All those puppies! Or A Tail of Two Mamas

This post is from Walt, the other half of Timbreblue Virginia.

I'd like to explain how we wound up with the prospect of 22 whippet puppies. It's not routine for us -- our puppies are raised inside and underfoot, so that number is a daunting prospect!

A little bit about breeding:  You can breed dogs by having one each, male and female. However if you have a breeding program -- a plan, goals, a standard for success, and so on -- you'll probably need six to ten. A small-scale breeder might typically have:

1) Two females that are expected to be bred in the next year or in alternate years. Preferably not at the same time!

Katie growing up --->

2) Two more females that are too young -- we don't breed them before age two because kids having kids is bad for dogs too! These females are generally your own breeding and you want to live with them during their puppyhood and adolescence so you can see who and what they really are. Temperament? Health? Structure? Behavior around other dogs? Around younger puppies? Around people? Even when another breeder (selling you a dog) is absolutely honest, you cannot get equally detailed information. Mom is considered to be 60-75% of what you get

in a puppy, so choosing the right females is critical to success. 

3) Many breeders keep at least one male. You can (and we often do) pay a 'stud fee' to another breeder for use of a male you don't own, but owning them is the best way to get acquainted. And Dad does matter. We don't like to use males younger than six  because we want them to have a health track record.

Generally one should not, today, do breedings that would be illegal as human marriages, so breeding your own to your own is unwise unless you're able to maintain two or more distinct families ('lines'). Our two males came from Appraxin Kennels, and are only fairly distantly related to our girls. Genetic diversity is now critical to the survival of most breeds.

4) An older puppy or two that is being evaluated.

5) A rehome (from another breeder) awaiting placement, perhaps a puppy returned from your own program -- about one in twenty of ours comes back. Some of these dogs must wait for a specific sort of home, meaning they're here for several months. And like many other breeders, we do some rescue when needed, so there's usually an "extra mouth to feed" even if we didn't breed it!

6) Old folks who have retired but earned a permanent home with the breeder.

<----  Ivy

at 14 1/2  

We often place our adults (at great emotional expense) after their breeding days are done. Since they're among six, seven, or eight here, we feel our mamas deserve their own private sofas and to be one of just two or three in homes where they will be cherished as much as they are here. We do what's best for the dog, even though it hurts to let go. But there are some we cannot part with. They remain here to help bring up puppies and snuggle on the couch with us.  Ivy is the Queen Mother here. Party will also not be leaving,

So at a minimum, a hobby breeder with an ongoing program has six to feed, house, and pay vet bills for, year-round. Plus when you have a litter there'll be some number of puppies awaiting homes: We keep them to ten weeks minimum and it usually takes 12-15 weeks for all to leave.

<--- Our boy Blue

An average pet dog costs $500-1000/year to maintain, but breeding dogs require more of everything, including more vet care. Immediately before every breeding, a test of both animals for brucellosis -- the doggy STD, which, unfortunately can be caught from a toilet seat, or at least from non-sexual contact with other dogs. (It kills whole litters, sterilizes both adults, and can spread through all your dogs.) Also a 'breeding soundness' evaluation of the bitch. A c-section now and then -- average price $1000. Removal of dewclaws, and a pre-sale vet check for every puppy. Health screenings for whatever are the testable issues in the breed -- at least eyes and hearts for whippets. Plus whatever bad veterinary incidents happen in a year: There are always one or two.

Nearly all dogs do well on any major brand of food but most hobby breeders feed a grade or so above the middle of the range, if only because the stools are smaller. In a year's time, we pick up a lot of stools.

Rini waiting her turn --->

There are constant seemingly one-time expenses: We didn't plan to have any use for a tank of oxygen, but we have it: Rental $35. Usually we tube feed one or two for a few days: More #8 French feeding tubes, syringes, etc., needed this time, $20. Miscellaneous whelping supplies -- a couple hundred dollars per litter. We had a perfectly good whelping box from previous litters: Dissassembly, pressure wash, and fresh coat of shellac: $8 New whelping box for the second litter, $300 in materials. We had plenty of hospital pads for the one whelping box for a single litter: More hospital pads $120. New shower curtain (we use the old one to cover the whelping box floor) $10. Improvements to puppy room floor: $100+ in materials.

Prior to WW II middle class folks owned mixed breeds whelped under the neighbor's porch. The breeding of purebred dogs (the only intentional breeding -- there were no 'designer' dogs) was mostly by wealthy people who owned large kennels. These individuals could afford substantial ongoing costs. After the war, however, both breeding and ownership of purebreds moved into the middle class. Although a very few of the early large hobby kennels did return a significant income to the owners, today's smaller home kennels, do not. Having looked at the numbers for more than ten years now, I can tell you that even if you ignore the value of your time, it is impossible to break even over any several-year period.

Sharyn tells me that we made $346 last year. However, that's a before-tax number and because we have to treat our hobby as a hobby for tax purposes -- the legal status of a breeding business in Virginia is intolerable -- the taxes were much more than that. We paid $1373 in additional taxes because we had income from a hobby, even though nearly all of it was offset by expense.

A realistic goal for hobby breeding is that outgo doesn't much exceed income over any period of a year or more. When a year starts as this one did, with a litter of four (a very expensive four -- about $500 in extra registration fees!) coming right after a year when our investment-based retirement income was way down, the future of our program is in doubt. We had planned another litter now anyway, but now, not having one wasn't a realistic option if we wanted to be able to keep breeding at all.

Chippy -->

This was to be Chippy's first litter so we had no track record to go on. Then she refused mating (when the physical signs said she was ready) until a progesterone test said "It is already too late." We got her bred, but the vet said there was no way she'd be pregnant.

                                                          
Then Juliet came in season a bit earlier than expected, a few weeks before we would be able to tell if Chippy was even pregnant.

&$*%*$&! Hobby breeding is always a little like bungee-jumping with Mother Nature tying your bungee, but this was really exciting. Based on our estimate that the most likely scenario was just one litter and two medium or small litters was much less likely, but possible. So we did the Juliet breeding.

<---- Little mamas

And what did we get? We had sent Chippy back to South Carolina, where she lives most of the time with daughter Jo and SIL Derek. Then we got that call from Jo telling us Chippy definitely had a "baby bump."Chippy was not only pregnant but had a litter of nine. And Juliet is carrying 13.

Yes, we should be able to pay expenses this year -- but we have to get through the whelping and care of twice as many as ever before. The two of us are doing nothing else right now and it'll be several weeks before that changes. And when it developed that Kara required tube feeding every two hours, and Chippy's milk didn't come in as quickly as usual so all the pups needed supplementing for a few days, we were darn glad to have Jo come up to help for the first few days post-whelp.

Nature expects to throw a few away in these large litters but in fact if they get enough to eat, they nearly always all become healthy adults. So we'll probably be supplementing some of Juliet's puppies as well. It's going to get busier before it gets easier.

But -- It's a hobby. We do it because we love the dogs, we enjoy the challenge, and of course there's the wonderful (and growing) Timbreblue family, the people who really do make it all worthwhile.

Walt

P.S. We're not worried about homes for the puppies, fortunately. We will keep one or two for breeding and show prospects and we have an extensive waiting list for the others. We are lucky to have simply incredible people applying for these pups, so they'll all be going to great homes. I think Sharyn told me we have 15 on the list already, so before Juliet's litter is even born, most are tentatively placed. We keep in touch with all our owners through an email list and occasional phone calls, as well an an annual reunion. So though our family will be growing quickly in the next month or so, we know these puppies will be safe and well-loved!

Juliet -->

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!