Quitting Time

I was at one time an advocate and fan of the "Last Great Race". Matter of fact, when stationed in Valdez, I trained and raised 5-dogs that liked to pull, so I purchased a sled and on my time off went gallivanting about the hillside of Robe Lake. Now these were pet dogs, the ones that liked to enjoy the comfort of a living room after a long run. But over the years, I have maintained increasingly alarming reservations about this race - the Iditarod. It seems to have become just a big competition wherein the dogs’ health and welfare is compromised, thus as such has become not so important over the purse-pursued priority. Just this year, we see pictures of battered faces of the mushers, broken sleds and broken dreams. The trail is rough, so how is such conditions fairing for the dogs themselves? I am not out there, but in this day and age there comes before us enough information through technology that it allows pieces of the puzzle to paint a picture of what is indeed happening on the trail. It seems with all the face bashing from wayward branches and internal injuries due other obstacles that it was intended as a boxing venue instead of a dog race. But the way Dee-Dee was swinging at her dogs the other day, when they were misbehaving, it makes one wonder what happens when man and beast gets together on the trail and away from the comforts of home, civilization that is - no shower, no hot meals, and a lot of work to care for a bunch of tired and hungry dogs by a hungry and tired musher. It must be pure misery. Didn’t Brooks catch heat for hitting his dogs in front of a bunch of kindergarteners? I believe he was disqualified! Really, this was a pathetic showing to see a masher take swings at a dog, even if contact was minor, it just doesn’t fit well with the overall good faith relationship. And remember, people are watching! Dogs remember quite well when bashed. And wasn’t Jeff King found guilty for moose poaching? Whatever happened to the fair chase doctrine? Anyway it makes me upset. It goes too show that we continue to treat our pets as second rate and believe that if we live on the brink of civilization that the "laws are for the others" to contend with. Hey, would you slap your kids? You may want too, but that can land you in hot water nowadays. And how many dogs are missing? One dead, and another on the lam is the current predicament. Now this musher that was stuck in waste deep snow then set free by other "Good Samaritan" mushers, well she decided to free a few of her dogs that had been tangled during the stuck sled incident, what is she crazy? Why the hell she thought it was OK to let a lead dog wonder free in the gorge, it is mind-boggling. A dog’s adrenalin must be peaked, so to allow one the sense freedom, it means only one thing, a hightail away from this maddening scene. And we never hear as too why a dog dies along the trail. It is like during a plane crash. The black box is recovered but it is months before the authorities tell us the true story of what happened, so many let go the interest. Same thing here, as when the results finally make a show, nobody will remember - merely another dead Iditarod dog. Is there a tally as too how many dogs have died over the years during this well advertised race? Matter of fact, with the beginning of each race, in honor of Balto and the others, each race should begin with a memorial service ceremony for the fallen dogs - just like for the fallen troops on Memorial Day. Anyway, maybe it is time to formulate different strategies for the race, like a different qualifier to determine the winner. Maybe the dogs can have some sort of psychoanalysis evaluation performed after the race - like a lie-detector type analysis. And those that have been treated with kindness, that is how the purse could be divided. Just think how far this would go in efforts to extend and promote non-cruelty to animals. So with only a week down the trail I am throwing in the towel and will forfeit any further interest in this race. It seems that we hear more of the same bad news with respect to the "Last Great Race". Hopefully next year it will be different - with different rules and regulations that make it not a race in time but a race in sake of the dogs’ well-being. Of course that may not sit too well with the sponsors. For now though, time to say goodbye as I just can’t stand seeing a bunch of tired and hungry dogs make their way into another check-point. And they keep telling us that the dogs love it. I just wish the canines could talk, to tell us what they really think of such conditions, bordering on the insane. All for money!

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