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GreatMountain Chinooks
"Loyal friends to the end
of the trail"
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| Breeding Plans | Our Dogs | New! - Puppies | Graduates | News |
| Available Studs | Sledding | Agility | Links | Contact Us |
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About GreatMountain Welcome to GreatMountain Chinooks. Jessica Maurer and Penthea Burns have been lucky enough to live with Chinooks since 1995. We founded GreatMountain Chinooks in 1997, when we decided to become active in breeding. While our dogs are our life's passion, we both have full-time careers. Penthea is a social worker and Jess is an attorney. We both work in the public sector.
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| We live on an 107 acre Christmas Tree farm
in Lewiston, Maine, that has miles of trails. On this land, we walk,
sled, skijor, ski and snowshoe with our dogs. We try to live a more
simple life, so heat with wood we harvest from our property and use the
dogs to do work whenever possible. We welcome visitors upon appointment.
We have both been active with the National Breed Club for Chinooks, the Chinook Owners Association (COA). We have been board members of the COA since 1998. Jess was the COA Rescue chair from 1998 to 2000 and has also been the COA's website designer since 1998. Jess was COA vice president from 2000 to 2002, president from 2002-2004 and immediate past president from 2004-2006. While she's finishing up this task, Penthea is just starting! Penthea takes over as president of the COA in 2006. Penthea first sat on the board as the representative of Chinooks New England! She also became club Registrar in 2000. We are co-founders of Chinooks New England!, an organization which creates fun venues for Chinooks all over New England. We are most proud of the Winterfest and Chinook Olympics, events that now draw upwards of 100 participants each year.
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We have been blessed with close friends
who have mentored us in becoming Chinook owners, exhibitors and
breeders. We are most closely associated with Connie & Bob Jones of
WoodsRunner Chinooks, who opened their house and hearts to us years ago,
teaching us howto build a sled team and allowing us to whelp their pups
for hands-on experience. We also work closely with Rain Mountain and
Hurricane Chinooks. Through our affiliation with these kennels, we have
gained much knowledge about breeding to eliminate genetic diseases,
litter evaluation and puppy socialization. We routinely participate in
breeder forums with breeders throughout the U.S. in order to keep on top
of current issues affecting the breed.
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 This is what it's like to walk with 11 dogs. |
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Kennel Philosophy The Chinook breed first won our hearts through the loyal companionship we experienced in our daily life with them. Motivated by the wonder and versatility of the breed, we were drawn to develop an integrated approach to our life and work with Chinooks. Our Chinooks bring great pleasure to our home life which extends into all of our activities with them. We are committed to preserving and promoting the interrelationship between working our dogs, breeding and obedience and conformation showing. To this end, we are recreational mushers, but occasionally enter races, not to win but to demonstrate and test the ability of the dogs. We teach our dogs obedience because it helps us work with the dogs,but we also compete in obedience to demonstrate breed intelligence. |
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| We show our dogs in conformation, not to win
ribbons, but to secure unbiased assessment that our dogs meet the
Chinook standard. We create educational experiences, not just to
promote the breed but also to provide opportunities for people to
learn about themselves through interacting with the dogs.
In all of this, our primary goal is to benefit the dogs and have fun. Through these activities, we strive to stay true to Chinook's original purpose by creating what we believe to be the quintessential working Chinook, a total dog, with magnificent drive, praiseworthy conformation and superior intelligence. We selectively breed our dogs in order to produce dogs who will advance the breed. We are most proud of our puppy socialization techniques and puppy selection process. Please read more about our breeding philosophy on our breeding page. |
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Even though we have an extensive tract of land, far from the road, our dogs
are always contained
unless we are supervising their off-leash activity.
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Breed History Chinooks have quite a history. Arthur Walden's famed lead dog, Chinook, was born in New Hampshire in 1917. Chinook was tawny with a black mask and descended from mixed parentage, Greenland Husky and Mastiff. He was considered a sport of nature because he sired pups that resembled himself in size, color, drive and intelligence. These dogs became know as "Chinook dogs" and hauled freight with Admiral Byrd's Antarctic expedition in 1927. |
| In 1939, the breed was purchased by Perry Greene
and moved to Waldoboro, Maine, where the Perry Greene kennel became
the world's only producer of Chinooks. After his death in 1963, the
breed dwindled. By 1981, there were only 11 breedable Chinook dogs
in the world.
Luckily, several people made a concerted effort to save the breed and today over 800 purebred Chinooks are registered with the United Kennel Club (U.K.C.). The Chinook Owners Association (C.O.A.) , the national breed club of the U.K.C., also maintains a cross breeding program and Chinook crosses recognized by the program are eligible for Limited Privileges (LP) registration with the U.K.C. Each of our dogs is registered with the U.K.C. We are members of the C.O.A. and Chinooks New England!, an affiliate club of the C.O.A. |
For a more information on the breed history, the Cross Breeding Program or the national breed club, visit the Chinook Owners Association website.
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GreatMountain Chinooks | Philosophy & Breed History | Rigging | Sledding | Skijoring | Breeding Plans | | Obedience | Canine Good Citizen | Outdoor Activities | | Conformation | Community Activities | Home | Puppies! | Graduates |
Dogs: |
Baxter |
Trav'ler
| Baring
| Moxie |
Chocorua |
Otter | Charley | |
Copyright 1998-2010, GreatMountain Chinooks. All rights reserved. Last updated 4/10.
