unless you happen to be a sled dog.
it always amazes me that people who've never seen the dogs in action are the experts on how a sled dog mind works.
These dogs are BRED to do what they do. And not just for the last 20 or 30 years, they go back to the very first sled dog wayyyyyyyyyyy back when the native alaskans were moving from place to place. They've "evolved" through the years mainly due to the gold rush where any big dog was used and then bred with the native dogs...but pulling is in every fiber of these dogs. And if a dog doesn't WANT to go, he doesn't. It makes NO SENSE to force a dog who doesn't want to run to race. That just slows the team down. A musher has to be incredibly stupid (strategy wise).
As Danale said the dogs get hyped up and excited to GO. Just like any house pet who wants to take a ride in the car. It's the idea of going on an adventure, sniffing new things, exploring. Only for a sled dog they're going with their pack. These dogs aren't "pets" in our sense of the word. They're a working class of dog, but they still get a lot of love and attention. And they live long and happy lives (contrary to what you read on the anti-mushing sites).
Yes, just as with any sport the dogs get injured while training or racing, that might mean their competitive "career" is over but they aren't just put down (unless it's severe enough to make the quality of life poor) they're still kept, and they can be used to train young pups, make new ones, or in some cases they do become a house pet (depends on the dog, Mitch Seavey's eldest son has one that broke his ankle and it didn't heal properly so he can't pull a sled. dog is only happy in the dog lot or out exploring. thankfully Danny is like his dad and is an outdoorsman, but that dog HATES being inside and he is the saddest sounding dog when the teams get hooked up. I adore that dog, and his story is just one example of what these dogs feel/think)
yes there are bad mushers who are unethical, but they aren't respected in their community, it's just incredibly difficult to ban them if you don't have PROOF (like Ramy Brooks - people had been talking for years about it, but until he did it during the race, no one could do a thing about it)
But a porcupine can also be cute. 
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