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Rain Mountain Females
Rose's Vixon I've grouped Sky and Vixon here together not because
they don't deserve space but because they were the early days of Rain Mountain.
I had both these girls in the days before the Chinook was recognized
by any breed registry. Each produced one litter but none of the pups
from either ever went on, either for the Rain Mountain line or that of any
other breeder.
Though there is not much on their page right now, it is only because my time is better spent on the Chinooks of today. I thoroughly intend to come back and revise this page with more photos once the rest of the website update is completed. Until then, you can rest assured that they were both very well loved. |
| Northdown Skykomish The Beginning of Rain Mountain |
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Call name: Sky
OFA Good, CERF Normal
1988 to 1992
Sire: Benjamin's Tekoa
Dam: Victor's Nikiska
Breeder: Harry Gray, Northdown Chinooks
Owners: Ginger Corley, Rain Mountain Chinooks, and Susan Shemeta
In 1988, after months of looking and waiting, I finally went to Maine and picked up my first Chinook from Harry Gray's Northdown Kennel in Waldoboro, Maine. Sky was five months old and, to my surprise, had never been in a house or worn a collar until that day. She did not enjoy the drive back to Washington DC (where I had been on business and where my return flight to Seattle was) or the flight home. All I could think was "What did I get myself into?"
Sky had never heard a dishwasher or seen a vacuum. She didn't understand car rides but did get to enjoy them quickly. She started obedience training right away and even had a feature story in the January 1, 1989 Seattle Times as she was the first Chinook in western Washington. I took her to her first rare breed show when she was only six months old and she may be the first Chinook ever to have been in a dog show (I'm not sure so don't hold me to that). Sky blossomed into a beautiful though somewhat reserved Chinook.
Eventually Hurricane Cheechako also joined the household and now I had a potential mate for Sky. She and Chako both were among the first four Chinooks ever submitted to OFA (she rated good) and they were the first ever to receive a CERF rating (Normal of course).
Sky was also my guinea pig for teaching myself to sled and weight pull my dogs. Yes, I probably made every mistake possible. But she was good at both and I don't think I ruined her for life.
By the averages we had then, Sky was a normal sized Chinook though today she would be considered very small. I don't think she ever topped fifty pounds even when pregnant. She was bred to Hurricane Cheechako in 1990 and produced a litter of five -- the first Rain Mountain litter, known as the Flood litter, since we were in the middle of a torrential storm and everywhere around us people were being flooded out and loosing their electricity. Unfortunately I was never able to go further with this litter. Despite the fact that Chako was a very large Chinook, even by today's standards, the pups all inherited Sky's small size. We also discovered that she carried the genes for long coats. Her son, Rain Mountain Sammamish, had as thick a coat as a Belgian Tervueren! She and Chako also passed the genes to their children for seizures. Though neither she nor Chako ever had these, two of the pups from the litter did.
But Sky herself was a gorgeous dog with a wonderful gait. However just before the second Chinook National Specialty in May of 1992, she was hit by a car and died. She is greatly missed. And just look at what she started! I can't even begin to count the number of Chinooks I have lived with since first meeting Sky.
Sky was an exceptionally beautiful dog and I have hundreds of photos of her. But since I must leave webspace for the many Chinooks that I have known since, I have not posted all of them here. But if you ever have the urge to see more photos of Sky, just say the word and I will email you many.
Rose's
Vixon
Call name: Vixon
Sire: Good News Yukon
Dam: Northdown Kara
Breeder: Doug and Cindy Hendricks, Good News Chinooks
Born: October 29, 1989
Owner: Ginger Corley and Tom Christiansen
Private reading on hips, clear; no CERF
Call name: Vixon
Sire: Good News Yukon
Dam: Northdown Kara
Breeder: Doug and Cindy Hendricks, Good News Chinooks
Born: October 29, 1989
Owner: Ginger Corley and Tom Christiansen
Private reading on hips, clear; no CERF
In 1992 everything seemed to be falling apart. The
software company I was part owner of had just gone bust, I'd broken up with
my boyfriend, had no job and was pretty close to being broke. To make
matters worse, my dog Sky had just been killed. This is when you find
out who your friends really are.
The wonderful people of the Chinook Owners Association stepped in to help. I was presented with a pup, Holly, and an adult female, Vixon. All this was at no charge to me other than the cost to get the dogs to Seattle.
Vixon was a perfect mate for Chako. By this time, Chako had been kidnapped by another old boyfriend, Tom Christiansen, and was living in Idaho with Tom. On a visit to Seattle, Tom took one look at Vixon's big brown eyes and fell madly in love with her. Back to Boise she went with Tom and Chako and I got on with finding a job and raising Holly. The idea was to breed Vixon to Chako the following spring when I would be in a better position financially to raise a litter. But Vixon and Chako had other ideas. In September Tom called and next thing you know I was on the road to meet him. Vixon was pregnant and it was just not in Tom's job description to raise a litter.
