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To preface this journey, Mike wrote to me in July of 2000 inquiring about help for Rivers and whether the IMOM Blind Dog Fund could help him. At the time Rivers was owned by someone else....not Mike. Rivers had heredity glaucoma and there was no hope of regaining his sight. However, Rivers was in severe pain and neither Rivers owner or Mike could afford the surgery to remove his eyes....It broke Mike's heart to see Rivers in pain. We quickly put Rivers story up on the sites to help raise money for the surgery. Mike tirelessly told everyone he came in contact with (both on and off the computer) about Rivers and his plight. Before long Mike had raised MORE than what was needed for the surgery. (When I asked Mike where he wanted the access money to go he said to use it where it was needed the most. Which at the time was a paralyzed doxie that needed a cart to get around....which seemed very fitting in a way. Linda) Mike soon realized that so much more had happened, than his only intention of getting Rivers medical help...SO MUCH MORE!!
Hi, For those that are new to the group, my name is Mike and I was adopted by an blind Iditarod racing sled dog last summer. Rivers is the dog's name. After the IMOM fund-raiser to removed Rivers' bad eyes and make him pain free, I posted updates to this group. Around October, I reveled that Rivers had raced in the Iditarod twice, both times blinded. Since then I don't make update posts often since I realized that dog racing, in any form, may be offensive to some of the group's members.
However, I would be remiss if I did not tell you the good that Rivers' story has accomplished. At the time I was posting updates, several of this group's members recommended that I write a child's story about Rivers and our adventures together. I developed a web site for Rivers which told his story and had pictures of his buddies. A Special Education teacher in my hometown of New York City picked up on the story and asked if it could be used to help her class learn. I sent the teacher a first draft of the manuscript plus the the new updates I never posted to this group. The class embraced this blind dog and his story to the point that they developed a desire to really learn more. Rivers also "writes" a weekly letter to the class covering topics that the teacher will be covering. Rivers also answers each of the children's e-mails. However, the teacher is the real super star here. She is a real gem. The class decorated their classroom like Alaska have a made a few "dog teams and mushers" for the walls. Now I was born and raised in NYC and at their age, I could not tell you what a dog team, an Alaskan Husky, or a musher even looked like. "Sergeant. Preston of the Yukon" was just a story on TV to me. The class even made a paper statue of Rivers with booties no less. Now Rivers "talks" to them and relates that their teacher is their "Musher" and they are her "team". So what you say, Hold your socks for this! These are 4th grades with 2nd grade learning ability. Some are challenged other have been abused. All have some kind kind of barrier that interferes with their reading, writing and learning. The teacher has reported to me that the class is reading and writing more. In a recent evaluation, the evaluator asked each child to give him a word that began with N. The children told him Nome. The evaluator had no idea what Nome was until the children told him it was a city in Alaska where the Iditarod ends! Nope the
story is not over yet. It seems that the Mayor of New York City got wind of this
extraordinary teacher and acknowledged her efforts in helping these disadvantage
kids. A side note, the special education budget was cut in NYC. Maybe Rivers'
story will help restore funding, who knows. But we do believe in miracles, don't
we? I received an E-mail from one of the children's mother who thanked us for
helping her son read and write more. The child is really struggling with this.
But Rivers story has motivated him to try harder. You bet he will succeed! The
principal of this teacher's school was so impressed with the overall class
improvement that he had the teacher conduct a workshop for the other teachers in
the school on this super achievement. So what do we have here? We have a blind dog who was helped by an IMOM fund-raiser and now has reached out and touched some challenged New York City kids in a super positive way. I don't even think Linda or Kerry thought this would happen when they went to bat for Rivers to get the fund-raiser started. I mentioned to a group member, in private, that I was totally amazed how Rivers had turned my life around. Who would of thought that this dog's story would help kids in New York City. Not me, never in 1000 years. Again, I don't want to upset any member who has concerns about the Iditarod. I just wanted to share this great story with you. For those that received all of the updates, you will be happy to know that the house hunting process has began and we should have Rivers and a few of his buddies moved in with us with in 3 months or so. I see him every weekend and he has become a very fun loving and devoted companion. Borrowing a phrase from Linda, which I greedily used in the Rivers Story, Blind dogs do see with their hearts!! Take care Mike
Mike, Rivers and Sandy Rivers and his buddy Lakota adopted Mike and his family and recently moved into a new house To see more of Rivers friends just go to his web
site http://home.gci.net/~rivers/
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If you believe there are soul mates
when it comes to humans and dogs...than Mike Dillingham and Rivers are true soul
mates in every sense of the word. What started out as a "hobby"
for Mike in early 2000 took him on a life changing journey. The Captain of
that journey was a blind sled dog name Rivers. 
Rivers
before surgery
