Slate is Going Home and We Have PUPPIES!!!

Slate has found a wonderful new family in Richmond, Virginia, and will be leaving this Friday to live with two greyhounds. If he does not drive them completely crazy (they are older dogs) I'm sure this home will work out for him. Very committed dog owners.

And Chippy -- Timbreblue Goes With Sailors -- had a litter of nine last Saturday (a week ago) by our lovely Blue -- Appraxin Amulet Avant Garde.
She actually had eight on her own, required a c-section for the last two -- one of them was dead. It was not an easy delivery, but she is a real trouper and a great mom. And we have colors you wouldn't believe, blue and white parti, black and white, black, fawn, fawn brindle, blue brindle, and red brindle. Four males, five females.

One of the little girls was really little -- 7 ounces as opposed to the rest of them being 11-14 ounces. She's not nursing, so we're tube feeding her every two hours around the clock. She also gets oxygen and is on Amoxicillin for some pneumonia she picked up, but I think -- pray -- we have turned the corner and little Kara will make it. She's up to 9.4 ounces now. It worries me that she got no colostrum from her mother's milk, but we'll have to take it a day at a time.

Fortunately our daughter Johannah came up from South Carolina to help -- she is Chippy's co-owner and Chippy lives with her most of the time. She was a godsend, as this has been exhausting. And Juliet's pups are due in a few days! Read the next post to see how a breeder can end up with two litters at once when it's not really the plan.

We have quite a long waiting list for these pups, but since it appears we're going to have a whole bunch more, there will probably be some still available to excellent homes. If you are interested, join the Timbreblue Pupwatch email group for updates on the litters and fill out our questionnaire at our website. You'll find everything you need to know about us there, including our price and guarantee on puppies, what we look for in homes for our pups, our breeding philosophy and more. If you have further questions, call me at 540-464-8046,

Slate Needs A New Family!

Slate, from the Gemstone litter, came back to us a few weeks ago and is now ready for a new home. His owner was a young woman who lived in an apartment and Slate apparently really didn't like being the only dog. He is a sweet, rather easygoing fellow, but when he was left alone in his crate, even for just a few hours, he announced his unhappiness to the surrounding apartment dwellers and even managed to get out of his crate!

Here, he has stayed quietly in his crate for varying times as I tried to reconstruct the problem so we could deal with it.The only time he cries is when he is left alone, without other dogs, and then it doesn't matter whether he is loose in the room or crated. So it's not the crate, it's the loneliness! I suspect this is because he stayed with us till he was almost five months old. They usually leave at ten weeks, but Slate's new owner was not able to take him then, so we held him for her. He became accustomed to always having other dogs around and I think he is just not going to be happy anywhere unless he has some canine company as well as an owner to love.

Slate is a lovely blue fawn boy, just turned eight months old. He's mostly well-mannered (which is the best you can say about any puppy if you're honest), crate-trained, housetrained, and leash trained. He's very, very affectionate and just likes to cuddle. He's a typical energetic whippet who needs to run a couple of times a day, but is happy between runs to hang out on the sofa.

The pictures are of him with his dad, Blue. Slate is the lighter one in the picture. He gets along very well with males and females and has met a number of other breeds. Like most whippets, he likes other sighthounds best, but I'm sure he would adjust to any friendly doggy roommate (he says especially if she's a girl!).

He is AKC registered, up to date on shots, and has a microchip. He still gets a little woozy in the car sometimes, but is growing out of the typical whippet-puppy-carsickness. He will need to be neutered around a year old. His parents were both health screened clear for eye problems and heart issues.

If you'd like to talk about whether Slate might be a good dog for you, please fill out our questionnaire and give me a call at 540-464-8046. Mornings and afternoons are best.

Older pups available in Florida

I thought I had posted these little cuties before, but I don't see them anywhere, so I guess I dreamed it! At any rate, these little girls belong to Ruby Sipper in Englewood, Florida (between Sarasota and Ft Myers) and are looking for homes. Each has a blue eye, which disqualifies them from the show ring (too bad -- they are gorgeous puppies!) but does not detract one little bit from their charm.

If you're interested in one of them -- I think they are in the six-months range) contact Ruby at srsipper@msn.com

Coursing with Lurchers

Yesterday I loaded up Aero and Katie to try a little coursing. It was a private party and I was coming as the friend of some invitees. Nellie, Betsy and I met up with Julie, her whippet Rio and Aussie Tansy and headed out. A couple of one-lane bridges and lots of windy roads later, we arrived at a gorgeous home in the country with a beautiful barn and acres of pastures.

