Dogs love running and pulling the sled! It isn't torture for them.

It Depends. I know they love run and pull the sled but some mushers abuse their dogs while racing..

I know.

alot of the time they wip them to get them going it probley hurts just like a horse being whipped :(

yea i think it is because making an animal pull u is just u beaing lazy u can just walk DRRRR

I'm not sure but same thing what Mallory101 said. Some owners abuse their dogs to sled. Ounce I saw this person make one of his dogs to still sled even though the dog's back leg was wounded.

Crazycakes is crazy! Anyway, I have a dog sled team. I would know better than anyone! My dogs love to pull the sled.

Cruelty - not at all when you run for fun and your dogs like it. When you force them to run just to win - that's cruelty and you're pathetic. I know a guy who has such dog. I thought he dislikes it, but when I saw him running... this dog look like run-addict! And mine dog is so lazy =)

Have you ever read the book Call of the Wild?! It's horrible! Sure, that book took place in the 1870's but there is no reason for the dogs to be treated that way!

depends

It's not cruel unless there's cruelty involved...as many have stated! Simple as that.

My dogs LOVE to sled. Dog abuse is illegal in most national dog sled races, like Iditarod, Yukon Quest, etc... Anyway, Inuits need dogs to hunt on the ice. People need dogs to get around Alaska. Mark my words, I am going to run the Iditarod someday.

Dogs could also fall off the sled and get really hurt and break something or loose a leg

There are risks involved in many things. Fall off the sled? The dogs are pulling it! And even if they rode on it.....I don't think there's a high canine casualty rate in sledding.

no because sled dogs need to do it for excersize and so people will take care of them in greenland there are sled dogs dying because due to global warming they are out of a job.

Just depends.

My dog love it. She goes crazy every time I pull the stuff out of the basement. So I see no cruelty there. Just bad masters.
@tvfan109 : my neighbor's dog broke is leg while playing in his garden; should he get confine inside the house too? Just to be safe?

Not so much the activity of dog sledding itself, however sometimes dog sledding can lead to acts of animal cruelty. I see no problem with giving animals jobs, but they should always be treated with respect and be rewarded for what they do right, instead of being punished for what they do wrong.

Basically, I'd say it all comes down to how the dogs are being treated while working. Not the fact that they actually are working.

It all depends on the handler! The dogs enjoy the sled racing very much. But if the handler is cruel to them, then yes.

Working dogs like to have something to do (retrivers like to retrieve, collies will heard etc.) but they should want to sled. I live in Texas so I don't see sleding as much as hearding and burrowing dogs. I know my labador retriver loves to chase her ball and would do it all day. Bottom line is that if the owner treats them well. Dogs like to do things with their owneres that's why their mans best friends.

im not sure b/c if you do it w/ cruelity, then it's bad.