Rain Mountain Chinooks
established 1988

Welcome to Rain Mountain

What's a Chinook?

Meet the Pack


In the News


Achievements


Our Breeding Program


Getting Your Rain Mountain Pup


Health of the Chinook


Work & Play - Events & Activities


Friends & Family


Articles and Interesting Information


Contact Information




Copyright  © Ginger Corley, Rain Mountain Chinooks, 1988 to present.  No material may be reproduced without permission, though permission is usually granted.



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Achievements

This is the section where we get to shamelessly brag.  The fun part is that a lot of the things we brag about were achieved by other people and yet make us look darned good.  For more information on some of the sports we dabble in, check out Work & Play - Events & Activities.

In the Whelping Box

This is where it all starts and is where I have the most fun.  first and foremost, I'm a breeder. I love planning litters, raising pups, and finding the best possible homes for them, then seeing them grow up to be the most perfect and loving family pets.

In 2003 Sara Jonas of the United Kennel Club calculated the statistics on the top producing sires and dams in our short history with UKC.  I was thrilled to see Holly ranked as #2 Top Producing Chinook Female, closely beaten by Joyce Maley's Tundra.  Added proof of Holly's contribution to the breed are the fact that two of her daughters -- UWP Grand Ch. PR Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC FD and PR Rain Mountain Stillaguamish -- were also listed in the Top Twenty Chinook Females and one granddaughter, Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Sebecca is listed as well.  These statistics were calculated again in 2006 and Holly was dropped to second place, kicked out of the #1 spot by her own daughter, Ch. PR Rain Mountain Jenna of Bear Creek.  Holly is now tied for #2 with Romano's Tundra but hopefully her daughter Rain Mountain Anasazi Mystic will finish her championship and Holly will have a solid hold on the #2 slot for a long time to come.

Holly produced fifteen pups in two litters.  Of those pups, she has to her credit:
UKC Grand Champions:
UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Tonasket Thunder CGC HCT
UWP Grand Ch. PR Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC FD
UCD Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Rangeley Runner TT

UKC Champions:
Ch. PR Rain Mountain Leschi HCT
Ch. PR Rain Mountain Jenna of Bear Creek HIC
(PR Rain Mountain Anasazi Mystic is one win away from her Championship title)

UKC Weight Pull Titles:
UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Tonasket Thunder CGC HCT
UWP Grand Ch. PR Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC FD

UKC Obedience:
UCD Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Rangeley Runner TT

Other Titles:
Many of Holly's pups also went on to earn AHBA Herding certifications (HIC and HCT) and AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) titles.  Quinn has also competed in flyball and earned the Flyball Dog (FD) title.
If I look at the accomplishments of Holly's grandbabies and now great and great-great grand pups, the list gets even longer.

Total Dogs

Total Dog is a UKC title given to dogs that have both a conformation and performance title.  The owners of these dogs have right to be proud of their accomplishments and as breeders, we're very proud as well.  Click here to see all the Chinooks that have earned the UKC Total Dog award.

In the Show Ring

 Showing is part of being a breeder (read more about this is The Role of Conformation Showing and Working Ability).  First off, we get objective evaluations of the judges.  Second it gives us the chance to see other dogs in our local area and occasionally those from across the country.  Dog shows are a match maker's haven.

I think that over the years I've had two incredible highs that I may never capture again.  The first was when Holly won Best Female three consecutive years.  First was at the 1995 ARBA Cherry Blossom Classic in Washington DC where in a torrential downpour she went Best Opposite Sex to WoodsRunner Boone.  In 1996 she won Best Female at the UKC Premier and Chinook National Specialty under judge Betty Umberto then did it again in 1997 under judge Richard Klatt.  She retired from conformation showing at this point but in 1998 her daughter Quinn took the Best Female title and in 1999 her granddaughter Molly claimed the award.  In 2003 the Best Female title came home again when Holly's granddaughter Taaku took the honors at the national specialty.

