--- title: Barack Obama in Alaska: President Holds a Husky Puppy description: It happened during his stop with dog sledding champion John Baker canonical: https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-03T16:23:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:24:15.858Z og:title: See President Obama Snuggling Some Puppies og:description: It happened during his visit with Iditarod champion John Baker og:url: https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e52ef9211f37706/6988622ccd1bba15586fd03d/barack-obama-alaska-husky-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama (R) looks at dog sled puppies belonging to 2011 Iditarod Dog Sled Race champion John Baker in Kotzebue, Alaska on Sept. 2, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See President Obama Snuggling Some Puppies twitter:description: It happened during his visit with Iditarod champion John Baker twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e52ef9211f37706/6988622ccd1bba15586fd03d/barack-obama-alaska-husky-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See President Obama Snuggling Some Puppies by [Maria Coder / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Coder / People Contributor Sep 3, 2015 4:23 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama (R) looks at dog sled puppies belonging to 2011 Iditarod Dog Sled Race champion John Baker in Kotzebue, Alaska on Sept. 2, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama (R) looks at dog sled puppies belonging to 2011 Iditarod Dog Sled Race champion John Baker in Kotzebue, Alaska on Sept. 2, 2015.Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [Maria Coder / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Maria Coder / People Contributor Sep 3, 2015 4:23 PM UTC [President Obama](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:BarackObama,00.html) is now a member of an elite dog sledding team – sort of. On a last-minute stop in Kotzebue, Alaska, the president met Iditarod champion [John Baker](http://www.teamjohnbaker.com/) who presented him with a team jacket and hat. Thrilled, Obama put on the cap and swapped his old jacket for the new one. “Now I’m official,” he said, according to the president’s travel pool report. Obama also got to meet two Husky puppies, both about three months old. He grabbed the smallest one, affectionately called Feather for his size, and reassured him: “Sweetie, you’re okay, sweetie,” before turning his attention to the other dog, known as Moose. After posing for photos, the president peppered the group with questions about the long-distance sled dog race held each year in March, including: How many dogs are on a sled? 16\. Dogs can start training once they’re 6-months old, in case you’re wondering. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/president-barack-obama-dog-sledding-champion-john-baker-dogs-alaska) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/"},"headline":"See President Obama Snuggling Some Puppies","datePublished":"2015-09-03T16:23:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:24:15.858Z","description":"It happened during his visit with Iditarod champion John Baker","url":"https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Alaska","Barack Obama","animals","Internet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e52ef9211f37706/6988622ccd1bba15586fd03d/barack-obama-alaska-husky-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maria Coder / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e52ef9211f37706/6988622ccd1bba15586fd03d/barack-obama-alaska-husky-puppy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Barack Obama (R) looks at dog sled puppies belonging to 2011 Iditarod Dog Sled Race champion John Baker in Kotzebue, Alaska on Sept. 2, 2015.","caption":"U.S. President Barack Obama (R) looks at dog sled puppies belonging to 2011 Iditarod Dog Sled Race champion John Baker in Kotzebue, Alaska on Sept. 2, 2015.","creditText":"Jonathan Ernst—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4021665/obama-alaska-husky-puppy/","name":"See President Obama Snuggling Some Puppies"}}]}] ```