At Christmas 2001 four Chinooks called Rain Mountain home from left to right: Ladybug, Klickitat,
Thunder, and Holly.  Ladybug has since retired from life as a show dog and brood bitch and joined the
family of Ron and Susan Schoener of Seven Lakes Chinooks. I'm VERY proud that Klickitat is
a working service dog for Florence Rainey in Maryland. Thunder and Holly both passed away
during 2005 though I now live with Thunder's son, his granddaughter, and a granddaughter of Holly's.

Over the years, many Chinooks have called Rain Mountain home.  Some were born here, some came to visit for just a short time, some have stayed forever.  Every one of them has been unique, loving, and taught me a great deal about canines in general, the unique characteristics of Chinooks, and a bit about myself.  With every year, I find myself growing more patient, more observant of body language, and better able to convey my thoughts without words.  What some may see as an excessive amount of talking to myself, I consider simple family conversation with my non-human family members.  

As I've said before, I have your normal suburban home, a day job that pays the bills, and family responsibilities.  There's only so much space and time.  Chinooks do best with a lot of individual attention and I'm limited by county law as to how many dogs I can have.  Hence many of the dogs you'll meet here live with my friends.  Some of these people weren't my friends originally but as I tell them, when they get a pup from me, they get me as their friend -- whether they want me or not.

People occasionally ask me, "How many dogs do you own?"  That's not an easy question to answer though my typical response is "three slept at my house last night."

If that response confuses you as well, let me explain.  Owning dogs is one thing and living with them is something totally different.  I co own a lot of dogs that don't live here.  I live with and have sole ownership of just a few.  There is the occasional visitor here for breeding or special vet care, a pup that is getting a good start in life until the perfect home is found, or the rare rescue dog, but most of the time the daily inhabitants are the core group below.

I wish I could have more dogs but my life right now just doesn't allow for that.  I work for a living and my primary office is here in my home with the dogs and my cat as my office staff.  I have quite a few other hobbies in addition to the dogs too so I like to have time for those activities -- gardening, crafts, reading, making Christmas and other seasonal wreaths to give as gifts, and cooking.  Early in my career as a breeder, I learned from a mentor that I don't have to keep every pup I breed nor do I need to own a pup of every bloodline.  Later Cindy Cooke, former Vice President of the United Kennel Club, Deleagate to the AKC, and part of Anstamm Scottish Terriers put a name to this -- Satellite Breeding.  Dogs are placed in homes where they are valuable family pets and companions yet they are still part of our breeding program.  Chinooks are not good kennel dogs so this lets each of them get the attention it deserves.  Before I can live with more than my core group everyday, I need to win the lottery so I can have a large house filled with Chinooks and a full staff of servants to wait on their every need.

If you're interested in all the various dogs that carry the Rain Mountain name or from other kennels that have Rain Mountain in their background, check out Over the Generations.

	Taaku is our Prom Queen and took over as leader of the Rain Mountain pack after Holly passed away.  She's very busy and usually wiggling but always willing to flop on her back for a belly rub.  She became UWP Grand Ch. PR Rain Mountain Kutaan Taaku CGC at a very young age and is now working on a weight pull title.  Taaku has that certain confidence I find in the dogs who have been born here.  Taaku added to litters to the Rain Mountain history, one in May of 2005 and her second and final litter in October of 2006.
	Ch. PR BrownStone Lolo Kumtux of Rain CGC is one of those especially-loving Chinooks.  Lolo has a child-like innocence though showed great maturity in helping take care of Taaku's litters once Taaku weaned them.  She was quite flashy in the ring; earning her championship with ease despite tough competition.  Lolo has beautiful structure and one of the strongest fronts I've seen.  She showed great promise in harness until a badly broken leg in January of 2006.  Though she healed well, the plate on her leg altered her gait just slightly so that she now does only limited pulling and showing.  She will always own a big piece of my heart though and has begun her career as a brood bitch.
	Though I was sad when Thunder passed away in March of 2005, he left a legacy.  Taataga (PR Rain Mountain Tonasket Legacy, CGC) and his siblings were born mere weeks after Thunder died.  Taga is my joy each and every day.  He's truly a good boy.  He loves going to training classes, does his best to do everything I ask of him, and loves every human and dog he meets.  Like his father, he's my boon companion and I can't iomagine life without him.  He has just begun his career as Stud Muffin of Rain Mountain.
	After many years of lusting, planning, and waiting, Buck (Balsam Ridge Okanogan Rain) joined the household in April of 2007.  He walked in the door and made himself at home in less than a minute.  Though I have high hopes for his future, for now we're only concentrating on house training.  Buck comes from the well respected Balsam Ridge Chinooks of Ann Eakin and Syd Craig in Massachusetts.
	Rory is Chairman of the Board.  I know that he's a Maine Coon Cat but that has never quite sunk in to his mischievous kitty brain.   He too has a formal name -- Dar Morev Rory of Rain-- but he gets called many other things, mostly unprintable, since he's usually up to trouble of some sort, starting with dive bombing innocent sleeping dogs and getting worse from there.  At any moment he appears from nowhere and announce all 18 pounds of himself by leaping to the top of my high-backed chair.  By the time recover, he's laughing at me from his perch despite the fact that I did not laugh at him this morning when he missed while trying to jump onto the bathroom counter.  Cats refuse to acknowledge embarrassment.