Yes, poodles raced in the Iditarod. Here’s their story.
John Suter had a dream. An odd one, but there it was: He wanted to run the Iditarod with Standard Poodles. Suter spent 14 years pursuing that dream — and he made it. Sort of.
Let’s start back when the insanity first found a comfortable niche to hole up in his brain. Back in 1976 John Suter was a normal Alaskan transplant with an eye for adventure. Mushing seemed the ideal way to mesh adventure and sport, but most serious mushers have sponsors to help defray the costs of dogs, dog food, veterinary bills, sleds and time off for practice. It wasn’t very likely an inexperienced newcomer would be all that attractive to most sponsors.
The day of the big idea came when his father-in-law’s Miniature Poodle, Fluette, was visiting. Fluette easily kept up with Suter’s snowmobile, jumping in and out and bounding alongside. Most people would just nod and think, “Cute.” But Suter nodded and wondered: “Could big Poodles pull a sled?” And, “Is that the ticket to attracting sponsors?” (Or being admitted to a mental health facility?)
Poodles, after all, are intelligent and take well to training. Suter used Standard poodles, good, sturdy dogs that love to do real work. He found that the racing poodles needed to be raised with huskies from a young age to imbibe the urge to pull. He ran teams with poodles in a number of smaller races to qualify for the Iditarod. He and his teams with poodles finished the Iditarod four years in a row; one year he placed ahead of twelve all-Husky teams.
What do racing poodles look like? Sturdy, not fussy — those silly poodle cuts are right out. A village boy told Suter once on seeing the poodles, “Mister, you can’t race sheep — only dogs are allowed to race.”
The poodles have a different character than the huskies, too. WP:
Even today, however, Suter thinks he was onto something that might someday have led to a poodle victory: He’d raise the poodle puppies alongside huskies, and the poodles “copied them,” he said. Several generations of dogs in — about 80 black, white and brown poodles — he said he saw the dogs picking up a husky-like drive to dash through the snow, while retaining their poodle essence.
“If you fall off the sled, the huskies will keep running down the trail,” said Suter, who’s a stevedore at the port in Anchorage. “The poodles will turn around to see if you’re there and do a U-turn and come pick you up.”
In the end, he ran up against prejudice; the racing committee decided to limit the race only to huskies.
He proved the principles though: never underestimate anyone’s potential. Early education matters. And poodles rule!