The second "high" came with Thunder's career that included three Best in Show awards over tough competition, the first when he was just a year old.  Thunder loved to show and continued to go on and earn #1 in Top Ten for the year 2001 after which he too retired from conformation showing.  Hitting Number 1 or a Best in Show award are wonderful in themselves but doing so with a dog I bred myself makes it all the more sweeter.

When showing in UKC events, we have the chance to first earn a championship and then we can continue competing for a Grand Championship.  Achieving the title of "Champion" is not easy and earning the designation of "Grand" is even more difficult.  Since getting out to shows is fun in itself, we continue to compete with our Grand Champions to earn UKC Top Ten points.  You can see the history of Top Ten Chinooks here.  And here's the ever growing list of show dogs with Rain Mountain behind them.
Holly's Titled Grand Pups:
  • Ch. PR Hurricane Hiyu Rain (co bred with Joyce Maley of Hurricane Chinooks)
  • U-WP Ch. PR Springcreek Storm Runner (co bred with Pam Chambers, Springcreek Chinooks)
  • UCI Ch. PR Springcreek Irish Outlaw (co bred with Pam Chambers, Springcreek Chinooks; co owned with Kathleen Daniels, Outlaw Chinooks)
  • Grand Ch. PR Frontier Akeena (co bred with Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks)
  • Ch. PR Frontier Rain Dancer Klickitat HIC (co bred with Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks; now owned by Florence Rainy)
  • Ch. PR Frontier Indian Summer (co bred with Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks, owned and handled by Laura Morgan, Rivertrail Chinooks)
  • Grand Ch. PR Frontier Buck Sullivan (co bred with Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks, handled by Joyce Maley, Hurricane Chinooks)
  • U-CDX U-WP Ch. PR Rain Mountain Bannack CGC (co bred with Stephanie Broughton, owned and handled by Corine Lindhorst, High Chinooks)
  • Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Malipaluk (co bred with Stephanie Broughton, handled by Diana Fowler)
  • Ch. PR Rain Mountain Sebecca (co bred with Stephanie Broughton, owned and handled by Elaine Bradbury, Hickory Hill Chinooks)
  • Ch. PR Mystic's Hurricane Sydney (co bred with Linda Daniels, Mystic Chinooks and Joyce Maley, Hurricane Chinooks, owned and handled by Joyce Maley)
  • UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Kutaan Taaku CGC HIC
  • Ch. PR Rain Mountain Potlatch Kodiak of Bear Creek (co owned with Scott Hussey)
  • UWP Ch. PR Rain Mountain Mahako Dave of Bear Creek (co owned with JoAnn Filce)
  • Ch. PR Frontier Rain Dancer McKenzie CGC (co bred with Susan Fletcher, Frontier Chinooks; co owned and handled by Kay Lee Brown, BrownStone Chinooks)
  • Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Moxie of Bear Creek CGC (owned and handled by Jessica Maurer and Penthea Burns, GreatMountain Chinooks)

  Holly's Titled Great Grand Pups:
  • Ch. PR Hickory Hill Spring Rain (bred by Elaine Bradbury, Hickory Hill Chinooks, co owned with Pam Chambers, Springcreek Chinooks)
  • Grand Ch. PR Hickory Hill Liberty (bred by Elaine Bradbury, Hickory Hill Chinooks, owned by Susan Cunningham, Wild River Chinooks)
  • Ch. PR Hickory Hill Dexter (bred by Elaine Bradbury, Hickory Hill Chinooks)
  • Grand C. PR WoodsRunner Kanku Ota HIC (bred by Bob and Connie Jones, WoodsRunner Chinooks, co owned by Connie Jones and Diana Fowler)
  • Ch. PR WoodsRunner Kaganaq HIC (bred by Bob and Connie Jones, WoodsRunner Chinooks, co owned by Connie Jones and Diana Fowler)
  • Ch. PR BrownStone Lolo Kumtux of Rain CGC (co bred with Kay Lee Brown of BrownStone Chinooks; owned by Ginger Corley)
This list of accomplishments by Holly's grand and great grandchildren is by no means complete.  There are just too darned many for me to keep track of and now there are great-great grandpups out there too.


