VOICES:

-Atka: Jennifer Morrison

-Yukon: Toby Maguire

-Nero: John Cusak

-Mya: Hillary Swank

-Aleu: Lacy Chabert

-Kodiak: Sean Astin

-Balto: Kevin Bacon

I watched Aleu do a headstand and scoffed. She always had to be the center of attention! And that made me sick! Then, two hands grabbed me and lifted me right out of the box I was sharing with my brothers and sisters. I looked at my new owner, then waved goodbye to my siblings. I couldn’t stop my tail from wagging. Was I going to be a sled dog?! Or a guard dog?! Just as long as I wasn’t a show dog… who could stand that many baths or indoor treatment?

The girl carried me all the way to my new home, although her parents assured her I could walk, and didn’t set me down until we were in the house. This house was a lot different then what I was used to. Before, I had lived in a small shack were I was born and this had full carpets and was huge! I dropped my nose straight to the ground and sucked in the strange new smells. But one smell stuck out… the smell of some new animal! I followed the smell to the corner. Something flickered out of the corner of my eye. I spun, then crouched when I saw this strange thing; grey and fluffy but very different from a dog. I wagged my tail and crawled toward it. It didn’t notice me at all, just kept licking its front paw. I concentrated and pounced, landing right on the surprised thing. It hissed and screeched. Its yellow eyes turned to me and I turned tail, heading back to my girl and jumping into her open arms.

“You shouldn’t mess Patches! At least not until your bigger Atka”

I turned back to the cat and stuck out my tongue at it. It growled and fluffed up but returned to where it came from.

            Emily took me up to her room and continued to call me Atka until I had gotten that it was my new name. Anything better then Denali! Who named their pup that anyway? After showing me her “room”, Emily took me back “downstairs”. Her mother had something in a bag. At first I thought it was food, but even if it wasn’t I was curious to see. She pulled out a pink collar and put it around my neck. Then she took out a leash and snapped it on my collar. Before I had a chance to chew on either of them, Emily scooped me up again.

            “Come on Atka! We’re going to see your brothers and sister!” she chirped happily.

I didn’t want to be carried! I squirmed until she dropped me. Then I grabbed the leash in my teeth and shook it. Emily started to run and the leash snapped right out of my mouth! Ouch! It wasn’t about to get away with that! Emily started to walk down the street and I got the leash in my mouth again, shaking and tugging. It was stronger then it looked… no matter how hard I tugged, it just dragged me all the way to a small house.

Emily knocked on the door and footsteps, followed by three familiar barks, answered. I barked back excitedly. The door opened and I jumped in and tackled the first pup I saw, Dingo. I licked his face then got tackled by Saba and Yukon.

“Hey guys!” I said, my whole body shaking from my tail.

            “Guess what Yukon’s new name is!” Dingo snickered.

                        “Fluffy!”Saba barked, who couldn’t wait for me to guess.

I couldn’t help myself. I fell on my back and laughed. “Fluffy” laid his ears back, embarrassed.

            “My name’s still Yukon!” he mumbled. “I’m not going to answer to Fluffy!”

“What’s that around your neck?” I asked Saba, noticing something orange.

            “My owner gave me a bandana just like mom! What are you wearing?”

“It’s a collar” I said in disgust. “It’s itchy and I hate it”

I talked a little more with Saba, who was renamed Mya, Dingo who was renamed Nero and Fluffy still named Yukon.

            “I chewed socks!” Nero declared proudly. “I told you I couldn’t wait!”

“Atka!” I heard Emily call.

“That’s my girl!” I said excitedly, running to find her.

Another girl Emily’s age was sitting with her.

            “Mya! Nero! Fluffy!”

Nero and Mya ran to the girl and Mya jumped into her lap.

            “This is my girl Kate!” Mya told me happily.

                        “Fluffy! Fluffy come! That stupid pup never comes!” she said to Emily.

Fluffy didn’t come. Mya, Nero and I all laughed.

“Yukon!” Nero called.

Yukon came running too.

            “I’m serious! I’m not answering to that awful name!” he said when he saw us all giggling.

We laughed again. Then Emily and Kate made us all stay in a row. What were they doing now? You could never guess what these humans would do next!

            “Sit Mya!” Kate commanded.

I had no idea what sit meant, but Mya did. She proudly sat.

            “Sit Atka!” Emily repeated.

I looked at Mya and cocked my head at Emily. I looked at Nero and tackled him instead. The two girls laughed. While Mya entertained the two girls, Yukon, Nero and I played until we were so tired we fell asleep. Then, Emily picked me up and carried me home. I was starting to not like being picked up… but I was too tired to walk home anyway…

For the next six months, I lived a life of luxury; sleeping on Emily’s bed at night, chasing the cat that grew smaller every day that passed. When Emily went to school, I could play with Yukonand Nero who had gotten kicked out while Mya stayed inside. I was getting into some trouble too. So far I had: stolen a turkey from the table, gone through the garbage, chewed the leg of a chair, destroyed my pink collar and ate the cat’s food. I tried to be good, honest, but the worst was yet to come. Since we lived in Alaska, it didn’t take a genius to know that there were wolves nearby in the woods. They never really got my attention until they started to howl. It was strange but… good, which was stranger because I always hated when Aleu used to howl. Before I knew it, my own howl was vibrating throughout the house. That was the last straw. Emily’s dad thundered down the stairs, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and tossed me out the front door. Stupid!

The icy wind seeped through my coat and I shivered. At least there was an old dog house behind the real house, I thought, trying to stay optimistic. I dragged my feet to the backyard and climbed in the old doghouse. It sheltered me from the wind but it was still cold without the warm fire I was used to.

            The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of my metal food dish being filled. I sprang up and dashed to the front porch, gulping up my cold, dry food that Emily had just set down. She reached into her pocket, fumbled around for something and pulled something out of her pocket. I paused for a second and she slipped it around my neck. Oh great. Another collar. I sighed but finished my breakfast. I’d just ask my brothers about it later.

            After Emily left, I jogged down the main street to my brothers’ house. I slipped into the backyard and spied them both sleeping in a giant wooden crate. Yukon’s ears twitched and his eyes opened. He smiled mischievously when he saw me and nodded to the snoring Nero. I smiled and dropped to my stomach, sneaking up on our oldest brother. I got close to his ear, and then barked as loud as I could. Nero made a strange noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a yip, and jumped back into the crate. Yukonand I laughed.

            “Hey” said Nero weakly peering out of the crate. “I heard you got kicked out”

“How’d you know?”

            “Sylvie and Dixie said that you were howling like a wild animal” he shrugged.

“Stupid gossiping…”

            “We’ve already been out here for a while” Nero bragged. “I chewed through the bedroom door and Yukon ate one of their expensive shoes”

 “What about Mya?”

            “She’s a goody- goody” supplied Yukon. “She doesn’t even look like our sister. She looks like mom”

            “You got one too?” Nero said, noticing my collar.

“Yeah. What is it?”

            “A sled dog collar. Me and