Iditarod's Animal Cruelty

John Heywood once said, “Many hands make light work.” (“John Heywood Quotes”). Although a musher might say, many paws make light work. In the Iditarod, it is a race with one man and his or hers sixteen dogs. They travel a total of about a thousand miles in below freezing weather from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. It is indisputable that the Iditarod is an extreme race, but only the best of the best can achieve the finish line. With all of the many paws helping, the Iditarod dogsled race is absolutely not a form of animal cruelty. One reason the Iditarod isn't animal cruelty is because of the preparation behind the program. For example, they train almost everyday for at least a year (“How to Train”). The dogs train by pulling a board and adding weight by weight, upon mile per mile. This simulates an Iditarod sled. Allowing them to grow and get used to multiple miles of running and multiple pounds of material at once. Mushers will also track when the dogs slow down or begin to get tired. …show more content…
However, the humane society isn’t even concerned about the temperatures and running that the dogs endure (Gerken, James). David Byer-PETA had also said “... no animal is going to enjoy hypothermia.” (“dogs used in the Iditarod”). Actually, the vets and staff in the Iditarod isn’t even worried about hypothermia. If peta were to do their research they would find that the body of a dog, especially these dogs, are more likely to overheat than to have their body temperature drop to an unhealthy temperature. This is because their body heat doesn’t perspire like humans. Even though this is also a danger for the dogs, you are required to give the dog a break and put him on the sled if he is overheating. Which makes a dog dying from overheating very unlikely. Considering all of this PETA has been wrong of their concerns over the dogs in the