Puppies

Avatar (the Last Airbender) Litter: Winter 2024

Aelin

+

Bailey

+ more about the parents

This litter was born January 21, 2024! This is a colorful litter with tawny, black & tan, silver tawny, and gray & tans all represented. We believe in the classic phrase of "colors don't pull sleds" as we prioritize good structure, temperament, and health over color in our lines.

Aelin and Bailey are a lovely pair both in size and temperament. Aelin is well-built with sturdy, bladed bone (heavier than most Chinook females) yet surprisingly fast. The judge at the 2023 Chinook National Specialty noted her athleticism immediately. She is extremely affectionate to her family and a bit more aloof with strangers upon first meeting, but warms quickly. Aelin was an excellent Auntie to our 2021 Kitty Litter and we expect her to be a fantastic mom. Bailey is more heavily built than many Chinook males, but is of a nice average height. He has a handsome head and we expect those good Chinook looks to be passed on to these pups. He also is a lover of people and dogs. Both dogs are up for any adventure as long as it is with their people! This is a 2nd generation Chinook Breed Conservation Program (CBCP) litter and the pups are expected to be approximately 75% Chinook and 25% Bernese Mountain Dog.

Since this is a CBCP litter, we'll be especially interested in homes willing to keep their dogs open for future breeding.

Desert Sol Vitality Aelin Fireheart (Aelin)

Birth Date: 10/25/2019

Pedigree: Click here to see Aelin's Pedigree (sire information available to puppy owners)

Hips: OFA Good

Elbows: OFA Normal

Eyes: OFA Normal 10/3/2023

Stats: 68 pounds, 24.5 inches

Registration: COA CBCP - X20-0114-50%G1

Genetic Test Results: Dwarfism: Clear, MDR1: Clear

Other: Seizure & allergy free

Aelin was named after my favorite character from my favorite books series: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. Aelin in the book had a very sweet yet powerful nickname: Fireheart, which we also added to her registered name. Yet she has been called several other nicknames and we’ve yet to truly call her our Fireheart. Those nicknames include Mushball- she is super sweet and empathetic and loves to be cuddled up to you. She will actually melt into you by going up to your legs and lean on them, twist around and then slide down your legs to the ground while you scratch her tummy (sometimes this is hilarious as she melts before you’re ready and one of you will fall ungracefully to the ground!). Sometimes she will come over to me while I’m on the couch, put her paw on my lap to let me know she’s ready for her “melting” session which I happily get on the floor for her to melt into my lap. Another nickname is Comfy Butt- which pretty much means she wants a comfy butt every time she’s sitting down! If a dog bed, carpet, floor mat, car seat, your foot… whatever is *not* the floor is available, she must put her butt on it. What princess doesn’t want her butt to be comfy!? And lastly she’s called Tank because she is built very solid and is a strong and fast girl! She looooves when her human grandparents come over and we always need to be careful that the Mushball Tank doesn’t take someone down in her quest to love on them!

I can’t say enough great things about this dog. She is my “heart dog” for sure. We connect at such an intimate level, it sometimes makes Jon jealous (I get the special lovey eyes a lot)! She’s very confident and knows her place in our pack. She’s not pushy and also not submissive or meek. She is super smart and sometimes problem solves a little better than her momma or grandma (sorry girls!). She constantly makes me laugh, whether it's her little “chirp” noise when she’s happy, her latest comfy butt conquest, when I suddenly have this black nose between my body and elbow while I’m at my desk demanding a pet, how she grabs her favorite childhood “bunny” toy every night (wherever it is in the house) to play with Jon or I before bed, her silly “superstition” that she has to be in her kennel and wait for the perfect moment for the nightly milkbone comes, and when I’m ready to get into bed how she comes out of her kennel for a last melting session before bed.

Aelin is a 1st generation Chinook Breed Conservation Program (CBCP) dog (50% Chinook, 50% Bernese Mountain Dog) with the goal to bring increased genetic diversity and other physical qualities to the Chinook breed.

Lake Time Bailey

Birth Date: 2/3/2021

Pedigree: Click here to see Bailey's Pedigree

Hips: OFA Good

Eyes: OFA Normal 6/1/2023

Elbows: OFA Normal

Stats: 90 pounds, 24 inches

Registration: AKC - WS71991003

Genetic Test Results: Dwarfism: Clear, MDR1: Clear

Other: Seizure & allergy free

Bailey is a gentle, old soul in an extra large package. His calm and composed nature endears everyone who meets him. He loves his family passionately and is content travelling where ever they go. He will happily greet strangers and loves to play and run every morning with his two best friends, a pair of Husky "siblings". Bailey is a creature of comfort and although he loves adventures, he is delighted when it is time to snuggle in the bed (head on the pillow) or on the couch. Hiking, biking, roaming the beach (though not swimming), and wading in the river are Bailey's favorite activities. He is cautious in new surroundings. He loves his "work" - accompanying his Mom to her workplace at the Elementary School where he enjoys being mauled by all the children.

Bailey is very routine-oriented and will let you know when it is walk time or will question your decision-by sitting down-if you want to travel a different route. Upon his return home from a walk, he immediately seeks out the family member who stayed home to check on them and let them know how his walk went. And if they aren't adequately attentive, Bailey will paw at them to express his dissatisfaction. He is vocal when it comes to demanding treats but is otherwise a very quiet companion. He loves looking out the front window and curiously inspects the activity on our street. Although our puppy cam captures the occasional howl when he is home alone, he excitedly greets us when we return home, anxiously waiting on the couch for the pets he knows he is going to receive.

Birth

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 8 - 3/17/2024

It’s always harder to write up week 8 because there is so much going on with the puppies going home and this time with us keeping a pup, then we have the busy time of getting her used to her new schedule and training her as well, so I have to delve back into my memories to try to wrap up this week. This time around we had them go home slowly, two right away, two a week later and two a week after that! It seemed a lot of vacations were going on at this time which pushed out some puppy pick up dates. This litter was a pretty good litter overall, so it wasn’t so bad keeping them for a little while longer, the only downside as we watched them grow and so we hoped they’d fit in their Sherpa carriers to fly home!

So big news, we actually kept a puppy from this litter - Katara!!! We have a steadfast rule to only keep a pup from the second litter so we don’t have too many dogs at once, but Katara’s personality was absolutely amazing (it was very hard to pick between both her and Momo actually, both girls have excellent personalities and have great bone and structure). To be fair, even though this is Aelin’s first litter, she is older than Zazu and Kyra were for their first so it kind of puts us to only a little earlier age wise (see I will justify this any way I can – LOL). And no, when it does come to Aelin’s second litter, we will NOT be keeping a pup! Four dogs is already too many in our household. Just ask the cat! ;o)

We usually have a hard time getting pups to the east coast and this time we got to send four out that way! We also added four new states to the map of Desert Sol pups (NM, AL, PA, and NJ). One pup, Zuko, got to go home to a Desert Sol pup family and we kept one, but the other five were brand new families to the Chinook world! We love expanding the Chinook community with new Chinook lovers!

The updates from the pup’s new families have made us smile. They are all doing so well and are getting to have so many new experiences. Two of the pups (Iroh and Katara) were "melters" just like their mama Aelin, and are still doing it to this day! Katara may have the melter gene, but not the comfy butt gene Aelin has! :) LOL We had a lot of fun with the theme and these colorful, smart and fun pups.

Cosmo (fka Bumi) and Kai (fka Aang) showing off their gorgeous black & tan mugs

Photos

Videos

P.S. I also left an Easter egg in the week 8 posed photos below that ties back to a prior week’s update. Let’s see who catches it, you will earn the bragging rights if you do!