I’ve already established that despite sheeple love for the myth of Sled Dogs, Border Collies are not in fact bred like them. In a later post I’ll show how they do face the same grim options when their work is no longer needed however.
One of the more problematic aspects of romanticizing “working dogs” and rural lifestyles is the resulting whitewash of the reality of animals used in industry. When the bottom line is profit and not animal companionship, financial concerns trump emotional attachment to the animals and industry values do not align well with modern pet ownership values.
So is the case with the continuing saga of the Whistler Sled Dog industry. In April 2010 after the peak sled dog season passed and the huge throngs from the Vancouver Olympics went home, Robert Fawcett slaughtered at least 56 of the young and healthy dogs which comprised the pack owned by Howling Dog Tours Whistler Inc. (a subsidiary of Outdoor Adventures Whistler) after a Veterinarian refused to euthanize healthy animals and his employers demanded the “lay off” as part of Outdoor’s buyout of the previously independent Howling Dog Tours.
Fawcett pled guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, was fined $1,500 CAD and ordered to do 200 hours of community service, and placed on probation for three years. This followed an investigation by the same SPCA which denied him help before the cull, but later hired forensic war grave experts to exhume the bodies, after Fawcett sparked the investigation when he filed for compensation from PTSD following what he described as a horrific killing of 70-100 animals over two days. The SPCA spent several hundred thousand dollars on their prosecution although they admit that they failed to offer assistance to Fawcett on two different occasions when he approached them for help in finding homes for the animals before he killed them. They claimed that the animals could not be re-homed as they would not make good pets.
Sled dog tours are a highly seasonal business as can be seen in the Google Trends chart from the last several years. Interest peaks during the Winter and falls swiftly after the Iditarod finishes in early March. This coincides with the end of Winter and the final peak weekend for tours happening in March every year. The extreme drop in Vancouver area business post-Olympics was also a clearly foreseeable event, so much so that the company that ran the business profitably during the Olympics sold it to Outdoor Adventures Whistler just after the Olympics concluded.
After the massacre came to light a year later, the Outdoor Adventures company claims their business wasn’t impacted but midway through that winter they donated the entire sled dog operation to a newly formed non-profit called The Sled Dog Foundation.
The sled dog operation at the centre of animal massacre allegations, which drew international attention to Whistler almost a year ago, is now in the hands of a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to improving animal welfare.
Sue Eckersley and Kirby Brown have announced (Dec.14) that the sled dog operation formerly owned by Outdoor Adventures Whistler (OAW) was donated to a newly created organization called “The Sled Dog Foundation.”
The new foundation will own and manage all operations and use the proceeds to improve sled dog welfare.
The foundation hasn’t found success running the sled dog business, and now after just a year and a half they are folding the venture entirely.
It started 18 months ago as a bold move to transform the sled dog industry. The Whistler Sled Dog Co. (WSDC) has announced it is folding up operations and handing its dogs over to the control of Whistler Animals Galore (WAG).
Sue Eckersley of WSDC has confirmed that the members of the foundation board who have been overseeing the operation of WSDC voted last week to dissolve the operation and let WAG find homes for the dogs.
According to Eckersley, money has been set aside to help fund the search for new homes and she noted that some dogs could go to Whistler’s only remaining sled dog kennel, which is managed by Jaime Hargreaves in the Callaghan Valley.
“Our dogs were really aging,” Eckersley said in an interview Monday, July 15. “We could have operated again next year and probably we could have broken even. But, in the long term our dogs have lots of medical needs based on their age.”
Shannon Broderick, the executive director at WAG, said she first heard that shutting down the operation was an option on July 10.
“I did have a bit of a heads up before the decision was made,” said Broderick.
She said WAG now has a huge project ahead as the animal shelter works to find homes for the 86 dogs it now has control over at the WSDC kennel just north of Whistler.
In general, the sled dog industry in Whistler is dying out. Before deciding to close down the operation entirely, another outdoor adventure company that specializes in Snowmobile tours was approached to increase business during the short winters, but that deal went nowhere.
According to Eckersley, there is now just one operational dog sled kennel in the Whistler area, down from three at the end of the winter season. As WSDC seeks out new homes for its aging dogs, Eckersley said she feels there is room for two small kennels in Whistler and there is enough demand to support two with the greatest amount of business taking place over a four-week period around the Christmas holiday period.
