Nigel, the wayward Iditarod dog who took off into the Alaska wilderness after its North Dakota musher crashed her sled during the famous race, showed up for breakfast at an Alaska lodge on Friday.
The husky became separated from rookie competitor Nancy Yoshida on Tuesday and had been on the run ever since.
Searchers had spotted Nigel from the air and followed his movements and were able to reunite Yoshida with her dog shortly after he arrived at the Talvista Lodge near Skwentna, Alaska, said Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George.
"She was crying," St. George said of Yoshida. "She was so excited. You could tell the two of them missed each other a lot."
Nigel was well-hydrated and was in very good condition, considering he'd been roughing it for three days.
"Nancy fed him right away out there, and he's continued to eat," St. George said. "He's doing fine." Yoshida, 58, of Thompson, south of Grand Forks, had told the Anchorage Daily News that her husky "was pretty shook up" by the crash while trying to negotiate a difficult stretch of the route about 200 miles in the 1,100-mile course from Anchorage to Nome.
MARIA ELENA BACA AND PAUL WALSH
