Togo – an Alaskan Superhero

Not many people have ever heard of Togo. This Siberian husky lived about 100 years ago. He served as the lead sled dog for Leonard Seppala who raced Siberian huskies. History honors this canine for helping save the lives of people in a small Alaskan town called Nome, which is about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Togo had icy blue eyes and was dark brown with cream, black and grey markings. When he was just a puppy, he developed a painful throat disorder, which made it difficult for him to swallow or eat. Seppala’s wife nursed him back to health.

As he grew, Togo was not easy to manage. He was mischievous, bold, and rowdy, often getting into trouble. He earned the nickname, “canine delinquent” and did not seem best suited for the important job of sled dog. Seppala gave him up for adoption when he was just six-months old.

But Togo had other ideas. According to one story, after only a few weeks of being adopted as a house pet, he jumped through the glass of a closed window and ran several miles back to Seppala’s home.

Seppala was so impressed by the dog’s devotion that he decided to keep him.

Born to Run

Nearly every time Seppala took his team of sled dogs out on runs, Togo often harassed them. He didn’t want to be left behind.

One day, Seppala decided to test Togo’s abilities as a sled dog. He harnessed him behind the other sled dogs, directly in front of the sled. Togo’s new job involved pulling the sled around corners and then bringing it back to its original (straight) position without tipping it over.

To Seppala’s surprise, Togo performed his job well while keeping pace with the other sled dogs. Seppala continued moving him up the line until he was sharing the lead position with the lead dog. During his first journey, Togo ran over 75 miles, an amazing accomplishment for an inexperienced sled dog.

Mission Impossible

Togo’s last long-distance run proved to be the most important journey of his life.

Back in 1924, Dr. Curtis Welch was the only physician for the 455 Alaskan Natives and nearly 1,000 European settlers who lived in Nome.

The small town had one 25-bed hospital. Several months before winter, Dr. Curtis discovered that the batch of serum or antitoxin for diphtheria had expired. Diphtheria is a highly contagious and potentially deadly illness that causes people to wheeze and gasp for air. Dr. Curtis ordered more medicine, which had to be delivered by ship.

But before the medicine arrived, the Port of Nome closed for the winter. Between November and July, the port, which is on the southern shore of Seward Peninsula in the Bering sea, is usually covered in thick ice, making it impossible for ships to deliver any supplies to the people living in Nome.

In January 2025, Dr. Welch began treating a few children for what he initially thought was tonsillitis. But over the next few weeks, the cases of tonsillitis grew and four children died. Did these children have tonsillitis or something more severe? Could it be diphtheria?

If he was correct, an outbreak or epidemic of diphtheria would completely wipe out the entire population of Nome, all 1,400 adults and children.

By late January, a three-year-old boy died after displaying symptoms of diphtheria. A seven-year-old girl with similar symptoms also died. Dr. Welch knew that more people would die unless they could administer this life-saving medicine. But how?

Dr. Welch called an emergency meeting with the town’s mayor. A quarantine was immediately implemented. By then, twenty more people had been diagnosed with the deadly disease and at least fifty more would be at risk by the end of the month. Without this medicine, there was a good chance that almost everyone in Nome who had developed diphtheria would die.

Since no plane or ship could reach the isolated town, the people of Nome only had one option: to use sled dogs to deliver this medicine. They would need to travel along the Iditarod Trail, which runs 938 miles from Seward, another Alaskan port city, to Nome. This journey would be dangerous, not only for the sled dogs, but also for the mushers or drivers of the sled dogs.

At the age of 12, Togo led his sled-dog team over 261 miles to help deliver numerous vials of diphtheria anti-toxin. Other brave sled dogs also ran parts of the trail, such as Balto, who was the lead dog for the last 53-mile leg of the relay. Decades later, Balto was featured in an animated movie about this famous journey.

However, Togo’s run was the longest and most dangerous. His dog team experienced gale force winds, -85 degree temperatures, and blizzards, making it extremely difficult to navigate the trail. Despite these severe weather conditions, the medicine was delivered in a record-breaking 127.5 hours. Not a single vial was broken.

Legendary Race

This historic five-and-a-half days journey is known as the 1925 Serum Run or the Great Race of Mercy. It involved 150 dogs and 20 mushers or drivers. Unfortunately, not all the sled dogs survived. Four died from exposure, sacrificing their lives for the people of Nome. Three weeks after injecting the locals with the serum, Dr. Crosby lifted the quarantine.

The 1925 Serum Run was Togo’s last long-distance run. By then, he had earned a well-deserved retirement that was spent in Poland Spring, Maine. In 1929, he passed away at the age of 16.

Following his death, Alaskan students launched a letter-writing campaign to return Togo’s remains to Alaska. Nearly one century later, Togo’s preserved body is still on display at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. Likewise, Seppala created a lifelike representation of his favorite sled dog.

Togo was indeed a superhero. He was the first American dog to lead a sled dog team for hundreds of miles through Alaska’s frozen tundra to save many people’s lives. According to Seppala, Togo was “the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail.”