Rain Mountain News

March 13, 2007

The Rain Mountain position on breed registries:

With all the flurry of activity lately around registries, I feel that as a long-time Chinook breeder, it's time to make a statement as to what the “official” Rain Mountain position is on the news of the day. I would love to hear from the other Chinook breeders across the country and encourage each of them make a statement as to how they feel also. We breeders put hours and hours into planning the future of our dogs, usually thinking two or more generations ahead with every step we take. Some of this stuff about registries and clubs may not be important to the individual or family with a pet Chinook snoozing away on the couch. But as a breeder, the subject of registries is very important, in fact crucial to my future and that of the dogs I breed.

First some background: I’ve been involved with the Chinook breed since the days when less than a hundred were alive. In those days, if you ever thought you’d want a second Chinook you pretty much had to plan on breeding it yourself. I’d grown up showing and breeding dachshunds and German Shepherds and knew I wanted to get back into the dog fancy. Chinooks fit the bill perfectly for me and I liked the idea of raising all my future pets from birth onward. When the Chinook Owners Association was begun in the late 1980s, I was a charter member. The very first emails ever exchanged about Chinooks were some between Pam Wilmot (then Pam Mabon) and me when I was trying to help Joyce Maley place a young male she had that was in need of a home. Soon a few others joined our email group – Rich Greenberg, Richalene Kelsay, Gail Skoglund, Deb Woldan (then Deb Forest). As more and more people heard about Chinooks and joined the cyber world, Rich Greenberg set up a listserve for us that eventually became Chinook-L. We had our first ever specialty in Dayton, Ohio and the percentage of the Chinook-owning world that attended was incredible. Breeding in those early years was tough since no one knew what a Chinook was so it was very difficult to place pups. I know I’m not the only breeder that ended up keeping pups as much as a year before I could find homes for them.

Sometime in the mid 1990s, the demand for pups began to grow. When I had the Heatwave Litter of 1995 I was pleasantly shocked to have more people wanting pups than I had pups available. Here in the Northwest, Susan Fletcher and I had just-for-fun shows to go to a few times a year and once a year I’d treat myself to a trip to Michigan to show my dogs in UKC. Probably because of my big mouth, I found myself being the Chinook representative, albeit an unofficial one, here in the Northwest. When Gail Skoglund retired as our national newsletter editor in the early 1990s, I stepped up and was editor of the Chinook Quarterly for many years; I’m obscenely proud of the awards we won from the Dog Writers Association of America for the CQ during my tenure as editor. I loved the job as it let me combine my love of writing with my love of dogs. Being newsletter editor also put me on the Board of the Chinook Owners Association. I participated as a member of the Board until about 2000 when finally health issues needed my focus more than dog stuff..

Though I’m not a member of the COA Board these days, I still work on projects related to the breed as a whole. I’m Secretary of the International Federation of Chinook Breeders & Exhibitors, which went by the dba of "American Chinook Club" in dealings with the AKC. I serve on the occasional COA committee, such as Nominations. The Breeders Forum evolved over activities at a few specialties and the need to help encourage new breeders. It’s been highly successful and completely non-partisan. The requirement for joining the Chinook Breeders Forum email list is that you own a breeding potential Chinook, with no requirement to belong to any club at all. Joyce Maley is the actual list owner and I function as moderator whenever conversations lag or go off target. I think it’s been a very successful undertaking and we’ve seen a number of new breeders get started this last couple of years. I'm glad that I'm finally feeling better and perhaps I'll join the Board again in the future as time allows

