Iditarod
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Nader would blame the sled manufacturer for not installing a GPS and an alarm system when she went off course...
I didn't realize it started already this year. I lived in Alaska for a few years and still enjoy keeping track of the race every year. My uncle started it last year but had to scratch a few days in. Even with today's technology it is a major test of endurance for both man and dog.
homebrewer_99
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I like that word -- Iditarod. It's a word a lesbian sports announcer could never say with a straight face......
Brewnurse
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I would be more concerned for the person. The dogs are specialized and are able to withstand the harsh conditions out there. The person on the other hand, would not have it soo easy! If you were not found soon or had some bad weather come in on you......good luck! Just my $0.02.
God Emporer BillyBrew
Well-Known Member
Person. Dogs are just animals. Of course, he's a ******* and got himself into this, so I'm not real concerned about him either.
Dang, I just realized I'm an effin Ahole.
Dang, I just realized I'm an effin Ahole.
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homebrewer_99 said:I like that word -- Iditarod. It's a word a lesbian sports announcer could never say with a straight face......
Best post of the week!
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I would be concerned for the dogs and the people. The dogs are awesome and although I don't like people so much, I can fake as much compassion for them as the next guy...
aekdbbop
Well-Known Member
I would be more concerned for the people. Siberian Huskys can withstand -75 degrees... they'll be fine...
cha ngo
Well-Known Member
It's a dog race?
I thought it was about spring training and that idiot A-rod.
I thought it was about spring training and that idiot A-rod.
This guy is a dork columnist for the paper here, but he did ok with this article. the second half of the article begins to ramble a bit in a tired attempt to fill up column space
(copied and pasted since you have to register to RTFA)
Also here is the Offical Iditarod site
Some of you cheese heads should be intrested to know there are 3-4 racers hailing from Wisconsin in the race. Although I think one at least scratched thus far.
The wife and I took the kids down to see the start of the race through anchorage. We sat and watched part of the race were they come whipping around a 90* turn one racer nearly clipped a tree on the inside corner and could have took a nasty spill there, but he held on through the turn.
Sled dogs like to run; trick is stopping them
CRAIG MEDRED
OUTDOORS
Published: March 11, 2007
Last Modified: March 11, 2007 at 03:47 AM
How do you force a snake to slither forward?
That's the question I want answered by one of the various Humaniac organizations who annually launch an attack on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in a bid for cheap publicity.
This year it's the Pinheads Expressing Tired Assumptions -- isn't that what PETA stands for?
You'd have to think so by the group's claim that "typically, dogs in the Iditarod are forced to run an average of 125 grueling miles per day with little rest.''
What always gets me is that word "forced.''
Obviously these people have never seen a sled dog lunging at its harness barking to go, even when the person in command wants it to stop.
It's a good thing the dogs do that, too, because it's hard to imagine how one would make this whole dog team thing work if they didn't. If those lead dogs don't go, the whole team folds up like a cheap accordion.
And since the lead dogs are out there 40 or 50 feet in front of the dog driver on the runners of the sled, exactly how would the latter "force'' the former to go? Carry a big sack of rocks maybe, and wing a lead dog in the butt with one every time it refuses to go?
Personally, whenever this issue of forcing dogs to do things comes up, I get a vision of some idiot telling a dog to "sit,'' and the dog, not knowing what "sit'' means, stands there and looks dumb.
So the idiot beats the dog, and then he tells it to sit.
And the poor dog stands there because it still doesn't have a clue as to what to it is being asked to do.
Talking about "forcing'' dogs to run the Iditarod is equally idiotic. Force doesn't teach dogs what to do; it is something best reserved for teaching dogs what not to do.
For instance, if your dogs grabs another dog by the throat and tries to kill it, you grab your dog by the throat, roll it over on its back like an alpha wolf might, and politely explain to it that if that such a thing ever happens again you're going to kill it.
