A Brief History of the Chinook dog breed

The story of the Chinook rises and falls like the quiet hills and intervales of New Hampshire's White Mountains. The Chinook dog breed has brushed close with extinction on numerous occasions, only for its gentle nature to tug on heartstrings, and pull them through.  A breed started by the dream of one adventurous man the Chinook is today the only remaining mixed breed sled dog created for the use in Polar expeditions in the early 1900's.

Arthur Walden, a dog driver while working the gold fields of Alaska, returned to New Hampshire and wed Katherine Sleeper. Settling on Katherine's resort farm in Wonalancet, Walden bred mixed-breed dogs to assist with work and to entertain guests with sled rides. One such breeding of a farm dog to a northern husky resulted in a litter of tawny pups.

On January 17, 1917, Chinook was born. He was a large boned, tawny, flop-eared dog weighing 100 pounds at maturity, with an impressive head and kind expression. Chinook was known not only as a wonderful sled dog, but also for his gentle disposition toward children. Chinook's offspring inherited his general coloring, size, characteristics and disposition.  They would later be called "Chinooks."

Walden and his dog sled team with Chinook in lead are credited with bringing the sport of sled dog racing to New England. In 1924, Walden founded the New England Sled Dog Club, the oldest club of its kind in operation today. In 1927, Walden was appointed to head the Dog Department for Admiral Richard Byrd's first Antarctic Expedition (BAE I). Walden and his sixteen Chinook dogs were described as the backbone of the expedition transport. Chinook was lost in Antarctica and nearing his twelfth birthday - reports of Chinook's death were heard around the world and many mourned the loss of one of the greatest lead dogs in history.

Upon Walden's request, Route 113A from Tamworth to Wonalancet, New Hampshire bears the name "Chinook Trail" to honor his famous lead dog. After returning from the Byrd expedition, Walden sold his Chinook Kennel to Milton and Eva "Short" Seeley and gave most of Chinook's progeny to Julia Lombard.

In 1940, Perry Greene and his wife Honey purchased the Chinooks and eventually moved them to the Perry Greene Kennel in Waldoboro, Maine. The Greenes promoted the Chinooks for many years but only sold males or spayed females. They became the sole breeder of the Chinook, creating a great deal of mystique and legend about the breed and its history. When Perry died in 1963, Honey tried to continue breeding Chinooks but by 1965, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded the Chinook for the first of three times as the rarest dog, with only 125 dogs alive and the number dropping rapidly.

Over the next ten years the remaining Chinook dogs were passed from one person to another until they came to be kenneled at the Sukeforth (Sukee) Kennels in Warren, Maine. In 1981 Neil and Marra Wollpert went looking for the Chinook and found Kathy Adams working at the Sukee Kennels trying to save the breed from extinction. Only twenty-eight dogs remained, and most were elderly or neutered. The remaining eleven breedable Chinook dogs were divided between the Wollperts of Ohio (Singing Woods Chinooks), Kathy Adams of Maine (Alder Patch Chinooks), and Peter Abrahams (Yokayo Chinooks) of California.

Since 1981, and with dedication and careful breeding, the Chinook numbers are increasing with an estimated 500 purebred Chinooks existing today. The modern Chinook is still a hard working dog and excels in venues such as sledding, packing, skijoring, obedience, agility and herding - but above all else, the Chinook is cherished as a family companion.

 Chinook Club of America, Inc.  Copyright © 2005