Ordinary veterinarians may be content with their work-a-day office careers but then there are those who take the bull by the horns, literally, by bringing their special brand of care to rural areas and the wild. Fortunately, for fans of Animal Planet network – and especially the animals who call Alaska their home – Dr. Dee Thornell is of the latter variety of caregivers.

As the star of the new series "Dr. Dee: Alaska Vet," Thornell certainly knows no boundaries. From traveling across glaciers and mountains to enduring sub-zero temperatures and endless days without daylight, Thornell stops at nothing to bring care to the animals who need her most in America's largest and wildest state.

One simply doesn't become a veterinarian of this stature overnight. Thornell's career was many years in the making, and as she reveals exclusively to Headlines and Global News, her love of animals was prevalent even as a child.

HNGN: When did your love for animals begin? What sparked it?

Dr. Dee Thornell: I got to bottle-raise sheep when I was a little girl – although they didn't tell me until later where they went when they got older! My sisters and brother were always involved with 4-H. My sister was one of the first girls back in the '60s to raise a pig. My brother, Dickie, wanted to be a veterinarian; we just happened to live next to one in Ohio.

Tell us about your veterinary business before going to Alaska.

When my brother was killed in Vietnam, my dad quit his job with General Motors in Kalamazoo, Mich., and moved my sister and me to Benzonia, Mich., where he and mom purchased a motel (the 4-k's). It was pink! As long as I said I wanted to go to vet school, I got any animal I wanted – which meant I got a horse. I had to purchase the horse myself by making beds in the motel at 50 cents a bed. When I saved $200, I bought my first Morgan "Tuffy." Dad helped me take care of him. I didn't have enough to buy a saddle, but that just made me a better rider! Then I started volunteering at Dr. Wagner's veterinary practice in Benzonia to get experience.

Going from the Midwest all the way to Alaska is quite a big step. What triggered the move?

I love my home in Michigan but disliked the snow coming at me at a horizontal 60 mph. Plus, I needed some adventure after five straight years of college. I had written a paper on Alaska in grade school and always had a bug to come here. I had the opportunity to bring a horse to Alaska and check it out. I never left. There is still snow, but very dry and it "floats" to earth.

Tell me about your practice, "Animal House."

I started working out of the back of a pickup truck and thought how nice it would be to have a heated table to do surgery on. Then [I] thought how nice it would be to have lab equipment. Then an ultrasound. Then I needed more space to keep it all in, so I bought an old warehouse and remodeled it. The rest is history. My contractors are great. They can build almost anything I draw on a table napkin! Actually, I took a long time with a miniature layout of the equipment and how big rooms had to be to make it work in the building I have now.

You can also fly planes – right?

I had my first super-cub plane ride 33 years ago when I first came to Alaska to go out and do health certificates on some horses. It was insanely fun! Plus, I live in Alaska and I haven't seen 85 percent of my own state. The only way to do that is with a plane. I used to love doing clinics when I worked out of my pickup, so I've gone full cycle: I'm back doing rural clinics – just with an airplane instead!

Other than flying, you use four-wheelers as well as horse and carriage to reach your patients. What was the most unusual way you've traveled to reach a client?

Flying, truck... the horse and carriage are recreational! I have used four-wheelers and snow machines to places – not very often. There has been the occasional helicopter.

As a veterinarian I'm sure you've had a wide range of clients. Which one is most memorable?

Oh my, that is like asking me what my favorite pie is. Urban Rahoi is a good friend and a role model for me in my flying. He and his wife developed a camp off the grid and I have had the pleasure over the years to visit it. They primarily had horses they needed care for; he had several stallions and they produced very well in the mountain valleys, so most of my work was castrating the "extras."

What kind of animals do you treat in Alaska?

It would probably be a shorter list to say what I have not treated. We have lots of exotics here as pets, lots of wildlife that need a hand once in a while and several gold miners that need stitches on occasion.

Of course, working out in the last frontier isn't all fun and games. The cold weather is more than likely to bring its own share of complications.

Like what?

Had my thumb frost bit the first winter I was here when I had stomach-tubed a horse with an upset stomach. I was attempting to get the mineral oil to go down. It came over the top of the funnel and froze to my thumb. [I] learned fast not to do that again!

Tell me about your veterinary business now that you're in Alaska. Do you find it more fulfilling?

I once heard [that] to really experience life you should get married, have kids and start a business. It is very fulfilling and can be on the edge of hectic at times, but you only live once. I'm trying to experience as much as I can before I close my eyes for the last time!