George Cutright has been training his dogs, Sarah and Lobos, in Knoxville to prepare them for their journey to California. Cutright rides in a fold out chair sitting atop a longboard while holding the dogs by their leashes. Jeffrey Chastain • The Daily Beacon
Homeless man, huskies mush to California Alex Holcomb
News Editor Dog sledding is the newest urban trend for one Knoxville homeless man who plans to mush two huskies more than 2,000 miles despite locals claiming mistreatment of the dogs. George Cutright has been training his dogs, Sarah and Lobos, in Knoxville to prepare them for the harsh conditions they will face on their journey to California. Cutright rides in a fold out chair sitting atop on a longboard while holding the dogs by their leashes.
Volume 133 Issue 35
“My training, I kind of kept it loose. I just leave it up to the dogs. During the runs, I can tell when they’re getting tired. They’re going to want to slow down a little bit, and that’s fine,” Cutright said. “At first, they’re very rambunctious, and they like to speed. I’m cool with that, and that’s fine for a little bit, but we’re going to take it nice and slow.” Many Knoxvillians saw Cutright training the rescue dogs on Cumberland Ave and on Gay Street. Shawna Gibson, an employee at a convenience store on the Cumberland, saw Cutright many times before he left. “He was coming in here daily just buy-
ing basic things, and he kept asking me if I had seen the article about him in the paper come out yet,” Gibson said. “He seemed nice. He really loved his dogs.” Cutright said he chose to train the dogs on Cumberland Avenue because it is one of the busiest parts of Knoxville. Since he will pass through more populous cities than Knoxville in the course of his trip, Cutright wanted to prepare the dogs for traffic. However, the dogs won’t be traveling with the cars but as pedestrians instead. “Of course, I’ve been doing this all over the country in different cities, but I want to get them acclimated to the traffic,” Cutright said. “Now, they stop at a red
utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon
light. I don’t have to do much when they hear the beep of the green light, which is the walk signal. They’re ready to go like a service dog would be.” On change.org, a user who goes by John Smith created a petition against Cutright’s mission. Smith’s goal is 1,000 signatures and, as of Monday, the petition has received 713 signatures from across the world. “This is cruelty and exploitation of two innocent dogs,” Smith said on the site. “The husky breed are designed for cold weather and snow, not hard asphalt and traffic.” See DOG SLEDDING on Page 2
Tuesday, March 7, 2017