Welcome to Intervale Chinooks
New England Chinook Dog Breeder and AKC Breeder of Merit, since 1995
Riverstone "Kenzie" is by Intervale Brown-eyed Girl (Emma) and Lighthouse "Booker" Photo by Jeremy Smith
Chinook Dogs are smart canine companions who love to learn and enjoy all kinds of activities. Chinooks will do it all: sledding, obedience, rally, agility, herding, lure coursing, scent work, biking, swimming and hiking out on desolate mountain trails. A Chinook Dog’s favorite pastime? Cuddling on the couch!
Couch Potatoes and Intervale sisters Fee and Penny snoozing with mom Jazzy
Our kennel takes its name from Birch Intervale, the New Hampshire sled dog training grounds for Admiral Richard E. Byrd's sled dogs and Arthur Walden's Chinooks. The Intervale was ideal for training as it simulated the snowy conditions to be met in Antarctica on Byrd's three Antarctic expeditions of 1928 - 1930, 1934, and 1939 -1940. A team of 16 Chinook Dogs accompanied Byrd and Walden on the first expedition, BAE 1, where Walden was in charge of over 100 of the expedition's sled dogs used for hauling.
Arthur Walden's Chinook team training on the Intervale.
Birch Intervale is the original name for the New Hampshire town now called Wonalancet. When Katherine Sleeper (Walden) became the first postmistress of Birch Intervale in 1893, the town’s name was changed to Wonalancet to avoid any confusion with the resort town of Intervale, located several towns away next to North Conway, in the Mount Washington Valley.
Chinooks Penny and Coho pulling a sled and loving it!
Visit the pages and photos at Intervale Chinooks to learn more about this remarkable, rare, American working dog breed.