UKC Champion My husband and I live in the foothills of Colorado, just west of Denver. We were looking for a dog to add to our small family, but the dog had to like the outdoors, love snow, and be happy to lay by the fire as well. When my husband found the Chinook breed in a book, we stopped looking at all others. Fate led us to Patti and Perry at the exact time that they were looking for potential families for Doonerak's first litter. Thankfully, they thought that we would be good parents and gave us Green Puppy, Forever Greene Barrow Kenai.
Kenai has been such a wonderful addition to our family and fits right in. He loves hiking and coming with us on snow-shoe trails but like most Chinooks, is unsure of water unless it's in snow form. His friend Jake, a Labrador Retriever, can't even coax him in past his knees. Unlike some Northern breeds, he can be trusted off-leash and will stay right with the pack. He has learned to stay away from elk and deer, but will chase a bunny if he spots one. He loves all children and lets our niece sit on top of him while he's laying down. We all howl together to enforce our pack ties although he does not bark unless a stranger is at the door. There are many other common traits in the breed and it's interesting to see that each of the puppies exhibits the same traits although they are being raised so far apart. Most lie down and fold their paw underneath them, greet you at the door with a toy in their mouth and will lick you to death if your face is within reach (you can't stop it, so don't even try).
Chinooks do need to be mentally stimulated and Kenai loves learning new things. I believe it's due to their high level of intelligence that they do not understand the game of fetch. He will chase after a treasured toy 2 or 3 times and then look at me as if to say, "Mom, would you stop throwing my toy away from me? This just isn't fun anymore." He loves his daily training and we will begin Rally-O soon to keep him challenged. I don't think that an Obedience title is in his future though as it would require him to fetch a dumbbell!
One area that I had always had interest in (but never really considered pursuing) was showing, but somehow Patti convinced me to give it a try. While the show weekends are long and usually run behind schedule, we have an enthusiastic group of Chinook owners that gather at each show and support each other. Kenai was able to obtain his Champion title at 1 year of age and we will start working towards his Grand Championship in 2007. He is always very well-mannered in the ring but exhibits his puppy-like nature the second he steps outside. He just seems to know when it's time to work.
We couldn't be happier having Kenai in our lives and are waiting for the day when Kenai will have his own pups. There will always be at least one Chinook in our household.