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The ethics of mushing are a very sensitive and emotional
subject for us. It seems to us in all professional circles (and maybe all
circles in general) you will encounter good and evil. The decisions
you make are yours to own and we try, by example, to be the best
representatives of this sport that we know how to be. Unfortunately, not
all who run dogs, or even all who own them, feel the same. We often are
sickened by the attitudes and practices of some mushers and we will never
defend anyone involved in this sport who compromises dog safety or
disregards their well being.
 We love our dogs and
that love is returned. It is a fully symbiotic relationship. We live
like “dogs” so my dogs can live like kings. While we consume chips and salsa
for the fifth night in a row, they often eat fresh meat and kibble made
from quality ingredients, not corn and cardboard. In fact, often times
their dinner of Alaska salmon and rice cooked over a campfire smells far
more tantalizing than ours.
Our canine companions regularly
spend time in the house with us, where they enjoy wrestling with the
permanent house crew and flopping on the couch for a lazy evening or
overnight. They’re allowed to jump on me, lick my face, sniff our
guests, and none are scolded for their naturally high energy level.
The ethics of mushing are
controversial, conflicting, and whole-heartedly emotional. This passage
from John Balzar’s “Yukon Alone” to helps
express those sentiments:
“… the cruelty humans inflict
on one another is inseparable from the cruelty they impose on
animals. I too am an advocate for animals. When it comes to
mushing, however, I fault the animal-rights crusaders. An incredible
amount of their emotional conviction is based on dubious or secondhand
reports. That, in turn, becomes doctrine, and the public must choose
sides accordingly. The fact is, dogs sometimes die while running races
like the Iditarod and the Quest. Many more die, I’ll bet, from being
inadvertently launched out of the beds of pickup trucks over any equivalent
period of time. Pet owners with pickups are just a more diffuse
target. How can you tackle them in a neat sound bite for the
Associated Press?
 “…
I have an acquaintance Outside who owns a big dog and keeps it fenced,
alone, in a small yard all during the workday. Her love for this
animal is unbounded. But, one might ask, is that enough? Dogs are
social animals, creatures of the pack. This dog has never known and
will never experience the joy of the companionship of its own
species. How cruel is that? Moreover, dogs are born to run. You
cannot deny that. So is it enough to let this one scramble up the
stairs each night and take a turn around the block on a leash?
“… in Los Angeles, taxpayers
finance the killing of 54,000 unwanted stray dogs a year. That’s
almost 150 a day. In just one city. More lonely, abandoned, and
mistreated dogs will be put down in Alaskan death chambers – generically
called ‘humane’ shelters – in an average week than will ever perish on the
trail. And these dogs will never know the devotion of a musher, the
camaraderie of a pack, or the joy of purpose. If they ever had a
chance to run, it was only for their lives.
“It’s not just the killing of
strays that should concern us. What about the untold thousands of dogs
in every city that come home as Christmas or birthday presents and then are
sentenced to lives on the end of chains in crummy backyards, fed once a day
and loved never; dogs who howl, not for the joy of the impending run but
from the despair of loneliness?
“… Or more sharply to the
point, what about the very doyens of purebreed dogdom, the members of the
American Kennel Club – the people who encourage and participate in the
breeding of dogs almost solely to conform to appearance standards? The
working characteristics of these animals become concerns of no consequence,
their temperament only a matter of casual consideration. No points are
given for soundness. As a result, the genetic health of some breeds
has declined scandalously. Yes, true enough, many of the fine ladies
and gentlemen of the kennel club are generous donors to the humane movement
and might object to criticism about their entrenched traditions. But
if you cannot call bullshit on your own kind, who are you to call it on
someone else?
“…(mushers) live closer to dogs
and depend more profoundly on dogs than any pet owners I know… keep a wary
eye on competitive mushing to guard against backsliding… denounce those who
would train dogs by fear, or those who would cull puppies looking only for
the strongest.”
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