We bitch, moan, and groan about the Kona show on NBC. I sure do. And many recognize that the coverage has to be that way to be popular.
Well, I saw the Iditarod show yesterday on Versus. What could be more dull than a multi-week dog sled race? And yet they made the story very compelling. Now, I wonder whether those who know the sport inside/out the way we know triathlon are also bitching about their coverage? (e.g., that the real stories are left out). I thought it was excellent.
I’d love to see the Ironman show become more like that (no, not in Alaska).
What is dull about the Iditarod? Is it the beautiful scenery? Maybe the athletes we call canines that are stunningly beautiful and graceful? Hmmmm, could it be mans will battling the elements? What about the spirit of the event itself which is probely harder and takes more of a toll on the teams than an Ironman ever could?
Although I do understand where your coming from, NBC does some great coverage on the Iditrod but I would hardly say that sled racing, in general, is dull.
I don’t know how the musher would find the coverage. But, I found the Iditarod fascinating, the scenery fantastic and wishing I could do that…guess I really enjloyed watching the racers caring so carefully for their dogs and felt sad when one had to drop two of his dogs. Other part was the musher who talked about his 4 year old lead dog he last recently…Im just a silly sucker when it comes to dogs and animals anyway. Has been fascinating to watch evern shots of the dogs sleeping after a tough leg.
Even though the IM coverage seems to lack it still hits me emotionally hard and tough to watch sometimes.
What is dull about the Iditarod? Is it the beautiful scenery? Maybe the athletes we call canines that are stunningly beautiful and graceful? Hmmmm, could it be mans will battling the elements? What about the spirit of the event itself which is probely harder and takes more of a toll on the teams than an Ironman ever could?
Although I do understand where your coming from, NBC does some great coverage on the Iditrod but I would hardly say that sled racing, in general, is dull.
You just made my point – they MADE it very interesting via excellent production. With poor production, it would’ve been a snoozer – “just” dogs pulling a sled across the snow. My wife shrugged with disinterest last year, and then spent the entire hour riveted to the TV.
You must be a casual dog owner or have no dogs. For those of us with experience handling true working dogs, the Iditarod is a must watch. Funny thing is, even with “bitching and moaning”, triathletes and those interested still watch the coverage.
Basically what I’m saying is, coverage for sports is generally for those with an interest in it, regardless of production. Look at the PGA(take away the popularity of Tiger)- those who don’t play golf or have no interest in the game will not watch it regardless of quality of production.
I think they did a good job with the Iditarod, especially with the lack of sponsorship when compared to Ford-Kona, Reebok-NBA(plus many more), NFL-Annheiser, etc. sponsors.
No, we’re total dog people (not working dogs, though – “non-sporting” is their category). Our current dog is sometimes the center of our family!
I agree about golf: when I put my clubs down, I suddenly found watching it very dull, except the Masters. But I think Kona coverage is meant to appeal to way more than triathletes. And that’s why it’s weak (in many – not all – of our sport’s eyes). We still watch it because we kind of “have to” and it’s far better than nothing!
As a Siberian lover and owner, I think this breed almost best represents the triathlete.
I’m constantly amazed at the sheer power and endurance that these dogs have and can put out for extended periods of time. Our 50 pound female Siberian can pull my 100 pound wife to the ground, and drag her if she sets her mind to it - not sure how far she COULD go, but my wife will attest to at least 20 feet on dirt…the kid loves those elk!! She is nothing but muscle and back.
But even better than the pulling power, they are exactly like us - mentally stronger than the average of the breed. Ours can run for two or three hours pulling us around and when we get home, we find they’ve chafed the bujeezzus out of their paws. They won’t stop, nor do they whine, cry, moan, etc. I think they are a lot like endurance athletes (how many of us have felt the blisters forming, the toenails coming off, and keep going for another 2 hours???). I only wish we’d taught the booties earlier!
I’m kinda disappointed that the Iditarod has turned more into a genetic mutt fest. Most of the teams aren’t of pure siberian huskies. Most are “Yukon” or “Iditarod” huskies-mainly mixes of the siberian husky and another breed(greyhounds/labs/etc.). I think last year there was only 1 team with a full Siberian Husky roster. Although, the Iditarod has always been more to honor not only the Serum Run but also the time honored tradition of sled dog transportation(mail or general transport)-not just to showcase the Siberian husky.
I share your sentiments-I own a siberian husky myself. She’s only 40 lbs but can pull quite a darn bit. Only way I’ve been able to keep her toned down is by working her as a search and rescue dog.
I disagree with you Izzy about being disappointed.I was too at first, but then took a critical look at it and decided ,the object is to put the best dogs out there as possible and the traditional S. Husky is sort of old school. Not as fast,strong. or as diciplined as the new “huskys”
The genetic mutt fests of today are 20 generations away from being the new wonderdogs that the Siberians developed a century or two ago. All dogs came from hibred wolves and to the wonders of dogdome came all the great breeds we have today.
I like to sort of look at the racing sled dogs of today like the UK used to look at Border Collies. Conformation be damned, that dog can herd.
I do agree that the Malmutes and Siberians are such beautiful breeds to look at pulling the sleds compared to the mutt like dogs of today. I know a couple guys that bought some Alaskans from the racers up there, and you thought your Siberian was strong headed? Other than racing, their dogs didn’t take to training very well.
As mushers, my wife and I usually enjoy watching the Iditarod coverage. We have a library of DVDs, but do not have cable/satellite or whatever so we can’t watch TV coverage. The thing that is interesting about it, besides the sheer athleticism of the dogs (they are amazing endurance athletes, and they don’t care how much the bike weighs or how high tech the shoes are, as long as you feed them!) are the human stories. The top mushers - running dogs is their life. The guy who won this year also won the Yukon Quest a couple of weeks before with the same dogs (the dogs do the pulling, but winning and losing are for humans) and he did it last year too. And he is a cancer survivor. And it was a very close race this year. And there is some angle like that every year. Last year it was the brutal trail conditions… There is always something that makes it a drama, and not just a simple grind of a sporting event.
For you purebred lovers, there are a lot of us who follow mushers like Karen Ramstead (and a few others) who make a point of running purebred, registered sibes. Mostly to show the AKC world what you have to do to maintain the working ability of the breed, more than to show the rest of the world how great sibes are. The fact is that top mushers who make a living doing this could care less about breed “purity” or breed standards, they just want the characteristics that win races and do whatever breedings they think will produce that result. (Note that those characteristics are not necessarily those you would want in a real blue-collar working dog in the arctic, running traplines, hauling large loads in tough conditions with little food. For that you want Inuit dogs ).
btw, my wife and I work and breed AKC samoyeds, they are great arctic freight/work dogs, but not such great racing dogs. Neither are purebred sibes or malemutes great racing dogs, compared to the Alaskan “huskies.” If your goal is to win races, you want Alaskans. Of course, our dogs do not need to be bedded down on straw, wear coats, and they like -40F!
My husband and I have been captivated by the Iditarod for several years. We’re actually
planning on a trip to watch first hand in 2009 or 2010. Funny thing is most of our trips are
because I want to do an Ironman somewhere, so this will be different.
Any way…
About the coverage this year, very disappointed. Much different than last year. Last year OLN
had it televised every evening for a week with an hour long coverage.
Kinda funny story - Our neighbors threatened to call the police on us this winter for animal cruelty - our female was curled into a mini-ball outside on the back deck sleeping on a pile of snow at -20 degrees. They had no idea that she WANTED to sleep outside! (apparently they didn’t see the dog door!) They get it now that her winter coat is starting to come off in huge clumps!
btw, my wife and I work and breed AKC samoyeds, they are great arctic freight/work dogs, but not such great racing dogs. Neither are purebred sibes or malemutes great racing dogs, compared to the Alaskan “huskies.” If your goal is to win races, you want Alaskans. Of course, our dogs do not need to be bedded down on straw, wear coats, and they like -40F!
Seriously!!? How the heck don’t their eyes and tongues freeze???
Equally amazing was Trautwig’s line about being “the strongest draft animals on earth, pound-for-pound. They can pull 32,000 pounds, so a sled it nothing.” Wow. I’d have thought a Clydesdale would be, because they can pretty much pull a train, but then they also weigh about 100x more!
All dogs came from hibred wolves and to the wonders of dogdome came all the great breeds we have today.
Boy is that an incorrect statement. Dogs and wolves are related, but domestic dogs descended from a wild dog that learned to live off human garbage. The less fearful got the best grub and after many generations they became tamer and tamer. Eventually humans began to see some benefits from keeping dogs around. It all went from there to our current domestic dogs.
Although dogs and wolves (and coyotes) are genetically able to hybridize, there is a big difference in the behavior of dogs and that of wolves. There may be dog/wolf hybridization in some breeds today, but it happened well after the domestic dog developed. My Belgians have a “wolf like” look to them as well as a “sharper” social order.
The idea of “purebred” dogs is really a notion not more than 100 years old. Prior to that all dogs (except those owned by the privldged classes) were working dogs. No one selected by a “type”, back then. A dog that didn’t do his job just wasn’t worth feeding and met his maker. People could barely feed themselves, they certainly didn’t feed pets. Dog “types” or breeds developed out of function, not some ideal “look”.
As dogrunr said, the Iditorod and other sled dog racers are looking for a dog with a distinct purpose. Mushers could care less about paper pedigrees except as it relates to performance. These are not “new” huskies, but probably much closer to what was used in Alaska throughout history.
Working herding dogs do still exist. I have an imported UK Border Collie that comes from working stock. He looks nothing like the stuff in the AKC conformation ring, but boy can he control his sheep. He also is far too intense and active to make a good family pet. The same goes for true working lines of any breed.
Well Supportcrew, you are usually spot on, but Google the origin of the species for dogs and you will find a lot of scientists believe up to 100,000 years ago the rustic wolf was the original dog. There still some other rustic dogs around the world that suggest maybe not so, but hard science seems to lead back to old caninus lupus in some form or another was the grand daddy.
Spot on about the Border Collie, I got a working stock dog I thought would be a great jog dog, but we kept trying to kill each other running. Me by kicking him in the head and him by trying to trip me to death. After a year of nerotic behavior(apt living), we went back to the stock dog world and he lived chasing cows till he was 14. Best thing for the dog and me. Moral of the story, buy the right dog for the right job.
Well Supportcrew, you are usually spot on, but Google the origin of the species for dogs and you will find a lot of scientists believe up to 100,000 years ago the rustic wolf was the original dog.
This is true, but you said “wolf hybrid”. The domestic dog diverged from a common wolf ancestor, not hybridizing.
Wolf hybrids are either coyote or domestic dogs crossed with wolves.
Actually that is where my buddy got his dogs. We are sure they sold him the “slow dogs” all he wanted to have is a farm dog that likes to pull a ski dude, and that is what he got, and good ones at that. I am sule like any other animal sport some people "cull " their dogs, but I would like to think a lot of the breeders are actually do the right thing.
If you want a dog that needs your help look at the greyhound track rescue groups. They are doing the proper thing.
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