The rest of the party attendees mostly had big dogs. Really big dogs. Turns out our host and hostess breed lurchers and most of these were their pups from over the years. I guess it's kind of like a Timbreblue reunion but open to more guests and other breeds (we limit ours to whippets because though they can be fairly bigoted about other breeds, whippets generally get along with each other.)

Lurchers are a purpose-bred mix of any sighthound breed with any herding breed, and they are

generally used to bring in game. Our hostess told me they wanted dogs who could take down larger game than rabbits. (I didn't tell her about Boo and the groundhogs and I don't think she believed my story about Django and the deer, but I let it go.)

Lure coursing is a competitive sport developed for sighthounds -- the hounds chase a white trash bag attached to a string on a pulley. The course goes through a big open field with various turns and ends up back at the lure machine. It is supposed to test a dog's instinct for chasing game, but most dogs who are taken lure coursing never do hunt live game. It's just a doggy sport these days. On this day, there was no competition. It was a private get-together of friends and their dogs. We had a lovely day relaxing in the field watching dogs run the lure and not run the lure. Nellie had her Border Collie Jeb, who spent the whole day "giving eye" to the plastic trash bags. When his turn came to run, he tried his best to herd them, and I guess he figured he did okay since they went back to where they started. He must have thought those were the smallest, fastest sheep ever.

Our vet tech friend Marlena showed up later with her Boston Terrier

Barley, who was so eager to run I thought he would have an asthma attack waiting for his turn! That little fellow could fly! Julie's Aussie would not run, but whippet Rio is a pro and we gave Katie a try teamed up with him. She was a little confused at first, but figured out quickly what to do and though she never caught Rio, she was no slacker.

Next we thought, well, if Katie knew what to do, maybe she would show Aero. Wrong. Julie helped me get them lined up, the lure took out, we let the dogs go, and they headed off at a dead run. In the wrong direction.

They'd apparently decided to go for a lengthy "free run" up at the house, where there was a kennel, a barn, lots of interesting smells, a few other people.... Well, you get the idea. Julie and I hiked up that way to call them back, but they were having none of it. I kept catching glimpses of them darting in and out of hedges and checking out the horse barn. Zip zip zip.

"Food Chick is calling us."

"Yeah."

"Shouldn't we go back?"

"Are you kidding??"

"We might get in trouble!"

"So what's she going to do, beat us?"

"Well, no, but she is going to be pretty mad."

"Nah. she's a pushover. She'll be so glad we didn't get hurt she'll forget she's mad."

"But--"

"Oh grow up, kid! We're whippets! We don't take no steenkin orders!"

A lady who was headed down to the coursing party helped us by blocking them off finally. Eventually Katie came dashing back to me, grinning from ear to ear, and not long after, Aero came looking for her and we managed to snag him too. Then the long walk back down to the coursing group.

That was it for Aero, though I promised him we would try again another day after my heart rate recovered from this time. And after he has had a few obedience lessons. While Katie had the decency to look a little guilty for not coming when I called, Aero didn't even look my way!

Aero has a history, you know. A few years ago when he belonged to Cal Perry, he was sold to a breeder in Ohio. En route to his new home, he overnighted in West Virginia and escaped. In spite of lots of people searching for him, he seemed to have disappeared. This was in December, I believe. He lived for two months on his own in the WV mountains in the dead of winter. Eventually he was found and recovered, though by then his new owner had changed her mind, so (lucky for me!) he went back to Cal's house. But let's just say I was not looking forward to calling Calvin and telling him that Aero was on the lam again!

Anyway, after the great adventure, we let Katie run again with Rio and she almost caught him this time! Jeb the Border Collie got to "herd" the bags a few more times, and an interesting dog called a Leopard Cur took a shot at it. She decided against it, however, and ran back to her mom.

After the sun began to go down we all retired to the house for drinks and a really good dinner. Katie and Aero curled up together and slept till I came back out and I think they would have quite happily slept in the car all night.

Lots of fun and it made me wish once again that we had some regular lure coursing closer to our house. Watching whippets doing what they are bred to do is an experience that anyone who loves the breed should have!

A Letter from Jake

We get phone calls and emails every day from our puppy owners, but very, very occasionally, we get one from a puppy himself. This one arrived today from Jake, formerly Tater of the Thanksgiving Litter. It sounds like he is proving that puppies are not for the faint of heart!

