A judge fined David Straub $300 on Wednesday for violating Matanuska-Susitna Borough code. The borough north of Anchorage already had withdrawn the license that allowed him to keep more than four dogs.

Animal control officers seized 28 of David Straub's 32 dogs in October from his property after receiving complaints. One dog died at a shelter in November of illness; surviving dogs were adopted out.

Any musher found guilty of cruel or inhumane treatment of an animal is suspended from the Iditarod and must wait five years before seeking reinstatement, race spokesman Chas St. George said Thursday.

Four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser testified he saw the dogs at the shelter after Straub asked him for help.

"I was appalled," Buser said. "It does not take a few days of not feeding your animals to look like that. It takes many months of neglect."

Friends said Straub tried to care for his dogs, but had money problems.

After the verdict, Straub vowed to rebuild his kennel.

Straub finished the Iditarod for the first time in 2002, when he received the Red Lantern prize awarded to last-place finishers.

Source: Yahoo News/Associated Press - April 7, 2005

More than a dozen of nearly 30 malnourished sled dogs seized from Willow musher David Straub in October are back in limbo, and at least one faces euthanasia.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough placed the healthier dogs with foster keepers in October.

Two big-name mushers who initially took in some of the animals to help them recuperate have returned the dogs to the borough. One musher said Tuesday that she's busy training for upcoming races and needs the space for her dogs.

Wasilla rescue group founder Gale Landingham last week rescued three Straub dogs and is paying $2 a day to kennel them until foster or permanent owners can be found.

Another 11 dogs, at least, are with foster keepers, said shelter director Dave Allison.

One died of cancer. Another, a small husky mix turning constant circles in his kennel, is at the shelter.

Allison said some of the remaining 12 may have been euthanized, but most are with their original foster keepers.

The sled dogs, accustomed to outdoor life, are not quickly adopted, Allison said.

"When people come in, they see a sled dog," he said. "They don't want a sled dog. They don't want a non-house-trained pet. So it's very hard to place them."

The three dogs Landingham adopted made the shelter's "last chance" list last week. Officials say that just means they are eligible for rescue by legitimate groups. Rescuers say "last chance" means the dogs were about to be put down.

The borough animal control board revoked Straub's kennel license in November. Straub, contacted Tuesday night while recovering from neck surgery, said he didn't even know the shelter was allowed to adopt out his dogs.

The 44-year-old plans to fight the 17 animal cruelty charges filed against him.

"I want my family back," Straub said. "I raised every one of those dogs from hand before their eyes were even open. People out there think I was starving my dogs? That's outrageous."

Straub has run the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race three times, last in 2002. Later that year, he said, he was injured falling from the roof of the Wasilla Senior Center.

He still runs a dog tour business and plans to give free tours this season with the four old female dogs he was allowed to keep.

Borough animal control officers removed 28 of Straub's dogs from his lot in mid-October.

Straub wasn't feeding his dogs, said authorities who described animals so dehydrated their furry hides hung off bony frames. Straub says he fed the dogs daily with salmon carcasses and dog food.

Musher Lynda Plettner last week returned 15 of Straub's dogs that she had agreed to care for temporarily.

"I have four people training and it's snowing and I need the (dog) houses for puppies," Plettner said. "I was doing it for free."

Iditarod champ Martin Buser also took in some of the dogs and had to return them, Allison said.

The dogs make great matches for novice mushers or anybody looking to put together a recreational dog team, Allison said.

He couldn't say exactly when or whether the lone Straub dog at the shelter might be put down. The shelter has put down only one adoptable animal in about a year, in part because of rescue groups.

"It depends," he said. "It's been here for a while, it's not in great shape and it won't be in great shape for a long, long time."

To see the Straub dogs at the shelter go to www.adoptafriend.net.

Source: Anchorage Daily News - Dec 22, 2004