Is she or isn't she?

Our solid blue Juliet daughter, Rini ("Timbreblue Colors Outside the Lines") was bred August 28th to our Henry ("Sporting Fields Move On") for our first cross back to the Sporting Fields line since great-grandma Ivy, who is a daughter of Luke ("Ch Sporting Fields Kinsman").

Now we're waiting (anxiously!) to see if Miss Rini is pregnant. She seems like she is, and she's had an upset tummy for the past couple of days, so it's looking like we will probably have a litter expected around October 31st.

We're so excited to see what these two promising youngsters will produce. Henry has champion children and his son was Winners Dog at the American Whippet Club National dog show in 2009. Henry is a SWEET sweet boy, very loving and agreeable to live with. He has quickly picked up basic obedience training and house manners, even though he started out life living in a show kennel. It's amazing that he is a stud dog because he is so easy to live with in our household.

Rini is the first solid blue bred at Timbreblue Whippets so she is extra special to us. She is also an exceptionally intelligent, sweet, and affectionate girl. She knows lots of obedience commands and little tricks like "shake hands." She is a very cuddly whippet and, just like her mother, she loves to give hugs and kisses to EVERYONE!

With these two parents, we expect a nice mix of colors including blue, black, (Henry's mother is black, and blue is a dilute color of black), brindle, blue brindle, fawn, blue fawn, and possibly red. We expect these puppies to have VERY sweet and affectionate, outgoing, and fun personalities.

As far as show prospects, we hope they will inherit their father's gorgeous movement and refined elegance, along with their mother's beautiful topline and great angulation. Henry's pedigree can't be beat, he has nothing but champions for the past three generations, and he himself has 14 points with one major in limited AKC shows. You can view the litter pedigree here.

The puppies are being whelped and raised in South Carolina, and will be ready to go home in mid-January. If you're interested in being on our waiting list, please visit our website where you can find our guarantee and fill out our questionnaire.

Diana

Diana still needs a home. She was planning to go home with some wonderful folks who came last week, but we decided that her sister Mercy would be a better fit. I had thought to keep Mercy here at Timbreblue, but she just seemed a natural for the family who came. They had never had a dog and Mercy is a quiet little thing, much less active than Diana, who is a typical whippet puppy -- busy, curious and mischievous!

That leaves Di without a home for the time being, but we know her people will come. We never worry about finding the right homes for puppies. They always come. And until they do, we enjoy every day we're lucky enough to have them here!

We don't ship, so you'll need to plan a trip to Lexington, Virginia, and we do much prefer homes in which someone is home for most of the day as long as the puppy is a baby (for the first six months or so). Whippet puppies really do require attention on and off during the day, and leaving one alone in a crate for more than an hour or so can be dicey. If you think Diana might fit into your family, call us at 540-464-8046 and fill out the questionnaire on our website.

She's a glossy black girl with little white socks, the barest hint of a white tip on her tail, and a white blaze. Diana was born May 26, so she has just turned three months old.

Puppies still available in Tennessee!

Terri Reedy has some lovely whippet pups ready to go to new homes. She has one who needs a show home and others just looking for people to love them!

On the left in the top picture is Darjah, the show puppy. The larger pup on the right in the picture is also looking for a home (his name is Ace) as well as is Barron, the fawn brindle in the picture below right.

If you're interested, contact Terri for more pictures and information. 

If you're thinking about a whippet but are not ready just yet, contact Julie Poole about getting on her waiting list. Besides taking the best pictures of whippets (including these!) of anyone I know, Julie has lovely dogs herself and has a litter due any time now, ready to go home in November. 

Daniel Boo!

The Boo-man is an accomplished hunter of squirrels, so it's only proper that his mommy Jeanne bought him a hat like this to celebrate. We think he looks quite dashing!

Oops - we have a puppy available after all!

Tempest

Tempest left for her new home last week, but we just heard that she's coming back. After a few days here to settle down, she will be available again.Her new owners just underestimated how much time a new puppy takes and are unable to devote the attention to her that she needs.