Force doesn't necessarily have to be cruel to be useful. You don't have to beat the dog to make it get the point; you just have to put the fear of God into the animal.
This is a fine way to teach the dog not to do things. It is not worth dog excrement, however, for teaching the dog to do things.
There, one wants positive reinforcement.
You tell the dog to sit. You gently push its butt to the floor. When its butt touches the floor, you reward it with a small treat.
Let me repeat: Small treat. You don't need to give the dog half a ham hock as a reward for putting its butt on the ground. There are enough fat dogs in the world already.
Canine obesity would appear as big a problem, pun intended, in dog world as it is in our world.
Luckily, you don't have to fatten a dog up with treats to encourage it to run.
Dogs naturally like to run, in case there is someone out there who hasn't noticed. Or most dogs like to run. I don't have any experience with sissified, over-stuffed, out-of-shape, couch-potato PETA dogs, but then they aren't really dogs anyway.
They're "companion animals.''
A companion animal is what you purchase (ohmygawd, do you think PETA people still engage in this sort of slave trade?) if you can't find a companion among your own species willing to listen to your blather.
The good thing about companion animals is that they don't understand English.
They will listen to any nonsense and wag their tails, which is all some pinheads think dogs should do.
"Hundreds of dogs are abused every year in Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a grueling trek of more than 1,000 miles,'' they claim.
Since there is a small army of veterinarians on the trail willing to testify that it is extremely rare to encounter what most of us would think of as abuse -- beating, kicking, starving, etc. -- all one can guess is that when PETA talks about all that "abuse" it means the simple act of running "an average of 125 grueling miles per day with little rest ... (while) subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures, and they are frequently in danger of falling through ice into frigid waters."
If this is indeed the case, let's order the Alaska State Troopers out to arrest Bill Merchant.
Who is he?
He's the guy who stages a race called the Iditarod Trail Invitational that encourage humans -- mountain bikers, runners and skiers -- to put themselves through all of the above and worse on the Iditarod Trail every winter.
A superb dog team can do 125 miles in 12 hours, leaving a lot of time for a good night's rest. The human competitors in the Invitational never get that much sleep, and they face the same environmental hazards as the dogs.
If the exercise and the environment are inherently abusive, somebody ought to be put in jail for encouraging people to venture out on the trail.
Then again, I know some of the people involved and, crazy as this sounds, they say that at a very basic, animalistic level, the race is fun.
If you watch Iditarod dogs -- instead of sitting in a Lower 48 office plugged into some make-believe world -- you might get the same impression. Is this possible?
Well, we did all evolve to run, humans and canines. Only in recent times have we gravitated toward sitting, eating and playing with electronic toys.
You could almost argue the sedentary lifestyle is truly what is unnatural and abusive, although the way things are going I'm sure some dog breeder will soon be able to create a fat, round, legless dog designed to do only that.
That dog would be the perfect companion animal to some PETA advocate.
It could takes its place on a cushion next to the plasma TV and sit there with its mouth open at all times waiting for treats to be tossed in.
Real dogs, however, prefer to be out doing something.
Running the Iditarod maybe or, in the case of my buddy Hoss, getting wet and tired struggling through 34-degree, waist-deep water and swamp grass to put up mallards so he can go chase down their carcasses and bring them back after I shoot them.
I know. That hunting thing is terrible, too. Even worse than the Iditarod, I'm sure.
But a man's got to eat. And to refuse Hoss the opportunity to do the one thing at which he is so good, well, that would be the ultimate in dog abuse.
(copied and pasted since you have to register to RTFA)
Also here is the Offical Iditarod site
Some of you cheese heads should be intrested to know there are 3-4 racers hailing from Wisconsin in the race. Although I think one at least scratched thus far.
The wife and I took the kids down to see the start of the race through anchorage. We sat and watched part of the race were they come whipping around a 90* turn one racer nearly clipped a tree on the inside corner and could have took a nasty spill there, but he held on through the turn.
