The lead dog for Iditarod winner Lance Mackey is heading back home after receiving treatment at a Tacoma emergency hospital for what were described as potentially life-threatening injuries.

Zorro the dog was riding in Mackey's sled as a result of a sore shoulder last week during the All Alaska Sweepstakes race. During the early morning hours, a snowmobile going about 60 mph crashed into the sled. Mackey leaped from the sled just in time, but Zorro was asleep.

When doctors first saw him, they gave him a 50-50 chance of walking again. The snowmobile ski hit Zorro in the ribs.

"Broke four ribs, and the bruising extends up to the spinal column and into the spinal cord," said Dr. Kobi Johnson of Tacoma's The Animal Emergency Clinic.

Zorro is just not a quitter. After all, he led his master to victory in the Iditarod two years in a row.

The night he was hit, he didn't yelp. He didn't moan.

He didn't make a sound. He had a startled look in his eyes. Just like 'wow, what happened?" said his musher Lance Mackey.

In fact, Zorro just rested in the sled as Mackey finished the last 15 miles of the race.

But the next day "he looked lifeless," Mackey said. "His head was out the kennel. His tongue was on the floor. He appeared lifeless."

Friday, just six days later, Zorro walked out of his cage to Mackey's arms.

"You're looking good, You're looking good. I told you I wasn't going to leave you. I told you I wasn't going to leave you," said Mackey.

Doctors say Zorro's wagging tail is a great sign. It means no spinal cord damage.

But they say Zorro will never pull a sled again.

Mackey says his dog loved the races.

"I don't think he's going to take it too hard. His job is basically going to be fathering more dogs," he said.

Perhaps Zorro understood. He hurried to his cage.

They took a 4 o'clock flight home. Doctors say after about months of recuperation, Zorro will be a normal, active family dog.