Mike Dillingham - Alaska Dogs and Iditarod Mushers - The Adventures of Balto, Back of the Pack, Honor Bound, Rivers

“Hey Sunny.” It was Brownie. “How are you doing? You still want to be a sled dog?”

Now you would figure that this lady dog, who does not have a lot of trail time, would be a little frazzled by all of this. Not Sunny. Her voice was clear and calm. You could actually hear the excitement in it. “I’m having great time. Nothing like a little spring rain storm to bring out the best in us lady dogs, right Christmas?”

“You betcha, Sunny,” Christmas joined in. “Gee Uncle Brownie, your fur sure looks funny in this rain storm! You having a bad fur day?”

We all laughed at that one. “Where did Christmas learn to tell jokes like Ugly does?” I said to Lakota and he said to me, “Where did she learn to talk like Mike? ‘You betcha’ is one of his phrases.”

“It seems like our youngster is growing up very fast,” I told Lakota.

“Have you noticed that neither of them has whined or complained about anything during this entire trip?” Lakota said, “Real champion lead dog material.”

“I cannot wait till we get some snow and they run lead with us again,” I said.

Nitro must have overhead our conversation. He said, “You know with those two as part of our team, we could be some serious competition in eight dog races.”

“Hey Nitro.” It was Doc. “Can we get out of the mud first, before we think of crossing finish lines?”

“Okay Doc,” Nitro replied, “just a thought, maybe something to keep us motivated during the summer time.”

Lakota told me that Mike had the sled repositioned and repacked. Mike moved to the front of the team and grabbed the neckline between Christmas and Sunny. Mike told Sunny and Christmas to go “Haw.” He then told us to go “Gee Straight.” What this did was to move the front two dogs to the left and move the rest of the team to the right to make room for the turn. It worked fine.

It was still raining as he hitched us up. Mike got on the runners and said, “Okay team. Get ready. Go!” We barely got the sled moving. It kept sinking in the mud.

“This is not going to work,” Mike said. I heard him limp to the front of the sled. Lakota told me he knelt in the mud, and held Christmas and Sunny’s faces near his and told them that they must lead the team home. Mike told us that he must help us push the sled and he could not steer it.

What a challenge for these lady dogs! Lead the team home in this kind of weather and on this bad trail. An experienced lead dog would have difficulty doing this. Yet, Mike was asking his two most inexperienced leaders to do it.

I heard Mike limp to the back of the sled, but he did not get on the runners. Instead, he stood between the runners, locked up the drag, started to push, and said, “Go!” We all started to pull at the same time and the sled moved. Not fast, but steady.

We were making progress, but we were going uphill. The rain had stopped and it was getting colder. Maybe we would get some frozen tundra to run on. Not the greatest, very bad on the paws, but the sled would slide better.

We crested the hill and the trail started to level out. I could feel the ground get crunchy under my paws. This stuff could really tear up a dog’s paw pads. Pulling our sled in the mud, even with Mike’s help, was tough work. Actually, it was harder than pulling a fully loaded sled and musher on a snow packed trail. The guys were all commenting how tired they were getting.

Lakota asked Sunny how she was doing. “Fine,” she said, but you could hear the tiredness in her voice. This had to be very tough on her. She was not used to pulling sleds as we were. Remember that she was still recuperating and might not have all of her strength back. Nevertheless, she held her own and did a great job leading us. Christmas was doing fine also. Yep, her uncles were sure proud of her.

“Team, stop,” was the command that Mike gave. We stopped and wondered what he wanted us to do. Lakota told me that Mike set the snow hook and started to walk to the front of the team. Lakota said he was still limping, worse than before. I knew we were all concerned about him. Just as I knew we would get him home, I knew he would also do his part to get us there. Yes, we were a team.

The trail was beginning to freeze. It was not as wet as the muddy part we just left down the hill. As Mike took off our dirty wet booties he said, “Okay Team, lets take a break and get those paws of yours aired out a bit.” Next, he set out some water bowls for us and gave us nice treats to go with our drinks.

I heard Mike sit on the sled basket and I heard a zipper unzip. Lakota told me that Mike was rolling up the pants leg to get a look at his knee. Lakota told me that it looked somewhat swollen but there was no blood. Well that was a good sign, I thought.

I heard Christmas turn around and asked what Mike was doing. However, before I could answer, I heard Mike say to her, “Hey my Christmas Girl, you look so sad. Are you Okay? Oh, you are worried about my knee. It is all right, my Christmas Girl. You are doing a great job getting us home.”

Lakota told me that Mike rolled his pants leg back down and zipped up his overalls. He got up and limped to the front of the team. “You are all doing great. I could not be any more proud of you than I am right now. That was some nasty trail back there and you got us through it.” He then limped to Sunny, put his nose to hers and rubbed the side of her face, “You too, sweetheart. You are a true champion. I know you are not 100 percent yet, but you did not give up. Doctor Jim will be very proud of you when I tell him.” Mike continued, “You can run with my team anytime you want.” We all knew that made Sunny feel ten feet tall.

After Mike finished talking to Sunny, he came to each one of us, told us that we were good guys and gave each one of us his famous ear rubs. You bet we enjoyed the big fuss he made over us. In addition, we knew that Christmas loved the attention he gave her. She had become very devoted to Mike, just as all of her uncles were.

When he finished giving us all of this praise and attention, he dried our paws with a towel he had in the sled bag. Mike then put some ointment on each one of our paws, especially between the toes. He made sure that our paws were okay, no torn pads, stones, or no ice balls. Next, he put fresh booties on our paws to protect them on the icy trail.

We were ready to roll! The frozen ground let the sled glide more easily. Mike stood on the runners, pulled the snow hook, and said, “Okay team. Get ready. Go!” We were going home and Mike was going to ride this time and not limp. We would make sure of that!

We all knew he was feeling better because he started to sing cowboy music on the way home. Now Mike cannot sing worth a hoot, and cowboy music with a New York City accent would certainly keep any wildlife on this trail out of our way, especially with these words:

“O mother, don’t let your babies grow up to be mushers,

They’ll spend every night with their doggies alone in the snow.

And when they finally get on that trail goin’ back home to ya

It will be a short time before they gonna get ready to roam.”

Sunny, not being used to this, started to laugh and then howl in tune as Mike sang. “Hey Sunny, you have a nice voice, mind if I join you?” It was Ugly.

“Why not,” she replied, and soon the two were howling with Mike.

Christmas started next to howl next and soon the entire team was howling as we trotted down the trail going home.

After the muddy trail run, it became very apparent that the snow season was over. I heard the geese flying overhead as they returned from their winter vacations. Soon there would be grass growing in the yard and the soft scents of Mary’s flowers in the gardens. The warm season is generally a time of relaxation and easy training to keep in shape for the snow season.