Three WSDC employees were impacted, said Eckersley. Two full-time employees were let go along with one part-time worker. She noted that during peak operations the company employed 18 people with most of them laid off at the end of the sledding season.
The WSDC was created when Outdoor Adventures Whistler (OAW) got out of the sled dog business. WSDC took over the dogs after it was learned the previous manager of the kennel reduced the size of the kennel by at least 50 dogs when business slowed following the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The former manager of the kennel entered a guilty plea to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal after grisly details of the kennel cull were learned.
Out of Work Sled Dogs now need Homes. By John French.
Ultimately it’s controversial if the sled dogs can be adopted to homes or not. The SPCA expressed the view that they were not appropriate pets likely because they are generally not house broken, kept on chains for most of their lives, and rarely socialized with people and home living situations. Many of the dogs have never been inside a building. But dedicated sled dog rescues claim to have success in rehabilitating and rehoming these dogs. Some claim that this makes the dogs impossible to rehome:
The issue is not the fact that they are genetically programmed to run, but whether the environmental conditions to which they were exposed from early life either well-or ill-prepare them for re-homing with a human family.
In many parts of Canada sled dogs are kept tethered, and this, I believe, is their main welfare concern. Tethering, which requires a small doghouse, a collar and a chain, is a fairly inexpensive housing method compared to a built kennel with partitions for each dog or group of dogs.
Watching 16-week-old puppies habituate to a tether’s lack of freedom, as I did when researching sled-dog kennels in Quebec, is truly unsettling. They fall into a condition psychologists call “learned helplessness” — the futility of their fight for freedom results in a passive depression-type acceptance of their condition.
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In 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after researching tethering in other species and in sled-dog kennels in Alaska, ruled that dogs could not be tethered in commercial establishments. Dogs that were traditionally tethered would have to be housed in kennels.Sled-dog operators and organizations in Alaska and Yukon have opposed this position based on the evidence of one study (Yeon et al. 2001), which concluded the dog’s welfare is not at risk through tethering. But that study compared tethering with confinement to small individual pens, which allows even less room for behavioural expression. Not surprisingly, the study revealed no significant difference.
Sled-dog kennel owners believe tethering provides a safer environment for the dogs — that they are less likely to climb fences to escape, and less likely to engage in aggressive behaviours than if housed in a group — a position I have found in my own research to be unfounded.
Nevertheless, the Alaskan Sled Dog Association has successfully lobbied the USDA to declare its members non-commercial in order to sideline the tethering ban.
In a 2004 study I conducted in a commercial sled-dog kennel in Quebec, I found that tethering significantly increased aggression with neighbouring dogs, and led to less exploratory behaviours, fewer social behaviours, more injury and, importantly, less sleep than in an untethered group pen of three compatible dogs. Untethered, there was no aggression and the dogs began to self-regulate their behaviours and form hierarchies. Also, there were significantly higher levels of what we consider normal dog behaviours: I noted “play bows,” normal exploratory behaviours, and evidence that when untethered, dogs could finally relax enough to sleep. There was enough evidence to suggest, from this small study, that tethering is detrimental to dog welfare.
So what about the question of re-homing sled dogs who have been almost continually tethered? We know that exposure to a broad range of environments and stimuli during the socialization phase of puppy development (roughly 5-12 weeks), when their brains are developing and before their fear response sets in, increases their acceptance of new people, environments and objects when they mature.
Puppies born in kennels, with little exposure to humans or their living conditions under the age of 12 weeks, are neurologically disadvantaged and will be fearful. In fact, we know that dogs raised with no human contact up to the age of 16 weeks are effectively feral.
Puppies born in sled-dog kennels would also be restricted in their exposure to household environments, and may also be unable to react to new experiences without extreme fear. While nurturing, experienced handlers may be able to gradually desensitize some of these dogs, the reality is that extreme fear will often result in aggression.
Tethering from an early age similarly reduces dogs’ exposure to novelty, making them poor prospects for successful re-homing. It also makes them unable to express normal behaviours. Dogs, like us, are social animals and desire contact with others of their species.
Their inability to reach another dog — an evolutionary necessity, as those on the margins of a pack are potential prey — is not normal.
A dog tethered next to an incompatible dog will constantly be alert and stressed because it can’t escape the situation. The animal’s emotional and physical health will decline.
