Four-month-old male puppy available

Well, we had a puppy buyer simply vanish into thin air on us, so Slate, a lovely blue fawn male, is available from the Julliet and Blue litter. He is a sweet boy, middle-of-the-road temperament, well on his way to being housetrained. We're also working with him on crate and leash-training. There are advantages to buying an older puppy!

He's had all the vaccinations appropriate for his age and is healthy and playful. If you're interested in buying Slate, check out our price and guarantee page (which also tells you a little about our breeding goals) and fill out our puppy questionnaire and give me a call at 540-464-8046. We don't ship and he's too big to fit under a seat to fly home, so his new owner will have to drive to pick him up. We're located about an hour north of Roanoke, VA at the intersection of I-81 and I-64.

We don't have many hard-and-fast rules about our owners -- we think that good dog homes come in lots of shapes and sizes. The one thing that 's nonnegotiable is that we don't want one of our pups left alone all day. Little puppies need interaction and a couple of hours in the evening after work just aren't enough. Besides, I can't imagine coming home to a wound-up, lonely puppy who wants to kiss-kiss-kiss, play-play-play while I'm trying to clean up the mess he made all day! If no one is home during most of the day, we suggest an adult whippet and will be happy to help you find one (Yes, an adult whippet will bond with you. This is the original love-the-one-you're-with breed!)

We like to stay in touch with all our owners. The Timbrebluepups email list is restricted to Timbreblue and Marnay whippet owners and is a fairly busy group. People swap stories, problems, and photos and we've really developed into an extended family over the years. Once a year, we have a whippet reunion, where the people who have gotten to know each other via email get to meet in person...or get reacquainted from the previous year. Some years there are well over 60 whippets and their owners, and this year, even in the pouring rain we had 40! Needless to say, it's the high point of my year and, I understand, for many of the Timbreblue owners as well!

Available: The Amazing Alexis

Alex just might be the smartest whippet puppy we've ever had here at Timbreblue and she's looking for a home that's a good fit for her.

Alex was bred by our friend Jo Pelton and we helped her find the pup a home with a couple in Waynesboro, Virginia, last summer. But Alex turned out to be a lot more puppy than her people could handle. Though Jo and I both worked with them to help them deal with her, it became apparent that, although they were a great home and Alex is a great whippet, it was just a bad match. They are an older couple who had not had a dog in years and Alex, it turned out, was an awfully smart, awfully active puppy! When it became obvious that Alex needed to go back to her breeder, though, Jo was in the hospital having some knee surgery, so Walt and I offered to take Alex back here. Her father, after all, was our Aero, so we have some responsibility for her too.

Alex has turned out to be an absolutely delightful and entertaining temporary addition to our household. Okay, the truth is, we have been enjoying her so much that we have been remiss in trying to find her a new home. But she needs and deserves her own family, so she is now officially a whippet in need of a home.

First, the basics. Alex is a red and white female whippet, born last April. Her bloodline is pure Appraxin -- her father is Appraxin Aero, who came to live with us shortly after he fathered this litter. She's about medium sized for a whippet, maybe a bit smaller framed, though she's going through a lanky stage right now. She looks very feminine, but Alex is a tough little tomboy who will take on anything.

She's well housebroken, crate trained, and leash trained, and she knows a few obedience commands. This is a bright little girl who can learn anything she wants to!

She's a little shy when she first meets someone and has not been exposed to children. When she saw my grandchildren at Thanksgiving, she barked at them, but I think she would do better with older children. She had just never seen people that short before!

When I asked Walt what words he would use to describe Alex, he said, "Intelligent...active... funny...troublemaker..." I agreed. We have had more fun with this little girl than we've ever had with a "foster"whippet, and if we didn't have seven (eight? I forget) whippets already, we'd be hard pressed to let her go at all.

The main reason we haven't been actively trying to place her is that she really needs a very special owner who will appreciate her intelligence and drive. I have never known a whippet who could figure things out as quickly as Alex. She can open her crate from the outside (we keep a clip on it when she's in it to keep her from opening from the inside!) and often does so when she wants a drink of water or a toy she left. She would excel at obedience training, agility, and probably lure coursing...anything that will keep her busy.

Alex is also extremely affectionate. She loves to drape herself over your shoulders or just plop herself down in your lap. I woke up from a nap on the sofa one day to find her wrapped around my neck like a mink stole. She often props herself up in the corner of the sofa, hind legs extended straight out and front legs crossed, almost as if she is imitating a human. This puppy has made us laugh more than any dog we have ever owned, and that's saying a lot when you've had as many whippets as we have!

If you need a best friend who is willing to go anywhere and do anything with you, a dog who is eager to learn and loves to try new things, Alex may be your puppy. Give me a call at 540-464-8046. There are more pictures of her at our Picasa site.