--------------------------------------------------

Hi,

Me don't know if I'm liken this or not.....momma said her was gonna send me to the outhouse...me don't know what that is???? I libe in a house and the only other house I remember is with gramma Sharyn and grandpa Walt.

Maybe Me should tell you how come momma is gonna send me there...Me was feelin' kindda like liddle...well almost everything here is greyhound supersized....Me was on the back porch with Rocky....Me likes Rocky, him doesn't tattle tail on me...he's not like Cody who tells momma everything me do's...ANy way Me decided to make the blue outside dog bed my size...it was lotsa fun! First Me took off the tag and that opened the bed up so me could start bitting off pieces of the foammie stuff...me was having fun bitting and throwing and making the bed just my size!

Momma peaked out to see how we were doing and ZOWieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee WOWieeeeeeeeeeeeeee me neber heard such a scarey noise...holy guacamole!!!!!!!!!! holy

crap!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whadda mouth my momma has! As her was pickin' up the foammie stuff her said her was gonna send me to the outhouse....some how me don't think me is gonna like it there!

Mom said that her didn't think me should be a mattress maker when me grows up...her liked it better when me was trimming the bushes out back last week...me not convinced that me wants to be a bush trimmer when me grows up so me will try something another time...me thinks me better give momma lotsa kisses before I try something else!

Jake

PuPpY PoWeR

Northeastern Pennsylvania

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from Timbreblue Whippets. Our Valentine whippet below is "Boo" with his owner Jeanne Ayers.

The Big Snow 2-6-10

Well, we didn't get as much snow as many people in Virginia, but the dogs have sure been enjoying it!

Aero airborne!

A race around the yard. From front to back, Alex, Katie, Slate, and Blue

Blue with four in the air!

Barnaby and Chippy taking a break

Slate has a home!

We're happy to report that Slate will be going to live in Virginia Beach with the Reyne family. Welcome to the Timbreblue family!

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.

Looking for a whippet?

I've been missing in action for awhile now, taking care of Juliet's litter of 11 puppies! Though we had them all placed by five weeks, one of our future owners has decided to wait for the next litter, so we have one male puppy (Jasper) available after all. We also have Alex, an eight month old red and white female available and Naydene Mitchell of Marnay Whippets in Chesapeake has a two-year-old male, Frosty Gator.

Jasper is a solid fawn with white tips and a white blaze in a charcoal face. He's a fairly laidback fellow as whippets go. He will be 12 weeks old Friday and is well on his way to being housetrained. All shots appropriate to his age, dewormed, AKC registered, microchipped, 100% guaranteed.

You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about us and this litter on the website. If you think you'd make a good home for Jasper, fill out our questionnaire and give me a call at 540-464-8046. Pictures of the puppies are on our Picasa site -- this is the Gemstone litter. Pictures of Juliet and Blue, the parents, are also there. Here are a couple of photos of Jasper taken recently. He's a typical whippet puppy, full of fun and trouble, but needs a relatively quiet home. Not a good one for rambunctious kids. He likes to take things a litter more slowly, but once he gets to know you, he's full of himself!

We do require that someone is home with the puppy for most of the day for the first few months and that you stay in touch to let us know how he is doing.

In addition to Jasper, we have a funny little girl named Alex, who has stolen everyone's heart who has met her. Alex is eight months old and was bred by a good friend of mine, Jo Pelton. When Alex's first home did not work out, I offered to bring her here for evaluation and rehoming since Jo was about to have surgery. Well, we have enjoyed Alex so much that I've really dropped the ball on trying to find her a new home, but it's time for us to let her find her real family.

Alex is a beautiful red and white girl. Her father is our Aero (pictures at the Picasa site. She is an exceptionally smart whippet, and extremely busy.

Alex needs a home where someone is home with her most of the time. She is so full of herself and full of life. I can't imagine leaving her in a crate all day, though she is well crate-trained, sleeps in one, and stays in one when we're not available to keep an eye on her.

And you do have to keep an eye on her or she will steal you blind. She's into everything, loves to chew up pens, pencils, books, paper, anything plastic, cell phones....you name it. But she's easily re-directable, and you just figure out what the Alex-targets are and put them away. She gets along very well with other dogs -- males and females, loves to run, but needs a fenced yard. We have a four-foot picket fence and she has never dug out or gone over it -- I've never even seen her try, but left alone in a yard and bored, she might -- she's a VERY social girl.

