- Messages
- 378
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Patsy's message should be a wake up call to everyone who truly cherishes this breed and wishes to see it prosper. When someone with Patsy's track record in the breed is not breeding the very fine English champion dogs she and her partner own over concerns that there are not enough appropriate homes to place those dogs wisely and well in, this is an alarm signal for all of us. The awful truth is we have now reached the point where we can see there are far too many litters being bred -- on both sides of the Atlantic -- very often by people who need to sit back and learn what they are breeding and why before they mate two dogs whose backgrounds they do not really know intimately from experience within the breed, and who expect good returns on those breedings.patsy said:
We have owned whippets since 1982, but only began to breed in 1991 after we had 7 whippets we had rescued over a period of nearly 9 years. Over those nine years our curiosity led us to learn more about the dogs we rescued, and it was only as part of that process that we even contemplated the possiblity of breeding. During that time we did our best to learn what the breed was about, not daring to breed till we thought we knew enough not to leave the breed worse off than when we entered it. When we finally decided we knew enough to breed reasonably intelligently we chose foundation stock out of Eng.Ch. lines, that was well bred and well linebred and we still had huge difficulties placing the excellent dogs we got in that first litter because we did not have a track record with anyone. In the end, out of our first litter of 8 dogs we ended up keeping 5 of them -- from birth to the day they died -- the last 15 years after it was bred. Folks, those are the harsh facts you have to bear in mind when you decide to be a breeder.
Over the years since then, as we developed a modest track record for producing well-bred dogs of excellent health, disposition and conformation, we have been fortunate enough to be able to place every pup we have bred from the sometimes none, sometimes one, or sometimes two litters usually small litters we have bred each year. But we have never bred with the expectation that there is money to be made by breeding, and we have only bred when we considered there was something we ourselves needed for the future from a particular mating.
I guess we are pretty awful business people, because if we went into whippets to make money we have made a complete balls of it. In each and every one of the years since we first began breeding in the early 1990s we have spent approximately $20,000 Cdn. to own, breed, show, provide good good and veterinary care to the dogs we have bred and own. and in any really good year we have made back less than one quarter of that expenditure from the sale of pupppies. Whippets for us are almost a religion -- they are not a casual -- lets see what we get if we breed this pretty bitch to that top winning dog -- sort of animal and so lets breed it and roll the dice-- and they certainly are never disposable.
Our contract with those who purchase our dogs requires that they return any dog, for any reason, that they cannot keep it, to us, without any questions being asked, for rehoming. We are active in whippet rescue -- in Canada there are puppy mills spewing out ill bred, unhealthy whippets out of bitches bred every six months, season in season out, within 50 miles of us, as well as novice breeders who simply cannot place what they breed and/or they cannot market their dogs and find loving long term homes because they do not know enough about what they bred to have done so intelligently. We have never lost sight of the fact that that whippets prosper best first and foremost family pets, not show dogs and for us, the very best home is the one that adopts a pup with the expectation that the dog will live their full lives in a family situation and given the choice we will and regularly do, place dogs that could win in shows anywhere, in family situations where the dogs will never have a bad day for the whole of their lives because they are so treasured, and so loved.
In 2007 we took in two dogs we did not breed as rescues because both have one dog from our program as grandparents. We know the sad circumstances behind why these dogs needed to be rehomed, and we did so without question because of our belief that if you breed it you should be responsible for it, from birth to death -- and that includes the extended generations too. We feel strongly if you cannot do this then perhaps you should be buying, not breeding, whippets.
I am horrified to hear that whippets are in the Top 20 breeds now in the UK. The other day we got our monthly circular from the American Kennel Club, of which we are members (though we are Canadians) and learned the whippet in America has moved to position 60 on the popularity scale. This may sound like the breed is safe, but when you have a country of 300 million residents and there so many dog owners, there is no room for comfort or feeling safe. A friend in West Virginia called me just as the AKC posting came out to report that the glut of American bred whippet pups on the east coast of the United States is so bad that novice 'breeders' are offering to give away the pups they have bred for FREE because they cannot place them. Anything to get rid of them and cut their financial losses. Whippets are not cash crops. They are family pets, they are beloved companions, they are the soul and spirit within many family units that knit them together, and they are not, not ever, disposable -- free to whoever will take one, for however long.
As I said at the top, if one cannot place what they breed and place them well by having a firm list of homes the bred pups will go to, if you cannot stand behind the dogs you breed, and the dogs bred down from them, if you cannot afford to run on all the dogs you breed, both show dog and pet without regard to ever making a 'profit' (a very ugly word when it comes to living things), on your dogs, then perhaps it is time to think whether you actually want to be a breeder, or just the best darned owner, of one or two or three dogs carefully acquired, that you can be.
A bit of chalk on a few show whippets is not at all comparable to the danger our breed faces if too many dogs are bred for too few good homes. We should all first and foremost be concerned about where the dogs we breed are homed, before we worry about the trivia.
Patsy, it will be good to see you again at Crufts.
Lanny
(mod edit in splitting from original topic to make more clear)
Last edited by a moderator:
