Summer of 2005 found Katsuk on her first cross country road trip with Carie and Pam Chambers of Springcreek Chinooks to the 2005 Chinook national Specialty in New hampshire.  While on this trip, she was bred with an outstanding male, Champion Cloudburst Wonalancet Legend, from the Cloudburst Chinooks Cross-to-Purebred line developed by Donna Canfield and Joann Blackmun.  A litter of ten pups was delivered on August 25th.

Five girls and five boys arrived in record time, the first seven in an hour and the last three within another hour.  Katsuk was in excellent condition throughout her pregnancy which probably contributed to making the delivery so easy.  She is a wonderful mom, cleaning the pups well and nursing constantly.  She's very careful about moving around the whelping box and has not once laid on a pup.  When the pups scattered all over the box and she come back inside after a bathroom break, she stands by the whelping box and woofs until someone comes in to help her out.  Once the pups scooted to one end of the whelping box, she jumped in and settles down with them.

Katsuk has a great milk supply but the pups enjoyed receiving some bottle feedings, a helpful supplementation due to the large number of pups in the litter which kept Katsuk from being totally drained of all her energy.  One of the girls and three of the boys are dark tawny; one male is silver tawny and one is gray and tan like his great grandma Holly.

As of this wirting (May 2006), the pups are growing like leaps and bounds.  They are living in homes ranging from Maine to California, to Hawaii, and of course here in the Northwest.  They are proving to be large like their mom and Bimmer, the gray and tan boy, is over 70 pounds laready.  JJ Jiggles and Marshall have already won Best of Breed awards in their first few times out and JJ Jiggles even won Best in Show Novice Puppy over Thanksgiving weekend.  Many of them have begun light sledding already and early on showed their love of running with their pack mates.

Week 4 & 5 -- Premier Pups Meet the Great Outdoors

	As you can see, the gang are now enjoying daily playtimes outside with the whole Moonsong gang.  Chili, Hyak and Brett are their primary baby-sitters but even Tay, Pharaoh, and UConn occasionally join in the fun.  Where Katsuk spent every moment with them the first few weeks. she now only wants to occasionally visit and will be going back home to Anne's soon. The whelping box is long gone, replaced now with a double x-pen in the garage, as many playtimes outside as light and weather permit, and trips up to the main part of the house a few at a time.  In the next two weeks evaluations will start and the puzzle of which pup goes to which home will start.

	At three weeks old, the ten pups of the Premier litter are a handful but Katsuk is a dedicated mom who only rarely takes a break from the whelping box.  The boys are Jay, Greg, Kevin, Woody, and Ryan.  Girls are Shannon, Sarah, Ginger, Casey, and Anne.  The other members of the Moonsong pack are intrigued by the pups and Katsuk has gradually allowed them to come closer and closer to the whelping box.  Chili, Brett, and Hyak are even allowed in to nuzzle the pups and occasionally Tay and UConn will stop by for a visit.  Though Pharaoh is normally one of Katsuk's favorites, for some reason Katsuk doesn't want him near the pups.  Pharaoh however doesn't really care as visiting the pups entails going all the way downstairs and those of you who know Pharaoh know that he rarely expends any excessive energy unless it involves food. The pups are developing wonderfully and all have the nice heads of Katsuk and their grandpa Thunder.  Likewise they are showing nice bone weight.  Even the smallest pup has grown rapidly and caught up with her siblings.

Above top:  Happy Mom Katsuk rests her head on the edge of the whelping box after delivering seven of her TEN! pups in only an hour.  The other three took just another hour to arrive. Above bottom:  "Green Girl just a few hours after birth. Above right:  The gang fills the restaurant to the max. Right:  Looking down on Katsuk and the babies in the helping box.