Name: Nukluk
Age: 3
Gender: Female
Weight: 42 pounds
Position: Lead
Musher: Paige Drobny, Fairbanks
"She just turned 3 years old and this is going to be her fourth thousand-mile race already. She's the smallest dog on our team. She weighs about 42 pounds but she makes up for it in attitude and exuberance. She can single-lead the team and will try to drag the whole team. If possible, she would pull that sled by herself. She's a pretty cool little dog.
"She finished in lead in the Iditarod and the Quest last year after she just turned 2. She's a Seavey/Mackey dog. Her dad's name is Windsor. He's a dog we got from Mitch Seavey. Her mom is a dog named Chicken, who's from Lance Mackey's kennel. Her name's Chicken because she's small. So Nukluk got the smallness and exuberance of her mom and the great leadership of her dad.
(In last year's Iditarod) she always led with a partner but going through windstorms and snowdrifts or anything — glare ice — it was like driving a really good car. She'll do anything for both Cody (husband, musher Cody Strathe) and I that we ask of her. And she does it smiling all the time."
— David Hulen
Anchorage Daily News / adn.com
Anchorage