Mushing Explained: Designing the perfect dog sled

[@paw_unit]

I NEED A ROAD VERSION

[@Grottenfledermaus]

Love it!

[@navalukthrasher9269]

As a Canadian Inuvialuit, " Dog- Sled Racing", Iditarod. e.g- David Straub is a good example. No responsible Inuit would subject a team of working dogs to such torture. Yes, I have Mahalamut dogs, and they are very much strong pullers, only to enjoy the bush due to loving kindness.

[@justinechaine5679]

Hello! I am a white french canadian, and I am looking to have a sled team someday and do some nice canine sports with them, sledding included I am looking to have some canadian eskimos(more inuit dogs, if that is prefered for you) in my team, and I would like to hear your opinion on if that is culturally okay to have some of my own as a non indigenous person? They are just one of my favorite breeds of sled dogs and a real first choice, absolutely beautiful, more importantly powerful, they have great temperaments and correspond to what I am looking for as sled dogs

[@doggodoggo3000]

@@justinechaine5679 sledding sports are basically and emulation of the method of mushing the RCMP used to keep tabs on the indigenous people especially the long distance races. The sprint races are more an emulation of the way white trappers and mail carriers used sled dogs. If you want a sled dog, help one of the thousands that the mushers in canda are trying to get rid of. They treat dogs like freaking pokemon cards trading them around and getting rid of them. And the term "breed" shouldnt apply to indigenous dogs, they were not selectively bred. No "breed standard" existed. Thats a modern term and idea invented by white European dog fanciers. Even in sled dogs today, there isnt a breed standard. In the iditarod they use "alaskans huskies" which is a catch all term. They are mutts. Every musher is trying to out breed the other, so you typically call the dogs by the kennel owners name. ex. "seavey dog" streeper dog" etc etc. But there is greyhound genetics, GSP, and all sorts of stuff in alanskan huskies. The other one they call a "eurohound" just another meaningless catch all term do describe racing mutts. Breed standards are BAD thats why they race mushers dont use them, they just care about developing faster dogs that can run farther, a "breed standard" would just box them in. But you are applying white european colonizer terms and ideals to you buying and using a dog to do white european colonizer things. You know the RCMP almost shot all those dogs to extinction in the 1950s and 60s? But those dogs did all sorts of stuff, not just pull a sled. They would keep polar bears away, help hunt for seal holes, help hunt bear and musk ox, and yea they pull a sled some. You are just reducing them to nothing more than their ability to pull a sled and how they look. Any dog can pull a sled. first dog i ever met pulling a sled was a German shephard. In shorter forms of racing people are using straight up German shorthaired pointers. we could teach a bunch of chihuahuas to pull a sled if we wanted to.