Tethering also causes behavioural responses. Dogs may perform repetitive behaviours such as incessant pacing, circling, barking, licking or self-mutilation, or learned helplessness.
Ultimately, the practice of continual tethering is the main reason it is virtually impossible to re-home sled dogs in a non-kennel environment.
At least one Sled Dog Rescue claims that these barriers are not impossible to overcome and that ex-working-sled-dogs can be rehomed safely.
Despite the controversy, the foundation is working to find new homes for all of the dogs and many of the 86 now jobless working dogs still need homes.
Broderick said she is working in conjunction with the B.C. SPCA to find homes for the dogs. She said that in a typical year WAG finds homes for about 80 dogs, so she enlisted the help of the provincial organization in the hope that there will be a province-wide response to the effort to find homes for the dogs. Broderick said she expects most of the dogs will be adopted directly out of the kennel but a few may need to spend some time in the WAG shelter before they find new homes.
“I think the company has done a great job this last year of socializing the dogs,” said Broderick.
The biggest challenge with the sled dogs is the fact that they don’t have any house skills.
“Teaching them to walk on a leash and maybe even in some cases housebreaking and chewing on appropriate chew toys, those are going to be our challenges,” Broderick noted.
She estimated that 10 to 20 per cent of the dogs in the kennel are extremely shy.
“We need to get them socialized with people,” she said.
Anyone who wants to adopt one of the dogs is asked to send an email message to retiredsleddoginfo@whistlerwag.com indicating an interest in adopting a sled dog.
You can follow their efforts on Facebook or their webpage to inquire about a sled dog yourself or just read the hopefully happy endings for this set of dogs that survived the massacre and standard practice of culling working dogs when they “retire.”
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What a mess. 8-(
Are these the same dogs they are doing the DNA testing on to get the best runners? So much money and planning at the front end, and then, zip, at the rear end…..
Even people in solitary confinement get one hour of caged freedom a day……
I am very sorry to hear that these dogs are not properly socialized. What were they thinking? That they could just kill them when their working lives were over? That kind of “dog philosophy” is so 19th Century!
Kate Williams recently posted..And introduction to native American dogs.
Quandry, but I don’t find it shocking.
I’ve been trying to imagine what life was like for working dogs before spey/neuter operations became common. I don’t know where the phrase, “It’s a dog’s life” comes from. I suspect that, historically, most dogs have been treated like livestock, kept when useful, slaughtered when not. Ok, a special sort of livestock, but not like family members.
It’s expensive to treat dogs as sentient beings.
I’ve been walking around my non-affluent rural Florida neighborhood, where the poor routinely chain their dogs. I put $4k into fencing when I moved in, and ended out with a fence that gives my dogs a couple acres to run, but it would be insufficient for a determined dog. It’s not clear that the approved alternative, a small, more affordable, chain-link day run, is much of an improvement over chaining. See http://www.naiaonline.org/uploads/WhitePapers/Cornell_study_on_tethering_and_pen.pdf.
Rough guess . . . on average, an unneutered bitch, not protected from neighborhood dogs, will probably whelp around 20 pups, of whom 18 to 19 will die, or be killed, before reaching maturity. The farm family with herding or general purpose dogs, or the urban tradesman with a cart dog, simply couldn’t afford to keep all the pups a bitch would produce, and the neighbors would be in a position to be extremely selective in which dogs they kept. The old faithful dog probably didn’t live that long after working value began to decline and health problems began setting in . . . except, perhaps, in meat-rich environments where the cost of keeping dogs alive was low. Ugly as it is, dog fighting probably worked into the ecology of poverty as a way to get rid of surplus dog population. I’d guess bitch pups were the first to be drowned.
I don’t have the library resources to check out the above reconstruction. But in context of such a reconstruction, the sled dog scene, ugly as it is, seems like a return to historical norms. I don’t like it. But it would be hypocritical to enjoy the Iditarod without acknowledging that it is based on a rough and harsh style of dog husbandry.
I don’t know if any of these particular dogs were ever raced for sport or if they were just tourist-grade dogs for profit. I imagine the standards of care and expectations would be lower for an entertainment outfit versus a sport kennel that is more high profile.
what a terrible mess……
I have been anti tethering for more years than it has been a popular belief & could never understand how anyone can think it is ok to limit an animals behaviours & social experience by chaining them up.
