Chako was such a cool dude that today people still come up to me and ask me if I have any dogs like him.  He was the ultimate gentleman.  I don't think we ever had to train him.  He was just so polite there was no need.

Chako had a very adventurous life.  When he was born to Hurricane Chinooks, he and his littermates increased the Chinook population by 10%!  (There were only a hundred Chinooks in existence and there were ten in his litter.)  Joyce Maley, his breeder, sold him to a couple in the Air Force who were transferred to Alaska.  Shortly after they arrived, they went through a divorce and the wife ended up with Chako, out of the Air Force, and supporting him and her pet rabbit (a close friend of Chako's) with a waitressing job.  Things were very tight for her financially and when it came to the point that she could only afford to feed him the scraps from the restaurant where she worked, she called Joyce for help.

Since I was the closest to Alaska, Joyce asked me if I could simply make the arrangements to get him from VAldez to Seattle and that we would then figure out what to do with him.  I was game, especially since I thought his bloodline would be a good match for my female Chinook, Northdown Skykomish.  The day came to pick Chako up from the airport and we were in for a shock.  Out of the crate came a very happy, friendly, near skeleton of a dog.  You could not only see every rib but every vertebrae too!  It was horrible but he was so happy that I couldn't resist him, though instead of coming straight home, he made a stop at the vet's then was put in isolation for a few days while we dealt with his various medical problems.

No sooner did Chako come home (he was to be the pet of my neighbor) but he got out of his yard one day.  A road crew was working on the street and one of the workers thought they would do us a favor.  So he took Chako to his home -- 30 miles away!  Chako then escaped again and spent the next nine days wandering in the area around Seattle-Tacoma airport.  For those of you not familiar with the area, this is NOT a nice part of town and it was concurrent with one of our Northwest serial killers (the Green River Killer) roaming that same area.  But something in me knew that Chako was alive and that I could find him.  We spent every available hour combing the area for him, encouraged by information that he had been seen running with a pack of feral dogs.  Finally on day nine, a dear ex-boyfriend of mine, Tom Christiansen, offered to help.  Tom was a tad grumpy that day so I assigned him the job of checking out all the restaurants and bars, with a caution to not have a beer at each stop.  We were to meet at a school in one hour.

An hour later, Tom came zooming into the school parking lot.  Now you have to know Tom, he's the proverbial class clown grown up.  "I have no idea what your dog looks like but this mutt jumped into my car!"  It was Chako.  Tom didn't really like dogs in those days.  He humored me but we had many an argument about me going to dog shows all the time and him not enjoying them.  But when we got back to my house, Chako climbed up into Tom's lap and fell asleep.  Tom was a goner.

Chako settled in at my house where he was loved by all the other dogs.  Possibly the best example of his temperament was his friendship with my killer Papillion, Mouse.  Mouse hated everyone and had a terrible little man complex.  It was very important to mouse that he be head of the household.  So Chako let him.  It was hilarious to see Mouse and Chako play.  "Chako, lay down so I can attack you."  "Okay Mouse."  Mouse would furiously attack one of Chako's ears.  "Okay Chako, roll over so I can conquer your other ear."  "Okay Mouse."

Fast forward a few years.  Tom was still Chako's biggest fan, and he had a large fan club.  Tom's brother and his wife had one of Chako's daughters.  tom himself decided to move back to his hometown of Gooding, Idaho, about 90 miles east of Boise.  So Tom's family started all out war against me:  "Tom needs a dog.  Tom would be a great owner for Chako.  You have to reunite Chako with his daughter."  So figuring that Tom would never meet my requirements, I told him that before I would give him Chako, he had to buy his own house and it had to have a kennel or fenced yard.  Tom bought the only house in Gooding that had a kennel already and was on my doorstep less than twenty-four hours after it closed.

Chako had an awesome life in Gooding and Gooding was the perfect town for him.  It's twenty miles from the nearest freeway and had a population of only a thousand.  Tom's parents lived a couple blocks away and Tom owned the town tavern.  Every night when Tom headed off to the tavern, Chako escorted him there, then headed for Elma Jean and Christy's house (Tom's folks) where Elma Jean would have a raw egg ready for him.  Tom took him on many hikes and ski trips and Chako got to spend most of his summers at the Christiansen family cabin just south of Sun Valley.

Sadly, when Chako was nine years old, someone in Gooding was either very foolish or very mean.  That night antifreeze was left out and five dogs were poisoned, including Chako.  Tom and the Gooding vet tried everything for nearly five days before Chako died.  It took Tom another day to get up the courage to call me.  It was heart wrenching.  But by then Tom was also engaged to a wonderful woman named Janet Floyd and they were planning to marry in a few months.  So that night I promised Tom that I would find he and Janet and Chinook pup for a wedding present.

Today Tom Christiansen and Janet Floyd live in Boise with their wonderful and spoiled Chinook, Mahng Odei Outlaw Camas, a nephew of Chako's. Camas is wonderful and has Tom and Janet wrapped around his little paw.  There are many photos of Chako still on display in their home.  Tom and Janet are also crazy enough to have me visit on a regular basis with whatever gang of Chinooks I currently have.  No two people could be nicer to their dog and appreciate the unique qualities of a Chinook more.

Chako sired the first two Rain Mountain litters -- the Flood litter of 1990 with Northdown Skykomish and the Freeway litter in 1992 with Rose's Vixon.  For various reasons, none of the pups from either of these litters were used in breeding programs.  However Chako's twin brother and littermate, Grand Ch. Hurricane Mackenzie, is behind all the other Rain Mountain litters.  Chako also did quite well in the show ring but this was prior to the UKC recognition of the Chinook hence all his wins were at informal rare breed matches so he never did earn a conformation championship.