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

Lakota told me that Mike helped Randy into the sled basket and then Mike got on the runners. “Okay Team, Ready!” I heard the snow hook pulled from the snow. “Set!” I leaned into my harness ready to start. “Go!” We were off.

The trail was nice and smooth. Fresh snow on our paws made the running easy. It was a nice run. Christmas and Nitro were having fun leading. Ugly was telling jokes. Lakota was describing the trail to me. Mike was telling Randy about the commands, what each dog position does, and how he steers the sled.

I am not too sure how long or how far we ran. It was a nice gentle pace, more like a restful trot. I heard Mike say, “Team stop” and we did. Then Mike said, “Team sit!” and we sat.

Mike told Randy that it was time to head back because it was getting late. However, before we headed back, Mike said he wanted to change some dogs around. He moved Doc into solo lead and moved Christmas and Nitro into the swing position. I heard Mike whisper something into Doc’s ear as he moved the team around. Lakota told me both Mike and Doc were grinning

After we turned in the right direction to go home, Mike told Randy to get out of the sled basket and get on the runners. Lakota told me that Mike then pulled the snow hook and got into the basket.

“Okay Randy, take us home.” Mike said.

“But. But.” Randy said.

“Randy,” Mike said, “believe in yourself, and tell the team to take us home.”

“Okay Team,” Randy said. “Get set. Go”! As we headed back home, I figured out what Mike had whispered in Doc’s ear: Take it nice and easy and let us build up Randy’s confidence.

For a kid that had never been on a sled before, Randy did pretty darn good. He leaned into the turns just as if he had been doing it forever.

Soon we were home and Randy said, “Team stop.” You could tell he really enjoyed what he was doing and had a new level of confidence. His voice told me that.

Mike showed Randy how to get us out of our harnesses, check our paws for sores, stow the sled and our gear, plus give us fresh water. Mike told Randy that it would be a smart idea for him to leave his mushing gear here in the warming shed, so that he would always have it ready for trail time.

“Mister Mike, thank you,” Randy said.

“My pleasure,” Mike replied.

Randy asked, “Mister Mike, will you show me the rest of the things I have to know to be a good musher?”

“I would love to Randy, but I am not a good musher. I just get by,” Mike said. “But what I will do is get my friends Stan Smith and GB Jones to teach you. Stan and GB ran the big race to Nome twice.” Mike added, “If you are going to learn something, learn it from the best and Stan and GB are among the best.”

“You really think they would help me?” Randy asked.

“If you are willing to learn and do the work, I am sure they would be happy to coach you.” Mike said. “Think about it and let me know.” Mike continued, “Of course we will have to ask your foster parents, but I will do that.”

Okay, Mister Mike, I will think about it and let you know,” Randy said.

“Now you need to do me a favor,” Mike said. “You said you wanted to be a writer, remember? Well, I want you to write a story of what you did today. Can you do that?”

“I think so, Mister Mike,” Randy said.

“Nope,” Mike said. “Not I think so.”

Randy picked up the hint and said. “I can do that and I will have it for you very soon.”

“Those are the words of a true champion,” Mike said. “It is getting late and we better get you home. How about we put Ugly and Brownie on some leashes and they can walk with us?”

As the four of them walked down the drive to the trail that leads to Randy’s home, we all gathered in the yard to talk. “Awesome!” It was Christmas. “Randy was a very happy camper today. Sure makes me feel good that we could share the fun of trail running with him.”

Yes, I thought, it is just awesome how much joy a random act of kindness may do.

Now after the puppies came… Oh, I forgot to tell you about the puppies. Christmas had them. Yep, she had three of the most beautiful puppies we had ever seen. Well, that the gang had ever seen. Me, well that is a different story. However, the guys were great at describing them to me. I have a good picture in my mind of what they all look like. Mary named them Tundra and Stormy (they are twins), and Sky. Tundra is the biggest of the three. Tundra is mostly black with some brown markings. Her ears do not flop over. Stormy looks very similar to Tundra, but Stormy’s ears do flop over and she is a bit smaller. Both look similar to Nitro, big and powerful. Sky looks like her mother Christmas, and has her mother’s piercing light blue eyes.

We do not know who the father is. It is not one of us. Mary decided that Christmas should have at least one litter. So a while back, Mary took Christmas and…. Well the rest is history.

Of course, when we found out, we were very happy for Christmas. However, Sandy was really excited. Sandy never had puppies. She spent the better part of her day taking care of Christmas. Sandy would scold us if we played too hard with Christmas. She actually got Mike to let her stay in the yard at night with us. Now that is very strange for a housedog! Good thing it was springtime. Sandy would have a problem sleeping outside in the winter, when it is very cold. Besides having a thin coat, Sandy is sort of old.

When the puppies arrived, Sandy was right there, taking great care of Christmas. Nitro, who is very good friends with Sandy, said that Sandy acted as if the puppies were her own. Wow, these pups had two moms and six grand uncles. Did I

say that? Grand Uncles! I could feel the gray hair growing each day.

A few days after the pups were born, Mike brought home a wheeled sled or training cart. Lakota said that it looked a little like a regular sled but had wheels on it. Mike told us it was made by his good friend Mike Fisher, who lives in Oregon and builds these sleds for dog mushing on the sand dunes down there. So now we can go sledding when there is no snow. I know that mushers use these things for keeping their teams in shape during the summer months. We do not run hard or fast because of the heat, but we can sure get a good workout with the wheeled sled.

Young Randy was with Mike and he sounded very excited that we could go sledding in the summer. Randy had been reading us his stories about dogs and mushing. We were very impressed. They were very good. Brownie and Ugly kidded us that Randy’s best stories are about them. Sure glad you guys were objective!

Anyway, I was getting excited. Okay, come on, let us try this thing out. Mike and Randy headed to the warming shed to get our gear. As Mike set the lines out, Randy harnessed us up. I heard Christmas say she wanted to go.

“No, child,” it was Sandy. “You need to get your rest and take care of your babies.”

Doc added, “Sandy is right, Little One, you need to rest and take care of your pups, so that they will be ready to run with our team soon.”

“You are right, Uncle Doc, I am a little tired,” Christmas answered. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” Now was that a play for sympathy or what?

Mike told us that we would head on down the road to Doctor Jim’s place, about a half a mile or so, and then head back home.

The wheeled sled was very easy to pull and before we realized it, we were at Doctor Jim’s homestead. He and Sunny were out making house calls so Mike checked his house to make sure it was okay. We turned around in a big lot and headed back. We were just entering our driveway when I smelled it. Wolf! “Team. Stop. Down!” were Mike’s commands. He wanted us to stop and lie down. “Bam, Bam.” I heard Mike’s gun and then heard him jump off the sled and run to the kennel. “Randy, take care of the team,” Mike shouted.