Poland Spring Resort owner Cyndi Robbins, left, Laura Brown, director of operations for the Poland Spring Preservation Society, and Maine state Rep. David Boyer of Poland gather last fall around a sculpture of Togo, the legendary lead dog of a team that delivered a crucial vaccine across the Alaskan wilderness a century ago to international acclaim before spending his final years at Poland Spring Resort in Poland. The trio is behind a proposal to make the Seppala Siberian Sleddog the Maine state dog. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

Maine’s Legislature is going to the dogs — and that may be a good thing.

Members of the State and Local Government Committee appeared Monday to support an effort to name the Seppala Siberian sled dog as the official dog of the Pine Tree State.

Descended from the legendary Togo, who became famous a century ago when he led a team through the Alaskan wilderness to deliver diphtheria serum to the children of Nome, the breed captures Maine’s “resilient spirit,” according to Rebecca Conrad, a board member of the Poland Spring Preservation Society.

Those pushing for the designation say that proclaiming the sled dog breed as Maine’s official dog will help promote tourism while spreading the word about the state’s reliance on both teamwork and toughness.

“This really is a part of Maine’s legacy,” said Rep. Joseph Underwood, a Presque Isle Republican.

There are about 100 Seppala Siberan sled dogs, many of them in Maine. Each can trace its ancestry directly, on both sides, to Togo.

“They’re not interbred so they are a breed of their own,” said Cyndi Robbins, current owner of Poland Spring Resort. One of the dogs, Sawyer, was on hand for the hearing.

Musher Jonathan Hayes appears remotely before a legislative committee Monday to discuss a proposal to name a state dog. He was on his way home from a trek across Alaska with his team of Seppala Siberian sled dogs that recently followed the route used in 1925 by Togo and other dogs to deliver serum to Nome’s children to fight a disease outbreak. Screenshot from video

Togo wound up in Maine after his famous trek in 1925. His owner, Leonard Seppala, opened a kennel with Poland Spring owner Elizabeth Ricker, who cared for Togo in his final years.

Breeder Jonathan Hayes, who recently finished leading a team on the entire 750-mile Alaskan run with a team of two dozen Maine dogs, told lawmakers that Maine’s weather prepared them for the cold and snow but not the harsh winds and blizzard conditions they encountered.

But they pushed on through anyway, said Hayes, whose face remains frostbitten from the conditions along the route. “They showed true Maine spirit.”

State Rep. David Boyer, a Poland Republican, said the dogs’ determination and the way they looked out for one another exemplify what Maine is all about.

State Sen. Bruce Bickford, an Auburn Republican, said the state has everything from a state herb to a state butterfly.

“Why no state dog?” he asked.

He urged colleagues to “come together for a brief respite” to unite behind the Seppala Siberian sled dogs.

Thirteen states have official state dogs, including three breeds with Arctic roots: the Siberian husky in Connecticut, where it has long been the mascot for the state university; the chinook in New Hampshire, where breeders once supplied polar explorer Robert Byrd with dogs; and the Alaskan malamute in, unsurprisingly, Alaska.

Speaking for Hospitality Maine and the Maine Tourism Association, Nate Cloutier told the legislative panel that after last year’s dip in tourism, Maine might benefit from naming Togo’s descendants the state dog.

He said it would offer a new way to lure tourists to the northern part of Maine.

“Maine mushing history is second to none,” Hayes said. “There are many great dogs, so many legendary dogs, in Maine.”