It’s been mentioned before that Wylie gets excited when he sees deer. A lot of people assume it’s because he wants to chase after them, but that’s not at all true. The reason he gets excited is that Wylie is a member of the S.L.E.D. team and he wants to talk to the deer to see if they’ve heard any news from Santa’s reindeer.
S.L.E.D. (Santa’s Little Elf Dogs) is a world-wide organization of dogs who every Christmas keep an eye out for Santa and are on standby to help out in case the jolly old elf should encounter difficulties. It’s been a long time since Santa’s had any serious problems, but it’s well-known in canine circles that it was only the delaying tactics adopted by the Grinch’s dog Max that allowed the Grinch to hear the Whos singing and have his change of heart about the holiday, leading to his decision to bring all the gifts back to Whoville. As a part of the S.L.E.D. team, Wylie is inspired by Max’s example and is always ready to help Santa out.
Just a couple weeks before Christmas this year, Wylie and his friend Terry Dactyl were out for a romp through the woods when they heard a tremendous racket coming from overhead. As they listened, they heard a noise as if a heavy object was falling through the trees, breaking branches and causing a shower of debris.
Rushing toward the source of the sound, Wylie and Terry discovered a sleigh dangling halfway up a large pine tree. As they watched, there was a sound of breaking wood and the sleigh fell to the ground. As the sleigh settled, its driver pushed aside the airbags and pulled himself out. It was Santa!
Wylie and Terry rushed up to ask Santa if he was OK. Fortunately, Santa speaks both dog and parrot quite fluently and he assured them that he was fine. Santa then explained that he and the reindeer had been out doing a series of test flights and during the last pass, the sleigh’s hitch had come undone. The sleigh depends on the reindeer to keep it in the sky; so when the hitch had come undone, the sleigh fell to the ground.
Santa looked over his sleigh and concluded that it was in good shape. All he needed to do was get it hooked back up to the reindeer team. “And that’s going to be a problem,” Santa sighed, “There are too many trees here for the reindeer to land, and the sleigh’s stuck without them. Do you kids have any ideas?”
Terry looked at the sleigh and shook her head. “I’m sorry Santa, I can fly up to the reindeer, but I’m only a little bird. That sleigh’s just too big for me to carry.”
Wylie looked at the sleigh and said, “I can do it.”
Surprised, Santa looked at Wylie and said, “I’m grateful for the offer Wylie, but dogs can’t fly.”
“No, we can’t,” said Wylie, “But we can pull.”
And that was true. If you’ve ever taken a dog for a walk, you know that dogs are great at pulling. That’s why you have to switch the leash from one hand to the other during the walk, otherwise you’ll end up with one arm being longer than the other.
So Terry flew up to talk to the reindeer and let them know Santa was OK. The reindeer told her there was an open field a half-mile away that was large enough for them to land in and take off again afterward. Terry flew down to share the news with Santa and Wylie and they prepared to move the sleigh.
Santa tied a rope to the sleigh’s hitch and Wylie took hold of it. Wylie pulled on the rope while Santa pushed on the back of the sleigh. Terry even grabbed onto the sleigh’s top edge and flapped mightily. At first the sleigh wouldn’t budge and it looked like the sleigh was going to stay stuck. Then they gave it one more try and the sleigh started to tremble. And then, with a soft rumble and a slight popping noise as it came out of the mud it had landed in, the sleigh started to move. Santa, Terry and Wylie continued their efforts and the sleigh started to pick up speed. Soon they were moving the sleigh through the woods at a lively pace and in no time at all they reached the field where the reindeer were waiting.
Santa reconnected the sleigh to the reindeer’s harness and after triple checking the hitch and fixing one of the latches he’d overlooked before he told Terry and Wylie, “Thank you so much for helping me out.” After giving them each a skritch behind the ears, Santa asked them, “Would you like a special treat? How would you like to go for a ride in my sleigh?”
Terry and Wylie are always excited about a chance to go for a ride and a chance to ride in Santa’s sleigh was just too good to pass up. They both hopped into the sleigh and put on their seatbelts. Santa and the reindeer flew them out to Wylie’s old house in Indiana and then to Terry’s in Nevada.
After bringing them back to Maryland, Santa gave Wylie and Terry each another skritch behind the ears and thanked them again for their help. And as he hopped back into his sleigh and flew out of sight, Santa called out, “Merry Christmas to all the good little children; boys, girls, dogs, birds and all!”