Togo

[jimnyc]

NightTrain NT'sGirl

A new movie that's out about Togo the Alaskan Husky who turned into a lead dog for the serum run saving lives in 1925.

What I want to know, is if he ran more than Balto - then how come I never heard of him? How come Balto gets all the credit and a statue in front of the Iditarod museum?

Anyway, really want to see this, looks like a good movie. And I love Dafoe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMfyueM-ZBQ

[NightTrain]

I only vaguely remembered the name, so I refreshed my memory with Uncle Google.

He was a pretty impressive dog, but you have to remember that back then, dogs were the primary source of transportation and there were hundreds of thousands of sled dogs all over the state. And some were absolutely amazing in intelligence and stamina.

I guess you didn't see Togo beside Balto at the museum because there's a thousand stories of phenomenal dogs and Balto just happened to be the most famous, even though there were many others just as good - he was the lucky one that did the last leg into Nome with the serum.

[hjmick]

So... Balto was a glory hound... got it.

[NightTrain]

So... Balto was a glory hound... got it.

Yeah, he doggedly pursued fame.

[jimnyc]

So I went to the movies last night, in my bedroom, and watched Togo from a download. :) :)

Excellent movie if you love dogs like I do!!!

Togo starts as a runt but then grows, considered the devil and untrainable - but you know the rest, to an extent.

Apparently they ended up making the trip in a few legs between dog teams. But Togo ran like 80% of it, and then Balto carried the life saving serum on the last short leg to save Nome's lives. All awesome dogs!! But this was almost solely about Togo and his owners, Dafoe and his movie wife. And his decision to go on the run in the face of an impending massive storm and going through some treacherous areas. So yeah, the devil did all the hard work lifting stuff, and then Balto ran into town and got the majority of the credit.

Watch it, you won't regret it!!

(and now that I read Wiki - I see that more than 100 dogs and 20 mushers ran the serum. Dang, I never knew, I always assumed that Balto did the entire run)

Also, I of course don't look "down" upon Balto or his master or any of the mushers. Absolutely amazing what they did back in that time, with sleds and dogs, and the bravery in that type of atmosphere and cold. The fact that they all got together and made this work is simply amazing. Kudos to ALL the doggies!!!

---


Togo was one of the offspring of former lead dog, "Suggen".[1] He was named after the Japanese admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.[2] Initially, he did not look like he had potential as a sled dog. He only grew to about 48 pounds (22 kg) in adulthood and had a black, brown, and gray coat that made him appear perpetually dirty.[3]

Togo was ill as a young puppy and required intensive nursing from Seppala's wife. He was very bold and rowdy, thus seen as "difficult and mischievous", showing "all the signs of becoming a ... canine delinquent" according to one reporter. At first, this behaviour was interpreted as evidence that he had been spoiled by the individual attention given to him during his illness. As he did not seem suited to be a sled dog, Seppala gave him away to be a pet dog at 6 months of age.[4]

After only a few weeks as a house pet, Togo jumped through the glass of a closed window and ran several miles back to his original master's kennel. This devotion to the team impressed Seppala, so he did not try to give him away again. However, Togo continued to cause trouble by breaking out of the kennel when Seppala took the team out on runs. He would attack the lead dogs of oncoming teams, "as if ... to clear the way for his master". However, one day, he attacked a much stockier malamute leader and was mauled and severely injured. When he recovered, Togo stopped attacking other teams' lead dogs. This would eventually prove a valuable early experience, as it was difficult to teach a lead dog to keep a wide berth of oncoming teams.[5]

When Togo was 8 months old, he proved his worth as a sled dog. He had run after the team yet again and slept, unnoticed, near the cabin where Seppala was spending the night. The next day, Seppala spotted him far off in the distance, and understood why his dogs had been so keyed up. Togo continued to make Seppala's work difficult, trying to play with the work dogs and leading them in "charges against reindeer", pulling them off the trail. Seppala had no choice but to put him in a harness to control him, and was surprised that Togo instantly settled down. As the run wore on, Seppala kept moving Togo up the line until, at the end of the day, he was sharing the lead position with the lead dog (named "Russky"). Togo had logged 75 miles on his first day in harness, which was unheard of for an inexperienced young sled dog, especially a puppy. Seppala called him an "infant prodigy", and later added that "I had found a natural-born leader, something I had tried for years to breed"[6]

Togo began training, and after a few years filled the lead dog position. He became one of Seppala's most treasured dogs, a close and mutually beneficial relationship that would continue to the end of Togo's life. At the time of the historic Serum Run, he was 12 years old and had been a lead dog for 7 years.[7]

According to the historian Earl Aversano, in 1960, in his old age, Seppala recalled "I never had a better dog than Togo. His stamina, loyalty and intelligence could not be improved upon. Togo was the best dog that ever traveled the Alaska trail."


