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

The snow started to fall very gently, but I knew that it would turn into a bigger storm shortly. There would be no sled time today, especially with guests coming to the house. That is, if they make it through the snow. So, you can imagine how surprised we were when Mike came out of the warming shed with our sled, lines, and harnesses.

“Okay team,” Mike said. “We are going to the orphanage. The little blind girl is missing and the orphanage staff has asked us to help find her. We had better find her quickly. This may turn into one nasty storm.”

Oh no, I thought, not the little blind girl. The guys and I had talked about her after we came back from the orphanage. We all hoped she would be all right.

Mike harnessed us up and put us in our team positions. Doc and Christmas were the lead dogs while Brownie and I were in the swing position. Ugly ran as a solo team dog with Lakota and Nitro in the wheel.

“I guess you are wondering why I teamed you up this way,” Mike said. “I put Lakota in the wheel with Nitro because you guys are my most powerful dogs. If this storm drops a lot of snow on the trail, I need you two powerhouses back there to get us moving.”

Mike added, “I put Rivers up front with Brownie in the swing position. We may have to rely very heavily on Rivers’ keen hearing and sense of smell to find this little girl, especially if this storm turns into a blizzard.”

“And Ugly, you are in the middle running solo until I find another dog or two that we will need for the race.”

“Race!” Nitro exclaimed. “No one told me about a race.”

“Me neither,” Lakota added. In fact, this was the first any of us had heard about our running any race. I guess we were all lost in our thoughts as Mike finished harnessing us. I heard him pull the front snow hook and double-check all of our lines and snaps. After he got on the runners, Mike pulled the rear snow hook, told us to line up and said, “Okay team. Get ready. Go!”

We raced down the trail toward the orphanage. I was thinking how scared the little blind girl must be. I know the feeling. It happened to me when I first went blind and became lost in the kennel.

“Whoa, Team stop.” Mike’s command roused me from my thoughts as we stopped in front of the orphanage. Brownie told me there was a lady in the doorway. I heard her talk to Mike, telling him that the little girl’s name was Caitlyn and that she had been gone for about an hour. She became separated from the kids she was playing with and they returned to the orphanage without Caitlyn.

Mike asked the lady what Caitlyn was wearing. A lightweight winter jacket and regular clothes, the lady told Mike. She also told Mike that she called the State Troopers but they could not send up their helicopter due to the storm. The storm! Yes, I sensed it was getting closer. The last thing the lady said was that State Troopers were busy with a very nasty vehicle accident on the highway and that it would be hours before they could send anyone to help.

Brownie told me the snow was falling faster. I turned my head skyward and felt the snowfall on my face. Yes, a very nasty storm!

Mike asked the lady to get an article of Caitlyn’s clothing. A hat or scarf that Caitlyn wore recently would do just fine, Mike said. By the time the lady returned, Mike had switched our team positions. I was now the lead dog with Doc. Nitro and Lakota were still in the wheel. Christmas and Brownie were in the swing position and Ugly again ran as the solo team dog.

Lakota told me that the lady gave Mike a stuffed toy. The lady told us that this was Caitlyn’s teddy bear and that she slept with it. “That will work,” Mike said. “Now may I talk to the kids who saw Caitlyn last?”

After Mike talked with the kids and knew where they had last seen Caitlyn, I heard him walk over to me and kneel down in front of me. I smelled the teddy bear Mike was holding. He put his hands on both sides of my face and put his face close to mine. “Rivers,” Mike said. “We need to find the little blind girl that sat with you when we visited here. You are her only chance. This storm is getting worse and the team will not be able see her. You can smell her and you can hear her.” As he spoke, he held the teddy bear in front of me and I could smell Caitlyn’s scent on it. Yes, I remembered her scent.

We started down a new trail that we had never been on before. Mike was driving the team very slowly. Every once in a while, he would call out, “Caitlyn, Caitlyn, where are you?” Mike stopped the sled and we all strained to hear her call back. Nothing.

Mile after mile we traveled, but all we heard was the noise of the wind getting louder. The temperature was dropping and the snow was building up on the trail. Doc said that the heavy snow would cover any tracks Caitlyn might have left on the trail.

“It may even cover the trail totally,” Ugly said.

“Are you saying we need to go back, Ugly, without the little girl?” It was Nitro.

“No, no Nitro”, Ugly replied. “All I meant was that if this snow gets any deeper, I won’t be able to do my Ugly jig when we do find her!” We all chuckled. Yep, leave it to Ugly to get us to laugh in a bad situation.

Mike stopped the team to put booties on us. What is that? I thought I heard something. It was very hard to tell with all this wind noise. Wait, I heard it again. “Uncle Rivers, your ears are twitching. Do you hear something?” Christmas asked me.

“Rivey, do you hear something?” It was Mike. Yes, I heard something. I also heard Mike unzip the sled bag and listened to him walk back to me. I heard him snap on a leash, while unhooking my neck and tug lines.

“Okay Rivey, let’s go,” Mike said. I started to walk slowly down the trail. I suddenly cut to my left, off the trail. I heard Mike following me. I would stop occasionally to listen and sniff the air. Yes, I did hear something, but I was not sure what it was. Could it be a moose or a bear? I could be leading Mike into some big trouble. I was getting scared. I heard a voice speak to me. It was Aurora. “I am here for you Rivers, you are doing fine. Find Caitlyn, you can do it. Trust and believe in yourself.”

I stopped again and, yes, the scent. It was coming from over there. I started to bark as I walked faster to where the scent was coming from. I stopped. Caitlyn had to be here. Her scent was so strong. “Rivers, there is nothing here, just mounds of snow,” Mike said.

She had to be here. I sniffed the ground. Yes, she was here. Then I heard it, a whimpering. I started to dig gently in the snow and suddenly felt the warmth of her face on my paw.

“Rivers, you found her!” Mike said. I heard him kneel down beside me and he dug with me in the snow. There was a lot of snow covering Caitlyn. She was alive. She was shivering. She was very cold and she was crying.

“Who are you?” Caitlyn asked.

“Hi Caitlyn, it is ‘Santa Mike’ and Rivers. We are here to take you home,” Mike said.

“Home to the orphanage?” she asked. “No, I do not want to go back there. Nobody wants me because I am blind. I will never be with a family. Nobody wants a blind kid. Just let me stay here, in the snow.”

“I can’t do that, Caitlyn.” I heard Mike unzip his parka and put it around her. I moved closer to Caitlyn to cuddle with her. She put her arms around me and continued to cry, even harder than before.

“Caitlyn,” Mike said. ”Lets go to my home for a day or so and talk this over. Maybe what you need is a few days away from the orphanage to get your thinking straight. What do you say?”

“Does Rivers live with you?” Caitlyn asked.

“Yep, he sure does,” Mike answered. “Say, I could use some help since I have a race coming up. Maybe you could help me out?”