Blind sled dog to retire after 4 years

CHURCHILL, Manitoba, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A blind Canadian sled dog who continued pulling for four years in northern Manitoba is retiring to move closer to her doctor, her owners said.

Isobel, a 9-year-old Siberian husky-malamute cross lives in Churchill, and lost her eyesight to a viral infection, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Wednesday.

Her owners, Gerald and Jenofar Azure, said a veterinary ophthalmologist from Alberta told them in 2005 the dog was no longer fit to pull in a sled team, but the dog refused to be excluded.

"She runs better now than she did with her eyesight," Jenofar said. "She doesn't know she's blind anymore."

Her enhanced sense of smell and hearing are such that she has been running as lead dog, the couple said.

However, the Azures said because of her age, they plan on retiring her in January, and she'll move to live with a family in Alberta closer to her ophthalmologist.

Jenofar said she and her husband will miss the dog and learned from her.

"Gerald and I derive a lot of strength from our sled dogs, but from Isobel in particular," she said.