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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