Chinook

The Chinook was the work of one man. Arthur Walden of Wonalancet, New Hampshire, went to Alaska in 1896 at the age of twenty-four, at the height of the Gold Rush, and spent six years working across the Klondike as a prospector, stevedore, logger, riverboat pilot and, above all, a sled-dog driver.

He came home determined to breed his own line of sled dogs. As foundation stock he used a mastiff-type dog and descendants of one of Admiral Robert Peary's Greenland huskies. The puppies were admired for all-round sledding ability and for being friendly with people, and Walden named the breed after Chinook, the lead dog of his team, whose name is a Native American word for a warm wind. Every Chinook traces back to that dog.

The breed came close to disappearing altogether and remains one of the scarcest the American Kennel Club registers. Males stand 24 to 26 inches, females 22 to 24.

The breed is registered by the American Kennel Club.

Size, standard by standard

• American Kennel Club — height 61-66 cm (males), 55.9-61 cm (females)

Full standards: American Kennel Club.

Country of origin: United States of America

• Every Chinook descends from one dog, the lead dog of Arthur Walden's team.
• The name is a Native American word meaning warm wind.
• Its foundation stock included a descendant of Admiral Peary's Greenland huskies.
• The breed once came close to extinction.
• It is among the rarest breeds the AKC registers.