Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/10/19/doping-doggies-caught-after-id.html
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Geez, the dogs in that photo didn’t even bother trying to wipe the cocaine off their faces.
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The opioid crisis… now we’re dragging dogs into it.
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Awww man. I grew up in Alaska, watching the Iditarod start every year is still one of my fondest memories. I’m glad they’re monitoring this to keep the sport a little more pure, but it’s depressing that it’s going down the doping/cheating road just like the major league sports.
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Damn. I am watching my kid’s dog for a week. Better hide my stash.
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Those poor puppers. Dogs love to work, but…doping them is a betrayal of that bond with a dog, you know?
I hope those dog owners can’t own a dog anymore.
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March? We’re in mid-October. Did you ride a dogsled all the way here to tell us the news?
/s
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So, the conditions of the race make the dogs suffer
Giving your dogs pain relievers makes them suffer less.
Dogs that suffer less run faster.
So, pain relievers are performance enhancing and thus banned. (not ‘everyone should be giving their dogs whatever necessary to prevent suffering, and if the race can’t be won without animal abuse, it shouldn’t be a thing’)
I’d think giving a bull pain relievers before a bull fight would make it last longer, thus increasing the performance, but no one I know would say ‘ban pain relievers but bullfights are awesome’
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I sure hope you forgot an apostrophe…
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Indeed, I think that the issue is not so much that the owner is cheating to win, as that they are making their dogs ignore their bodies warning signals and so doing them extra damage. Maybe next year should be the 1st Iditarod Human Sled Race?
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Pedantry: from what I know of Huskies and Malamutes, those temperatures are not “extreme”, they’re in their element (whereas they suffer some during heatwaves down in the lower 48.)
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What ever happened to the tried and true method of dog performance enhancement of hanging a bone on a string at the end of a pole held out in front of them? Works for racing horses too but I think they use carrots for that.
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Dogs cannot give consent unless humans speak fluent canine.
Humans: this is so wrong.
Yes, the first Human “I Did It Wrong” Sled Race. Dope 'em and run 'em and see how they feel at the end of it.
Also doped: racehorses…
… greyhounds…
… bulls in "bronc’ bustin’ "…
Humans have a lot to answer for.
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It’s all downhill, once they start playing poker. Before long they’re betting on their own races!
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Thanks for reminding me of this track.
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I am sorry. Maybe I am too much an animal nut, but I find the attempt at humor in the opening line repulsive. And I find abusing animals wrong. Clearly that is the case here, so what’s to joke about?!!
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Why do you want everyone who agrees with you to let go of their own preferred coping mechanism here? So that we all SAY things that please or soothe you while NOT DOING the thing in question in the first place?
We’re on the same team, right? now go point that sniper rifle somewhere else.
Well, they’ve named names elsewhere, and I’m not surprised to find out that the story refers to Dallas Seavey and his team.
I was recently in Alaska and the two recent several time winners of the race were much maligned for their attitude towards the race, towards the volunteers who help make it happen and against the “aloha” spirit of the race. The Iditarod is a big state-wide party that runs through a lot of isolated country. Thousands of people follow the race, make sure the dogs are well treated, that the mushers follow the rules and get proper care, and that injured people and animals are given appropriate care and evacuated if necessary. It’s all this good will that makes the race more than just a raw competition.
The Seaveys, father and son, have both won the race many times, but for them, it was all about winning, not participating. They were noted for never waving at anyone as they passed through a town. As one pilot who helped with the race logistics explained, they wouldn’t even look up at the plane. Most mushers would make a point of waving. They would pointedly ignore the cheering crowds at the end of the race. If the story is correct, they were greeted at their last win with silence with the cheers reserved for the next several arrivals.
When I saw the original story with no names, I took a quick guess. Now the story is out, and I am not at all surprised.
I had assumed Ghost was conspicuously absent from the last several episodes of Game of Thrones because they blew the whole CGI budget on dragons, but now I’m wondering if he was just off at celebrity rehab.
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