Grand Ch. PR WoodsRunner Lady Rain HCT
May 28, 1998 to July 24, 2010



Call name: Ladybug
OFA Prelim Good; CERF Normal
Breeder:  Bob & Connie Jones, WoodsRunner Chinooks, Portland, Maine
Owned by Bob & Connie Jones, WoodsRunner Chinooks
with Susan Shemeta and Ron Schoener and formerly Ginger Corley Washington
Handled by Ginger Corley of Rain Mountain Chinooks
Sire:  Grand Ch. PR WoodsRunner Duncan
Dam:  Ch. PR WoodsRunner Lucille

In May of 1998 Connie Jones of WoodsRunner Chinooks in Maine flew out to visit. I think she wanted to check up on me after I'd had a spinal cord injury and surgery. I was also in mourning because I'd just lost my 16 year old mixed breed, Sarah, the dog that actually started me on the Chinooks Trail when I went looking for a dog that would have the same characteristics of this awesome mutt of unknown origin. We were both surprised when Connie received phone calls from her husband, at home with the dogs in Maine, that Lucille was having puppies. This couldn't be!  Lucille was scheduled to be spayed as her breeding career was supposed to be over. And the only possible sire of the litter was Lucille's son, Duncan!

Many people think that inbreeding is the cause of all problems with purebred dogs today but actually problems come up from careless breeding. There is a time and place for planned inbreeding - a sound practice in animal husbandry - and even though this was an accident, it was a textbook perfect case of when to inbreed. In-between calls with Bob, Connie and I quickly agreed that the perfect mate for my young male, Thunder, had just been born. Eight weeks later Connie and I met up again at a dog show in Colorado and Lady came home with me. Making the trip at the same time was Ladybug's littermate, Brandy, who become the foundation bitch of Springcreek Chinooks in the Seattle, and her half brother, Rorik, who moved in with my friends Pam and Tim Wilmot.

Ladybug truly has Chinook ears. She went to sleep one night as a pup with down ears and woke up in the morning looking totally different. Not only were they standing up but they crossed over her head! Thank goodness they have relaxed with age. Unlike the rowdy Rain Mountain gang (at that time in residence were Chinooks Holly, Thunder, Leschi, and Alki along with Australian Cattle Dog, River), Ladybug was such a quiet and demur pup that she nearly faded into the woodwork and you barely noticed she was here - until she did something beastly -- like eating the furniture -- and you remembered that she was a Chinook after all.

Ladybug truly loved the world and every person and dog in it. She was especially crazy about little girls and was in heaven when my niece Sarah visited. She took to dog showing with great joy since there were many young girls there. She knew she's pretty and the judges knew it too. She finished her championship with a sweep of Best Female and Best of Winners at the 2000 UKC Premier in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she also had a blast in Junior Handling with a young girl she had just met that day. We were all pleasantly shocked again when Lady started beating her true love, Thunder, at the winter 2001 UKC shows (his brain was not in residence since Lady was in heat). She finished her show career as the #5 Chinook for 2001 and I was so proud of her. Especially since nearly all her wins were with girls in Junior Handling showing her. Her favorite was Ally Newton-Moore who waltzed with Ladybug to more than one Best of Breed.

Lady and Thunder were bred in the fall of 2000, though we she only got two pups. However PR Rain Mountain Yakama Pride (aka Moose) and PR Rain Runner Johnny Rebel both are gorgeous big dogs; Moose stayed in Seattle and John went back east to join the WoodsRunner sled team and sire a litter of his own. When Lady was bred the following year to UWP UCDX Ch.  PR Rain Mountain Bannack CGC HCT NAP (one of the most titled Chinooks ever!) she again required another c-section. She had four wonderful pups and was very happy raising another litter. However this litter -- the Rain Mountain Rocky Mountain litter -- were all lost to canine herpes virus at two and a half weeks of age. Despite her travels all across the country and attendance at nearly a hundred dog shows, Lady had never contracted herpes virus until the end of her pregnancy and hence, the pups contracted it in utero. At this young age there is no cure. Lady was retired and spayed. She was quickly kidnapped by my close friends who had always loved her and moved to a permanent home with them.  She'll spent the remainder of her life being spoiled rotten by Susan Shemeta and her husband Ron Schoener. Her new job is raising her niece, PR Frontier Dandelion Sky and later, helping raise a litter of Sky's pups.

True to her WoodsRunner heritage, Ladybug proved an excellent sled dog and passed on good pulling genes to her sons. I knew we had a great puller on the day when the rig (okay, I admit I was driving) went up a bank, running over Ladybug, and she just jumped back up and kept going. She loved sledding and usually runs with Thunder in wheel. She's a honest worker who always keeps her lines taut. Herding sheep is also, in her opinion, the most fun a dog can have. She finished her HCT title when she was only ten months old. She DOES NOT fade into the woodwork when she's around sheep. She also has enjoyed clicker training. She may not do a good "stay" but she can jump, spin and bow with the best of them.

Ladybug has perfected the role of a blond. She can wiggle, suck up, and bat her eyelashes at Thunder to the point where she can take a bone away from him, eat out of his food dish, or get anything she wants from him. She is excellent with the younger dogs and did a great job raising Klickitat, McKenzie, and Kokee. Every night at about 9:30, the other dogs would be sound asleep but Ladybug wanted to PLAY! If she couldn't wake up Klickitat for a game, she plays by herself, chasing her tail, tossing toys around, and using the dog beds as surfboards across the linoleum. She is truly the sweetest Chinook girl I have ever lived with.  Now in her new home, she still keeps up her 9:30pm playtime but instead of batting her eyelashes at Thunder she has taken over Ron's life and has him wrapped around her little paw.  Susan jokes that she is now the secondary wife and Lady has taken over the primary role.  Lady makes darn sure Ron knows exactly what she wants.  What the Lady wants, the Lady gets.

Lady herding sheep at Ewe-Topia

Relaxing on the couch with her former pack mate Holly

An early practice pull

A reunion with her half brother Rorik in Spring 2010.
All of us are getting older.

Photos embedded in text:  Top:  Lady in summer coat just as she turned two years old.  Next, a young Lady managed to climb up into the dog chair.  Those ears were crazy!  Below that, Lady posing with Ally Newton-Moore the day she finished her Grand Championship.  Last, Lady and her final surrogate baby, PR Seven Lakes Goodwin, the son of her niece Sky.  Lady acted as if Goodwin was created just for her pleasure.