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A Ready
Recipe
The Chinook
was the inspiration of Arthur Treadwell Walden, an author,
explorer, and innkeeper from the village of Wonalancet, which
lies at the foot of the White Mountains in the north central
part of New Hampshire. Walden aimed to produce a sled dog
that possessed the strength of large freighting dogs and the
speed of lighter, racier breeds.
Producing
a new breed of dog is not like baking dessert, unless you're
used to baking with an oven that's lacking a temperature control
and ingredients whose quality changes from one batch of brownies
to the next. Men like Jack Russell, who gave us the terrier
that bears his name, and Lord Tweedmouth, who gave us a retriever,
the golden, that doesn't bear his name, have spent years achieving
that goal. By comparison, Walden's creation took no longer
than one of those just-add-water-and-stir productions. Yet
what a creation it was.
The first
ingredient in Walden's recipe was a female named Ningo, a
granddaughter of the Greenland husky Polaris, who had been
lead dog for North Pole explorer Robert Peary. Ningo, whom
Walden owned, was bred to another one of the dogs on his Wonalancet
farm. That dog, Kim by name, was a St. Bernard mix that Walden
had found as a stray near the Canadian border. On January
17, 1917, Ningo gave birth to three tawny-colored pups. Walden
named them Rikki, Tikki and Tavi after the mongoose in Rudyard
Kipling's The Jungle Book.
Puppy
names, as dog owners know, have a knack for evolution; and
Rikki, who was Walden's pick of the litter, grew into the
name Chinook. In truth, inherited the name would
be more precise. The original Chinook was a sled dog Walden
had used while freighting supplies for gold miners in the
Yukon several years before.
Clearly,
young Chinook had a legacy to live up to, and clearly, he
was more than equal to the task. Blessed with amazing strength,
speed and a loving nature, he grew into an imposing, 100-pound
dog, as smart as he was large. Walden, we are told, could
stand on his porch and give commands to Chinook and his team
out in the field, and the dogs would obey.
Replication
Guaranteed
Chinook's
greatness would have been for naught if he had not been able
to reproduce his virtues in his offspring. Fortunately, he
excelled at that, too, a skill all the more remarkable considering
his mixed-breed heritage and the fact that he was something
of a sport, i.e., he did not resemble either of his parents.
He passed on his traits, both physical and temperamental,
with the precision of a stamping machine. His offspring, born
of German shepherd, Belgian shepherd and Canadian Eskimo mothers,
were not only strong and courageous but also highly trainable
and innately fond of children. Could this dog walk on water,
too? Don't bet he couldn't.
Such was
Chinook's genetic determination that by breeding selected
Chinook descendants to one another and, occasionally, back
to Chinook, Walden was quickly able to secure the supernatural
sled dogs he sought. They were known at first simply as "Walden's
dogs." In the early 1920s Walden road-tested a sled team with
Chinook in the lead by climbing New Hampshire's Mount Washington,
a 6,288-foot-high fortress guarded by schizophrenic weather
that could turn the devil himself into a sniveling wuss. Considered
one of the most challenging rock piles to climb, Mount Washington
is buffeted by hurricane-strength winds more than 100 days
a year. Even when the temperature is 70 degrees at its base,
the summit may greet arrivals with a howling snowstorm. The
strongest wind in the recorded history of this planet, 231
miles per hour, was clocked on Mount Washington on April 12,
1934.
Walden's
wintertime ascent up Mount Washington, the first ever by a
team of sled dogs, made sled-dog racing the sport du jour
-- and for many jours thereafter -- in New Hampshire. The
New England Sled Dog Club, which he founded in 1924, is still
active today.
Read
All About It
Unlike
some men, who buy a sports car or a trophy wife to fend off
the terrors of middle age, Walden sought greater thrills.
When he learned that Richard E. Byrd, the "Admiral of the
ends of the earth," was organizing the first American exploration
of Antarctic, Walden threw his parka into the ring, even though,
at 56, he exceeded the age limit. He and Chinook took a meeting
with Byrd, who was 17 years his junior, and Byrd made Walden
the lead trainer for the jaunt.
Walden
and three young assistants spent a year training dogs and
testing serious camping equipment on Walden's farm. They and
97 dogs, including Chinook and 18 of his male descendants,
headed way south in September 1928. Byrd planned to be the
first person to fly over the South Pole. Walden's primary
job in Antarctica was hauling supplies and helping to set
up and maintain the base camp, which Byrd called Little America.