She is a little shy around new people and is not at all familiar with children -- my young grandchildren (one and three years old) were here this weekend and she barked at them until we had to put her away. I'm sure she would adjust and would probably make a great kid' dog, but it would take some training and desensitization. I don't believe she had ever seen a short person before this weekend!

She doesn't take long to warm up to people, and then she is all over you. She's doing better with manners and we're working with the leash training problem daily -- she only "hits the end of the lead" once a day or so now (and we take her out on a lead seven or eight times a day). Her only real behavior problem other than general puppy wildness is that she is food and toy aggressive with other dogs. Not people at all. I make it a point of taking her treats and chewies away regularly and if she planned to be snappy with people about it, she would have certainly done so with me. However, she's guardy with those things around other dogs, and that can be a problem with a dog who's not very laid back. All of our dogs tolerate the behavior except for Ivy, who tolerates nothing -- so we have no treats or chewies unless in the crate for the duration of her time here. She has been a great nanny for Juliet's litter and they have kept her busy for the past few weeks.

Alex has the cutest habits of any whippet I know. She loves to drape herself over your shoulders if you're sitting in a chair. Yesterday she was looking out the window over the back of the sofa, and she was sitting on Ivy's head (Ivy was sleeping on the sofa) She often leans on the back of a chair, sitting on her tailbone, with her back legs extended straight out in front of her and her front paws crossed in the air at about chest level. It's as if she is imitating a person sitting in a chair! She loves wearing her jammies, and when she is tired of them, takes them off herself. She can also open her crate from the outside...not from the inside yet, but we keep a clip on it just in case.

Alex is up to date on all shots and worming, but will need to be spayed.

If this sounds like your dream whippet, let me know -- we are looking for very special people for her and even though she is not officially Timbreblue, she and her owners will definitely be members of the family to us!

We don't ship and we do require that people come here so we can meet them and they can meet us before we place a pup. Our dogs can always, always come back here again if they need to for any reason.

And finally, if even eight months is too young for you, contact Naydene Mitchell about Frosty Gator, a Timbreblue great grandson. He's two years old and needs a home with no other male dogs. I'll get some pictures of him tomorrow too.

Reunion Update

The annual Timbreblue/Marnay Whippet reunion for our extended family is scheduled for this Saturday in Leesburg, VA, where the temperature will be around 40 and rain is predicted. We're still going and we'll have fun, dammit! We're going to bundle up ourselves and our whippets and we may spend the day snuggled with our whippets under the tent drinking hot cider and chocolate, but it's still on! We'll get there around ten and it will last until we all give up and go home! Sweatshirts saying "I survived the 2009 Timbreblue/Marnay Whippet Reunion" will be available next week!

Our celebrity whippets!

It was an exciting weekend for some of our family. Lucia and Conner (from Marnay -- great daughter and grandson of Ivy) won a place in the Smiling Dogs slideshow for The Bark magazine. They're the last photo in the slide show and are pictured with owner Vanessa and her friend Susan. Watch the whole slideshow -- it will definitely give you a lift!

And some of our New York contingent, Rebel, Simone, and Henry did a photo shoot for the Houndz in the Hood whippet clothing line. Really. Here is the Scintillating Simone, who belongs to our dear young friend Rachel of Brooklyn.

The Handsome Henry, owned by Rachel's mom Joy, apparently has become a real New Yorker. Here's a photo of him after he shopped till he dropped. The whippets were paid for their services in merchandise and are definitely going to be the best-dressed dogs on the streets of New York.

People who have managed to stick with this sometimes-blog may remember Rebel as Red, the shy boy who came to us from a breeder who was retiring. He had never been away from home in his eight years, and there were times I despaired of ever finding him just the right home. But Walt and I believe that with only a few exceptions, there is a home for every dog, so we just kept waiting and watching and working with Red here to develop his confidence.

Well, out of the clear blue came an email from Nance in Long Island who just loves working with dogs with problems! Boy, did I have a dog for her. The only trouble was getting him to her. And again Fate was kind. It happened that Joy and Rachel had brought Simone and Henry down to stay with us for awhile when they went to England. They agreed to take Red (now Rebel) back to New York with them when they picked up their crew. And you would never know Rebel as that same shy boy we had here. As Nance says, "Forget Fabian...there's a new stud in town!"

Congratulations to all our stars and an extra hug for Rebel. I always knew he had it in him to be a great dog!

