Poodles won the Iditarod?
and you are trainable too.
While the poodle team did not officially win, they were banned because they were so good.
Here is the story.
The year 1976.
The man John Suter.
The setting; the Iditarod.
Anchorage to Nome: 1,157 miles through untamed back country.
Because Alaska is so huge, let’s put that into perspective.
The Iditarod is like taking a sled pulled by dogs from Chicago to Orlando. In the winter-cold, snowy Alaskan wilderness. In about 2-weeks.
Huskies are built for this weather and are born with the drive to pull. Poodles were ranked 2nd out of 130 breeds in "working and obedience intelligence” and it took Suter 14 years to train his standard poodles, raising them alongside of huskies.
If you didn’t know, there are four recognized types of poodles, standards being the largest.
I have two standard poodles so I can say;
In the 1990’s the race officials banned poodles limiting the Iditarod to only huskies.
It was the poodle’s hair that stopped them from being allowed to race. Poodles are hypoallergenic, meaning they do not have fur but rather hair. This means they do not shed, but their hair grows and needs to be cut. The hair grows in their paws too.
And this hair caused snow to gather. The race officials thought it was inhuman to expose the dogs to this treatment. Suter solved this problem by using booties, but the rules were changed to only allow the huskie bread to race.
The lesson from this, is you can do anything with determination, training and the proper footwear. I don’t know about you, but I learned that lesson from Barbie.
Link to story if you want to know more:
Poodles in the Iditarod: A Fascinating History – Dogster
Pictures thanks to a google search, wikipedia and general internet. :)
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On Monday, I will tell you about another tough Alaskan. There is a blueberry pie recipe too.
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Farien
Here is my poodle, Avicii (ə-VEE-chee), I can almost guarantee you he is not dreaming about running the Iditarod.
