Animal Defenders of Westchester

lion baby

Home Page
Action Alerts
Articles
Campaigns
Events
How Can I Help?
Letters
Press Releases
ADOW's TV Show
Who We Are
Become a Member
Companion Animal Memorials
Links

We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.

Animal Defenders of Westchester
P.O. Box 205
Yonkers, NY 10704

Campaigns
Stop Dog Racing

Sled dogs are shocked and whipped

Published in the ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS WWW.ADN.COM  Letters to the editor, 3/28/06:

'Mushers have used electric shock, whips to make sled dogs run faster'

When dogs won't run, Craig Medred thinks "there is nothing a musher can do but feed them, rest them, console them and hope for the best" ("Despite strong start, Currier's Iditarod hopes stopped in dog's tracks," March 18). But mushers have used force to make dogs run and make them run faster. Here are some examples:

Iditarod winner Joe Runyan wrote in "Winning Strategies for Distance Mushers" (1997) that he gave slackers blasts from electrical shockers.

Musher Jim Welch said in "The Speed Mushing Manual" (1989) that a whip is "an effective and humane training tool for sled dogs." He described his technique for whipping dogs: "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 the whip."

In "Iditarod Classics" (1992), former Anchorage Daily News sports editor Lew Freedman quoted Iditarod winner Dick Mackey as saying, "As we came up over the sea wall onto Front Street, I reached in my sled bag and pulled out a whip just as he glanced around and saw it. So he reached in and pulled out his. And that's the way we came down the street, just driving those dogs for all there was in us."

Cruel and cold-hearted treatment of dogs is reprehensible.

Margery Glickman, director
Sled Dog Action Coalition

http://www.adn.com/opinion/letters/story/7573072p-7484393c.html


Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Your comments and inquiries are welcome


This site is hosted and maintained by:
The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation
Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org.


Since date.gif (991 bytes)