Are Iditarod dogs kept permanently tethered on short chains?
In many kennels, dogs spend their entire lives outside chained up to their dog house. In these musher’s kennels, a dog can have a chain as short as four feet long. In 1997, the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) determined that the permanent tethering of dogs, as the primary means of enclosure, was inhumane and not in the animals’ best interests. The permanent chaining of dogs is prohibited in all cases where federal law applies. • Some reasons why permanent tethering is cruel are as follows: 1) A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area. 2) Because the chained dog is always close to his own fecal material, he can easily catch deadly parasitical diseases by stepping in or sniffing his own waste. The ground within the dog’s chained area may have a high concentration of parasite larvae. 3) Even if the fecal matt