The last year a lot of the work I’ve personally done has involved discussions both with AKC and negotiations between the American Chinook Club and the Chinook Dog Club of America. Working with AKC can be frustrating. I’ve never been against AKC recognition for the Chinook but I object to rushing the process. The inclusion of the Chinook into AKC must be done very carefully, with a studbook that’s accurate. AKC is NOT popular these days with the general dog fancy, thanks to what I feel are some stupid actions on behalf of the AKC Board. They are completely about money and their cash stream is declining while the UKC’s cash flow is increasing. Exhibitors are fleeing AKC at a rapid rate, flocking to UKC shows where the friendly atmosphere of owner-handlers reigns, compared to AKC where the top dogs require professional handlers and huge advertising and travel budgets. AKC backed the controversial PAWS bill last year, which would have seriously infringed upon our rights to own pets and breed the occasional litter. They attempted to implement a Judges Conflict of Interest policy but the judges thankfully rebelled and the policy was watered down to the point where it ended up affecting only Wayne Cavanaugh, owner of the UKC. AKC backs the high volume breeders, what we know as puppy mills. Puppy mills are a huge source of revenue for AKC. Most of us that have ever raised a litter see puppies in a pet store and cringe, knowing they just don’t get the attention they need when they’re removed from their litter too young, shipped across the country in huge trucks, then dumped into a windowed cage yet AKC tried to implement a policy of having pet store employees recruit AKC registrations. Where’s the logic in that?

I was heartened that the discussions between the ACC and CDCA went so well. Had we completed the merger, it would have included over 95% of the breeders in the country and a huge percentage of the Chinook fancy in general. Though we have had many differences over the years, including some outright arguments, it was wonderful to see us be able to unite behind the shared belief that one single gene pool was what would be best for the breed. That alone was what motivated our discussions on specifics of the Chinook standard. Every time we hit an impasse, we came back to the point that if we couldn’t work things out, we would be in danger of splitting the breed into two gene pools.

Yup, that’s one fact that seems to be glossed over. For some reason, the AKC decided to go with the minority group, the Chinook Club of America (CCA), that includes only a handful of breeders (none of them from those early years) and that wants to severely restrict the number of dogs in the gene pool. First off, there is the matter of the dogs that have “graduated” from the COA Cross Program. These are dogs that are well over 95% purebred Chinook. Yet the CCA will not take a stand on these dogs being included in the AKC studbook. They hem and haw about only doing AKC’s bidding but had they taken a stand that all Chinooks should be included, AKC would have had to choose only from groups that wanted all Chinooks included. CCA let AKC off the hook too easily in my opinion.

Also, the standard that CCA proposes be the official AKC standard is far different than that of the other groups. Right now I have in the room next to me a litter of 2 ½ week old pups. This morning they learned how to howl when their mom was more interested in her own breakfast than feeding them and I was tied up on a conference call and hadn’t yet changed the bedding in their box. This litter represents the sixth generation of purebred Chinook I’ve owned: Chako was Holly’s uncle, Holly produced Thunder, Thunder produced Malibu, Malibu was Lolo’s sire, and Lolo is mom to these pups. Yet under the standard that CCA proposes, none of these pups would be eligible. Sure, their pedigree is backed up by DNA parent verification. But in this purebred litter I have two gray and tan pups, harkening back to their great-great grandma Holly; there is one gorgeous black and tan pup that will be valuable for me in future breedings since a black and tan Chinook bred to a dog that might have washed out coloring produces rich chestnut tawny pups with black masking. One of the pups is a golden honey coloring and he has a brother that is buff, tawny shading over an off-white body. Only one of the pups is traditional tawny but he would be disqualified because he has a small white spot on his chest. Six pups from six generations that have called this little house in the suburbs home and none would be considered eligible for AKC.

Right now there is a battle for your loyalties. People from CCA are trying to recruit people right and left. CDCA’s charter was as a club vying for AKC Parent Club status so its charter is no longer valid. Talks are in the works to hopefully merge CDCA with the COA in some way though I know the logistics will be tricky; things have to be done carefully and legally. The one things these two groups agree on is that the Chinook should be maintained as a single breed with a single gene pool. It doesn’t mean anyone necessarily hates the AKC, just that they don’t want to see the breed split into two groups. One group would be that of our whole breed, registered with the UKC. The other would be a very small subset of the breed, dogs that meet a visual standard rather than a functional one.

