I’ve been out running with sled dogs and seen how excited they get when it’s time to run. They’re not pushed, they’re not forced, they love doing what they’re doing. It’s conceivable that some racers abuse dogs, but it’s not a very rewarding sport to get into for the money so there’s not much financial incentive to abuse your dogs (prize money is $50,000 and you spend more than that just getting dogs ready to compete) so there’s no reason to believe there’s more animal abuse in the Iditarod than in your regular run of the mill household.

Cheap outfits that take tourists out on dog runs every hour? Those might have a lot of animal abuse, but there’s no reason to project that onto the serious athletes.