Pulling Heavy Things

UKC began offering weight pulls in 2002 and Susan Fletcher's Dakota and Finnegan (of Frontier Chinooks) were the first Chinooks to earn UKC titles though my Thunder was not far behind.  (He was out of town on a stud muffin tour and missed some pulls but quickly finished his title as soon as he got home.)  For more info on weight pulls, go to Work & Play - Events & Activities. 

Rain Mountain (and descendants) Chinooks with Weight Pull Titles:
  • UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Tonasket Thunder CGC HCT
  • UWP Grand Ch. PR Mountain Rain Dancer Quinault CGC FD (co owned with and handled by Susan Fletcher of Frontier Chinooks)
  • UWP Ch. PR Springcreek Storm Runner (co bred with and handled by Pam Chambers, Springcreek Chinooks)
  • UCDX UWP Ch. PR Rain Mountain Bannack CGC HIC NAP (co bred with Stephanie Broughton, owned and handled by Corine Lindhorst, High Chinooks)
  • UWP Ch. PR Rain Mountain Mahako Dave of Bear Creek (co owned with Jand handled by oAnn Filce)
  • UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Potlatch Kodiak of Bear Creek (co owned with and handled by Scott Hussey)
  • UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Kutaan Taaku CGC HIC
  • PR Rain Mountain Tonasket Legacy CGC is one pull away from his UWP title



Obedience

I'm not really known for having obedient dogs.  On the contrary, I'm more well known for having dogs with rather, shall we say, free spirits?  All the dogs in the household do go through extensive obedience training but we concentrate more on the commands needed on a day to day basis around the house rather than things like a formal heel with automatic sits.  Holly was my first attempt at competitive obedience.  She is somewhat of a trickster though as you may have surmised from reading about her.  She would perform flawlessly at fun matches and in classes but in official obedience trials would pretend that she didn't even know her own name.  The regimentation of competitive obedience just doesn't appeal to me or to Holly so I have not pursued it much with the other dogs though Thunder was close to the point of competition before his arthritis got to be too much.

Thank goodness though others do like competitive obedience and have done well with their Chinooks.  Jessica Maurer and Penthea Burns (GreatMountain Chinooks) easily earned a Companion Dog title on Rain Mountain Rangeley Runner, making her the first obedience titled Chinook.  Corine Lindhorst (High Plains Chinooks) loves working with Bannack in obedience and Bannack has gone all the way to a Companion Dog Excellent title, what's known among obedience folks as "Open", and is currently working on his Utility title.  Since only the highest title earned is used with the dog's name, he is now UCDX UWP Ch. PR Rain Mountain Bannack.  Bannack is such a versatile dog that he is also competing in AKC agility.

Sled Dogs

So maybe our dogs are not all that obedient but they sure do know how to pull sleds.  At this time the Chinook Owners Association is developing a Working Dog program but at this time there is no venue for dogs to earn actual titles for sledding.  Nonetheless, all our dogs do run on the Rain Mountain sled and rig team on a recreational basis.  Puppies start pulling for fun at about four months old, which is when they are typically big enough to fit into our smallest harness.  During their prime, Holly was an excellent command leader and Thunder was the strong wheel dog.  Along with Holly's daughter Leschi, Kurt Dally raced them for me during the late 1990s.  Today Carie Taylor is getting ready to race with a team that includes Taaku, one of the fastest and most driven sled dogs we've produced.  All the dogs we use for breeding spend at minimum enough time in harness to ensure that they have the instinct and ability to pull as we don't want to see the breed loose their original purpose.  Recreational sledding is fun and we encourage everyone to give it a try.