Tutka, a female Alaska Husky, was my first sled dog. She was the runt of the litter and the last pick from an "accidental breeding." I was recovering from a nasty fall off a glacier when we brought Tutka home and named her after a magnificent bay where we had kayaked the previous summer. Tutka turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. My rehabilitation jumped leaps and bounds as Tutka and I tried skijoring and then graduated to helping out with a neighbor's dog team. Tutka became a gee-haw leader that can steer me through a crowded parking lot (and yes, this happened once.). She ended up being the largest dog in the litter! Tutka changed my life as we leaped into the world of dog mushing and started a kennel. Tutka has saved the day on numerous occasions like the time I tied the dog team off to a tree in the swamp and the team yanked the tree, roots and all, out of the ground and headed down the trail towing a spruce tree. When I yelled out Tutka's name, she paused long enough for me to catch the sled. Then there was the time that we broke through the ice and the sled flipped over...