Tempest is, in spite of her name, a fairly laid-back pup for a whippet.She's a snuggler, but like all whippet pups, does have her wild side and needs someone who has time to devote to her. She's a flashy black and white girl with a full collar and white boots. She will be 13 weeks old tomorrow.

Remember: When you get a whippet puppy, you're getting two dogs: a little hellion (at times) when it's a baby, and after about two years, a perfect dog!

Fathom

We do require a home in which someone is there for most of the day until the puppy is seven or eight months old. To grow up to be good citizens, whippet puppies really need attention on and off during the day, so if your whippet will routinely be alone for more than two or three hours at a stretch, we suggest an older puppy or adult dog. Just like a human toddler, a whippet pup left to his own devices all day is lonely and become destructive or neurotic. Dogs are pack animals and are not happy alone for long periods. Puppies especially need company and supervision. They simply have too much energy to leave crated or penned all day.Yes, puppies do nap a lot, but like babies, when they wake up, they need human interaction. And remember, an unhappy, neurotic dog or puppy is no fun to live with either!

We feel badly sometimes when we turn down a wonderful home just because everyone in the family is gone all day.I do understand that people have to work for a living! But nearly every puppy we have had returned -- there have not been many -- has been because the new owners didn't have enough time for it.

We never have hard feelings when puppies or even adult dogs are returned. Life is not perfect and you never know what's going to happen or how things will work out. The puppies don't mind either. They view their short-term home as a cool vacation and we look at it as excellent socialization experience. But it's hard on the owners and we hate to see them go through the heartache of getting attached and then having to send back the pup.

Fathom is also still available to an active home where he can channel his energy into agility, coursing, flyball, or something like that. 

Whippet puppies we know about

UPDATE 8/16/10 - The puppies in Georgia have been sold, as has the show quality pup in North Carolina. We have two boys who need homes -- Fathom and Magic Sam. There are still pups available in Asheville with Kitty Williams and in Tennessee with Terri Reedy. Details below!

Our guys are mostly gone (except Fathom, who needs a very busy lifestyle!) but there are several good breeders we know who have some puppies.Most of these breeders will arrange transportation or meet you halfway. They all require applications and the pups are for sale to approved homes. Some require home checks, though that can often be arranged through a friend if you're at some distance away.These are all breeders we know personally or at least are very familiar with by reputation.

If you're looking around Georgia, Chris Durance-Watkins has a little boy who needs a home. Go to Cherche Whippets to see him. Chris travels often to Virginia and North and South Carolina.

In North Carolina, Festiva Whippets has a beautiful little show quality girl available. You can see Lisa at Festiva's website. Contact Katie at festivaeast@hotmail.com

Also in North Carolina, Kitty Williams still has a couple of puppies for some lucky people. Check them out at Wilhaus Whippets and you can conrtact Kitty through the website. Kitty is generally willing to meet you halfway if you';re coming from a distance.

If you're close to Tennessee, Terri Reedy has some puppies available. Contact her for photos. One is at the left (photo by Julie Poole)

Adventures in microchipping

Geisha (fka Lightnin')

About five years ago we decided that we really wanted to microchip our puppies before they went home. I checked around and found we could order the chips from Microchip ID Systems at a reasonable price, and besides, the president of the company, Jean Anne, is a friend I've known for years. I was a little embarrassed that we didn't already chip the puppies, but she pointed out we all have to start somewhere. So I asked what she recommended. She said there was nothing to inserting them, -- hey, no big deal, right? so we got in the first batch. I had heard the needles were big, but good lord, these suckers looked like javelins! And I was supposed to stick them into my little whippet pups??

Skiff

The thing is, I can't do it myself. I can give shots almost blindfolded (not that I would try it), can tube-feed a puppy, can administer fluids to a dehydrated dog...but show me that big fat microchip-deploying needle and there is NO way. I tried it once and the puppies' skin was so thick I couldn't get it through and after shooting about three chips across the room, I gave up and took the pups to the vet and paid $35 each to have them "professionally" inserted.

