Alaska Mushing Poodles in the Iditarod

[thierry narcy 0]

Sujet divisé par l'administration

A priori, il n'a pas fait qu'essayer, il l'a terminée 4 fois. (l'iditarod)

Citation :

They also enjoy pulling for sport. John Suter, an Alaskan and all-round athlete, bought three Standard Poodles in 1976; he and the Poodles together began to learn about "dog mushing. During the next 20 years, Suter and the Poodles ran 280 races (including sprint, middle-distance, and long distance), finishing in first, second and third place in 90 of those races." In 1988, with a part-Poodle team, Suter placed 38th out of 52 starters in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He subsequently ran the Iditarod with an all-Poodle team; his team entered and finished the race in 1989, 1990, and 1991. John Suter, "Poodle Sled Dogs in Alaska", Poodle Variety, August-September 1998, p. 34. See also:

Website Alaska Mushing Poodles in the Iditarod! a new website which includes "The Poodle Man Song" by Dave Reno.

[ardechyo 0]

terminer avec des caniches royaux !!! il me semblait avoir lu dans " véto des neiges " que Sutter avait été disqualifié cette année là ....
remarque je suis pas doué en anglais mais à la lecture de ce que tu cites il ce serait aligné en 88, mais sans finir... ce doit être cette année là...
En tout cas je plains les caniches !!!

[thierry narcy 0]

Je comprends, avec l'aide d'un traducteur , qu'en 88 l'attelage était mixte (pas uniquement caniches) mais qu'il a terminé.
Apparement, il y a une année où il a été disqualifié ou a eu une amende pour maltraitance (vu que ce qu'il faisait était très médiatisé) parcequ'il arrachait les poils gelés de ses chiens. Je ne connais pas spécialement, j'ai vu ça sur le net.

[LUDO01 0]

Those Cool Alaskan Sled Poodles

January 24th, 2008




In my post 12 Nifty Things About Poodles, I mentioned those standard poodles who ran the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska for John Suter from 1988 through 1991. He’d begun mushing poodles in the mid-1970s, competing in the 1976 Chungiak Sled Dog Race. In 1992 Suter’s daughter Esther tackled the 154-mile race with her poodles, and other mushers are adding poodles to their teams.



For a grueling race in ice and snow, the dogs need boots even if they’re regular Alaskan Huskies or Husky-Hound crossbreeds. Mushers can be downright snobby about their sled dogs, as is clear from Mark Hamilton’s opinion in the newsletter of the Inuit Sled Dog International, Dog Sled Racing vs. Sled Dog Racing.

Still, as reported by Angus of Alaska in the It’s an alaskan dog’s life, poodles can not only be great sled dogs, they’re also really good for impressing the ladies for their owners down at Koot’s in Anchorage, so they’re definitely double-duty dogs!



As january goes on and on and on, and February’s foreshortened period of white stuff still looming, thinking about poodles who love the snow is good. If ever I take up skiing I’m going to use my poods to get me to the top of the run so I don’t have to pay for a lift ticket!

[LUDO01 0]

Poodles in the Iditarod


No, seriously.
They did pretty well for a while. And then they were banned from the race.
It all started when Alaskan John Suter bought three standard Poodles in 1976 and found they loved running in the snow. Instead of just enjoying sledding with his dogs (and possibly he was hoping for a movie deal), he became serious about being a Poodle musher and turning his Poodles into racing sled dogs.
He brought in experienced sled dogs and mushers to teach the Poodles who (of course) learned very quickly. After spending thousands of dollars of his own money, he appealed to Poodle owners to help finance his plan. His main purpose he said was to dispel the “wimpy image” of Poodles.
Poodle owners who for the most part love the social graces and strong verbal skills of the breed were not concerned with their “image.” Having them compete in an activity foreign to their natural breeding seemed pretty senseless. So there was not an outpouring of support.
Suter’s efforts did bring publicity to the Iditarod. But it was not the kind of publicity that some traditionalists wanted.
Eventually, however, Poodles did well in the marathon race where even finishing is an accomplishment.

In 1988, with a part-Poodle team, Suter placed 38th out of 52 starters in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He subsequently ran the Iditarod with an all-Poodle team; his team entered and finished the race in 1989, 1990, and 1991. Source

This feat combined with the wins of Susan Butcher in 1986, 1987, and 1988 made the unofficial slogan, ”Alaska, where women win the Iditarod and men mush Poodles,” very popular.
As the Poodles continued to draw attention, murmurings from the other mushers began quietly and got louder, whether they were concerned for the Poodles’ well being or for some other reason. No one doubted they had the heart to race. The question was did the breed have an unfair disadvantage.
After one Poodle was frozen to the ground while a TV crew was filming (the dog was freed quickly with no ill effects), it was determined that Poodle paws and their coats, which lack an undercoat for warmth, were not suited for competition in the harsh northern climate.
For whatever reason, all dogs except Northern Breeds are now banned from running the Iditarod.
Someone (no doubt a Poodle person) suggested in a forum that mushers didn’t want Poodles kicking Huskie butt.

[ardechyo 0]

une âme charitable pourrait elle, s'il vous plait, traduire ce que sieur ludo a bien voulu nous retranscrire !!!!
ma derniére prestation en anglais date un peu.
Poodles .... c'est caniches ????

[cathy02 0]

c'est curieux ca d'avoir opté pour des caniches
c'etait 1 eleveur de caniches ?

[Vadrouille 0]

En gros :il avait des caniches et il a remarqué qu'ils aimaient courir dans la neige, donc il a décidé de faire du mushing avec eux. Il a participé à l'iditarod mais à cause du froid, un des caniches de l'attelage a gelé sur place (fourure pas adaptée, pas de sous-poil) devant les caméras de la télé. Il a été disqualifié et depuis, seuls les attelages de nordiques peuvent participer. Un propriétaire de caniches à dit que c'était parce que les proprios d'huskys ne voulaient pas se faire battre par des caniches.

[ardechyo 0]

l'important étant de participer, je ne pense pas que ce soit une raison suffisante pour une disqualification. Grandjean dit qu'il avait demander la disqualification pour 3 caniches en hypodermie.
Et je ne sais pas, mais a t'on vu des caniches courrir et ce placer en caniVTT par exemple !!!
J'aime les chiens, mais j'ai quand même moins d'affection pour ce genre de race... question de goùt

[LUDO01 0]

tout est possible ..... ensuite il faut ce demander : a quel prix ????
les husky , les alaskan et autres races de chien de traineau on des aptitude au sport de traction mais ils ont aussi une capacité de récuperation du fait de leur morphologie et de leur méthabolisme ,
ce n'est surement pas le cas de toutes les races ,
il est quand meme a notyer que toutes les races de chiens aiment courrir , ensuite toutes les races sont elles a meme de faire la yukon dans de bonnes conditions c'est autres choses .....
par contre la encore c'est un excellent coup de pub