Name: Togo

Meaning: Named after a Japanese admeral 

Age: 12 (in 1925)

Gender: Male

Job: Lead dog

Breed: Purebred Siberian husky

Parents: Suggen and Dolly 

Siblings: Fritz and Balto (both a different litter)

Mate: Jini 

Puppies: Sue, Yuka and Fuzzy

Owners: Leonhard and Constance Seppala 

Personality: brave, loving, loyal, outgoing, obedient, and smart, resourceful, respectful, compassionate, helpful, honest, perseverant, lively, honorable. 

Likes: His musher/owner Seppala, running and winning races, His family, Runaround Sue (a song), Being a hero.

Dislikes: Smoke (Steele's brother), Steele, loosing races, when Balto steals his credit.

Story: When Togo was born, he was a little bit sickly. Whenever he drank any milk, he would cough it back up. After awhile, Seppala gave up on him. But then one day, Seppala’s wife, Constance, came and took Togo home after he drank his milk, but before he choked it up. When she got home, she wrapped a hot towel around his neck. Togo didn’t cough up his milk! 
              After that, Constance did the same thing every day until Togo could eat solid food. Then, he moved to Seppala’s kennel. Every day, Seppala would lay the working harnesses out on the ground and pick dogs to come with him on his daily run. Togo would lift his paw asking to come with him when Seppala walked by him, but Seppala never let him come. So, Togo decided to heckle the dogs Seppala picked instead. He would go up to the dogs in harness and nip at them, and before they could nip him back, he jumped out of reach. Seppala would tell him to stop, and he did, only to start again in a few minutes. 
               When Togo was 4 months old Seppala thought he was too much of a bother and tried to sell him, but Togo was too loyal and kept coming home. Once, he jumped through a closed glass window, shattering it in the process, and ran home to Seppala. After awhile, Seppala finally decided to keep him. 
              When Togo was 6 months old, Seppala let him walk along beside the sled on shorter runs. He would walk in front of them and sniff around. One day, he got into a fight with Steele. They tussled with each other and Smoke jumped up and grabbed Togo’s ear with his teeth. Once the fight was broken up, Seppala found out that the other dog had bitten the tip of Togo’s right ear off! (If you look at his photo, you will notice that his right ear is a little rugged.) 
              One day a few months after the tussle, Seppala set out for Dime Creek. He left Togo behind because this run would be long. But that night Togo escaped and in the process cut his foot. He ran all night long to catch up with them. After awhile, he found them at a roadhouse. He slept out in the snow that night and, in the morning, set out ahead of Seppala and the team. Later, Seppala came out and got his dogs hitched to the sled. They made good time because Togo had run along the trail, making it easier for Suggen to find. Soon, they found Togo. Seppala bandaged Togo’s foot and decided to let him pull the sled. Seppala put Togo in the wheel position where the strongest dogs go.  
              Later, Seppala let Togo run with the swing dogs, who listen for signals telling them which way to turn. Togo ran there awhile. And then, Seppala did something almost crazy - he let Togo pull in the lead position, as the leader’s helper! Later, Seppala finally let Togo lead. He was a natural! After that, Togo always came on runs with Seppala and he always was leader. 
              One day, Seppala started being more interested in speed than before. After runs, he would take the team out on useless runs. Every day, he would take them farther. Then one day, Seppala got them hitched to a new sled. It was made of birch wood and was lighter than the usual sled. And it only had Seppala’s bed roll in it. Then, he took them to town, where they stopped at the starting line of a dogsled race! They where racing in the All Alaska Sweepstakes! When it started, Seppala told his team to go slowly while the other teams raced ahead as fast as possible! When they reached the first roadhouse, most of the other teams were tired. But Togo’s team just trotted past. And to show that he wasn’t tired, Seppala got off the sled and ran beside Togo! Soon, he got back on the sled. A few days later, Togo and his team crossed the finish line first! They had won their first race! 
When Togo was 6 years old, Balto and Fritz were born. Togo loved his siblings, and they always wanted to grow up to be like Togo.
                      Togo and Seppala were famous! And when Nome needed the serum, they asked Togo and Seppala to deliver it. They set out to pick it up, but a few hours after they left, the mayor of Nome decided to turn it into a relay. As soon as the serum arrived in Nennana (the town to which the serum was delivered by train), a musher named "Wild Bill" Shannon set out with the serum. It was passed from musher to musher, until it reached the musher before Togo. They barely found them. The musher explained the relay to Seppala. Togo and Seppala set out for the next checkpoint, where the next musher was waiting. They soon reached the Norton Sound. They decided to cross it instead of going around it to save time. As they were crossing, the ice broke and they started drifting out to sea! But Seppala unhitched Togo, tied a rope to his harness,and threw him across the gap to the ice connected to shore. He told Togo to pull. Togo pulled as hard as he could. But the rope snapped! And they started to drift out to sea again! But Togo didn't give up that easily. He plunged into the ice cold water, seized the rope, swam to shore, rolled himself up in the rope and pulled his team to shore! After that, he navigated his team out of a deadly blizzard. Seppala was astonished that Togo found the way out! Soon, they passed the serum to the next musher at the roadhouse. But when they arived back in Nome a few days later, all the credit went to Balto! And when Seppala tried to tell them about Togo's great record (264 miles), they gave it to Balto! But Togo was happy - the town was saved and he was home.  
          A few years later, Seppala found a magic rock and made it into dog tags for his dogs. He gave one to Togo and it made his team live longer and be as energetic as a puppy. With the new collars, Togo went on many other adventures and was a hero many more times.

Note: Togo was a real dog and he was the real hero of the serum run. Some of this information isn't completely true (for instance his mate, children, the coller part at the end, and possibly some of his life before the serum run) but as far as I know the part about the serum run is. But I tried to make him as historically accurate as possible. I just changing it a tiny bit to fit my imagination.

Headshot: TitanicFanatic