By the next litter, I happened to have made a new friend, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder who had just moved to town. She chipped that litter for me. But then she moved away.

So last year I hauled two whole litters up to a friend well north of Harrisonburg (about two hours) and she did them for me. Very long drive with a car full of carsick whippet puppies, but I did enjoy the visit with my friend..

Then there was a litter of four. I just sent them home with the chips and asked folks to get their vets to insert them, but I wasn't very happy with that. A couple of vets said they couldn't insert them because they "weren't familiar with that chip." Oh please. More like, "You didn't buy it from me, so I'm not helping you out." The chips come in a sealed package already loaded into a syringe. How much is there to know?

Moka (fka Bonnie)

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago, here I was with 21 puppies (remember, this is two litters, the first one supposedly an impossibility!) and no way to microchip them. I sent the first two home with their chips. Then daughter Jo came up to puppysit while we went to look for a car -- forgot to mention that I totalled mine a couple of weeks ago, but that's another post. When we got home, I mentioned the chipping dilemma and she said, "I can do that!"

I looked at her dubiously. "Have you ever done it?"

"Nope," she admitted, "but how hard can it be? Lots of breeders do it." Jo used to work for a vet and I knew she could give shots, but chips???  I asked, "Have you seen that needle?"

Ranger (fka T-Bone)

Yes, she said, she had, and she still could do it. I should mention that though Jo is my daughter, she is a bit over 30 years old, so I wasn't entrusting my pups to a seven year old or anything like that.

So we decided to give it a shot, so to speak. We put the puppies in the kitchen sink because when you're doing something like this, you want them to feel a little insecure so they won't fight you. Something else to think about, you know, like, "Why am I standing in this metal bucket in the kitchen?" and "Am I going to get a bath???" The idea being that when they discover we are just going to plunge a sword into their poor little shoulders, they'll think, "Oh well, at least it's not a bath!"

First, I told Jo, we had to organize all the chips and get the paperwork ready. Since I don't own a scanner, we had to be very sure we put the chip we intended into the puppy we intended. I can spend hours "getting ready" to do something I am putting off, but Jo watched me shuffle papers and syringes around for about two minutes and said, "Let's get this show on the road.."

Magic Sam

My job was to go bring the little vic-- uh, puppies into the kitchen. I picked Siren first. She is staying here for the long term, though is going off to summer camp for a month with my friend Sat Ananda in Charlotte. I figured if we messed her up, at least it would be my puppy and not one I'd sold to someone else. (Precisely how we would "mess up" a puppy wasn't clear, but looking at that needle, I knew it could be done.)

I watched this one. Never again. The puppy was brave and didn't make a peep, Jo did the deed efficiently and apparently painlessly, my blood pressure shot up ten points and I almost hyperventilated. Siren did even squeak, but I think I did a lot of moaning and groaning, complete with sharp intakes of breath and ."Ooooohhhh"s. .

Sparrow

We agreed that I would simply hold puppies and look the other way. That worked much better. Only one cried a little. Maybe Johnny Ace?

Anyway, it all got done, the puppies survived, my BP has dropped to normal and there was not one drop of puppy blood spilled! I call that a success. And better yet, I have been taking the puppies for their going-home exams, about six at a time, and my wonderful vet has been scanning them for me to be sure the chips "took." So far every one has shown up and been the correct number (so I guess we really didn't need to spend two hours organizing, the way I would have done without Jo's...um...encouragement)

So if any of the puppies fall out of their cars on the way home, they'll be traced back to me!

Memphis Minnie

Sharyn

Puppies available

As Sharyn mentioned, people's plans change and although most of our puppies are sold before they are conceived, we usually end up with one or two puppies who are still available when it's time for them to go home.

Right now we have four puppies available, one male and three females. They will be able to go home beginning either next weekend (7/24-7/25) or the first week of August. Information about these puppies is here: http://www.timbreblue.com/component/content/article/184

Puppies are available to approved homes only. We like to place puppies within driving distance of south western Virginia, because we want to meet you and we do not ship puppies via airline. We also like to place puppies in a home where at least one person is home during the day. Young puppies need a lot of human companionship and socialization and that is difficult to do if the puppy is in a crate most of the day.

