Iditarod 53: Catching up with new co-chief race veterinarian Dr. Greg Closter

UNALAKLEET, Alaska (KTUU) - Greg Closter has been involved in dog care along the Iditarod Trail for 10 years, but this is his first year as Co-Chief Veterinarian, helping to fill the role of the late Dr. Stuart Nelson, who died unexpectedly last fall following decades of service on the Iditarod trail.

”He really trusted his vets and got the best people out here," Closter said about Nelson. “He leaves a legacy as far as dog care. He built the whole Iditarod system for dog care going forward. I, along with co-chief vet Erika {Friedrich} are working to continue that.”

On Sunday, Dr. Closter was in Unalakleet, checking in on the windy Western Alaska checkpoint and dog return yard.

“This is one of our return dog hubs. We have four hubs on the course of the trail; one in Anchorage, one in Galena, one here [Unalakleet] and one in Nome,” Closter said. “What happens here is when a musher leaves a dog behind at checkpoint, they are taken care of by vets at the checkpoint until they can return to one of our hubs.

“Basically, we are looking at wind guards. When we’re standing up, we’re blowing like crazy, but down here, we’re doing pretty well, able to snuggle up. If there are any dogs that have more advanced issues that require more specific medical care, we do have an inside location where we take them here and are able to provide that medical care as well.”

Unfortunately, one dog death has been reported in the 2025 Iditarod, a four-year-old female named Ventana from rookie Daniel Klein’s team and 2023 Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington’s kennel. A necropsy later revealed Ventana was pregnant, but the cause of death has not yet been determined.

“It is very unfortunate for all involved,” Closter said. “All we know so far is the fact that she was pregnant at the time. We also took tissue samples, blood samples, etc. to get further testing to get more information. We see these dogs pre-race, vet checks and stuff like that ... obviously we look for pregnancies, but in this case it wasn’t obvious. Depending on how far along they are in the pregnancy, we don’t know if — exactly if — the pregnancy was a cause versus something else.”

Although situations like an expired dog can be the most difficult parts of Closter’s job, he is taking it all in on his first run as co-chief vet.

“Well, one thing I’ve come to appreciate is really how much Stu put into this race, you know. There’s a lot of work involved leading up to the race and during the race as well, and what’s evident as well is you’re only as good as the people you have with you. We have a lot of good people like veterinarians, technicians, people that are handling the dogs and logistics people, communications and things like that. It’s a huge undertaking. Seeing it from this perspective is really eye-opening.”

As teams make it further down the trail, the conditions don’t necessarily get any easier.

“Well, as you can probably see, Unalakleet is pretty notorious for its winds. We have to clear a space for the dog set-up here, and if you look behind us, we have kind of created bunkers for the dogs, essentially, where they can get wind breaks, and they’re important,” Closter said. “The dogs are used to being outside. They don’t want to be inside as sled dogs, but at the same time, you want to protect them from the harsher elements, and so we have these bunkers, and you’ll see we have a couple of returned dogs here already that they even have nice little pieces, chunks of snow around them to protect them as well as their straw and their blankets. They do have protective coats as well out here. So, they are resting comfortably, and we do the best we can to make sure they are resting comfortably.”

Closter added that the number of returned dogs this year is comparable to years past despite the course re-route which features more river running and less mountain ranges which can be more technically challenging for mushers and their dogs teams. The reroute is just one of many adjustments Closter and his co-chief counterpart have had to contend with in 2025.

“As a co-vet, it’s basically taking the advanced number of issues involved in organizing the veterinarians, moving them around as well as all of the medical supplies and things like that,” he said. “We order supplies going forward for next year’s race and things like that. So, it takes months and months in advance. We’ve been working together to get to this point basically, make sure everything comes together in terms of getting the vets we know we need here.

“We had 50 vets this year on the trail. They come from all over the United States and even some from foreign countries as well. We have to organize that, make sure they get the proper licensing to work up here for the Iditarod, and then work with various other people on the Iditarod to make sure we have housing and other things available for them at all the checkpoints and things like that. And because the weather plays such a big factor in the race itself, things can change pretty abruptly. So we have to stay on top of that aspect of it and move veterinarians and dogs, as needed, depending on the weather and make changes in real time as that is going on as well.”

Closter says the race is also a chance to learn more about canine health in general.

“These really are elite athletes,” he added. “Not only do we care for the dogs, but over the course of the year we do, you know, we do bloodwork. We do ECG’s on the dogs and things like that, so a lot of science comes out of this. It helps not only sled dogs, but it can be also pertain to your family dogs and things like that. So, we’re learning from these elite athletes things that could also be - in terms of things like nutrition, ways to keep them healthy and active - that goes beyond the race. So, really, it’s helping the whole dog population in total.”

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