Portrait of Backroads Kayak, copyright 2004, Susan Fletcher

Susan Fletcher
Washougal, Washington
Home: (360) 835-5803
Text & Cell: (360) 831-3379

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Breaking News
Puppies are here!

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Susan Fletcher and Frontier Chinooks are located on "Mud Hill" just outside of Washougal, Washington.  Washougal is one of the northeastern suburbs of Portland, Oregon, on the Washington State side of the Columbia River. "Mud Hill" got its name for a reason. Susan Fletcher with her partner Marian Brennan moved to the property outside of Washougal in the early 1990s, looking for a place to build a house and have as many animals as they wanted. The property slopes upwards from the access road. At the bottom is the barn where they lived for three years while they slowly built the house near the top. Since this is Western Washington and they do receive copious amounts of rain nine months of the year, which produces the mud that gives them the Mud Hill name. It surprises many visitors that those other three months are typically a near drought and Mud Hill turns into Dust Hill. But its home and the humans simply wear boots, have scrapers at the door, tile floors inside, and mop often.

Susan is a professional dog trainer with a wide variety of interests, both canine and otherwise. Her dogs compete in agility, flyball, obedience, weight pull, and have an extensive repertoire of tricks. Frontier dogs -- both those she has bred and those that arrive by other means -- are known for their outstanding temperaments. The emphasis in the Frontier breeding program is on healthy dogs that with the best personalities possible. Puppies are placed in homes where they will have a job to do, be it as a family pet and companion, as service dogs for the disabled, showing in conformation, or in competitive agility, rally, or obedience.  The job can be almost anything as long as there is something to occupy the brain of a dog that tends to be rather smart.

Enjoy your visit to Mud Hill and introduction to the Frontier Chinook pack.  In addition to your virtual visit to Mud Hill, actual visitors are also welcome; Susan enjoys having people come by to meet the dogs. Though the breed is not as rare as it was when she first began her Chinook adventure in the late 1980s, there are still very few locations where you can meet a group of Chinooks all at once.  The only breeder currently in the Portland/Vancouver area; the next closest are 200 miles north in the Seattle area or 135 miles south near Eugene, Oregon.  Please call to arrange a time (usually on weekends). Susan works in Portland at a dog training and daycare facility and occasionally has people meet her there.

Frontier Chinooks only breeds every few years, concentrating instead on having fun in the various dog sports such as weight pulling. But the Frontier litters have produced some stellar Chinooks. Litters to date include (Frontier dogs noted in red):

• Ch. Winterset Heyokakaga Suka x UWP Ch. PR Tamanawas Dakota  (1998)
• Grand Ch. PR WoodsRunner Duncan x UWP Grand Ch. Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC  (1998)
• Grand Ch. PR WoodsRunner Boone x UWP Ch. PR Tamanawas Dakota  (1998)
• Ch. WoodsRunner Rorik x UWP Grand Ch. Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC  (1998)
• PR Rain Mountain Yakama Pride x Grand Ch. Frontier Akeena  (1998)
• PR BrownStone Rodion of Frontier x Grand Ch. PR Frontier Indian Summer  (1998)

2010 brings the excitement of a new Frontier generation both with Lilah's pups sired by Springcreek Lambeau Leap (aka Brett Farve) and the planned and hoped-for Fall 2010 Rain Mountain litter to be sired by Frontier Rafferty and out of Boreayl's Salishan of Rain.

I hope you enjoy your visit to Mud Hill and the Frontier Chinooks.  In addition to your virtual visit to Mud Hill, visitors are welcome to meet the Frontier pack.  Though the breed is not as rare as it was when we first began our Chinook adventure in the late 1980s, there are still few locations where you can meet a group of Chinooks all at once.  We're the only breeder currently in the Portland/Vancouver area and the next ones to us are north in the Seattle area or south around Eugene, Oregon.  So if you are in the Portland/Vancouver area and would like to meet the breed, please call and we'll arrange a time (usually on weekends) when we can meet.  Susan works in Portland at a daycare facility and training center for dogs so she will occasionally have people meet her there.

"Mud Hill" got it's name for a reason. We moved to our property outside of Washougal, Washington in the early 1990s, looking for a place we could build a house and have as many animals as we wanted as members of our family. The property slopes upwards from the access road. At the bottom is our barn where we lived for three years while we slowly built the house near the top. But this is Western Washington and we do receive copious amounts of rain nine months of the year, which produces the mud that gives us the Mud Hill name. It will surprise many that those other three months are typically a near drought and Mud Hill turns into Dust Hill. But it's our home and we simply wear boots, have scrapers at the door, tile floors inside, and mop often.

1996 photo of the first generation of Frontier Chinooks
Sitting from left to right: Dakota, Arielle, Boone;
Lying down from left: Quinn, Kayak

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Grand Ch. PR WoodsRunner Boone
1996 Nat'l Best of Breed, Chinook Specialty
Bred by Bob & Connie Jones of WoodsRunner Chinooks
Owned & Handled by Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks

Susan first read about Chinooks in a Dog Fancy article in the late 1980s.  That began her search.  She and her partner Marian Brennan already owned Lab mixes Star and Sasha, an Australian Cattle Dog named Britta, and German Shepherd Dog named Raya.  Susan was looking for a friendly and readily trainable breed since she was working as a trainer in Portland.  The Chinook attracted her due to their friendly nature and "every-dog" look.  A purebred would make it easier for her to compete in formal obedience trials.  In those early days of the Chinook’s resurgence, if you thought you might ever want another Chinook, you also had to plan on breeding your own.

Arielle was the first to join the family, coming from TJ and Grace Anderson of Winterset Chinooks in Jackson, Wyoming.  The floodgates were opened and within a few years, Boone, Kayak, Dakota, and Quinn joined the family as Susan met other Chinook owners and breeders.  Susan and Marian had moved from the Portland suburbs to Mud Hill and I guess you could say it was all downhill from there.  The first generation has since gone to the Rainbow Bridge and the second generation is thriving.  But these dogs developed in Susan and Marian a lifelong passion for the Chinook breed.  Though there are other breeds in residence, there will always be a pack of Chinooks on Mud Hill.