In keeping with this week's inadvertent twisted-things-we-do-to-dogs theme, I give you the Yukon Quest, which is sort of the less-popular stepsister of the Iditarod, but no less horrible for the dogs. It is in fact called "The Toughest Sled Dog Race in the World." As you may know, both the Quest and the Iditarod are grueling races of over 1,000 miles. The competitors are called "mushers." The Quest has 50 mushers, each with a team of 14 dogs, and the first 15 finishers share a $200,000 purse.

The Yukon Department of Tourism and Culture markets the event, and children are taught about it in the classroom, sometimes by teachers who are on the board of the Quest! There's even a Junior Yukon Quest, to make sure the youngins are completely desensitized to the reality of what they're doing.

I'll say this once: The dogs love to run.

And I'll say this once: To make them run when you want them to run, in treacherous conditions in subzero weather (it was -40 F the last time I checked the weather on the trail, and winds can reach 100 miles per hour on mountain summits), for over a thousand miles in 10-16 days (while you watch and "mush" from your sled), is, in my mind, an extreme injustice regardless of whether one dog is injured or dies during the race, before it (during culling), or after it (from injuries and/or exhaustion).

And by the way, musher Donald Smidt has already been withdrawn from the race "for failing to provide the dog care expected of a Yukon Quest participant." If the Quest isn't considered cruel on the face of it, just how badly do you have to treat dogs in order to get withdrawn on the second day of the race? (Check out what you have to do to get disqualified from the Iditarod: It rhymes with "beat your dogs in front of young children.")

As for culture, remember that it's sacred only because it was sacred yesterday. If your culture involved a 1,000 mile sled dog trek at one time, chances are in 2008 the only reason something like that is necessary is to promote tourism and grab a glimmer of glory and a bit of cash if you're a musher. And as for what happened yesterday, the Quest commemorates the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush and river mail delivery routes. It started in 1998, the centennial of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. If you really need to commemorate it, I'm fairly sure there's a less ugly way.

Last year I learned just how venomous mushing-defenders can be when criticized (I won't dignify them with any more exposure than that). Activist Mike Greico learns that lesson over and over again, all year round. As does Terry Cumming, of Sleddogwatchdog.com, who works tirelessly to open the eyes of his neighbors and the rest of the world to the cruelty inherent in the Quest and the Iditarod. Judy Stone of the Animal Advocates Society in British Columbia has dedicated her life to chained, abused, ill and neglected dogs (including sled dogs) and TNR efforts. All three are vilified by people who apparently believe that the most valuable activities they should spend time on are the use of dogs for their own gain, and the ridicule of people who disagree with them.

For those of us who will never visit or move to the Yukon or Alaska, thereby withholding our dollars (by default), at least we can spread the word. Check out the sponsors of the Quest, and if you do business with any of them or own their stock, take appropriate action. Sponsors are just following what they believe will be a trail to some sort of gain. Let them know they've taken the wrong path.