I grew up on farms & with old working dog men & it was a hard life for a dog.
I believe you you can treat a working dog as a part of the family unlike the old timer who say you will ruin a working dog if you treat it like a pet.
I be interested to hear how they go with the rehoming as if they are anything like sibs they come with a huge prey drive & I can not help but think unsocialised, huge prey drive & built for endurance is the recipe for a neighbourhood terrorist in the wrong hands.
http://www.naiaonline.org/uploads/WhitePapers/Cornell_study_on_tethering_and_pen.pdf
It is unfortunate but when did this become a class wars against tethering.
I tether my dog for a couple hours a day,I rent and lack a fence or kennel.
He has not become more aggressive,actually less.
Not all dogs should be allowed loose,and I still bring my dog out for socialization and to new places.
He was much worse socialized when I got him and he was kept in a kennel.
He is still also mostly a house dog,and is better trained then many dogs I know.
I’ve known of plenty of dogs becoming aggressive through fences as well.
Usually I’ve known anyone that breeds that uses tethers will at least have one dog kennel to keep puppies and mother in.
I have no personal chip on my shoulder regarding tethering, but I’d caution against making absolute equivalent comparisons between pet dogs being tethered and the conditions of sled dogs being tethered.
The degree of human interaction, access to the indoors, socialization, and exposure to urban/suburban experiences are likely vastly different.
By all means, comparisons might be valid, but appreciate the extreme differences as well.
Tethering a dog for a few hrs a day is not an issue or not in my opinion anyway. Tethering a dog 24/7 unless it’s pulling a sled/working/fighting/training etc is & it dose make for unstable reactive dogs. The word chain mad dose have some foundation behind it believe me but tethering a dog for a few hrs a day when it is interacted with & its daily physical & mental needs are meet in the many hrs it is not on a chain in a day is not going to cause the same issues.
This article isn’t referring to a pet dog hanging out on a tether for a couple of hours a day because the owner doesn’t have a fence. This is about dogs who live on tethers, 24/7, in close proximity to other dogs living on tethers, with no other outlet other than running with the sled.
Endangered species be these Sled Dogs whose long heritage and animal husbandry until now has not been problematic. Our Herding Breeds or a Working Breed are becoming obsolete just as the men and women who for generations earned their income from this teamwork. Regulations and laws
I agree have seen the fence runners as we called them or the narrow kennel outdoor runs create aggressive behavior. Good question “When did tethering become an issue of class war?” It seems it began when dog owners tethered dogs outside or to a dog house without water or food. Dogs tethered hours, months and years once the puppy was not cute any longer. Complaints of these dogs barking night and day rose public awareness. These dogs of varies breeds but mostly hunting dogs were visited maybe shortly once a day to fill water bucket and put down dog food. It was once common place to see in rural areas dogs either tethered to a dog house, or a chain linked kennel without even a dog house. Public opinion has changed, so now they keep them often in some type of outbuildings were they can not be viewed in some cases.
These issues appear in all walks of life today. I saw two bumper stickers on a pick up this morning …(Due to EPA regulations and government control laws) “I am an Endangered Species” I am a Waterman” “I am an Endangered Species I am a Hunter”.
It is also thought that chained dogs become more muscular and smarter about untangling themselves if tangles while pulling a sled. They also have more free range then kennels,and don’t have to walk on concrete which can be tough on the joints. As well as puppies are known to play less on concrete,so can suffer developmental problems.
Old stories of sled dogs killing each other makes separating them make sense as well.
It is illegal to to keep a dog on a tether day round, year round, in Tucson; maybe because it is so hot. If dogs are kept outdoors, they must have shade, water and a fence. I don’t think anyone would report dog tethered couple of hours a day, if there was shade and water.
While it does discriminate against people who have no fences, it was attention to the chaining of multiple pit bull types outside, to keep them apart from each other, that made people want the law. Pit bulls are the primary “chain dogs” around here; it is the fear of bites from the chain dogs stereotype that makes people want them behind fences.
Kate Williams recently posted..And introduction to native American dogs.
Yes I understand the differences but when so many people are against just the concept of tethering is when I feel defensive.
I do dislike when dogs are un-socialized,only attention they get is feeding time and sometimes training,and live on chains,kennels and especially cages all year round 24/7/365/.