Sled dogs like to run; trick is stopping them
CRAIG MEDRED
OUTDOORS
Published: March 11, 2007
Last Modified: March 11, 2007 at 03:47 AM
How do you force a snake to slither forward?
That's the question I want answered by one of the various Humaniac organizations who annually launch an attack on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in a bid for cheap publicity.
This year it's the Pinheads Expressing Tired Assumptions -- isn't that what PETA stands for?
You'd have to think so by the group's claim that "typically, dogs in the Iditarod are forced to run an average of 125 grueling miles per day with little rest.''
What always gets me is that word "forced.''
Obviously these people have never seen a sled dog lunging at its harness barking to go, even when the person in command wants it to stop.
It's a good thing the dogs do that, too, because it's hard to imagine how one would make this whole dog team thing work if they didn't. If those lead dogs don't go, the whole team folds up like a cheap accordion.
And since the lead dogs are out there 40 or 50 feet in front of the dog driver on the runners of the sled, exactly how would the latter "force'' the former to go? Carry a big sack of rocks maybe, and wing a lead dog in the butt with one every time it refuses to go?
Personally, whenever this issue of forcing dogs to do things comes up, I get a vision of some idiot telling a dog to "sit,'' and the dog, not knowing what "sit'' means, stands there and looks dumb.
So the idiot beats the dog, and then he tells it to sit.
And the poor dog stands there because it still doesn't have a clue as to what to it is being asked to do.
Talking about "forcing'' dogs to run the Iditarod is equally idiotic. Force doesn't teach dogs what to do; it is something best reserved for teaching dogs what not to do.
For instance, if your dogs grabs another dog by the throat and tries to kill it, you grab your dog by the throat, roll it over on its back like an alpha wolf might, and politely explain to it that if that such a thing ever happens again you're going to kill it.
Force doesn't necessarily have to be cruel to be useful. You don't have to beat the dog to make it get the point; you just have to put the fear of God into the animal.
This is a fine way to teach the dog not to do things. It is not worth dog excrement, however, for teaching the dog to do things.
There, one wants positive reinforcement.
You tell the dog to sit. You gently push its butt to the floor. When its butt touches the floor, you reward it with a small treat.
Let me repeat: Small treat. You don't need to give the dog half a ham hock as a reward for putting its butt on the ground. There are enough fat dogs in the world already.
Canine obesity would appear as big a problem, pun intended, in dog world as it is in our world.
Luckily, you don't have to fatten a dog up with treats to encourage it to run.
Dogs naturally like to run, in case there is someone out there who hasn't noticed. Or most dogs like to run. I don't have any experience with sissified, over-stuffed, out-of-shape, couch-potato PETA dogs, but then they aren't really dogs anyway.
They're "companion animals.''
A companion animal is what you purchase (ohmygawd, do you think PETA people still engage in this sort of slave trade?) if you can't find a companion among your own species willing to listen to your blather.
The good thing about companion animals is that they don't understand English.
They will listen to any nonsense and wag their tails, which is all some pinheads think dogs should do.
"Hundreds of dogs are abused every year in Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a grueling trek of more than 1,000 miles,'' they claim.
Since there is a small army of veterinarians on the trail willing to testify that it is extremely rare to encounter what most of us would think of as abuse -- beating, kicking, starving, etc. -- all one can guess is that when PETA talks about all that "abuse" it means the simple act of running "an average of 125 grueling miles per day with little rest ... (while) subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures, and they are frequently in danger of falling through ice into frigid waters."
If this is indeed the case, let's order the Alaska State Troopers out to arrest Bill Merchant.
Who is he?
He's the guy who stages a race called the Iditarod Trail Invitational that encourage humans -- mountain bikers, runners and skiers -- to put themselves through all of the above and worse on the Iditarod Trail every winter.
