A bit about yourselves and your dogs

[Vicky]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

This thread was set up in non-peds and i think was a brilliant idea, maybe the Pedigree racers could tell us a thing or two about yourselves & dogs.

 

[michelle]

It's worth looking at the non-ped forum at thiS!!!!!!:cheesy:, THIS IS YOURE CHANCE TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT YOU AND YOU'RE DOGS:biggrin:

 

[Nigel]

Ok then, here goes.

We started Whippet showing about 15 years ago but soon turned to racing. We initially raced our show dogs (Freestyle Dustdevil and Freestyle Catastrophe) but quickly realised that a racing bred dog was needed to compete on the Open circuit.

Our first racing dog was Time Bandit followed by Time Finder, Time Flies, Time after Time, Time Zone, Time Keeper and our puppy Time ???.

Our most successful dogs to date were Time Finder (Fiddler) and Time Flies (Fly). Fiddler holds the record for the number of Championship wins in the 22lb group – winning 6 consecutive bend championships. Fly won the WCRA Superstars League in 1996 and 1997 and was top stud dog for 1999 and 2000. We were devastated when they both died within a week of each other in 1999 from a mystery illness.

Time after Time and Time Zone were both sired by Fly. Fly was also Time Keepers Granddad and Keeper is the sire of our puppy, Trouble who is now nearly 15 weeks old. Time Keeper gained his half coat last year – now we’ve got a nail biting time to see if he can get the other half.

We started this site a few years ago purely as a hobby and are really pleased with how much it’s used.

Next year we will hopefully attend most Pedigree Opens – come and seek us out.

 

[June Symmons]

Well we started racing only about 4 years ago, having acquired a non papered whippet in return for a pint of beer and got hooked - (but that's another story!!).  We make a good follow on to Nigel and Judy as all my papered dogs are related to Time Flies!

We have Brios (Cu-Luath Crazy Daisy) who is now 3 plus, won her first open last year, and made several finals.  Courses in the winter and has to date made the finals of nearly all her coursing meetings!  She is my first racing dog - and I have been very lucky with her - my thanks to Mick and Angie Sawyer who bred her and took a giant leap of faith in letting a total unknown person to racing take her hundreds of miles away to Scotland.  Her Mother is Savernake Red Alert and Sire is Catch the Wind, who is out of Time Flies,

We now have her younger sister,(Cu-Luath Stormbird) 15 months old - from a repeat mating, so we wait to see what the future holds for her.  

Last but not least is Cu-Luath Bluebird who is now about 19months old, her dam is Firebird (from Joyce keable)and her sire Judy and Nigels Time after Time - she made a couple of Consolation finals last year.

Donald & I travel around 40,000 miles a year racing and coursing - this year we hope to attend as many Opens / Champs as possible - So if you visit an Open and see the Scottish Travelling Circus - call in a warm welcome is assured!!!

 

[Darcia]

I thought that I would write now as all our breeding is already in the previous entry. We have a matching triplet to June and Donald (completely coincidental!).

Rob got Iffy (Duncton Spirit) as a pet for him and his mum three years ago when his pet whippet passed away (he had previously had a number  of pet whippets over the last 15 years), luckily for us Angie and Mike Sawyer lived just up the road from us and had one dog puppy left from the litter between WCRCh Catch The Wind and Sp. Ch Savernake Red Alert.

It took us about 8 months before we made it to an Open to see some whippet racing, a very wet day at Andover and then another 6 months before we even trialled Iffy, but he took to it (eventually) and we have never looked back. Our highlight so far has been him winning a Sporting Championship in 2000 and making a few finals before an injury which took him out for most of last season.

Merlin (Duncton Quest) and Ross (Duncton Legacy) have since joined us and are learning with every run. We are really looking forward to running them in the Opens this summer and seeing how their brothers and sisters go.

At the moment the plan is to stop at three........ but who knows racing and whippets are VERY addictive. (and if Rob had his way we would probably end up with about 10!!!)

(Edited by Darcia at 6:07 pm on Jan. 8, 2002)

 

[Vicky]

Trust me Darcia it is so easy to have three and before you know it your getting 10 leads out, i've been there!!!!