Huskies at least get to have fun pulling and I’ve heard of some sled dogs kept more as pets. These dogs are high energy and would make poor pets for most people even if better socialized,I wouldn’t recommend working bred Border collies or Belgian Malinois in most homes either.
Besides hounds and huskies,fighting pit bulls are most often kept on chains I know. Although some I’ve seen on tv where kept in kennels or tiny cages.
Chains/tethers seem much less cruel then small cages at least.
There do need to be laws to make sure people tie out animals properly,and I don’t understand how some places have no loose dog laws.
Fences need to be well made as well,no tiny fences the dogs can jump over,also wooden fences have been chew through and dug under by vicious dogs. I’ve had to deal with pits breaking out of houses before,screen doors can’t keep in dogs and kids leaving doors open or dropping leashes shows that pit bulls are not the best for children. Dogs on chains are the least of my worries.
I luckily still live in a area where dog fighting is almost unheard of so I may be biased that way.
If someone can not afford fencing surely they should not have more than a pet dog that is only chained when they have to as are going out. I have no issue with a family with 1 or 2 dogs that are taken out to toilet & exercised regularly, live with their family & are only chained when no one is home as long as they are not forever out of course.
Surely if someone want to keep multiply dogs for breeding, working or what ever reason they should be able to provide adequate living conditions. For me that means room to run play interact with other dogs, sleep comfortably & be safe.
Of course they had sled dogs fighting when they used to cram too many in too small of a run with little thought to matching the dogs etc. I have seen working dogs do well confined to a larger kennel run in groups of 4 & 6 & 8, each group was well thought out though. The runs where designed for the dogs with several different height platforms & areas where dogs could get away from each other if they wanted too. With 2 to 4 different large sleeping areas in each with individual bed areas although many liked to pile in on 1 of the bigger beds it seemed. The dogs where also regularly worked & interacted with & 1 run at a time would also get free run in the house yards & the big run(was a 10ac paddock fenced in with dog mesh)off that included a dam, plenty of trees & occasional rabbits to chase. I thought the dogs seemed the happiest of any of the set ups for larger kennels/dog yards etc that I had seen.
Personally my dogs sleep inside with us & some are free to roam about the farm & those that are not have a yard & get free run a few times a wk & I could not imagine it any other way.
But I have seen kennel runs that where much more dog friendly than others where the dogs seemed more than happy but I have not found 1 place where dogs are tethered as the main form of containment where I could say I found well adjusted happy dogs.
With respect to housing and homing sled dogs, it’s interesting to look at the Canadian statistics on dog attack fatalities.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2387261/#!po=37.5000
Most of the fatalities are rural, and the most common ‘breeds’ are ‘mixed breed’ and ‘sled dog’. Attacks by multiple dogs outnumber attacks by a single dog. Children are the most common victims. Pack behavior is important. Free roaming dogs are responsible for a lot of fatalities.
Cages won’t work for sled dogs cause they’d be impossible to put on the sled.
It isn’t nice, but all in all, sled dogs are tied out for good reason. Rehoming unemployed sled dogs sounds like a difficult task, indeed.
All in all, a sad story. And you’re right. The life of working dogs shouldn’t be romanticized.
Why can they not house them in runs???? I mean decent sized fully fenced runs with housing?? There is no good reason for tethering any dog 24/7 for the span of its working life.
Personally, I’m just wondering why a run would make a difference. Lack of interaction is lack of interaction. A prettier place to not-interact wouldn’t change that
I mean runs where they could be housed in groups of compatible dogs. I would prefer they not be contained for such long hrs at all but surely a run with mates is better than a chain. I give my dogs different level platforms to hang out on & the runs are large enough for them to play chase & rough & tumble.
So basically, a large grouping of dogs left unsupervised and unchecked in the event of a fight or something like that
Well no thats not how I run our runs anyway. We make sure each run is of a good size with several different level platforms & diff areas for dogs to be able to get away on their own if they wish. We put a huge amount of thought into who goes in each run & if the group is not working we change dogs till it dose. We make sure the dogs get enough mental & physical stimulation on a daily basis.
Any dogs that can not be trusted in group runs are in individual or paired runs. Then we have some that are fine for the most part but are put in an individual run when we are going off property just to be sure.
But as I say these dogs also have daily 1 on 1 interaction with their owners, daily time to free run & many are either working or training too. So that a bit different to leaving groups of dogs in small runs with mim outlet.
