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09-04-2021
Column: Living with Dogs - SLED DOG RACING AND SLED DOG TOURISM
Column: Living with Dogs - SLED DOG RACING AND SLED DOG TOURISM
The team consists of 14 dogs and they finish the race in 8 to 14 days with only one mandatory 24-hour stop and two eight-hour stops; the musher has a choice where he or she stops.
There has been a ramping up of drug testing for the dogs after many tested positive for endurance drugs and the rest periods have been cut short by some competitors. The largest number of race entrants was in 2000 with 82 dog teams. Prize money is a luring $50,000 and a new Dodge pick-up truck for the winner, with lesser amounts for place getters. The race has become so competitive that special musher pants have been designed so there is minimal stopping for toilet breaks. Carrying a gun is also allowed to shoot moose if they become threatening.
The number of young, otherwise healthy dogs that die from the race is becoming a concern. In 2019 a winning dog, just five-years-old, died from pneumonia and there has been a loss of national sponsors amid doping scandals and protests by animal rights activists with some shocking footage. Th

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