A superb dog team can do 125 miles in 12 hours, leaving a lot of time for a good night's rest. The human competitors in the Invitational never get that much sleep, and they face the same environmental hazards as the dogs.
If the exercise and the environment are inherently abusive, somebody ought to be put in jail for encouraging people to venture out on the trail.
Then again, I know some of the people involved and, crazy as this sounds, they say that at a very basic, animalistic level, the race is fun.
If you watch Iditarod dogs -- instead of sitting in a Lower 48 office plugged into some make-believe world -- you might get the same impression. Is this possible?
Well, we did all evolve to run, humans and canines. Only in recent times have we gravitated toward sitting, eating and playing with electronic toys.
You could almost argue the sedentary lifestyle is truly what is unnatural and abusive, although the way things are going I'm sure some dog breeder will soon be able to create a fat, round, legless dog designed to do only that.
That dog would be the perfect companion animal to some PETA advocate.
It could takes its place on a cushion next to the plasma TV and sit there with its mouth open at all times waiting for treats to be tossed in.
Real dogs, however, prefer to be out doing something.
Running the Iditarod maybe or, in the case of my buddy Hoss, getting wet and tired struggling through 34-degree, waist-deep water and swamp grass to put up mallards so he can go chase down their carcasses and bring them back after I shoot them.
I know. That hunting thing is terrible, too. Even worse than the Iditarod, I'm sure.
But a man's got to eat. And to refuse Hoss the opportunity to do the one thing at which he is so good, well, that would be the ultimate in dog abuse.
rdwj
Well-Known Member
The dogs!
The people DECIDED to put themselves through the race. The dogs don't have a choice
The people DECIDED to put themselves through the race. The dogs don't have a choice
Fiery Sword
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Humans should know better. Dog, any day.rdwj said:
zoebisch01
Well-Known Member
Man not sure if it was mentioned...but there is another race that is basically the non-commercialized sled race. It sounded brutal. Can't recall the name off the top of my head. Very similar to the iditarod like 1,000 miles, 60 below nights and through some of the most remote wilderness on the planet. But from what I gathered it was you had to be %100 self sufficient on the race trail. There are barely any stops on it. Not sure how that compares to the Iditarod, but the guy made it sound more intense.
On a side note they did talk about the dogs that got left out due to exhaustion or injury. They basically said that they howl and cry because they cannot run with the pack!
Oh, I found it the Yukon Quest:
http://www.yukonquest.org
Some of the checkpoints are 200 miles apart.
On a side note they did talk about the dogs that got left out due to exhaustion or injury. They basically said that they howl and cry because they cannot run with the pack!
Oh, I found it the Yukon Quest:
http://www.yukonquest.org
Some of the checkpoints are 200 miles apart.
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The dogs are about as abused as children. Two words.
Team sports.
Is it cruel to put your children through team sports? Clearly the child has to do what his parents tell him. If they make him sign up for Little League, then he will likely be forced through psychological coercion, to continue through the season regardless of whether he is having a good time. Yes, parents ROUTINELY do this to children and guess what. To my knowledge, no court in all of America has ruled that forcing your child to play in Little League through the threat of withholding videogames constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Incredible! You can MAKE your kid participate in a completely UNNATURAL group sport.
Similarly, the dogs in the Iditarod are coerced to run in a pack. So the question is whether this is cruel to the animals. Given that they are pack animals, and instinctively wish to follow the herd, I believe it is more cruel to leave them behind than to allow them to fun with the pack. I say it is about as cruel as team sports.
So do we abolish all team sports? I know some parents WOULD like that due to how much it hurts their little fat child's self-esteem, but I say **** them. While parents can hug and kiss and coddle their babies all they want, there should be a safe place for children to learn about teamwork, losing, failure, hardwork and success. For many, team sports teach those skills. They are a good thing. Similarly, the Iditarod may be unnatural to the animals, but running in a pack certainly is not. I just don't see the big deal...
Team sports.
