Our Chinooks

About Us

The Perfect Companion Dog: The Gentle and Smart Chinook

Our interest in Chinooks was kindled when we moved from California to Florida where we bought a 21 acres farm to breed horses. We were looking for a dog with very specific qualities:

intelligent, people friendly, loyal, gentle and loving and good with other animals. We were looking for a larger dog that does not chase or herd livestock.

Of course the Chinook fits all those criteria. We were fortunate to have a Chinook breeder right near us here in Florida, dog-knowledgable Diana Fowler from Southwind Chinooks. Diana has owned and shown Chinooks for decades. We visited her and her Chinooks and the rest is history. I fell in love with the breed, especially the larger, historic type that Diana had in her kennel. We soon got our first Chinook, Gateway Juneau, whose sire was Diana's Blue Moon. Juneau soon became my soul mate and is the reason I am committed to promoting and breeding this beautiful and rare breed.

Our breeding program is focused on expanding the Chinook type resembling the historic Chinook, dogs of good size, with great bone, mind and health. We take our breeding very seriously and all our girls are shown in UKC and AKC for conformation prior to breeding. It is of utmost importance to us that our females are recognized by independent judges to conform to the Chinook Standards as outlined by both Clubs, UKC and AKC. All our breed-potential girls hold at least one title (all our girls are UKC Show Grand Champions).

Our Chinooks

PR Gateway Juneau

Our first and most wonderful Chinook. Juneau was born in the Summer of 2015 and is a beautiful, fit and tall (86lbs) dog. He loves to play with his friends and toys and is an amazingly fast sprinter. He gives his heart to us all. So not surprisingly, Juneau won the Chesterh Sweetie Award at the Chinook National Specialty in Kalamazoo in 2018.

A Great Chinook: Intuitively Helpful and Exceptionally Smart

Juneau is the perfect example of a great Chinook and the reason we are so in love with the breed.

While I am sure Juneau would make an amazing sled dog, we life in Florida on a horse farm, so instead of pulling a sled, Juneau helps around the farm. He is always at my side and helps with all kinds of chores. When I do groceries, he will insist on bringing them into the house (he will even carry raw meat or fish without eating it!), and he watches me doing my daily barn chores, I can always feel his presence and I know he is nearby watching me. He also enjoys the other animals on the farm, he plays with the cats, and is respectful of the horses and teaches our other dogs how to behave around the farm.

Like other puppies, Juneau went to puppy classes. We didn't have to teach him much since as he taught himself ways to help and please us, simply by paying attention to his humans and their ways.

Juneau doesn't bark but he talks (like many Chinooks) and at times he has a lot to say!

Smart, funny and entertaining beyond believe and a true lover of people and any creature alive, a companion, the kind of dog many us dream of.

Our chinooks

PR Mountain Thunder Enya

Our sweet, smart and energetic Enya came to us in 2017 as a breed-potential puppy and I got to pick her up from the Schiller's in Fort Collins on my birthday. What a wonderful birthday present she was!!! She became a UKC Champion at one year of age and made the UKC Top 10 List for Chinooks in 2020. In 2023 Enya earned her UKC Grand Champion title at the Chinook Specialty in Loveland, CO.

Enya is a wonderful Chinook, pretty, loyal, sociable and like her foster brother, exceptionally smart. There is not a door in the house that she doesn't know how to open and of course she likes to teach her canine family how to acquire such skills.

Enya is very friendly and has a particular love for cats. Overall, Enya is a sweet, loyal and an amazingly healthy young lady, with good hips (OFA) and healthy eyes.

Enya's great conformation, good temperament, and overall health as well as her excellent genetics made us excited to breed her. Enya produced 2 beautiful litters and we kept Kiana from the first litter and Malina from the second. Please check out the two litters by clicking on their respective tabs from the pulldown menu.

The Modern Chinook: Genetic Health and Diversity in Addition to Physical Health

The Chinook is a rare breed and all modern Chinooks are derived from only 11 breedable dogs left worldwide in the early 1980ies. The Chinook is still a small breed today and hence lacks genetic diversity.

