Placing Adult Whippets

Because we seem to get a lot of traffic on this blog (Lord knows why--we are not exactly great at keeping it current, though we're always striving to do better!) we're sometimes contacted by people looking to find excellent homes for their beloved whippets. There are many reasons people have to give up dogs and until you've walked in a whole lot of moccasins, it's best not to second guess them.

Life does not always work out exactly the way we've planned and sometimes it is better for the dog to go on to a second chapter in his life. Having rehomed a number of adult dogs, I know the pain and guilt involved, but I can say every dog we've let go to another home has ended up happy, spoiled rotten, with just as good (or better!) care than he or she got here. As hard as it is, I have never regretted it. I've missed the dogs, and still do, but I know I made the decision that was best for the animal, if not for my broken heart.

These past couple of weeks, we've learned about several older dogs looking for retirement homes. The oldest of these dogs is ten, and they all still have life to live and love to give. My Ivy lived to five days short of 16, and up until two days before she died, was playing with her toys, running ahead of me on walks, and in general, running the household. Most whippets live to 12 - 14 at least and many make it longer than that with a good quality life.

Older dogs are easier to live with than puppies, you don't have the whole housetraining issue, they're already leash trained, crate trained, over the carsickness...in short, as Walt says frequently, "If people knew about old dogs, we wouldn't be able to give puppies away!" Mature dogs are especially good for people who think they want a whippet but aren't ready to commit to a puppy or for someone looking for a companion for another whippet.

And you would be amazed at how quickly they bond to you. Whippets are the original "love the one you're with" breed!

Join us on Facebook!

If you enjoy social media, did you know that there is an entire group on Facebook devoted to Timbreblue Whippets and friends? We have our official page here: https://www.facebook.com/TimbreblueWhippets -- but we ALSO have an informal group for discussions and sharing photos and stories, asking for advice, and general chit-chat.

The group is "closed" just to protect the privacy of our members from search engines -- anyone is welcome to join, just click the button to join the group and either Jo or Sharyn will approve your request asap so you can join the conversation! The Timbreblue Group on Facebook is located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/timbreblue/

Why girlz rool (ghost-written for Rini)

On this blog there have been a number of posts about how awesome the whippet boys are, how sweet, how cuddly, and how they obey better. Well Rini wants the record set straight about whippet girls. Yes, they are manipulative and cunning ... but that is because they are SMART. Whippet girls can figure out English words and put together complex situations like "at around 7pm Mom looks at Dad and says 'Well...OK...' which means that it is dinner time and she is about to feed us" so the GIRL whippets go nuts! The boys are clueless.

Yes, the boys are cuddly, and they are more likely to curl up in your lap or follow you from room to room. But if your GIRL whippet believes that you may have a treat in store or something she might be interested in, she is not going to leave your side!

Girl whippets learn obedience lessons faster, and how to break the rules faster. They may learn faster, but they get bored faster, which keeps you on your toes -- a good thing, right??

Girl whippets will cuddle on your pillow all night with you. They will love you to the ends of the earth. Especially if it means you might share a midnight snack with them.

Who could resist this face?

I actually had to change up my evening routine because of Miss Rini. She learned that after dinner I was likely to hand out chewies if she came to me and oh-so-sweetly put her paw on my lap. It was sooooo cute! And I would respond by going to get chewies for everyone -- Rini first of course!

Once I realized I was being played like a harp, I started skipping a day or two of chewies, to keep her guessing. She soon figured out that I could go a day or two with no chewie-handout, but beyond that I was powerless to her charms. So she REALLY turns it on during day three. She climbs in my lap, gives me kisses, drapes herself on me, and she KNOWS that I will break down.

Boys may be awesome, but girl whippets know the secret code to your heart. Be warned. =)

Bad genes

Last week I attended a seminar called "The Purebred Paradox." Deciding to go was difficult, not because of the subject matter (genetic defects in purebred dogs) but because it was being hosted by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a hardcore animal rights organization whose legislation I spend every winter fighting in Richmond.