Now I’m not a pro musher by a long shot but I do fumble around with recreational mushing. Holly was a very experienced lead dog and hopefully one of the younger generation I have now will develop the same skills with experience. But Holly was a gray and tan Chinook. It didn’t mean that she couldn’t pull a sled. It didn’t mean that she looked like something other than a Chinook. And there have always been black and tan, gray and tan, and buff colored Chinooks going back to the days of Walden. Color doesn’t pull the sled any more than the ears do and we all love the variety of Chinook ear carriages. Those pups in the next room may be all colors of the Chinook rainbow but their sire and dam, young as Lolo and Taga are, are both good sled dogs too and I hope that the pups will grow up to at least be able to try pulling.

Other than one time when a German Shepherd jumped the fence into my friend Stephanie’s yard and bred with Stephanie’s dog Misha (resulting in a litter of nine), I have not bred any Chinook crosses on purpose. I’ve wanted to but work restrictions and limitations from my medical problems mean that I’ve had to stick to my occasional purebred litter. This past fall though two pups that will be eligible for purebred status in a year or so did join the Rain Mountain family. Their mom is a purebred Chinook and their dad is a gorgeous Chinook Cross; both are good recreational sled dogs and meet all the tenants of the UKC Chinook Standard. Neither lives with me full time. I think they are best in homes where I can keep in touch and apprised of their progress but where they get individual attention from families that love them. I’m hopeful that they will someday add to the strength of the Rain Mountain bloodline by infusing it with a spike of fresh genes. In addition other pups I’ve raised have gone to other Chinook breeders where they too have been bred with bloodlines that come out of the Chinook Cross program; the latest Balsam Ridge litter is one of these.

When I think about the present state of affairs, I know I have to make a choice. Do I want the show biz of the AKC? Sure, it would be fun to show in AKC again. But do I want to trade show biz for splitting the breed? No way.

Had the ACC, the CDCA, or the new group resulting from the merger of the two been selected as the AKC Parent Club for the Chinook, we would have had the numbers on our side to hold firm on the inclusion of all Chinooks in our studbook. For an unknown reason, AKC did not make that decision. So I feel that it is for the best of the breed in the long term and in the highest numbers, I continue to support the UKC as THE Chinook registry. I cannot support splitting the breed. That would be death for the Chinook or at best, a miserable existence of rare recessive genetic health problems coming to the forefront as genetic diversity is lost.

So in my typical long-winded fashion, I simply want to say that I cannot in good faith back the AKC as a registry for the Chinook, nor can I back the CCA as a group with the best interests of the breed at heart. The liked the allure of being in charge of the breed within AKC yet don't have the gumption to take a stand on what is best for our breed. This is short-sighted. I have not registered any of my litters with AKC in the past and I won’t start doing so now until the day that the AKC includes the complete UKC Chinook studbook, backed up with DNA parent verification. I’ve not even touched on the fact that the present AKC FSS studbook DOES include Chinook Crosses – Northdown Nugget and all the Nugget descendants – but NOT the crosses from the UKC/COA carefully monitored Cross program.

For those of you out there that I’ve grown to be friends with over the twenty years I’ve been involved with the Chinook, I ask you to think carefully, not just about the well being of that dog lying on your couch right now, but of the breed as a whole. You may not ever breed a litter yourself. It’s a lot of work and I don’t want to see anyone rush in blindly. But if you ever think that you would want to own a second Chinook some years down the road, please support the all-inclusive UKC studbook for the Chinook. The CDCA and COA are discussing the logistics of a merger now and I hope that both Boards will find a way to compromise as needed to make this happen. Please don’t let the frustration of logistics and details get in the way of that. For those of you who thought that the CCA would be a good organization, ask yourself if you want to see the breed split. If you do, that’s your own decision. If you believe as I do that a healthy and diverse gene pool is best for the future, then please do not support the CCA until the day comes when they prove to us they’ve taken a stand with AKC to have all Chinooks included in our studbook, with the AKC studbook a mirror of the UKC studbook.

