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In reply to the discussion: Iditarod Musher Dramatically Revives Fallen Dog [View all]TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)They run straight to their death because they are dogs with normal dog pack mentality that says when the pack leader (the human) tells you to keep running even if it means you drop dead in the process you do it. It is the exact same reason that dogs have collapsed and died while running with their owners - because they are dogs doing what their dog genetics tells them to do in following their leader when the leader commands it even if it kills them.
NO dog runs to it's death with all the exhaustion and pain that entails just because oooh gee wiz they just sooo love to run. To believe any such thing is to be willfully stupid.
ALL dogs are dogs FIRST with all the genetic qualities that entails, and no magic breeding creates a breed of dog that will run to it's death because they love to run so much. The very idea is as moronic as it gets. The dog runs to its death specifically because of those genetic qualities of it's SPECIES that tells it to do what the pack leader says even if it kills you. That's EXACTLY why dogs were the chosen species for such a race to begin with.
There is NO QUESTION that it is cruel and inhumane to latch onto to a dog's genetic species mentality and force it to run and run past the point of ultimate exhaustion and even death. NO QUESTION. NONE.