In 1925, in response to an epidemic, the first batch of 300,240 units of diphtheria serum was delivered by train from Anchorage to Nenana, Alaska, where it was picked up by the first of twenty mushers and more than 100 dogs who relayed the serum a total of 674 miles (1,085 km) to Nome.[citation needed]

Togo and Seppala traveled 264 miles (425 km) from Nome in three days, and picked up the serum in Shaktoolik on January 31. The temperature was estimated at −30 °F (−34 °C), and the gale force winds causing a wind chill of −85 °F (−65 °C).[citation needed]

The return trip crossed the exposed open ice of the Norton Sound. The night and a ground blizzard prevented Seppala from being able to see the path but Togo navigated to the roadhouse at Isaac's Point on the shore by 8 PM preventing certain death to his team. After traveling 84 miles (134 km) in one day, the team slept for six hours before continuing at 2 AM.[citation needed]

Before the night the temperature dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C), and the wind increased to 65 mi/h (105 km/h). The team ran across the ice, which was breaking up, while following the shoreline. They returned to shore to cross Little McKinley Mountain, climbing 5,000 feet (1,500 m). After descending to the next roadhouse in Golovin, Seppala passed the serum to Charlie Olsen, who in turn would pass it to Gunnar Kaasen and Balto.[citation needed]

Katy Steinmetz in Time Magazine wrote that “the dog that often gets credit for eventually saving the town is Balto, but he just happened to run the last, 55-mile leg in the race. The sled dog who did the lion's share of the work was Togo. His journey, fraught with white-out storms, was the longest by 200 miles and included a traverse across perilous Norton Sound — where he saved his team and driver in a courageous swim through ice floes.” Most people make the mistake of saying Balto is the hero, but Togo is the real hero, by over 200 miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_(dog)

[NT'sGirl]

After the mission's success, Balto and Kaasen became celebrities. A statue of Balto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sculptures_in_Central_Park), sculpted by Frederick Roth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Roth), was erected in New York City (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City)'s Central Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park) on December 17, 1925, ten months after Balto's arrival in Nome. Balto himself was present for the monument's unveiling.[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-NYC-2) The statue is located on the main path leading north from the Tisch Children's Zoo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_Zoo#Children's_Zoo).[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-CP-3) In front of the statue a low-relief slate plaque depicts Balto's sled team, and bears the following inscription:

Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nenana,_Alaska) to the relief of stricken Nome in the Winter of 1925.
Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-CP-3)[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-4)Balto could not be used for breeding because he was neutered at a young age, so he was relegated to the vaudeville (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville) circuit along with his team. When Kaasen wished to return home to Alaska, his dogs were sold to the highest bidder by the company who sponsored his tour. The dogs ended up chained in a small area in a novelty museum and freak show in Los Angeles.
While visiting Los Angeles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles), George Kimble, a former prize fighter turned businessman from Cleveland, was shocked to discover the dogs were unhealthy and badly treated. Mr. Kimble worked together with the newspaper The Plain Dealer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plain_Dealer) to bring Balto and his team to Cleveland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland), Ohio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio). On March 19, 1927, Balto and six companions were brought to Cleveland and given a hero's welcome in a triumphant parade. The dogs were then taken to the Brookside Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Metroparks_Zoo)).
After Balto died in 1933, his remains were mounted by a taxidermist, and donated to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Museum_of_Natural_History).[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-ClevelandHistory-5) In 1965 Carl Barks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Barks) introduced a hero dog named "Barko" as a character in an Uncle Scrooge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Scrooge) comic book, North of the Yukon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_of_the_Yukon), as an homage to Balto. In 1998 the Alaska Legislature passed HJR 62- 'Bring Back Balto' resolution. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History declined to return Balto; however, in October 1998, Balto left for a five-month stay at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorage_Museum_of_History_and_Art) which drew record crowds. Balto was part of another exhibit at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art in 2017.[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto#cite_note-6)
Alistair MacLean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_MacLean)'s 1959 novel Night Without End (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Without_End) includes a sled dog named Balto, a fictional descendant of and named after the original Balto. The 1995, Balto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto_(film)), a live action and animated movie, was made, loosely depicting Balto's journey. This film portrays him as a wolfdog (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdog), who is voiced by Kevin Bacon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Bacon). The following year, in January 1996, Margaret Davidson wrote Balto: The Dog Who Saved Nome, a children's book containing a more truthful telling of Balto's deeds (but still depicting Balto as a wolfdog, while referring to him as a "big, black dog", as he truly was).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balto

[NT'sGirl]

https://www.nyhistory.org/community/balto-statue-central-park