I live in Alaska and sled dogs are incredibly common here, as is rehoming them. Countless sled dogs have been rehomed successfully, including retired Iditarod dogs. It’s complete BS to say that being on a chain their entire lives will make them poor pets. I have owned three retired racing sled dogs and they adapted very well to life as a pet dog. Did it take a while? Sure, but dogs are adaptable animals. It truly isn’t much different than making pets out of retired racing greyhounds. All of the same problems occur: house breaking, lack of training, concerns with thinking cats are prey, and lack of socialization. All of these problems can either be overcome or compensated for with the proper work put in.
No doubt, I linked to a rescue who claims many success stories with retired sled dogs.
The important issue is to be honest with the difficulties as well as appreciate that an entire year’s worth of dogs are being dumped on the market all at once.
Fully agree dogs are the most forgiving of creatures & with plenty of patience & good training most will manage but they would manage quicker & easier if they had at least had the opportunity to socialise in runs instead of being tethered.
It is also an awful lot to rehab train & rehome all at once no matter what their backgrounds.
Although working dogs tend to be healthier and stronger dogs their life is not always a pretty one.
In the past sled dogs where allowed to run free when not in use, but had to fend for themselves,and attacks by them where common. Dogs would gang up on each other ending in fatal consequences and even one man with a rifle and daughter got both killed and eaten by a pack. These dogs would eat anything just to survive.
“…whitewash of the reality of animals used in industry..”
One only has to see how the Amish treat their animals to lose any rosey mental images of that.
Last winter, I worked at a sled dog racing kennel in BC, Canada, which had about 150 dogs. These dogs were tethered/chained.
The effects of chaining…it’s all relative. It can be detrimental, but so can kenneling. At this kennel, there were three yards. The older pup yard with some old dogs, the male yard, and then female yard. The female yard was fenced with a 6-foot chainlink fence, and had fenced “whelping pens/puppy runs” attached to two sides of the female yard, as well as in areas. All dogs where chained within the yards. Dogs in the runs, were not.
When a bitch was bred, and it took and she became pregnant, then when she was a week or so from whelping, she was moved from her dog house where she was tethered, and put in one of the chain-linked fenced whelping pens. The bitch was kept there, unchained, with a nice dog house, until the pups were weaned. We kept a close eye on the bitch, and checked on her often to make sure she didn’t have complications with the birthing. Every day for the first week, one person, usually the owner of the kennel, would pick up each pup and handle it and talk to it for a few minutes a couple times a day. At a week of age, a few more people would be handling them as well. Once they started wobbling around and came outside the doghouse, everyone started playing with them, including his little 1-1/2-year-old child and nieces and nephews. Around weaning and afterwards, until about 4 months of age, the pups would be taken out for walks around the property, to a barn, pond, fields, etc. At about 4 months of age, the pups would be taken out and they would run, chasing the four-wheeler or snowmobile (with lots of breaks). At 6 months of age, the pups were tethered.
Yes, they would be freaked out when they were first tied up. And quite frankly, it was pretty funny to watch them. Usually, after an hour or so, they figured it out and settled down. Sometimes, we had to help them figure out how to go into the dog houses. I have to wonder if it many dogs would be a lot easier to handle on a leash if they were first introduced to one through being tethered… Now, the pups didn’t stop getting socialized just because they were now tied up. Not at all. They all still get daily interaction, petting, handling their paws, giving us kisses. They still get runs every third day, with lots of play-time. Okay, now you’re thinking “only every third day?!” Well, yes – they’re puppies. If you give them a workout every single day, you’ll injure them!
If it’s winter, shortly after chaining the pups up, they’re harnessed and trained to run in harness, otherwise it’s done in the fall/winter. As they become yearlings and then two-year-olds and three-year-olds, they’re not lacking for interaction with people. They get interaction every single day. Petting, checking their feet, saying hi, and lot’s of playing with the other dogs. Dogs are slowly brought up in condition, and the dogs are never run more than 5 miles until they’re 2-year-olds. They’re really careful to not cause injury by over-training.
And guess what? These dogs absolutely love running in harness. They love pulling sleds. They really enjoy it. They want to do it. They like it so much they’re all trying to get you to take them to the harnessing area. When they’re hooked into the sled waiting to go, they’re jumping, sometimes straight up in the air, and straining against the lines, they’re so eager to run.