Optimal Selection testing shows that Enya is genetically more diverse than the average Chinook as she comes from a line of breeding that was geared towards generating genetic vigor and hence greater overall health. Enya is also free of all tested genetic disorders.

www.wisdompanel.com/app/s/yx3qpd

Our chinooks

PR Mystique Pond Katyaaq (Kiana)

Kiana is our female that we kept from the Wine Club Litter. She was the first-born, the first to escape the whelping box, the first to climb over the puppy fence outside and the first to maneuver onto the sofa for cuddles- that settled it... She is as sweet as can be and does have a spot in my bed, curled up right next to my head all night.

Kiana is a very smart and happy Chinook. She loves people but she adores toddlers and babies! She will follow the young ones around and give them lots of kisses.

Kiana is a very tall and athletic girl, with long legs and very expressive eyes. She is of good size, with excellent bone structure and she is a phenomenal mover. it is so much fun to watch her, as she glides effortlessly over her terrain.

Due to COVID Kiana's training was a little delayed. However, she earned her Puppy Class Obedience Certificate at 4 months of age and we started to familiarize her with conformation showing by taking her to some conformation classes. This really paid off! We expected nothing of Kiana other than gaining experience when we took her to her first UKC show in Punta Gorda, FL in May 2021. Kiana sure surprised us when she took 5 competitive wins and earned her UKC Champion title during that long Memorial Day weekend! She was not even 9 months of age then. (See UKC Show pictures below) Kiana became a UKC Grand Champion in Fall of 2022. She was in the Chinook Top 10 list 2 years in a row. She became third in 2021 and first by a large margin in 2022 and earned the National Best of Breed Title at the Chinook Specialty held at Premier in Kalamazoo, June of 2022. Kiana is CGC (Canine Good Citizen Award - AKC) and SPOT (Socialized Pet Obedience Test - UKC) certified.

Kiana started to show in AKC more recently and already earned her Champion title early in 2024.

Kiana has been DNA tested by Optimal Selection and she does not carry any tested genetic defects. She was also found to have very high genetic diversity for a pure-bred Chinook at the 34th percentile (typical range 25-31%). Link to Optimal Selection:

https://www.wisdompanel.com/app/home/pets/c69e166f-8822-4060-a06d-59cef21582c9/highlights

Kiana is a wonderful, personable and sweet Chinook and we are very excited to have Kiana be part of our breeding program. She has "good" hips and "normal" elbows and eyes (OFA).

Embark Genetic Health:

For breeding purposes, we recently switched our genetic testing to Embark and had Kiana re-tested by Embark with the same great results: Clear on all tested genetic defects.

http://embk.me/mystiquepondkatyaaqkiana?utm_campaign=cns_ref_dog_pub_profile&utm_medium=other&utm_source=embark

Our Chinooks

PR Mystique Pond Malina

Malina is our keeper from the Back to the Future Litter. Malina is a gorgeous, stout, well-boned girl, resembling the Historic Chinook sledge dog. Malina has grown up to be a beautiful, tall and well-muscled young lady.

Malina is very sweet and outgoing. She loves people, especially toddlers and all other creatures but most of all, she LOVES to eat! She has plenty of energy, plays with her pack and swims in the pond. She is very smart and thrives with mental activities and engagements including dog puzzles, playing tug-of-war and having tasks to perform on our walks. Malina is still very young and has been known to self-entertain by exploring her environment. Malina is the quintessential extrovert and happiest when she is out in public - a natural for the show ring or any public setting!

Malina will make a great working dog (we hope to get her into carting and possibly weight pull when she is of age). She is just one fun love-bug that keeps us all on our toes! She will join our breeding program when she reaches maturity (2-years of age, hip and eye exams dependent).

Malina's recent adventures: Malina went to the Chinook Specialty at the UKC Premier/Kalamazoo with us in June of 2022 (Check out pics on our FB site). It was her first conformation show and she had a great time! Unfortunately, she was too young to show in the licensed classes but it was a very valuable experience for her and she provided great entertainment for anyone who came by to visit us at the crating area.

Malina has shown since at an AKC show here in Ocala where she won Best of Breed and scored 2 points at the tender age of 6 months!

At 7 months of age she earned her UKC Champion Title and at 1 year old, she became a UKC Grand Champion! She was number 2 on the Chinook Top-10 list in 2022 (behind Kiana) and is number 1 in the Top 10 for 2023. Malina also scored Reserve Best in Show at a UKC show in Florida in 2023.

Malina will continue to show conformation in AKC with her half-sister Kiana and we hope that both will earn their AKC championship titles in due time. We are very proud of our young ladies!