Please let us know if you are interested in talking with us about a puppy for your family.

Be Careful What You Wish For

I think what we have here is a case of "Be careful what you wish for" all done up like one of those Russian babushka dolls -- a wish within a wish within a wish. We wanted puppies. Okay, we got 21 puppies (two litters, quite unintended -- see previous post). Wanted blues and blacks. Got three blacks, a blue brindle and two blue and white partis in the first litter, and the second litter looks like a black and white TV program on the webcam. Three solid blacks, a black and white parti, three solid blues, a blue fawn, a blue fawn parti, three blue and white partis. (Also in the first litter are a gorgeous fawn brindle and white, fawn and white and a red brindle -- bonuses, for sure even though I didn't ask for them) And finally, I wanted girls. Out of 21 puppies (good grief!) we have only eight males.

We're very fortunate that these puppies already have homes. Well, there may be one or two not spoken for, but I don't know for sure till the deposits come in or don't come in this week. People's plans change and sometimes they forget to let us know until we actually ask for money!

Above is the "set-up" -- mamas have gotten along great. That's Party inspecting. She is like the old maid aunt who has a ton of advice on how to raise your kids. Meanwhile, here's how the day goes.

6:00 am -- I'm up to feed Kara, pictured below, who has a cleft palate (more on her later) and has to be tube fed. Feed Chippy's litter -- they are on pureed Purina ONE. Clean both boxes (change pads, dump litter from the litter box trained ones -- the second litter is too young -- wash out litter box and put in fresh litter, which is actually, by the way, pelleted rabbit food)  feed both moms, let all dogs out and back in, change moms' water and puppies' water bowls. Feed all the dogs. Then I usually go back to bed for a couple of hours.

9:00 am -- Walt is up, starts laundry, moderates email lists, general housework.

10:00 -- Walt feeds Kara and I get up again. Both of us check email, answer as much as we can. Clean puppy boxes several more times throughout the day as they need it. If there's a vet trip to be made, this is when I usually do it --there have been several a week with these litters. Chippy had some mastitis with a ruptured cyst, xray for Kara's leg and general check up once a week, there was the Juliet debacle wherein I thought thunderphobia was eclampsia, pick up feeding tubes for Kara, that kind of thing. Weigh Kara every day and the rest of the pups every week..

12:00 -- Puppy pictures, snuggling, getting them out of the box for stimulation, catch up on phone calls,  More laundry for Walt. I fold and put away as it comes off the line. The puppies are still responsible for about four loads a day. We have hospital pads in the bottom of the boxes, and though the older ones are pooping in the litter box, they're still peeing on the pads, so that means changing them three or four times a day. The younger litter is still mostly being cleaned by Juliet, but their pads get wet too -- we change them about twice a day. Take all dogs out again. Feed mama dogs. Feed older pups. Grind puppy nails every three days to keep them from scratching up mama.

2:00 - Feed Kara, and I usually get a nap while Walt babysits, doing dishes and laundry in short bursts..

4:00 -- I'm back up to clean boxes, work on some email, maybe file a puppy report to the email lists (Timbreblue Pups is for our current owners and Timbreblue Pupwatch for anyone who is interested in keeping up with the litters)  Straighten puppy room -- it is small with two big whelping boxes in it and everything has to be in the proper place or it gets crazy. Take mommies outside. (A whole lot of food is going through them!)  Walt gets outside work done -- gardening, mowing grass, etc. This weekend he built the two litter boxes. If he has errands to run (he does the grocery shopping), now's the time.

6:00 One of us asks for ideas for dinner and eventually someone gets around to fixing it. Sometimes we grill out, more commonly we eat something from a can. No time for major cooking these days! Time to feed Kara again and clean boxes. Take dogs out again.  Feed all dogs and change water.