Vixon had a trouble free pregnancy and delivered a litter of nine pups. Of course I had just started a new job and had no time off work. But you just can't leave a bitch to labor alone so I ended up missing a day my first week on the job. Vixon also did not enjoy motherhood. I ended up having to hold her down to nurse her pups and did quite a bit of bottom washing myself. And unfortunately my job was a temporary job that ended just when the pups were old enough to really eat a LOT of dog food. I learned quickly that even the best looking dog with the most perfect pedigree may not be the best to use as the foundation for a breeding program.
Please understand that in 1992 almost no one knew what Chinooks were, hence there was very little market for them. Very slowly I placed each pup though it took almost a year. I learned a lot about placing pups as three of the dogs ended up coming back to me and being placed in other, much better homes. Because of my financial limitations (I was paying off the debt from our former software company which at the time I thought was more noble than going bankrupt), I could not afford to keep any of the dogs myself and the placements where I thought they would be used for breeding did not honor their agreements. In addition we found that the pups from this litter carried the genes for our Chinook seizures and cryptorchidism.
Hence Vixon was spayed. She also did not get along with some of the other dogs I owned at the time. Typically two boy dogs will have an argument and perhaps a fight, figure out who is stronger, then slap each other on the back and go out for a beer. But if two females start fighting, you might as well resolve to keep them apart forever as they will never really make peace. I was put in the difficult position of having to choose between Vixon and the other dogs I owned. I was lucky enough to find a home for Vixon with a great family in the Seattle area. She spent the rest of her life as the valued pet of a growing boy.
We all learn from our mistakes and I learned a lot from Vixon about how to be a breeder. I learned that it is very expensive to raise a litter and not to undertake the task unless I am financially prepared to cover all the costs. I learned what it is like to raise a litter of nine for almost a year while I try to find the right homes. I learned how to write ownership agreements and to retain co ownership of dogs I hope to someday use for breeding. I learned what it means to take back pups I've raised even after many years and to assume responsibility for them forever. For all of this, I am very grateful.
The wonderful people of the Chinook Owners Association stepped in to help. I was presented with a pup, Holly, and an adult female, Vixon. All this was at no charge to me other than the cost to get the dogs to Seattle.
Vixon was a perfect mate for Chako. By this time, Chako had been kidnapped by another old boyfriend, Tom Christiansen, and was living in Idaho with Tom. On a visit to Seattle, Tom took one look at Vixon's big brown eyes and fell madly in love with her. Back to Boise she went with Tom and Chako and I got on with finding a job and raising Holly. The idea was to breed Vixon to Chako the following spring when I would be in a better position financially to raise a litter. But Vixon and Chako had other ideas. In September Tom called and next thing you know I was on the road to meet him. Vixon was pregnant and it was just not in Tom's job description to raise a litter.
Vixon had a trouble free pregnancy and delivered a litter of nine pups. Of course I had just started a new job and had no time off work. But you just can't leave a bitch to labor alone so I ended up missing a day my first week on the job. Vixon also did not enjoy motherhood. I ended up having to hold her down to nurse her pups and did quite a bit of bottom washing myself. And unfortunately my job was a temporary job that ended just when the pups were old enough to really eat a LOT of dog food. I learned quickly that even the best looking dog with the most perfect pedigree may not be the best to use as the foundation for a breeding program.
Please understand that in 1992 almost no one knew what Chinooks were, hence there was very little market for them. Very slowly I placed each pup though it took almost a year. I learned a lot about placing pups as three of the dogs ended up coming back to me and being placed in other, much better homes. Because of my financial limitations (I was paying off the debt from our former software company which at the time I thought was more noble than going bankrupt), I could not afford to keep any of the dogs myself and the placements where I thought they would be used for breeding did not honor their agreements. In addition we found that the pups from this litter carried the genes for our Chinook seizures and cryptorchidism.
Hence Vixon was spayed. She also did not get along with some of the other dogs I owned at the time. Typically two boy dogs will have an argument and perhaps a fight, figure out who is stronger, then slap each other on the back and go out for a beer. But if two females start fighting, you might as well resolve to keep them apart forever as they will never really make peace. I was put in the difficult position of having to choose between Vixon and the other dogs I owned. I was lucky enough to find a home for Vixon with a great family in the Seattle area. She spent the rest of her life as the valued pet of a growing boy.
We all learn from our mistakes and I learned a lot from Vixon about how to be a breeder. I learned that it is very expensive to raise a litter and not to undertake the task unless I am financially prepared to cover all the costs. I learned what it is like to raise a litter of nine for almost a year while I try to find the right homes. I learned how to write ownership agreements and to retain co ownership of dogs I hope to someday use for breeding. I learned what it means to take back pups I've raised even after many years and to assume responsibility for them forever. For all of this, I am very grateful.
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Rain Mountain Chinooks is located in Washington state. Please contact Ginger Corley for additional information about Rain Mountain Chinooks or any of the information you see here. Copyright
© Ginger Corley, Rain Mountain
Chinooks, 1988 to 2004. No material
may be reproduced without permission, though permission
is usually granted.
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