this winter has been difficult with little snow cover. Because the trail is particularly rough, we did break a couple of gang lines and ended up chasing runaway teams. One dog stepped in a trap…..”

- Lance Mackey. The Lance Mackey Story, Fairbanks: Zorro Books, LLC, 2010

Foothold and killer-style traps are widely used in Alaska:

“Most furbearers are taken with either a trap (including foothold and killer-style traps) or snares….”

- 2011-2012 Alaska Trapping Regulations, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, website document

Foodhold or leg hold traps: The trap has two jaws, one or two springs, and a trigger in the middle, which is flat. When the animal steps on the trigger the trap slams shut around the foot or other body part, so the animal can’t escape. Some traps have teeth on the jaws.

“Most animals react to the instant pain by frantically pulling against the trap in a desperate attempt to free themselves, enduring fractures, ripped tendons, edema, blood loss, amputations, tooth and mouth damage (from chewing and biting at the trap), and starvation. Some animals will even chew or twist their limbs off.”

- Born Free USA, website, 2012

Killer-style (Conibear traps): Killer-style traps were designed to kill the animal instantly by breaking his spine at the base of the skull. It has two metal rectangles hinged together to open and close like scissors.

“Because it is impossible to control the size, species, and direction of the animal entering the trap, most animals do not die quickly in the Conibear trap, instead enduring prolonged suffering as the clamping force of the trap draws the jaws closer and closer together, crushing the animal’s abdomen, head, or other body part.”

- Born Free USA, website, 2012

Ed Stielstra’s dogs run off:

“On a routine late night run with his team of sled dogs, Ed Stielstra reached down to adjust his headlamp as he had a million times before. Stielstra lost balance and was detached from his sled and knocked unconscious, resulting in loss of teeth, a black eye and a severe concussion. What should have been an emergency trip to the hospital turned into hours looking for his loose dogs.”

- Sarah Franks. The Post, April 10, 2017

Sean Maguire’s dogs run off:

“And then there was the time that I was left standing on a frozen swamp watching my dog team running in to the distance without me.”

- Sean Maguire, Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, April 12, 20107

Dog runs off and is never caught:

“We didn’t know which dogs were leaders. We tested them all the time. In the middle of runs during the dry-land cart training, we were switching them around. We were trying to find twenty dogs to make a team.

We lost one dog while we were unloading it from the truck in Fairbanks. It took off and we never caught it.”

- Brian O’Donaghue, Iditarod musher
- Freedman, Lew. More Iditarod Classics: Tales of the Trail Told by the Men & Women Who Race Across Alaska, Kenmore: Epicenter Press, 2004

Rose Albert leaves dogs and they run away:

“‘Walked back up the hill, picked up what I lost and I went back to the top of the cliff and the dogs were gone.'”

- Rose Albert talking about her dogs running away
- Nielsen, Nicki J. The Iditarod: Women on the Trail, Anchorage: Wolfdog Publications, 1986

Dogs are forced to train for Iditarod when it’s 65 degrees below zero:

“In Coldfoot in the winter months, forty-five below zero was a normal day. The thermometer would plunge to sixty-five below and we’d still be out breaking trail with the dogs.”

- Jason Mackey, Chapter 6, Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail
- Freedman, Lew. Iditarod Adventures: Tales from Mushers Along the Trail, Portland: Alaska Northwest Books, 2015

Dogs suffer when it’s very cold and should be brought inside:

“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

[When mushers hallucinate whose taking care of the dogs?]

“I have spent decades of my life working night shifts, on call at all hours of the night either in an ambulance, or at a hospital, or helping addicts in the middle of the night get through symptoms of withdrawal. I’d like to think I know a thing or two about sleep deprivation. However, I learned from my races this month that I don’t know jack! I had thought that 30-36 hours of no sleep as I had done routinely as a medical student or intern was pretty good torture. Nope. Try 48 or even 60 - coupled with dehydration - and it’s a completely different ball game. You start to go a little bit mad. I mean crazy. You alternate between misery and just wanting to cry and odd euphoria type feelings. Then the hallucinations come. Most mushers I talked to hear barking dogs pretty commonly. I definitely had my share of that. I could hear people talking to me.”

- My Journey to Iditarod 2016 by Larry Daugherty, website blog

During the Iditarod, mushers give their dogs proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Prilosec to reduced stomach acid and the incidence of ulcers.

When dogs get daily doses of PPIs while training throughout the year, do they suffer ill effects?

PPIs are supposed to be taken when the stomach is empty. Humans who took PPIs for a year were found to have a 25 percent increased risk of death. Other PPI potential risks include kidney disease, stomach infections, heart disease, pneumonia and bone fractures. According to a study done by Jennifer Dressman, “In general, the gross physiology of the stomach in humans and dogs is very similar in a fasted state [when the stomach is empty], with similar motility patterns, gastric emptying of indigestible solids and liquids, and gastric pH” (Pharmaceutical Research, Vol 3, No.3, 1986).

Terrible risks of PPIs:

“The drugs, called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), reduce stomach acid and are available over-the-counter and by prescription. Other recent studies have linked PPIs to a range of potential health risks including kidney disease, stomach infections, heart disease, pneumonia, bone fractures, and dementia. Popular brand-name PPI medications include Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid and others sold over-the-counter or by prescription.”

“They found a 25 percent increased risk of death in the patients who took a PPI compared with the people who took H2 blockers — about one extra death for every 500 people taking PPIs for a year.”

- KTVA 11, website, July 3, 2017

“The Traska pups are now two months old and training on [frozen] overflow for future Iditarod races.”

- The Record & Clarion, September 6, 2017
- The puppies belong to Jeremy and Shaynee Traska.

[Puppies running on cold and slippery ice are at risk for painful frostbite, strains, sprains, torn ligaments or tendons, and paw injuries. They are much too young for such vigorous training.]