This does sound awfully similar to the plot of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(1982_film) —- ancient/alien parasitic organism buried in thawing Norwegian permafrost affecting a sled dog ... also reminded me of the recent warnings of bacteria in permafrost e.g. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-74335-4_... ... of course this is an idle association and apologies to all the real dog owners whose dogs are ill from this very real disease.