All the Girls I've Loved Before

My sweet Diamond, at home with the Kyzers

(F)Annie loved now by the Lantzys

I've been feeling a little blue tonight, trying to organize photos on my computer and seeing again all the sweet whippet faces from our past. The hardest part of being a breeder is knowing you have to let go. You simply cannot keep all the dogs you want to unless you're willing to have a kennel (which I am not -- we are housedogs-only people). For one thing, if you have more than a certain number, they don't all get enough attention.

So the hard part: You keep a little girl puppy from a promising litter and you love her and put all your hopes in her. She grows up to be everything you wanted, so eventually you find Mr. Perfect for her and breed her. She has a beautiful litter and is a wonderful mother. You breed her maybe a couple more times, and then she's retired from the whelping box to the sofa. Meanwhile, of course, you've kept a pup from each litter, so there's four dogs right there. And then there's Grandma and Great-Grandma and....you see where I'm going with this. At some point you have to say, "What is best for the dog? Not for my heart, because I would keep every one if I asked my heart. But for the dog."

And naughty Candy, loved in spite of herself by the Verdus

We never look for homes for our older girls. I could never say, "Okay, we're going to let this one go." But someday a perfect home will show up. Often it's someone who already owns one of our pups and I know for sure the home will be perfect. And then it's time. And lord, does it hurt.

But you know what makes it okay? We have a reunion every year and most of my girls come to that. And I see them so happy with their new families, where each girl is one of two or three or maybe even an "only child."  They are always excited to see me and it means the world to me. But what makes me happiest is seeing them turn back to their new families as if to say, "Yeah, I remember you and we had some good times, but hey, these are my new folks!" 

Some, of course, will never leave. But the ones who do take a little piece of my heart with them. And I am so very grateful to the people who love them so well.

Someday in the not-too-distant future, Walt and I will give up breeding and I'll be able to keep all my dogs into their old age. But until then, thank you, Timbreblue family members, for giving your hearts to my girls.

Sharyn

Happy Easter everyone!

We'd like to wish you and yours a happy Easter!

Ivy makes her mark

Ivy has been sleeping in the laundry basket outside Sharyn & Walt's room for several years now. It's "her place" and it's sacred. She also insists (with a firm bark) that Sharyn cover her up with a blankie before bed.

Kevin Harris, owner of Tango, who is Juliet's litter sister from the Candy and Arthur phonetics litter, sent this today: "For the past couple of years now I have begun to notice certain things about Tango's behavior which seem to be very close or identical to some of the things her grandmother, Ivy, does. Well today she just took the cake and now I am 100% certain that Ivy has been coaching Tango whenever there's a reunion.

I came upstairs this afternoon and found Tango in the hall outside my bedroom...in the last place I thought I'd ever find Tango...see photo. (It's a bad photo - mainly because I rushed to take it with my iPhone and I was laughing)

The circle is complete!"

You can definitely see the Ivy in her kids and grandkids and great-grands!

What is fridge poetry?

Someone asked me what that means -- sorry, I didn't realize it wasn't a familiar term to everyone. Several years ago, some company came out with little boxes of random words printed on magnets. You put them on the fridge and arrange them into "poems" -- pretty limited poems since you have to work with the words you have! Anyway, a friend gave me the "dog poetry" box a few years ago and since then our fridge has become a repository for bad dog poetry, created mostly by me, though Walt moves a few pieces sometimes. All the poems have a story --- the one I posted yesterday was about the day Ivy finally got fed up with German Shepherd puppy Dallas and bit his leg. Following is our favorite.

Dogs poop and pee
Who did this?
Beg, smile, wag
No food for you
Dirty butt mutt.

Okay, like I said it is bad poetry  But it's fun.

Sharyn

Refrigerator Poetry

Morning run gambol
Chase tail
Happy play
Growl
Bite leg
Mean bitch.
Vet now.

Puppies available in Virginia

Mimi

These two lovely fawn girls were bred by Jo Pelton and have come to visit us in Lexington, Virginia, for awhile. They're 12 weeks old, up to date on shots and worming, and the sweetest little things I've seen in a long time. All I can say is, someone better come for them soon or I'm keeping them! Their daddy is Yvonne Sovereign's Myles Ch Sowagla Quick Silver To Taejaan and I'll post info about their mama tomorrow (it's in the car).

Elsa

They are, of course, AKC registered, and come with pedigree, health records, toys, chewies, and everything else they'll need to get started.

Puppies this age do best with someone home most of the day for the first few months, especially if there are no other dogs to keep them company.

Although these are not technically Timbreblue puppies, they are closely related to our lines and come with full Timbreblue family support!  (Jo Pelton is a dear friend, and as I mentioned, I have already gotten very attached to these little girls, so we'll want to keep up with them as if they were our own breeding)

 If you're interested in one of these girls, fill out our questionnaire and give me a call at 540-464-8046 or send us an email

Sharyn

Granny Ivy and Siren visit Timbreblue South

Granny Ivy and her great-great-granddaughter Siren visited Timbreblue South to see Rini, Fiona (Rini's daughter), Henry (Sporting Fields Move On) and Chase.

We celebrated Ivy's placements in Veterans and Veterans Sweeps at the American Whippet Club national specialty last week, and Henry's grandson's going WD/BOW over some amazing competition. The grass is turning green and the flowers are blooming here in South Carolina.

Puppies available in Virginia

Our good friend Jo Pelton, whose dogs are related to the Timbreblues via the Appraxin line, has three female puppies available in Virginia.

One puppy is fawn, one is fawn with a black mask, and one is blue fawn. They're lovely puppies and they are grandpups of our Blue. The puppies are now 11 weeks old. If you're interested, you can email us at inquiries@timbreblue.com