I keep seeing stuff like this and some may be true but these people are just trying to make it sound worse than it is. These dogs are some of the happiest dogs in the world and if you havent seen a race you wouldnt really understand that. The dogs arnt "forced"to run, they want to. Whenthey dont want to run anymore they just stop and theres nothing the musher can do about it. There have been a few cases of animal abuse during the races over the years but these people have been punished, fined, disqualified, whatever. More dogs die from being attacked by moose and sickness from improperly stored food. The mushers care for the dogs before even thinking about themselves. I mean they spend so much time with them especially during the races. These races are very well regulated and supervised. There is way more of a problem of dogs being abused in your own town. Just go to your local humane society or drive around your town. You might want to read more about the Iditarod and mushing than just some exagerated stuff about the all the mishaps and bad thing that have ever happened.(no offense to whoever wrote this)