sled dog questions & sled dog poop questions

[1stimestar]

Melanie Gould had a mental breakdown. She wasn't in a hotel, she was in the wilderness off the Denali Highway. You can't control going crazy.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Ever hear the term "That dog can't hunt" I am thinking the same holds true for Dog's in Alaska, where the purpose of owning the animal is for a specific job. For those that understand that philosophy then yes if a dog won't run then it is of little value to someone running a team. I remember a hunting dog that was shot because of surviving a bear attack. He was not going to be any good to the hunting team and the thought was may as well put him down. Look I am a city boy and probably would have done something differant than putting the dog down. Then again a dog to me is a pet and not a tool for hunting or racing.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Ever hear the term "That dog can't hunt" I am thinking the same holds true for Dog's in Alaska, where the purpose of owning the animal is for a specific job. For those that understand that philosophy then yes if a dog won't run then it is of little value to someone running a team. I remember a hunting dog that was shot because of surviving a bear attack. He was not going to be any good to the hunting team and the thought was may as well put him down. Look I am a city boy and probably would have done something differant than putting the dog down. Then again a dog to me is a pet and not a tool for hunting or racing.

I think this is pretty much the truth; like I said before, society's attitudes are changing, and putting down dogs who couldn't earn their keep was a normal part of life during the agricultural age.

After Susan Butcher won the Iditarod, I remember hearing people talk as if it was unusual that she treated her dogs well. That seems to be more the norm these days. I have to remind myself that 1stimestar's experiences now are probably pretty different from what mine were 20-25 years ago. It wasn't that long ago, though, that I lived fairly close to the guys I mentioned earlier; maybe five years. I used to spend more time in the interior when I was younger but it's just too hard to live out there anymore.

As far as kennel requirements in Alaska, that's regulated by individual municipalities, and some of them don't even have ordinances concerning kennels. It might be that the city of Anchorage is going to ask residents with over 3 dogs to have a kennel license while you won't be required by Valdez to get one unless you have 6 or more canines. Away from city and borough limits, I think you can pretty much have all the dogs you want, although there might be some sort of overall state statute regulating that. I briefly looked for one, though, and couldn't find it.

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

There have been a lot of local whispers about Melanie Gould not really having walked into the wild at all, but to my knowledge, she's never talked about it. There are lots of people in my old town who believe that she was in a motel the entire time that everyone was looking for her.

Nah, the person who found her was setting up a base camp for searchers near Cantwell, and then went looking for her himself. According to Amanda Olson, her best friend who I was having conversations with at the time, it helped that Melanie knew the volunteer, who found her hungry and thirsty. After being given hot drinks and food, she was then taken to the hospital where I believe she was kept for 2 days.

[soci3tycat]

I originally had this in the "Dogs" section, then was referred to put it in the "Alaska." There's a few responses in that section, and they say that the lead dogs are usually males. Is this true?

In the discovery channel documentary, DeeDee JonRowe's lead dog is a female. Is this out of the norm?

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by soci3tycat

I originally had this in the "Dogs" section, then was referred to put it in the "Alaska." There's a few responses in that section, and they say that the lead dogs are usually males. Is this true?

In the discovery channel documentary, DeeDee JonRowe's lead dog is a female. Is this out of the norm?

No. That's why they told you to come here because people in general don't know squat about sled dogs.