The expedition landed in Antarctica on Christmas Day 1928.
From December 27 that year until March 25, 1929, Walden and
nine other sled drivers hauled 650 tons of equipment and materials
from the ships that had brought them to Antarctica to Little
America, nine miles inland.
Without
a Trace
Because
of Chinook's age -- he was nearly 12 when he arrived in Antarctica
-- he was put to harness only when the going got toughest.
Even then Chinook's intelligence, determination and devotion
to his master were awe-inspiring. "Dog and owner were a beautiful
thing to see," wrote Byrd in his book Little America.
"One sensed that each knew and understood the other perfectly,
and it was Walden's rare boast that he never had to give Chinook
an order, the dog knew exactly what had to be done." According
to Byrd, "[The] heavy draught animals of Walden's own breed,
[had] a splendid record. Walden's team was the backbone of
our transport."
The soul
of that team, Chinook, disappeared on January 17, 1929, his
12th birthday. Some historians say he was depressed by his
failing ability to work as much as he used to, so he went
off alone to die. Others say he had been vanquished in a fight
with two younger males and, badly wounded, wandered off in
defeat. Walden searched to no avail for his beloved companion.
Chinook's
death made headlines around the world. (In this country The
New York Times, which sent a reporter to Antarctica, had
exclusive rights to the story of Byrd's expedition.) Walden,
depressed by Chinook's passing, spent two more months hauling
supplies to Little America. Then he spent a long Antarctic
winter with his grief.
"I believe
Walden loved that dog more than he did any human being," wrote
one of Walden's dog-training assistants. "Until we left the
ice, Walden never stopped grieving for and talking about his
lost companion."
After
Walden had returned to New Hampshire in the spring of 1930,
he refused the honor of having the eight-mile loop of Route
113-A near Wonalancet named after him. He suggested, instead,
that it be named in honor of Chinook. Last year three new
markers, each bearing a likeness of Chinook, were installed
along the trail.
Changing
the Guardians
Despite
the loss of Chinook, Walden intended to continue working with
Chinook's descendants, but financial considerations forced
him to sell or to place his dogs. At that time Walden owned
an inn that he ran with his wife, Kate. The Chinook kennel
name, together with the Alaskan malamute and Siberian husky
stock that were also part of Walden's operation, had been
sold to Milton and Eva B. Seeley while Walden was still in
Antarctica. For the next 50 years their kennel produced sled
dogs for exploration, racing and showing, exerting a considerable
influence on those breeds.
Walden
gave Chinook's descendants to his friend Julia Lombard, who
carried on the breeding program he had established. As the
director of Lombard's Wonalancet Hubbard Kennels, Walden continued
to be involved with the progress of "Walden's dogs," which
came to be called Chinooks sometime during the early 1930s.
Arthur T. Walden died on March 26, 1947, at the age of 75,
as the result of burns he had sustained while saving his wife,
Kate, from a fire in their home. By then the Chinook breed
was in the hands of Perry Greene in Waldoboro, Maine, who
had bought Julia Lombard's stock eight years earlier. Like
Lombard, Greene sought Walden's advice about breeding strategies,
and Greene deserves credit for helping to preserve the Chinook
-- and a certain censure for almost strangling it. A world-champion
woodchopper, Greene generated great interest in Chinooks and
national publicity for himself by insisting that only he knew
the secret of their origin. He tried, unsuccessfully, to have
Chinooks declared the Maine state dog.
"A solid
wall surrounds the secret of that rare dog, the Chinook,"
wrote Parade magazine in June 1949. That story, headlined
"Mystery Breed," alleged that Greene maintained a "barrier
of silence" around the Chinook. He also maintained a barrier
to ownership. Prospective Chinook buyers had to stay at Greene's
kennels for at least 24 hours. If Greene's house dogs didn't
take a liking to a person, he or she went home without a dog.
Potential customers who asked to wash their hands after petting
the dogs failed the screening test, too. Moreover, people
who did get dogs got only what Greene wanted them to have.
He didn't allow unaltered females to leave the kennel, and
he did his best to make sure no one who bought a dog from
him owned more than two Chinooks at once.
