Chinook

The Chinook is an athletic, hard-bodied dog that moves with speed and grace.

Chinooks are a double-coated breed. Their short, dense undercoats have a down-like texture that provides much-needed insulation in extreme temperatures. Their outercoats are straight, short, and coarse with hair that is longer on the ruff, shoulder blades, withers, breeches, and underside of the tail.

Seasonal changes to their coats occur: Chinooks have soft, plush outercoats with coarser hair following the topline in the winter and thinner coats that are coarse all over in the summer.

Chinooks are a tan color with shades ranging from honey to reddish-gold. The ears and muzzle should be darker than their bodies with black shading preferred. Symmetrical markings in white, cream, or pale gold are allowed on the cheeks, throat, chest, breeches, and underside—but the breed standard doesn't allow any other white markings.

Chinooks are powerful dogs with straight, strong, level backs, broad chests, and muscular hindquarters. They have tight, oval-shaped feet with thick, tough pads.

Their tails are broad at the base, taper at the end, and have distinct but moderate fringing. Chinooks also have medium-sized, almond-shaped eyes with black rims that convey an intelligent, inquisitive, kind expression.

In 1896, American adventurer Arthur Treadwell Walden explored the wilds of Alaska as a sled dog driver. He returned to his New Hampshire home eager to develop a unique sled dog breed; there, he crossbred Huskies with a mastiff-type dog to create the Chinook, a breed he named after the lead dog on his sled dog team.

The Chinook became well known among mushers, but the dogs, prized as much for their sledding abilities as their outgoing, affectionate personalities, fell out of favor when Siberian Huskies became the go-to sled dog breed. After Walden died in 1947, the breed started dying out, too. In 1965, with just 125 known Chinook remaining, the Guinness Book of World Records listed the Chinook as the rarest dog breed.

Breed enthusiasts sought to bolster the population (and popularity) of the breed and successfully helped bring the Chinook back from the brink of extinction. Today, it’s the official state dog of New Hampshire.