Baby Jenny (Miranda) in 2008

But I'm legislative liaison for the Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders (VFDCB) as well as being an AKC delegate for the Shenandoah Valley Kennel Club and I felt we needed to know what was said and done at this meeting. AKC did not participate, by choice, which was the right decision. But some of us needed to be there. The VFDCB paid registration fees for Alice Harrington (my co-legislative liaison) and me to go. I'm glad we went.

There are other places on the web where you can read more about the conference (Google Purebred Paradox and Pedigree Dogs Exposed) but I will say I came away from it awfully glad that whippets are my breed of choice (they are mostly healthy) and that Walt and I made the leap to outcrossing as opposed to linebreeding years ago.Linebreeding is the practice of breeding fairly close relatives to "set" the good genes. Trouble is, it often also "sets" the bad genes. 

Abita (Rosalind) in 2008

Many breeders are going to have a hard time with that recommendation, but it was made by every non-breeder scientist and veterinarian on the panel. We all learned at our mentors' knees that good breeders linebreed consistently and outcross only occasionally. Walt and I spent many hours studying and discussing this practice and about five years ago made the commitment to breed, as far as possible, to unrelated dogs. Of course, all whippets are related if you go far enough back, but we try not to have names repeated in five generations. We're not always successful, but we work at it and we do believe it's the right thing to do.

Another suggestion from the conference was not to use "popular sires," which are the top-winning dogs that "everyone" is breeding to. That's because if it is later determined that that dog is carrying a genetic disease, there will be nowhere to go to breed away from it if he is in all the pedigrees. That has already happened in whippets, with the mitral valve disease problem. Though I would be hesitant to blame one dog, it's true that nearly every dog with MVD traces his lineage back to the same bloodline.

Bacchus (Falstaff) in 2008

We were also warned against breeding for extremes when they affect health and soundness (the flat faces of the bulldog and Pekes, the sloping topline of the German shepherd dog, the heavily wrinkled faces of the Shar-pei and bloodhound). And there are many breeds that routinely die of cancer at a young age.

The AKC Canine Health Foundation and the parent clubs are working on these problems, or at least the health-related ones. I don't know whether there is a discussion to stop the German shepherd from moving like a Tennessee Walking Horse, but I hope there is.

The Whippet Health Foundation is conducting a years-long study of mitral valve disease in whippets. Whenever you feel inclined to give, consider donating to them.

Lots to think about!

Sharyn

Musings on nicknames

Rini

Siren

We have a pup named Siren. (Her registered name is Timbreblue Drives Too Fast)  Siren is not hard to say. So how come I find  myself calling her Si-renny or Si-Si or Rennie? "Sigh" seems sort of sad but I've used that too. For awhile I called her Ren, but then I realized that among our pups from about that same generation, we have a Rainey, a Rini, and a Riri (pronounced ree-ree). I guess I will have to break down and just stick with Siren. If I can.

What is it that makes us give dogs nicknames in addition to their call names? Walt calls most of our dogs by their real names, but I tend to use:

Ivy --- Ivy-Divy or Ivers or Ives
Blue -- Blue-boo
Party -- Party Girl
Juliet -- Ju-ju bean
Chippy -- Chipster
Devon -- Devvie
Dallas -- D-Dog or Big D
Kara -- Karoo
Katie -- Katydid

I don't really understand it since most of the nicknames are actually longer than the call names. Isn't it just as easy to say Dallas as Big D?

When my daughter was born, we (for some reason) decided we wanted her called Johannah instead of any of the usual nicknames. I carefully wrote out "Johannah" on everything that went to daycare with her, But since we didn't give them a nickname to call her, she became Jo-Jo, which I thought sounded a bit monkeyish. So we started calling her Joey to combat that. Of course once she started school, she decided that was a boy's name and informed her teachers she wanted to be called Margaret, which was her first name.  We still called her Joey at home. She settled on Jo eventually but her family was slower to catch on,.

