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Granite Hill Chinooks Leslie & John Donais Dover, NH Granitehillchinooks@comcast.net Akutaq & Fionn's Puppies! |
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Granite Hill Chinooks is proud to announce the arrival of puppies from: GRCH Balsam Ridge Akutaq X Alpine Fionn |
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Puppies - Week 1
Akutaq deliverd nine puppies late on the 28th and into the 29th April. Unfortunately one male puppy did not survive beyond a few days as Akutaq became very ill with Lyme disease and did not produce milk initially. Akutaq has now been treated with antibiotics and is recovering well and producing milk for her litter. She and the rest of the Granite Hill pack are blessed with 8 puppies - 4 boys and 4 girls - who are healthy and steadily gaining weight. Below are a few photos of the litter taken during their first week. Please visit this page again as we will post new photos in the coming weeks as the pups grow.
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Akutaq with ~3 more weeks to go! |
Yep - she sure is expecting a few pups! |
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Akutaq with her 9 pups |
Pups at the Aku-MilkBar |
Aku & Fionn's pups are named in honor of 4 time Iditarod winner, Susan Butcher (and things associated with her life). Susan was an amazing woman who was dedicated to her family, dogs, and the sport of mushing. She won the long grueling 1,100 mile Iditarod race in 1986, '87, '88, and 1990. Susan had a no-quit spirit and seemingly endless strength and energy. She was known for giving her dogs the finest in dog care and putting them first before her needs. In December of 2005 Susan was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She underwent a bone marrow transplant, hoping for a cure. Unfortunately Susan's transplant was not successful and she died on August 5, 2006 at the young age of 51. Our pups at Granite Hill will take on kennel names that memorialize Susan. These kennel names will be sent to the UKC for registration purposes, while their new families later may give them call names of their choosing.
Meet the Pups!
The Girls
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| Hot Pink: Suzie B - after Susan Butcher, famous Iditarod musher | Red: Tekla - Susan's oldest daughter |
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| Lt. Pink : Chisana - Susan's youngest daughter | Yellow: Eureka - Alaskan place near where Susan lived |
The Boys
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| White: Monson - Susan's husband's last name | Lt. Blue : Tolstoy - one of Susan's famous sled dogs |
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| Dk. Blue : Howlet - Susan's maiden name | Lime: Wrangell - mountains near where Susan lived |
In loving memory of our sweet 'Dk. Green' boy who crossed the Rainbow Bridge way too soon. We'll miss you!
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Dk. Green: Trailbreaker Spirit - named after Susan Butcher's kennel name, Trailbreaker |
On 4 May, the pups were evaluated by Bill Burrell, an experienced conformation judge who has probably evaluated more Chinook puppies than any other judge over the years. Even at a young age (3-4 days), Bill does an amazing job of accurately predicting the UKC GRCH Chinooks. Bill thought all the pups in the litter looked great but after close inspection he selected Ms Hot Pink (aka Suzie B) and Mr Lt Blue (aka Tolstoy) as the female and male picks, with the litter pick going to Tolstoy by a slight overall margin. Below are a couple photos taken during the evaluation of the pick pups.
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The Current Picks: Ms. Hot Pink & Mr. Lt. Blue |
It was a close call but Ms. Hot Pink's beautiful head gave her the edge as the current pick of the litter. |
These pups are ready for the show ring!
If you are interested in learning more about this litter, please send an email to John and Leslie at GraniteHillChinooks@comcast.net
Thanks for visiting!
Links to other Pupdate pages:
Copyright © 2005, Granite
Hill Chinooks All rights reserved. Updated 5/9/08