This is a long story that started way back during the Big War. Dad was working at Bath Iron Works, and mom's family was in Bar Harbor. We often made the trip up and down Route One between Bath and Bar Harbor, passing the Perry Greene Kennel on the way. Only once in all those times did dad let us stop and look at those big, brown dogs. And after only a few brief minutes, dad yelled, "Let's go". Well, I never forgot those big, brown dogs. I thought about them a million times over the years. As I neared retirement after 20 years in the Army, folks would ask about my plans. The only thing I knew was that I'd find myself one of those beautiful dogs.
Well, I did retire, moved back to Maine, and soon enough was driving down Route One, looking for the kennel. I found it and drove into the yard. Boy, was it a mess! Weeds were growing up inside the buildings, the dog runs were gone, and not a single Chinook was there. I talked to someone living in the house, and they said there hadn't been Chinooks there for years. They knew of Kathy Adams though, and said she might have some. I drove farther on up Route One to Sukee Kennels, and they told me how to get ahold of Kathy.
It wasn't easy to find Kathy's place, but I did. She had five Chinooks there, but she said they weren't for sale. Well, I pestered her good nearly every day for a week until she finally agreed to sell me a dog, a one-year-old female I called Suzy, for three or four barrels of oats and a small amount of money. Driving back to the farm here in Caribou with Suzy, I was as happy as a clam in the mud. I'd finally realized a dream since childhood - I finally had a Chinook! And just when I thought life couldn't get any better, along come more Chinooks - a big boy from the Midwest named Kodiak, then four teeny, tiny pups (the beautiful North Wind Hoonah and her three brothers).
Well, it seems no sooner did we all settle in but I got a call one night from my brother Paul. He said he had driven by the Perry Greene Kennel property and there was a For Sale sign on it! I called the realtor the next day, a Saturday morning, and told her I wanted to see it. She said to come down Monday as she didn't work Sundays. I just couldn't wait. I told her that I would be there Sunday at 9:00 a.m. to look at the place, with or without her. She must have sensed how important it was to me, because she was there when I pulled into the property the next morning.
I have to tell you, without Perry Greene and those beautiful dogs, it sure was a sorry-looking place. The house especially was a real mess. The fireplace was unsafe, cracked and crumbling, but I took one look at the metal plaque of that Chinook mounted there in the stones and I fell in love! The rest is history!
Harry Gray's Northdown Chinook Kennel is one of the most influential Chinook kennels in modern breed time. You won't find a pedigree today that doesn't contain Chinooks or Chinook-crosses who were bred by, rescued by, or housed by, Northdown Kennel in the 1980's. This is Harry's report on how he became involved in the Chinook Breed and purchased the historic Perry Greene Kennel.
