Here is my opinion. I see and hear a lot about how cruel and dangerous the iditarod is from people that have never seen the race. As someone who has seen every year how well the dogs are treated I have to say that the claim these are mistreated dogs is total bullshit. Most of them are in excellent health and the mushers I have met and talked to spend more time taking care of their dogs than they do for themselves. And instead of knowing and appreciating that with the what 100 dogs since the 1980s that have died? No one compares that to the thousands of animals PETA has killed in the same time.