Pickin' Puppies

A number of you have emailed asking how we determine who gets which puppy, so I thought I would respond here. If you are not on our waiting list and want to be. now's the time. We still have a couple of males available but there are a few people who are trying to decide, so those may be spoken for at any time. Also, we usually have one or more people whose plans change when time comes to take the puppies home -- new job, divorce, move, whatever -- so sometimes there's a puppy available at the last minute. Now: How do we match puppies to people, do you get to choose, etc.

If you pick a dog solely by the way it looks, the relationship runs the risk of working out about as badly as a marriage based solely on looks. We try to match puppies with homes where they will fit in best -- in other words, we don't place

a quiet puppy in a home with four kids or the rowdiest one in a home where the people just want a snuggle-pup.

That said, most of our whippets are fairly similar in temperament --- we're not going to come up with one as slow-moving as a St. Bernard puppy or as hyper as a Jack Russell. We hope not anyway. There's a range in each litter -- usually a big mouth, a pushy one, a quiet one, a whiner, a goodie two-shoes...the usual mix you get on any playground!

That does not mean you don't get to pick your puppy. We try to arrange it so that you have a choice and we certainly do our best to match you with the puppy you want. Here's how we do it:

-- Between two and three weeks (about now) we ask for deposits on the pups. That way we can be sure how many we actually have placed and can let anyone "wait-listed" know if there will be a puppy for him or her. The deposit is usually half the purchase price but if that's a problem, let me know. If for any reason you decide later you don't want one of our pups, you get the deposit back -- it is not intended to force anyone to take a puppy, just to give us a solid-as-possible count.

-- Also about now, we ask prospective owners to give us three or four choices. If you WERE going to base your selection on looks alone, which would you choose? (You are always welcome to change your choices later)

-- When the puppies are about six to seven weeks old, we start seeing distinct differences in temperament. Often there are one or two who are more reserved than the others, and though we immediately start giving them extra attention to bring them out, those will probably be the pups who should go to a quieter, more sedate home. There are always one or two "wild children" and we like to see them go to more dog-experienced homes, The temperaments we see at this age are not always how they end up, but they're usually close.

-- You'll find that usually your "rank" on the waiting list won't matter -- I'm always surprised at how few times the same puppy is wanted by two people. When it does happen, obviously we go by order on the list, but just because you end up last on the list doesn't mean you won't get the puppy you want!

-- We'll be talking with all of you throughout these last weeks to be sure everyone's happy.

-- We'll have a puppy party when they are seven weeks old -- that will be October 24 -- and all of you who are close enough are welcome to come meet all of the pups, Juliet and Blue, and us,

-- At eight weeks, we'll "evaluate" the puppies for show/breeding possibilities and decide which one, if any, will stay here. At that point, we'll get in touch with each of you and settle your choice.

-- They go home at ten weeks.

And you bring them back to the reunion every year!

I'll be talking to everyone "on the list" in the next week and in the meantime, feel free to call me at 540-464-8046. I'll be home most of today (Friday), gone Saturday, and home again after that.

Peepers!

The puppies' eyes are open! It's funny the difference that makes -- they turn from moles into actual little dogs. They're walking now too...well, lurching and staggering anyway, and I occasionally hear a little bark from them.

Mama Juliet has gone into full bore High Princess. She no longer gets in the box with them, but reclines on her big dog bed next to it. When they cry, she stares at me. During the night she

wakes me up by nudging me in the mouth with her cold, wet nose. Then I put about half of them out with her to nurse. When they are full and dozing off, I replace them with the other half. That way she doesn't have to deal with all of them at once. She says this is much more acceptable than having 11 at a time groping at her.

Everybody is still gaining weight and coming along beautifully. We have not had to supplement any of them, so I guess if Juliet needs a little "domestic help," I don't mind providing it!

The puppycam is on most of the time at Ustream -- the password is whippets. The camera doesn't cover the whole whelping box, but I do try to keep the camera aimed at the majority of the puppies. If you check it out and it's down, try back a little later. Ustream occasionally drops the connection. Now that the pups are up and

walking, it will be a little more interesting!

I have been so busy I haven't had much time to check in on the chatroom there, but I know some of you have been using it. I'm going to try to get over there Friday evening. It's at the same Ustream address.

I'll get two-week pictures of them tomorrow and will post the link.

We got puppies!

The pups were born Friday, September 4, all day long. Juliet was finally done at 2:45 pm after having started labor at 2:00 am. Needless to say, we were both exhausted.