None of these dogs were spayed or neutered. We didn’t have unplanned breedings. They didn’t have any behavioral problems. They weren’t aggressive. They didn’t hump us handlers. They didn’t bite. They weren’t fearful. And they were all chained up. Quite frankly, they were the best behaved dogs I’ve ever met. The sanest, calmest (except when getting ready to run, hehe), no mental problems, no aggression problems. Nothing. They got good exercise. They had purpose. They got good food and plenty of water. Rabies vaccine, the 4-way vac, regular deworming, and vet care when needed. They had socialization with humans, and lots of interaction – specifically Positive interaction – with many other dogs. They came when called by name when running free – and usually they weren’t named till a year of age. And yes, these were all chained, and except for runs, they were chained 24/7.
To be quite honest, I truly think they have better lives than 95% of pet dogs in households. The majority of pet dogs get crap food, barely any exercise, very little mental stimulation, a little training with humans, and if they’re lucky lots of petting and love which in many cases just stimulates the dog more, and isn’t necessarily what they need. They often are stuck in kennels for 8+ hours a day – and by kennel, that may mean a dog crate inside, or if they’re lucky, an outdoor run, which rarely gives the dog enough room to more than take 5 steps.
Yes, these dogs had a few behaviours that would not be acceptable in a pet dog. They would jump up, put their paws on your chest and say hi, often by licking your coveralls, chin, or nose, but that wasn’t a problem with them, as we always wore coveralls. They would pull on the leash when taking them to the harness area – again, not a problem with them, because they’re bred to pull.
As for the charge that if they were kept in runs versus tethering, “Cages won’t work for sled dogs cause they’d be impossible to put on the sled.” well, considering that the dogs would come to us…even so, we’d be able to put them on the sled. But runs tend to give a lot more opportunity for fighting – 99.99% of the time, all the dogs get along, and there’s no problems. It’s that .01% and you can end up with a badly injured or dead dog. And ya, they’re way more expensive. And the dogs still end up un-socialized if, you know, you don’t socialize them.
So, in some kennels, yes, tethering results in shy, un-socialized dogs. But that’s from not socializing them, not from tethering them. Certainly, in this kennel, it definitely didn’t have bad effects, and had many positive ones.
I am sorry but I run a yard of a dozen or so dogs & there is no way 1 owner of 150 could socialise every single pup without an army of employees as there just are not enough hrs in the day.
I totally agree that dogs with a purpose are better off than a spoiled pampered pet dog but the purpose has to reg take up more than an hr of their day & the rest be chained to the same spot day in & day out.
Of course the husbandry & how the dogs are treated will affect the outcome of their temperaments but you just can not give 150 dogs enough time as there is not enough hrs in the day.
Not an army…a few,working full time in a well set up kennel. One person working full time can easily keep up with 20 to 30 dogs, or several dogs, plus two or three litters of pups. More, in the short term, but you burn out if you push it, or things go wrong. Socializing puppies is fun work. It’s more likely to become a problem for a person with a full time job other than dog care. The big question is where do you find the moolah to support kennel staff…the notorious puppy farms are probably managing 50+ dogs per kennel employee, or 5+ litters. That gets dicey real fast.
When I ran a boarding kennel, we had two shifts of two to four people each who did just fine caring for, playing with, feeding, & cleaning up after everyone even when we had a full house. We had 70 kennel runs, & often many of them held more than one dog as family members often liked to stay together. Everyone was walked twice a day, most were given access to the play yards for group play at different points throughout the day, & we had other options for individual play or training sessions. With a full time staff, it’s doable.
Lynx
Great post. Good to have an inside view on tethering.
Sounds like you worked for a high quality kennel and the dogs had good lives.
Any thoughts about what it would be like in a less enlightened kennel? or an enlightened kennel facing bankruptcy?
Is 150 dogs a large kennel? Or do you need that sort of numbers to produce a really good team?
How the hell does anyone support 150 sled dogs?
I just fail to see the need for such numbers I guess, surely they could run something between a few different sled dog breeders to cater for the tourist mths instead of breeding dogs just for this purpose???
