Elizabeth Ricker read to Siberian Husky sled dog Togo from a book she wrote, Togo's Fireside Reflections.

Togo was Leonhard Seppala's lead sled dog, who helped deliver medicine to Nome, Alaska, in 1925 during a diphtheria outbreak. Seppala with Togo (12 years old) at the lead, mushed 261 miles of the most dangerous portion of the trek.

There is controversy among mushers still today about how much credit Balto, the famous sled dog, deserved. Gunnar Kaasen and Balto mushed the second to last leg of the trek with the antitoxin. Kaasen skipped the last hand off, because the next musher was supposedly not awake and rode a total of 53 miles (85 km) into Nome.

Poland Spring Resort hosted dog-sled competitions in 1926-1927 where Seppala's Alaskan Siberian Husky teams participated. Ricker began a kennel to breed the Seppala sled dogs at Poland Spring with Leonhard Seppala and Togo.