Eleven puppies -- three girls, eight boys. We have several solid blues, some blue and white parti-colors, one black, and several mostly solid fawns, at least one fawn and white parti. (The colors are hard to pin down this early. There is one that I think is blue but might be fawn) All healthy and happy and so is mom.

I am taking them to the vet today for dewclaw removal and puppycam with chat will be back up at 6 pm. We're trying to keep it up most of 24 hours a day, with occasional downtime for technical difficulties. The address is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/timbreblue-whippets

and the password is whippets

Join us tonight at six! You can watch the cam just by signing in, but if you want to chat you'll have to set up a free U-stream account, which only takes a few minutes. They'll ask you to do it when you sign in, I think, or try to chat and they will definitely do it then.

Juliet's expecting ten or eleven pups!

The x-ray was today and our vet thinks she has ten or eleven pups. We're asking for ideas for litter themes ... let us know what you think in the comments. A few suggestions we have heard so far:

• Gemstones
  
  
• Trees
  
  
• Flowers
  
  
• Disney characters
  
  
• Care Bears
  
  
• Triple Crown Winners

Remember these are just litter names -- the new families have no obligation to keep these names once they go home.

Thanks in advance for your comments! We'll post a poll on our website in the next couple of days to find out what is the most popular theme idea.

-Johannah.

Update on Upcoming Litter

Juliet is widening daily. She certainly is happy though. Every morning she grabs her toy (favorite today is a big floppy white bunny) and runs around the house showing everyone her "new" toy. When Walt gets up, the whole routine starts again. She has her favorite comfort zones in every room: in the kitchen, it's a bed under the counter by Walt's feet; in the living room, it's Nathan's cuddle bed or my chair, when she can get it; in the "nursery" it's the giant smushy bed Johannah sent Ivy for Christmas. Juliet certainly seems to feel good for looking like a walrus!

We took down the whelping box yesterday for scrubbing and re-varnishing (should have been done after the last litter left it, but you know how those things go....I cleaned it and got it ready to take down and that was the end of it till yesterday.) Walt pressure-washed it and because it has been raining every day and night lately, took it to the basement to dry -- there is a dehumidifier down there. Probably tomorrow he will get the new varnish on and we'll reassemble it Monday or so.

I'll make an appointment for an xray for Juliet on Thursday or Friday. We always like to know how many puppies are there -- if she stops delivering them before they are all accounted for, we'll have to get her to the vet pronto. She looks veeeeery big, and considering that and the fact that she had a litter of 11 last time, I expect at least eight and possibly more.

I'm so glad she's happy -- we have had one or two who seemed simply miserable the last week or so, and I hate watching them try to get comfortable. Juliet just wags and smiles and flops down wherever there is a soft bed. She even still runs when I take her out for a walk, but not for very long!

I was a little concerned she might be upset about Henry and Simone, who came to stay with us for a couple of weeks while their owner Joy is in England, but she's completely unconcerned. We've had so many "boarders" this year that I don't think my dogs think twice about a new kid any more. She just waddled up, checked them out, and plopped back down, as if to say, "You'll pardon me if I'm not a very good hostess right now..." She didn't even mind when Simone took over the cuddle bed in the living room. She just made room for herself on the sofa next to Henry.

These puppies should have wonderful dispositions. Juliet is just Miss Congeniality around here and Blue, their daddy, is the most laid-back whippet we have. He just goes along to get along.

I had thought we would not have brindles -- from my reading, I thought you had to have one brindle parent to get brindles, but yesterday I talked to a woman in Illinois who bred a black to a fawn and got three brindles. Back to the genetics books... We have one on color genetics, so maybe I'll try it. I'd been using the web, but maybe I need to get more basic. It's been a long time since high school biology and the fruit flies.

We'll get the webcam up for a test run Sunday or Monday (I will be gone all day tomorrow) so we'll be ready to go when the action starts, More news as it develops!

Sharyn

The Timbreblue Reunion

The Timbreblue reunion is October 17th in Leesburg, VA. The following details are for our owners who plan to attend. If you don't have a Timbreblue puppy but would like to meet some whippets before you make up your mind about whether you want one, give me a call at 540-464-8046. Guests are welcome as long as arrangements are made ahead of time.

Since we have a number of people who are coming to their first reunion, I thought I'd do a little FAQ -- more information will follow as we get closer to October.

Q. Are the dogs are on or off-lead at the reunion? Do they race around constantly?

A. Most people allow them off lead but a few keep their dogs on leash for various reasons. That is entirely up to the owner. They all run when they first get there, and then it settles down. Since people arrive at different times, it's not quite the chaos you would expect. Okay, so there is a fair amount of chaos.