Is it cruel to put your children through team sports? Clearly the child has to do what his parents tell him. If they make him sign up for Little League, then he will likely be forced through psychological coercion, to continue through the season regardless of whether he is having a good time. Yes, parents ROUTINELY do this to children and guess what. To my knowledge, no court in all of America has ruled that forcing your child to play in Little League through the threat of withholding videogames constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Incredible! You can MAKE your kid participate in a completely UNNATURAL group sport.
Similarly, the dogs in the Iditarod are coerced to run in a pack. So the question is whether this is cruel to the animals. Given that they are pack animals, and instinctively wish to follow the herd, I believe it is more cruel to leave them behind than to allow them to fun with the pack. I say it is about as cruel as team sports.
So do we abolish all team sports? I know some parents WOULD like that due to how much it hurts their little fat child's self-esteem, but I say **** them. While parents can hug and kiss and coddle their babies all they want, there should be a safe place for children to learn about teamwork, losing, failure, hardwork and success. For many, team sports teach those skills. They are a good thing. Similarly, the Iditarod may be unnatural to the animals, but running in a pack certainly is not. I just don't see the big deal...
Fiery Sword
Well-Known Member
Seems like someone was boiled with too much bittering hops as a young lad.Toot said:
...And you are definitely not from baseball country.
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Fiery Sword said:Seems like someone was boiled with too much bittering hops as a young lad.
...And you are definitely not from baseball country.
I played through the age of 18, including 1 year of semi-pro. LOVED it. But I knew some kids were less talented than I.
I can't say I was ever the star of a team, not by a long shot, but I'd hit in the high 200's (not great for semi pro), draw a ton of walks, steal a lot of bases, and could bunt for a basehit about once every other game. I was a spray hitter. If the third baseman was playing deep, I'd bunt. If he was playing in, I'd drop it over his head. If he was playing very far in, I'd take the hardest rip I could and try to take his head off. Actually took a kid out of a game that way!
I played second, third, and outfield. Also had a pretty good knuckleball, but if fielders can't field, then a knuckleball pitcher is looking at an ERA in the mid-to-upper teens. Sure, the errors don't count against your ERA, but the balls that a good fielder would get to does count against ya. What can you do? I was just a throw-away pitcher to save the other pitchers' arms, but it was fun to get on the mound from time to time...
God I miss playing that game!
Fiery Sword
Well-Known Member
Me. too.Toot said:
I played through high school, then never made the college squad as a walk-on. I was a lefty first baseman, decent average hitter with some power but I was slow as mollaaaassseeesss. I would routinely turn doubles into singles. The proudest moment of my high school career was scoring an 8th inning tying run from first. then I saw colorful little floaters in my field of vision for 5 minutes. I also got to throw lots of BP when we were going up against a lefty. And that's dangerous, letting a non-pitcher throw balls-out at his high school friends. I could throw hard but with very, very little control.....I don't think they enjoyed it a bit. Overall tho, kids need to be encouraged to do lots of things, from brushing teeth to saying 'thank you' to playing sports and mingling with other kids. I hear ya, though, there are always parents who want to live vicariously through their kids and over-encourage them to participate. When it gets to that point, I feel bad for the kids.
..okok
, sorry!To answer the poll of which do I feel more concerned for I would say neither.
Both the dogs and the musher are conditioned for the race. any dog not strong enough to pull their weight are left behind at the checkpoints to be tended to by volunteer vets.
Plus if it is so bad that a musher feels the conditions are too great for their team they can scratch from the race. 20 musher already have scratched most of them barely a 1/3 of the way into the race.
Both the dogs and the musher are conditioned for the race. any dog not strong enough to pull their weight are left behind at the checkpoints to be tended to by volunteer vets.
Plus if it is so bad that a musher feels the conditions are too great for their team they can scratch from the race. 20 musher already have scratched most of them barely a 1/3 of the way into the race.
