Missing Sled Dog Found

Whistler reunited with musher

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By Lauren Maxwell
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Story Created: Feb 13, 2012 at 12:47 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Feb 27, 2012 at 1:40 PM AKDT

ANCHORAGE - A German woman who plans to run the Iditarod has been reunited with her missing sled dog, five days after the dog disappeared. The dog, a husky-mix named Whistler, was spotted in the parking lot of the ARC of Anchorage off Northern Lights Boulevard Monday morning. An employee managed to coax the frightened dog into her vehicle with a brownie.

Musher Silvia Furtwangler was ecstatic when she got the call that her lead dog had been found. Furtwangler brought her team over from Norway where she lives, enduring two long days of international flights. She touched down in Anchorage Wednesday evening with 16 dogs, but didn’t realize until she reached Willow, where she is staying with Iditarod Musher Vern Halter, that Whistler was missing.

Friends helped a frantic Furtwangler organize a Facebook search, and the calls started coming in. Whistler had been spotted downtown, around the University area and on various trails that line Chester Creek. Furtwangler says she walked the trails for miles every day holding up her cell phone and playing a recording of the barking dogs on her team, hoping Whistler would respond.

Whistler and Furtwangler were reunited Monday morning in the parking lot of the ARC where employees and others gathered to snap photos of the happy ending. Furtwangler says Whistler looks in good shape and will be happy to see the rest of the team. They were headed back to Willow to resume their training for the upcoming Iditarod.

 
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