Q. How many whippets and people are there?

A. I expect we'll have in the neighborhood of 60-70 whippets this year, and enough people to give them rides to the reunion. Some people stay the whole time; others drop in for just awhile and leave, so the number is a bit fluid.

Q. Do the dogs ever fight?

A. Not so far. The main thing we have to watch is when suddenly all the dogs decide someone is "prey" and the whole crew takes off after him or her. Sometimes the dog playing prey is perfectly happy with it, but it makes me very nervous and we try to stop that kind of behavior right away. Before the reunion, I'll post some things to watch for that indicate an impending barroom brawl and tell you what to do about it. We do have "emergency dog fight kits" scattered about the area (more on that later) but have never had to use them.

Q. What if my dog is the worst-behaved one there?

A. I assure you that every person at the reunion will believe that his or her own dog is the worst one there. Like children, your dog will attempt to embarrass you by telling everyone there that

1) No, he has never been trained and has no idea of the definition of "come," "sit" "down," "get off that table," "drop that hotdog!" or any other command that doesn't fit in with his agenda at the time.

2) You never, ever feed him and if everyone at the picnic would give him ONE little snack, he might survive to the next reunion ("no begging" is also a concept they tend to forget at the reunion)

Remember we all have whippets and we all understand that they are perfect at home (well, after a year or two) but whippets in public.

Q. What if I am afraid to let my dog off-leash?

A. Obviously anyone who is uncomfortable with the dogs being off-leash should keep his or her whippet leashed and we will also have crates available for rests and time-outs (whether the people or whippets call for it!) I keep Ivy on a leash some of the time because she tends to be the fun police with her offspring.

Q. If the dogs don't run all the time, what do they do?

A. It really is a bit like a doggy cocktail party. Some of them work the crowd, some stick right with mom, and most do a mixture of the two. Candy and Juliet, I never see again till we get ready to leave -- they're too busy socializing. Some whippets are more social than others and either is normal. Diamond used to stay right under my feet the entire time we were there. She wasn't scared -- she just preferred to be with her mommy. Ivy is somewhat like that too, though she doesn't mind taking off after some rascal she sees having too much fun. (Thus the leash for her) There's often someone throwing a frisbee or ball, there are wading pools, but mostly, being whippets, they lounge around.

Q. What are the rules?

A. The reunion rules for whippets are simple: No fighting, no bullying, no humping. And believe me, that third one will be tried by about the half the dogs there, neutered and unneutered! It's just a natural doggy thing, but we correct it just like we would a child picking her nose. "It just doesn't look nice, dear. No one wants to see that."

Q. What if I don't see my dog is acting up?

A. We are all family and if someone else's dog is being obnoxious, it is perfectly okay to grab a collar and say, "You cut that out!" No one's feelings will be hurt. Every reunion has some bratty cousins that get corrected by each and every adult there at some point. We all keep an eye on our own but if there is a problem developing, whoever is closest should deal with it. (Note: It is not fair to deny ownership if your dog gets in trouble)

Q. Are there structured activities?

A. We've tried that, but I am just not good at gathering people up and getting anything organized. Professional dog trainers Bev Crawley and Karen Haynes are going to offer some (free) basic training lessons for anyone who wants them throughout the day. I also think we can talk Bev into doing a couple of freestyle dancing sessions for those of you wanting to learn some basic dance steps with your dogs!) so we're in the process of getting a separate area for that. We will have some door prizes....gate prizes? I'm hoping Fred and Bobbie Lutz will be there with one of their portable agility sets (for sale at http://www.agilitytools.com) so some folks can try a little of that too. We have a swap table for dog stuff you don't need any more and if any of you make things to sell (leashes, collars, coats, etc) you're welcome to set up a table.

Also anyone who wants to bring business cards or brochures or samples of whatever is welcome to consider this a business networking meeting as well. In the family we have personal trainers, artists, attorneys, interior designers, architects, CPAs, web designers, and all kinds of other things I can't think of right now. Fred Lutz might even sell you a damn fine Toyota while you're there. We distribute goody bags as people leave (which I forgot to do until most people had already left last year -- We need to put someone other than me in charge of remembering that!) and anyone is welcome to drop flyers or business cards into them. In the current economy, any networking you want to do is just fine.

Mostly we just eat and socialize and talk about how we really ought to do this twice a year!

