Meet the Blind Dog Competing in the Iditarod

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Musher Kelly Maixner, of Big Lake, Alaska, and an auction winner who rode in his sled, during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 7, 2015.Mark Thiessen—AP
By Olivia B. Waxman

A musher from North Dakota, Kelly Maixner, is banking on a blind dog to help finish in the top 10 at the 2015 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in western Alaska, the Associated Press reports via KTUU-TV.

Five years old and weighing 50 pounds, the Alaskan husky named Laura has a cornea disease called pannus, which a veterinarian diagnosed two years ago when the dog’s eyes started to look cloudy, according to the Anchorage news station.

“Sometimes I have to throw snacks on the ground extra hard so she can hear where it falls,” Maixner told the news channel.

 

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com