Squakheag Akita Club – A New Year and a New Logo

It's a New Year and a time when many folks make changes and

resolutions...hopefully for the better...so in that vein the Squakheag Akita Club

has decided to celebrate with a new logo. Our members have often been asked

about the name of our club, so we'd like to impart a little history lesson to

explain this.

Squakheag Akita Club is one of the oldest regional clubs, formed shortly after the

breed gained AKC recognition in 1972. Our club was "born" in Northfield,

Massachusetts and named after the Squakheag band of Abenaki Indigenous

People who had lived in that area along the upper Connecticut River, upon which

they depended for both food and travel. These people were traditionally hunters

and gatherers, as well as skilled canoe makers and fisherman. While there are few

left who can trace their lineage directly to the Squakheag, there are still many

active Abenaki tribes who call New England their home.

Our previous logo had served us well, however it was more indicative of tribes from

the Great Plains, and we wanted something that reflected the Northeast

Woodlands native culture. Fortunately for us, our member that created our first logo

was willing to give us a new look and we are very grateful to Lynn Nystrom for

doing so. She was willing to take our ideas and turn them into a representation of

our region and our history.

We hope this new logo will pay homage to both our club's founders, as well as the

people for whom the club was named, as they were known to be a small group who

were fiercely loyal to, and protective of, one another...much like the qualities we so

revere in our beloved Akitas! We believe that this played an important role in our

founding members choosing the name for our club.