. >> reporter: sled dogs follows rookie musher patrick biehl during the 2016 iditarod. >> my name is patrick. my quest is to seek the holy grail. >> reporter: as the race grinds on -- >> guys just don't want the water, do you? >> reporter: levitt claims that the dogs on his team are too exhausted to even eat or drink. >> i have a dog that has a high heart rate. it's a warm day. and every now and then dogs get diarrhea. >> reporter: the film shows a veterinarian cautioning him -- >> he's right at the very point. i'm worried about him. >> reporter: but he decides to continue the race. >> patrick put his observe needs ahead of that dog. that was a sick dog that needed to be dropped that wasn't dropped because his motivation was winning the race. >> reporter: but he says the film maemake filmmaker's weren't there for what happened next. >> when i was there the dogs were fine. and that dog finished iditarod with me. not like someone goes and gets into running sled dogs because they want to abandon dogs and mistreat dogs. especially iditarod mushers. >> reporter: many in the dog sledding co