Maxime Leclerc-Gingras has been working with sled dogs for 10 years and his wife has done so for 15. They started their own dog sledding kennel 5 years ago in Manitou Quebec, Canada, where they offer dog sledding tours and training among other services. They work with their dogs as a full-time business and passion. Max has been thinking a lot lately about the state of the dog sledding industry, especially in regards to the recent release of the film, Sled Dogs, which is critical of the industry. In this post, Max explores what it means to him to be a musher, how he views his relationship with his dogs, and how the film might be used as a catalyst for improvement, for moving forward, despite its flaws.

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Maxime Leclerc-Gingras a beaucoup pensé à l’état de l’industrie de la luge pour chiens, surtout en ce qui concerne la récente sortie du film, Sled Dogs, qui est critique pour l’industrie. Dans ce post, Max explore ce que cela signifie pour lui d’être un musher, comment il voit sa relation avec ses chiens et comment le film pourrait être utilisé comme catalyseur d’amélioration, pour aller de l’avant, malgré ses défauts.

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Learn how I became embroiled in this controversy as owner of Dog International, and what I learned about the contentious issues in the sled dog debate. Is chaining dogs humane? What’s wrong with the Iditarod? How widespread is abuse and neglect in the sled dog industry? Is there such a thing as “humane mushing?” These are just some of the questions I explore in this post.

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