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

Christmas started to giggle as she told me that Mike fell backwards into the straw pile just as Nitro had said he would. We all ran over to Mike and jumped on him, licking his face and sitting on him. He pushed us away or grabbed one of us and rolled us in the straw. Doc said that Ugly actually jumped on Mike’s back trying to do his “Ugly Jig” until Mike shook him off.

The bell rang. Mike has a little box that he can talk into and it rings when someone wants to talk to him. Doc said it was called a cell phone. Once it started to ring, Mike stood up and started to talk.

“What do you mean, Doctor Jim, someone took Sunny out of your yard?” Mike asked. “You saw them head down the trail towards us?” Mike said, “We are on our way.”

Sunny stolen! Then I heard her howl. It was a very painful howl.

I turned to the guys and said, “Sunny is in trouble. I heard her. She needs our help. Follow me!” I started to race out the open gate. I heard the guys and Christmas follow me.

“Stop!” It was Mike, but this time we must disobey him. He needed to follow us.

We headed down the trail. I was running as fast as I could. I had never run this fast before, but I had to get to Sunny. She kept howling and I knew exactly where she was from her howls.

Brownie was behind me. He is normally the fastest dog, but this time he could not keep up with me. “Jump, Rivers, a log!” and I jumped as he told me to do.

Sunny,s howls were getting louder, but there was another animal near her, a wolf!

I could hear Brownie’s footsteps fading to my rear. I was on my own until the gang caught up.

I found Sunny. “Rivers, I am caught in a snare and I think my leg is broken. The wolf attacked me and I am bleeding,” she said.

“What is this? A dog coming to stop me? A blind dog no less,” the wolf said. “What a joke.”

I needed to buy some time. I was no match for this wolf. “Yes Wolf, a blind dog.” I said defiantly, as I got between Sunny and the wolf. “A blind dog with friends.” I added, “You better move on while you still can.”

Then I heard Brownie. “Hey Wolfie you don’t want to deal with a sled dog with attitude, do ya?” Brownie was starting to sound like Mike.

I heard Nitro and Lakota race off the trail next, snarling and barking at the wolf. However, the loudest and nastiest barking came from Christmas as she cleared the trail and got up front with the wolf.

“Mister Wolf,” she started, but before she could continue, we heard Mike on the four-wheeler yelling, “Down, down!” We laid down and I heard two shots ring out from Mike’s gun. Doc told me Mike missed the wolf, probably on purpose, and the wolf ran off into the woods.

“Sunny,” Mike said. “It is okay girl. Let me help you.” Lakota was next to me and told me that Mike cut off the snare that was around Sunny’s rear leg. Yes, Sunny’s leg was broken.

Mike gently laid Sunny down and put his fingers into the bloody fur on her neck. “Puncture wound.” Mike said. Lakota told me that Mike took a tube of something out of his pocket and squeezed the contents into the wound. Then Mike took a kerchief out of another pocket and tied it around her neck to help stop the blood flow. He then took two small tree limbs and tied one on each side of Sunny’s broken rear leg using the snare wire. This way, the leg could not move and cause any more damage to the broken bone.

Doc said Sunny did not look well at all. Doc told me that Mike took the cell phone out of his pocket and started talking into it.

“Doctor Jim,” Mike said. “I found Sunny. Broken rear leg and a puncture wound on her neck from a wolf.” Mike continued. “I have the leg splinted but I don’t know if I stopped the bleeding. I got the wound loaded up with antibiotics and covered. I am about 2 miles from my home. “Can you meet us there?”

Brownie told me that the four-wheeler had a little trailer behind it. Mike wrapped Sunny in his coat and gently laid her in the trailer. He then grabbed my collar and told me that I needed to get in the trailer and cuddle up to Sunny to keep her warm. He told Lakota to do the same. I heard Christmas jump in also.

Mike told the rest of the team, “Home” and Lakota told me that they followed us up the trail to the house.

When we got to the yard, Doctor Jim was already there. “Let’s use your warming shed,” Doctor Jim said as Mike lifted Sunny out of the trailer. I jumped out and Lakota led me into the warming shed with the rest of the team.

“You did a good job with her leg splint, Mike,” Doctor Jim said. “We can deal with that later. The neck wound is bad and she has lost a lot of blood.” Doc told me that Doctor Jim was talking to Mike as he cleaned and then examined Sunny’s neck wound.

Christmas was standing next to me and asked me if Sunny would be okay. I said, “You bet Little One, Doctor Jim is the best.” I hope I sounded convincing for both our sakes.

“Mike we need to do a dog to dog blood transfusion,” Doctor Jim said.

Mike answered, “We have eight donors here, Doctor Jim.”

“It is not that simple,” he said. “First it would be very unwise to transfuse blood from 8 different dogs into one injured dog.” Doctor Jim explained, “That would greatly increase the chances of a severe, possibly fatal transfusion reaction like a bad penicillin or bee sting allergic reaction in people.” Doctor Jim continued, “But there are other reasons not to use a dog as a donor. For example, the donor dog should be at least 44 pounds. That leaves out Doc, Christmas, Ugly and Brownie who weigh less than 44 pounds.”

“Dogs should be between 1 and 6. So, that leaves out Sandy since she is 13. He said

“Also the donor dog should be the same blood type. Type ‘A’ is universal canine donor and Rivers, Nitro and Lakota are all type A. Remember, we did blood work on all of your dogs last year.”

Mike asked, “Okay so who should we go with?”

“My first choice would be Nitro since he is the biggest and has the most blood.” Doctor Jim answered. “After Nitro, I would use Lakota and Rivers.”

Doctor Jim continued. “However, before we do the blood trans-fusion, I will need to repair the artery that the wolf nicked. That nick is causing the blood loss. If I can get it to stop, then we can go ahead with the blood transfusion.”

“We are going to give blood to Sunny.” It was Nitro.

“Yeah,” Lakota said. “And you are going to be first, Nitro.”

“Guys,” I said, “I have to be the first to do this.”

Lakota asked, “Why be first Rivers, we may all get to donate blood to Sunny.”

I replied, “That may be true, but I need to be sure that I do this. It is for Doctor Jim.” I went on, “He made me pain free and this would be my way of thanking him, helping to save his beloved Sunny.”

“This could be dangerous for you Rivers, you are barely 50 pounds.” Nitro said in a very calm voice. He continued, “And Doctor Jim said the bigger the dog the better for these transfusions. Lakota and I have 20 pounds on you.”

“I am willing to take that chance,” I replied. “Besides, if it were not for Doctor Jim, I would never have been able to enjoy racing or running the trails again. Sometimes I feel that I have been selected to do something special and this may be it. Please guys,” I begged. “Let me be first.”

I had to do this and the guys knew it had to be me. They agreed and the plan was that every time Doctor Jim or Mike went to pick up Nitro, I would get in the way and Lakota would block them. We hoped they would get the idea that I must be first. Nitro would be second and Lakota third. The other dogs agreed to help by blocking Nitro.

I heard Doctor Jim tell Mike he was ready for Nitro. When Mike went to get Nitro, five dogs blocked Mike. I was in front. “Team, I have to get Nitro.” However, the team sat there shielding Nitro. When I heard Mike try again, I jumped up and put my front paws on his chest.