Alaska's Great Race - Eskimo Dog Remedies

" Among the field of Iditarod racers the Eskimo ways hold strong. 65 year old Louis Nelson plays by a different book than most musher’s. He prefers ancient Eskimo traditions over new age remedies- dog care included."

" I came up here specifically to check one of his dogs that had a little bit of frostbite on the prepuce. "

" Frostbite on the prepuce is a very sensitive issue."

" What happens with the prepuce, of course you know it's the tip of the penis on the dog and as it swells up, the urethra which is the opening for the penis, if it starts to swell shut the dog won't be able to urinate. And so at that point we would probably try to pass a catheter. Or try to open it up and Louis would wind up having to drop the dog."

" He wanted me to cut it open a little bit it's getting pretty small for him to urinate."

" Well, it can't be frostbitten too bad or else it would have fallen off by now right?"

" Louis puts this I don't know what kind of fur it is on there, but it helps to wick away the moisture. And it keeps him a little bit warm in these hides that Louis puts on there seems to do the trick. I'm learning as much as these guys are. I happen to see the same dog. Like three or four checkpoints down the way and it was really improving significantly. Probably, maybe even better than what I would have prescribed for him. So, you kind of have to respect the older ways and the traditional ways. He's doing some nice traditional remedies on it and so far it looks like it's doing really well."

" An ancient remedy for an ancient frost Louis Nelson heads back out on the trail."