Despite what you may hear from rumor mongers among so-called “animal activists” and some sensationalists in the media, the well-being of the dogs is the paramount consideration in sled dog racing. This is true of everyone involved in the sport. Way beyond the fact that mushers know a dog who is not healthy and happy will not perform well, everyone involved in the sport just loves dogs too much to condone anything less than the best in overall dog care.
A good example of this “dog care first” culture is that the Iditarod requires pre-race blood tests and EKGs for any dog who may run in the event. To avoid any possibility of fraud, the tests are performed by independent, third-part veterinary technicians and the results are reviewed by Dr. Stu Nelson and the Iditarod veterinary staff. Since each of the approximately 80 Iditarod teams needs to “qualify” about 20 dogs — racers and alternates — over 1,500 dogs will be tested!
This mandatory testing is another piece of “Logistics” preparation for us at SP Kennel. It isn’t a “difficult” process — in that all it requires is loading the 40 dogs who make up our two rosters of potential Iditarod athletes into the dog trucks and taking them into Fairbanks for testing — but it is time consuming. Nevertheless, we are happy to have done it for the sake of the dogs’ health, and we are pleased to report that we now have one more important piece of our Iditarod preparation behind us.
Here is a video which shows the highlights of one dog going through the process. Many thanks to all the veterinary technicians for their careful and conscientious work… and especially for being so nice to our dogs!