Perry
Greene died in 1963. His wife and Chinooks survived him, but
by 1966 the worldwide population of Chinooks numbered only
125. A phone booth would have qualified as a convention center
for Chinook breeders. The dogs were growing smaller, too,
as a result of injudicious breeding. For a time Chinooks were
listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the
rarest breed in the world, an honor the breed held from 1965
until the late 1980s.
Less
Green Pastures
After
Honey Greene had died in 1968, Peter Richards, the Greenes'
grandson, assumed care of the dogs. Before too much time had
elapsed, he sold the kennel to Peter Orne of Connecticut,
who established the Sukeforth Kennel in Warren, Maine. By
1981 there were just 11 Chinooks in the world capable of reproducing.
The breed appeared to be headed for footnote status in the
annals of dog history until those 11 dogs were placed with
four dedicated individuals: Neil and Marra Wollpert of Ohio,
Peter Abrahams of California, and Kathy Adams of Maine, who
had worked at Orne's kennel and is generally credited with
rescuing the breed.
Two years
later these soul supporters of the Chinook formed the Chinook
Owners Association (COA) and dedicated themselves to reviving
Walden's ponderable vision. Their efforts, though not finished
by any means, were recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC),
which officially admitted the Chinook to its registry in 1991.
Since then, one step at a time, through a rigidly controlled
breeding program, the Chinook population has grown. At the
end of last year, there were 300 pedigreed Chinooks on the
UKC books.
Although
more Chinooks are alive now than at any other time, the breed's
reproductive population is still so limited that UKC has allowed
the COA to conduct a carefully supervised, long-term crossbreeding
program. The use of other registered, pedigreed breeds in
this program is intended to expand the Chinook gene pool to
avoid the danger of concentrating genetic disorders.
Rules
of the Road
One would
expect the Chinook, which was bred for function, not form,
to be free of genetic disease. For the most part it is, although
hip dysplasia and eye problems occur in the breed. To combat
these problems the COA demands that all purebred or crossbred
Chinooks admitted to the breeding program must be certified
as being excellent, good or fair in hip conformation by the
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. They must also be declared
free of any evidence of juvenile cataracts or progressive
retinal atrophy by a veterinarian specializing in ophthalmology.
If any ancestor, descendent or sibling of one of the dogs
used in the breeding program develops juvenile cataracts,
all members of that dog's family are no longer eligible for
use in breeding.
The COA
wants to maintain the original look of the breed's founding
sire, Chinook, and to regain some of the size and substance
lost through the years. Presently, males average 25 inches
at the shoulders and weigh 60 to 75 pounds. The average female
is 23 inches at the shoulders and weighs 50 to 65 pounds.
Both sexes are long-legged and should carry heavy bone. Their
coats, preferably, are fawn to red gold. Their eyes are a
soulful brown or golden color, and the ears can be held up
or down. A dark mask is highly desirable.
The Chinook
has a double coat comprising long guard hairs over a soft,
short undercoat. A unique characteristic of the Chinook is
its long tail, in which a marked reduction in bone is noted
about half way to its tip.
Chinook
breeders are also keen to preserve the breed's storied temperament.
"No Chinook can be considered a quality example of the breed,"
says breeder-owner Connie Jones, "without the gentle, protective
and tolerant temperament that is a hallmark of the breed.
A Chinook is especially fond of children and invariably becomes
a devoted lifelong companion."
Home
Is the Hunter
Arthur
Walden's inspiration can be found pursuing a variety of activities
today. Chinooks, in addition to pulling sleds, compete in
obedience and agility trials as well as conformation shows
and weight-pulling competitions. They are also employed as
assistance dogs for the disabled and even as sheep-herding
dogs. Above all, Chinooks are found in hundreds of homes as
devoted and loyal companions that seem to find additional
fulfillment when allowed to attach themselves to the children
of the household.
All this
must make Arthur Walden smile. Given the opportunity, no doubt,
he would have preferred being buried near his beloved Chinook.
Failing that, it is fitting that Walden's final resting place
is located along the Chinook Trail across from the Wonalancet
Chapel on Route 113-A. If Walden needed a team to pull him
up to heaven, what better escort could he have had than the
breed he created?
Rick
Beauchamp is a freelance writer who resides in Cambria,
California. He is the author of numerous books on canine breeds
and is a judge licensed with the American Kennel Club and
the United Kennel Club.
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