Sampitkin, it was not one person taking care of 150 dogs. It also was not 1 person socializing 150 pups! The Kennel is owned by a father and son, the son being about 30 now. They, along with 2 handlers every season, the son’s daughter, and the father’s other grandkids all help to socialize and take care of the dogs. Yes, they Do all get socialized, and when they go for runs, it’s can be for more than an hour (in the winter, the main race team might train for 2-3 hours every 2nd day, and then some play time afterwards). And it’s not like they’re chained on a 2-foot chain and can’t do anything. They have a 6 foot chain that can go 360 degrees – so a 12 foot diameter circle.
For the kids that help, it’s just plain fun. For the handlers, it’s a lot of fun, a lot of learning, and just a great experience. It doesn’t pay much, no, but you get full room and board, no cleaning in the house, plus use of their vehicles without any requirement to pay gas or insurance on the vehicles.
Also, this kennel is not a tourist kennel, it’s a racing kennel.
Jen, it is one of the highest quality kennels in the sled dog business. It’s a sprint racing kennel. They make their money by winning races as well as selling dogs. They usually come in first and second or first and third, or second and third in the races they enter, and have for decades. They also make a lot of money from selling the dogs, as their dogs are fast, trained, socialized, and of good temperament. They do not sell dogs under 1 1/2 years of age, so when you buy a dog from them, it is already trained to run in harness. The person buying the dog gets a good dog, and then they do with it what they will.
As for less enlightened kennels….This kennel had sold this one bitch, and it ended up being sold a couple times, and ended up in a kennel that was I think converted from an old barn. In any case, it was an indoor kennel. She was the littermate of another bitch they had kept – she was probably about 9-10 years old. This kennel I worked at bought her back while I was working there, and when they did, she looked so pregnant that we thought she would give birth within a couple of days. She also looked starved – very prominent ribs, with a big big belly. She didn’t give birth – I was giving her triple ration for over a month, and it took that month to get her weight up to being “thin”. As we fed her, her belly also shrunk. At first…she would barely eat. I think what had happened, was (perhaps partially because she was old) she’d been overlooked in that kennel, and didn’t get any outside time, sun, fresh air, and so she stopped caring, and stopped eating. She was also extremely human-shy at first – her littermate wasn’t at all.
As for 150 dogs being a very large kennel, well….the main race teams consisted of 50 dogs, probably 30-40 of those are 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. Yearlings account for about 50 dogs, and pups another 50 or so dogs, with old dogs making up the balance. Considering that….yes, it’s a large kennel for someone starting out, but for an established kennel, and a profitable one, no, it’s a good sized kennel for what they do. What some people do, is they take on more than they can handle, and then they run into problems.
As for a kennel facing bankruptcy, or simply unable to care for their dogs anymore, I’m really not sure what to say. Yes, sled dogs can be re-homed as pets….depending on their socialization, and not every kennel socialized their dogs like this one did. Yes, they can also be sold to other kennels, and often other kennels will take the dogs in. Quite frankly, I think the ones made into pets, with no more sledding, would be quite unhappy – every single dog I’ve seen at the races, absolutely loved pulling in harness, and was quite excited to do so.
As for the dogs that are unable to be rehomed…I can’t say it’s right, that’s for sure, however many many dogs are put down in shelters. How different is that then putting those dogs down? Is it killing sled dogs that have no where to go any worse or any better than killing shelter dogs? I really can’t say. Is it any harder for vets to euthanize dogs and cats every day at a shelter, than for the man who shot those dogs? Again, how can one say either way? I certainly don’t think it was right that the owners got an employee to do such a heartbreaking and grisly job.
We had also discussed some euthanasia versus shooting a dog…we were discussing it with another couple of sled dog people. One couple said they had brought this one dog of theirs to the vet, as it was having a medical problem, and they wanted to know if the vet could help. It was about a 4 hour trip to the vet. The vet said that they could not do anything for the dog, and as the dog was in a great deal of pain, the couple decided to simply have the dog put down there, versus having it suffer another 4 hours and shoot it at home. Well, they said never again would they euthanize a dog. They said it was way worse for the dog, way longer, and they could tell it was painful. Keeping in mind that they truly loved their dogs, they said they would shoot a dog over euthanizing it anytime, because it was far kinder to the dog. Now this was one couple’s experience with euthanasia and shooting (albeit agreed to by a some of the other sledding people), so take it as you will. I have not euthanized nor shot a dog, so I can’t really give an opinion either way.
well I have & much of a muchness but yes some will have muscle spasm now horses I deff prefer to shot the green dream is not always so kind to them.