Ears and color don’t pull the sled.

I know other breeders out there share my feelings regarding the threat of splitting our gene pool. I encourage you to step forward. I'd love to be able to post the names of Chinook kennels in favor of maintaining our breed as a single population.

February 22, 2007

The Rain Mountain Oh No! Litter has arrived. With the calm of a dog twice her age, Lolo delivered seven pups between midnight and 8am. Six boys and one girl are doing great and gaining weight already. Lolo is in her element. Click here to visit the pups' webpage.

I guess these things happen even in the best of families. For many years and over the course of thirteen litters, I've prided myself that I've never had an accidental breeding here. Sure the German Shepherd jumped the fence at Stephanie's house and Misha had a litter of Chinook x German Shepherd pups but the accidental breeding wasn't at my house! [Heavy sigh. Who am I to stand in the way of true love though? Lolo and Taga made it obvious they were meant for each other (or at least momentarily hot for each other).

So now we have a litter of pups on the way, mere weeks after the last litter left the nest. Yes, normally I have a litter only ever year or two and sometimes as much as three or four years goes by between litters. Yes, I had planned to breed both Lolo and Taga but NOT to each other! I had just finished making plans to breed Lolo to a dog from Florida next year and so far though I knew Taga was easily good enough for breeding, I hadn't even begun to think about who was the best mate for him. Ah well, the best laid plans of mice and men and dog breeders sometimes do go astray.

Please feel free to preview the upcoming Rain Mountain Oh No! Litter, expected roughly February 22nd. I am accepting inquiries for pups. If you're interested, please fill out the Prospective Owner Questionnaire and email it to me at ginger@rainmountain.net.

Not only is a Rain Mountain litter on the way but Frontier Chinooks is also breeding it's first litter since 2003. If all goes well and Mother Nature cooperates, Frontier should have pups arriving in late March of 2007. Stay tuned for an update to the Frontier website including info on this litter and other plans for the future. If you're interested in a pup from the Frontier litter, please fill out the Prospective Owner Questionnaire and email it to info@rainmountain.net.

Welcome to the New Year! For us, the last few months have brought wild weather. Flooding, hurricane force winds, and now snow and a deep freeze thanks to an Arctic Blast coming down our way from Canada. The dogs don't seem to mind in the slightest. Odd as it may seem to those of you living in flatter parts of the country, we have so much snow that we can't get up to the hills for sledding until the roads are in a bit better condition. fingers crossed though that we'll get in some good sledding this season since we have a heck of a snow pack already.

Congratulations to the upcoming Laughing Mountain Litter Mary Berg Malkiel and Andy Malkiel of Boulder, Colorado expect a litter due in early February from the breeding of Ch. PR Hurricane Freyja Rain and Ch. PR Springcreek's Lambeau Leap (Brett). As Freyja's co owner and Brett's "great-grand-breeder" (Brett's grandsire was my Thunder), I'm excited to see the pups. Mary is accepting applications for pups. If you're interested, please fill out this application and forward it to her at LaughingMountain@comcast.net. A Laughing Mountain website is in the works so check back for updates.

The house is so quiet now. The Big Dog puppies have all left for their new homes, the Granite Hill pups who ventured out West with John and Leslie Donais are in their new homes, and Hurricane Taigi Rain has finally made it to his forever home in Edmonton, Alberta. That leaves just Taaku, Taga, and Lolo here. After months of puppies zooming around the house, it seems just a bit too quiet. Pups from the Big Dog Litter are now living in Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, British Columbia (both Victoria and the Vancouver suburbs), and here in the Seattle area. The Granite Hill cousins -- Granite Hill Ruby of Rain and Granite Hill Enatai Rain -- are living in Idaho and Oregon respectively. I think that I like this quiet though and may see how long it can last. Taking care of just three dogs after raising a litter seems like a piece of cake.

Visit the Rain Mountain News Archives for 2005