Q. What do I bring?

A. Your dog, a leash, a bed for him or her, treats, and a covered dish. Suntan lotion and insect repellent if you need it. It will be October, and the club will provide some tables and tarps, but if some people want to bring a card table or two and one of those pop-up tarps, it would be very much appreciated. And bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on.

Q. What kind of food?

A. We'll get the food organized shortly -- we try to keep a running "menu" going so we don't end up with 25 desserts and no vegetables. (For some reason, that doesn't seem like a good idea to some people though I cannot imagine why not)

More later, and I'll upload some pictures too, to give you a better idea. And all this information will also be in your invitation -- I hope to get those out at the beginning of September.

-

Red still needs a home

Red is a beautiful, sweet, sensitive whippet who is looking for a home. He is eight years old and has been a kennel dog most of his life. Though he has never been mistreated or neglected, his experience range is limited, so he will require patience, time and love. He is adapting to house life very well, plays with toys and other dogs, and is extremely affectionate, though he doesn't seek out attention. (He's still learning that!) He is up to date on shots, heartworm and Lymes negative, neutered, and ready to go.

Red is leash and crate trained and would do better in a home with another dog or a human who is home most of the time. Although he is gentle, he has never been around children or cats, so I think a home with no cats and with older children or no children would probably be best. He's going to take some time and patience, so a busy household will not work out well. You'd need to have time to commit to him. I'd like him to stay within 200 miles of us (Lexington, VA, north of Roanoke) in case he does need to come back to us.

Although he's eight, he's in good health and should have several more good years to enjoy. He would be an ideal companion for an only-whippet of the female variety or for someone who for whatever reason is hesitant to make a 12-15 year commitment to a new pet.

As with any Timbreblue dog, Red can always come back here if for any reason his new home doesn't work out. All we're asking for him is $250 t0 cover his neuter, microchip, and associated vet costs.

If you know anyone with room in the heart and home for this guy, please let me know. He needs to get settled fairly soon.

Whippets and Toys

When Ivy is in a really good mood, she has to take a toy out to the bathroom with her. She can hold the toy (no matter how big it is) while peeing, but not while pooping. Her little game is to "forget" the toy, come flying back to the porch and stare at me, wagging her tail. I say, "IVY!! Where's the toy?" She turns around and either:

1) Flies back out to get it and bring it back or

2) Wags her tail harder till I say sternly, "You go get that toy!" THEN she flies out to get and and comes to a sliding stop against the front door.

One of the things I enjoy so much about whippets is their love of toys. I used to buy toys for the collies all the time and they never really played with them after about six months or so.

We finally had to replace the big cardboard box that'd been in the living room since Christmas. My friend Carol sent us a giant box of stuffed animals (I'm talking 2 1'2 foot square box here) Ivy and the Shakespeare litter opened it, I cut a more attractive opening, and we just let it stay here for awhile. Gracie liked to climb inside and sleep in it so we hated to move it. Then the Pelton puppies came and they decided the box itself was a great chew toy. Two days ago it finally fell apart and I replaced it with a big plastic box. Our living room has definitely lost a little of its...um, character, since the cardboard box is gone.

We go through a lot of stuffies around here. I keep a good supply in the living room and just a few in the dog room. The good ones have to stay in the living room or upstairs though because Candy and Juliet simply HAVE to have toys in their mouths when they go outside, and they generally forget to bring them back in. Which means when SinCin and Dallas go out, we have the Chainsaw Massacre out there. Part of the reason I try to clean the yard every day (and sometimes twice a day!) is to get the fluff out of the yard. SinCin (Lab/Chow) is amazing to watch. She picks up the toy, lies down with it delicately between her paws, and with one wrench of the jaws, rips its head off. Dallas will carry one around for awhile and sometimes even sleeps with one all night without destroying it, but it eventually falls prey to the German Shepherd Jaws.

Goodwill does a booming business with us. Fifty cents a stuffie, no matter the size. And ours like the almost-whippet-sized ones best.

The Timbreblue Toy Wars, where the toys never win.

Puppy Plans

Aero's puppies are all settled in their new homes and we are planning a litter of our own for late August. We've bred Blue to Juliet and (fingers crossed) due date should be in the neighborhood of August 30. I'm hoping for a real rainbow of colors with this litter. Juliet is fawn and white but both of her parents are brindle and white. She did produce a couple of blue brindles in her first litter, so we know she carries that gene. Blue has red, black, and steel blue in his pedigree, so there is just no telling what we'll get!