8:00 Usually we are settled back into the puppy room for the evening and turn on the webcam. When I have time, I try to join in the chat -- this is all at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/timbreblue-whippets and the password is whippets. Often though, I am busy with email (lots of puppy buyers with 21 puppies!), doing the usual puppy chores -- cleaning, changing water, feeding, etc. Walt often does puppy updates now and I update the record books. Each litter has one, with a page for each puppy and an overall litter page, as well as details on the breedings and whelpings. It's very useful to go back to these when I'm panicking about something with a litter in the future!

10:00 pm Walt feeds Kara and heads for bed and I finish up with cleaning, feed the older pups and mommies one last time, take my shower and settle into my bedroll on the floor. We  discussed my actually going back to the bedroom now -- the puppies do not need 24/7 supervision -- but since I have to get up at two and six to feed Kara, we decided it was best if one of us got to sleep through the night uninterrupted by an alarm clock. Somehow getting to bed takes me till midnight and a couple of times I have been stupid enough to stay up till two so I can get Kara's feeding done before I lie down.

2:00 am Feed Kara, take mommies out.

4:00 am - Walt gets up for an hour or so, checks on us (on a good night we are all asleep!), moderates the email lists and does some correspondence. He has always done this -- goes to bed early, gets up at three or four, goes back to bed around five, and sleeps till nine. So this is not really part of the puppy schedule unless he sees something that needs tending -- water bowl empty, puppy distressed about something (though that usually wakes me up immediately!)

6:00 am -- And it starts all over.

Have I mentioned how much I love breeding? I really do, and even with a schedule like the above, there is nothing as much fun as sitting in the middle of the floor with a lap full of whiplets! (Remind me of that in four weeks when they are all out of the box and finding new and creative places to use the bathroom)

And please forgive me for being a little sentimental, but the best days of all are the ones when these puppies go home with their new best friends. For someone to choose us as a breeder is the highest compliment we're paid, and we take our responsibility very seriously. The goal is to create happy, healthy pets, dogs that look and act like whippets, and for every litter to be a bit better than the one before. We don't presume to say we are breeding to "improve the breed" -- I believe it is close to perfect as it is! -- but we do strive to improve the health of the breed and preserve the type, and above all, do no harm.

It's Give Your Vet a Laugh Day!

One of the many scary things that can happen to a mama dog is eclampsia, what the old-timers called milk fever. Because of the demands from the puppies nursing, she loses calcium at such a rate that she can go into seizures and even die. The early symptoms include panting, pacing, extreme nervousness, shivering...you get the picture. It's most common in small to medium breeds with large litters.


So last Tuesday when Juliet began panting, pacing, being extremely nervous, and shivering, I got scared. She was  completely irrational, trying to climb between the whelping box and the wall -- there's about an eight-inch space between them. She was even stepping on her puppies in her frenzy. I've never had a dog with eclampsia, but as a breeder, I live in fear of it (as well as about 100 other things that can go terribly wrong!)


I called the vet in a near panic (eclampsia can be fatal very rapidly) and rushed her to the clinic. As I was getting her out of the car, thunder rolled. We'd had a storm earlier and it had apparently not moved entirely out of the area. Juliet and I entered the vet's office, and as I was describing her symptoms, I suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence. I pulled out my cell phone and called my daughter Jo. Juliet lived with Jo for the past couple of years and came back to me last fall.


Jo answered with her usual, "Hey, Mama, what's up?"


"Is Juliet, by any chance, thunder-phobic?"


"Oh yes, she's awful. She paces and pants and shivers and tries to climb..."


"Into small spaces?" 


"Yes!"


Since Juliet had been with Jo in the summers, I'd never had here during storm season. I looked at the receptionist and said, "I think I just rushed Juliet over here for being afraid of thunder."


After she stopped laughing, I added, "Since we are here, why don't we run a calcium level?"


We did, the vet and vet techs had a good laugh at my expense, the calcium level and the rest of her bloodwork was totally normal, and about $120 later, we were home and she was settled back in with the puppies.


Yes, I guess lack of sleep really is getting to me... 

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!