Dogs are surprisingly complex creatures.

Some official estimates of the number of breeds reaches as high as 800 in Western countries alone. Even given that distinguishing one breed from another can be carried to absurd extremes, the variety is astonishing from a human perspective, who have, perhaps, a dozen ‘breeds’.

Complicating the picture still further is the well-known fact that dogs have descended from wolves but began domestic interaction with humans over 10,000 years ago. As a consequence, there are behaviors that develop regardless of circumstances and some that are as unique as the human the dog is paired with. Still, some common traits stand out.

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The Iditarod races started this past weekend in Alaska.

Historically protested by animal rights groups, the race pits sledding dogs against the worst forces of nature in our country in a 1,150 mile race in the Alaskan wilderness. The official Iditarod site even says,

Mother Nature…throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra, and miles of windswept coast…Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness, and treacherous climbs and side hills…”

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