One day when they were in high school, my son Travis (Trav or T) answered the phone. "You have the wrong number." When he hung up, he said, "Some guy wanted Joe." Johannah happened to be in the room and wailed, "Nooooo! He asked for Jo!" Fortunately for her, the boy did call back and thus began her longest high school romance. She is now Johannah or Jo.

I'd better get back to the girls -- the Chipmeister and Ivy-Divy-Dabber-Do need pedicures.

Sharyn

Rainey

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

Why would you compete in agility with a whippet??

A few of our owners have run into the question, "Why would you do agility (or obedience or rally or whatever) with a whippet? The whippet isn't the easiest dog to train, he's not always cooperative, and he's eager to please the owner only when the action also pleases himself. But whippets can do well in agility and obedience and rally. It just takes a little more time and patience to train them. 


I figured out a couple of years ago that there are two types of competitors in dog events: those for whom the competition is the Thing and those for whom the dogs are the Thing. 

For people who are devoted to the Competition, it makes sense for them to get the very best dogs they can for the specific competition. That's where most (not all) of the Border collie people come from in obedience, agility, etc. If one dog doesn't get him to the goal, this person is likely to replace the dog with a more competitive one. 


I used to think this was a bad thing to do, but I've changed my mind. As long as the first dog is going to a home where he'll be adored for what he CAN do or IS, then he's better off than he would be with someone who is disappointed in him. There's not really any difference between those folks and the ones who show/breed dogs and "grow out" a puppy -- if she doesn't turn out to be breeding or show quality, it makes sense to let her go to a great home where she will be the most beautiful, perfect dog in the world! (It's very hard on the first owner, by the way, but it's best for the dog)


Then there are the people who have a dog and are looking for something to do with him. These people may be serious competitors, but they're not really expecting to be number one in the country at the sport. They don't usually care if they don't place in the ribbons (okay, so they may be disappointed, but it's not the end of the world) For these people, the Dog is the Thing and they would no more consider replacing a whippet with a Border collie just to win any more than they'd consider standing on their heads naked on New Year's Day. In the middle of Times Square. When it's snowing. 


Someone who is dead set and determined to make it to the World Agility Open is not going to get a sighthound to begin with! That's not to say a sighthound couldn't do it, but it would sure be a lot easier with a Border collie, a Sheltie, or a Jack Russell. THESE are the people who say, "Why would you do agility with a sighthound?" They assume that the Competition is the Thing for everyone. They don't mean any harm. They just don't get it. 


I've also met people who actually choose their breeds because it's easier to win with one of them in conformation showing. Whippets are difficult to finish championships on -- which is why we make such a big deal about it when someone actually gets points on one! That's because as show dogs, they are fairly popular. 

As a matter of fact, in this part of the country, a whippet is the 11th hardest breed to get a major on. (Winning a major essentially means you've beaten a lot of other dogs, not just a few, in a specific show.) It takes 12 females for three points. That's more than all other breeds except Labs, Goldens, Danes, Boxers, Shelties, Welsh Corgis, Papillons, Rottweilers, Pugs, and Bulldogs. Whoda thunk? The point system is based on the number of dogs of a breed typically being shown in an area. So the breeds above, plus whippets, are the dogs shown by the most people around here. It's similar in most of the rest of the country. Which means the most popular show dogs are not necessarily the most popular pets. The top five pets include Labs and Goldens, but also German Shepherds, Yorkies, and Beagles, which are not among the most popular dogs to show. 


But back to the matter at hand. Most of us compete because we want something to do with the dogs we already have and love.  And win or lose, we go home with the dog we brought to the dance..


And by the way, another congratulations to our Ashley (above) owned by Bobbie and Fred Lutz. That would be CH, UGRCH, URO2, UAGII, Timbreblue Windrydr Biker Girl, CD, SC, RA, NA, NAJ, NAP, NJP, FCH, CGC, TT. Obviously, it can be done!