-----

Vicky

 

[June Symmons]

Hi Rob & Darcia

As Darcia says, our matching set was totally coincidental - Darcia has all the brothers!

Iffy is Crazy Daisy's brother

Merlin is Bluebird's brother

Ross is Stormbird's brother

Ross and his sister are like twins also to look at!!  They also have some very similar characteristics I believe!

It is great when we meet up at Opens and brothers and sisters can get together - they do seem to remember each other too!

Darcia and I also swop stories through the year and we are both surprised at the number of times the girls do similar stunts to the boys and vice versa!  It seems that although they are in different families / locations some family traits stick!!  

No you won't stop at three - as Vicky says they are addictive - where are we going next Darcia?!!

See you all soon

June

PS Apolgies to all if some of my postings appear twice, I'm afraid this computer is having some problems!

 

[Nigel]

Hi,

Double posting seems to be a problem at the moment, it's tied in with the server k9 is running on and nothing to do with your PC. After you click on submit you just need to be patient. I'm deleting the additional copy of any double posts I see.

I've started work on the new site with new software - which should help stop the problem.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Hi Nigel

           I've been thinking is there no way of setting the new site up so that pictures can be loaded straight onto it by members rather than have to link to a seperate site? or is this a daft idea? OK i'll shut up just in case?

 

[Nigel]

I think there is the option to upload directly - I agree it would be easier. I'm also having a look at 'Picture Gallery' software for pictures. Wait and see...

Now to get the posts back on topic you will have to post something about you and your dogs Mark :biggrin:

 

[June Jonigk]

Ok then - I'll go next!  I had my first whippet when I was 18 years old.  As soon as I got a place of my own, and left my mum at home with all the Yorkies, (yap yap yap!), I just had to have a whippet.  I wanted a blue bitch, and when I got the local paper that week, advertised in it was - Blue Whippet bitch £10.  I went there that night and came home with a tiny bundle full of fleas!  It was one of the best £10's I've ever spent, and was the start of my addiction!  She was a non-pedi and I believe she was 1/4 Bedlington.

Five years later I decided it was time for another (I wanted one a lot earlier but the time wasn't right).  I then got my first pedigree whippet called Dixie, she was pure white except for a fawn spot in the fold of one of her ears.  She was almost all Shalfleet, Nimrodel, and Laguna breeding.  I tried showing her without much success, and then in 1987 we paid our first trip to the Northern PWRC.  By this time she was 5 years old, but she took to it straight away.  I can't believe it now, but we stopped going because I didn't like making her wear a muzzle!!!!!  She used to bash her face against the traps, and with her wire muzzle she used to bruise her nose - she went home looking like an English Bull Terrier!  She had a litter of pups in 1988, and we kept one "Whiphaven Bambi" - the first of the Whiphavens.  She later became known as Bambi the b*****d, but that's another story!  In 1993 we mated her to a friends Baldrey dog and she had a litter of 7 pups.  I couldn't resist keeping two pups Whiphaven Jumping Jenna, and Whiphaven Leaping Lucy.  Again we tried showing, but they hated it.  When they were about 18 months old we decided to visit the Northern again, and Jenna and Lucy became different dogs.  They loved racing, and soon Steve and I were hooked.  They tried their best, but didn't often do better than last.  We enjoyed seeing them run anyway.  We were thrilled when they both got through the first round of the Champs at Moreton in Marsh once, but knew they'd go out in the next round.  Lucy was plagued with illnesses which started with colitis (sometimes really bad), and ended in Feb 2000 when we lost her with a serious liver disease.  

Jenna continues to race as a veteran, and made it to the final of the Champs at Uttoxeter, which made us very proud.

In 1995 Whiphaven Bubble & Squeak came into our lives.  She is a wolf in sheeps clothing!  Looks angelic, but deep down she's a devil.  She will race as a veteran this year.

Then we have Whiphaven Dangermouse.  When we heard that Serena and Time Flies had been mated, I just had to have a puppy.  The parents were lovely dogs, and very very successful in racing.  We are grateful to Julie and Andrew for letting us have Mouse, who is now hopefully soon to have some pups of her own.  

Now the boring bit - us! (some of you don't seem to have said a lot about yourselves)  Steve will kill me for telling you, but he's one of those boring Driving Examiners.  He tries to keep it quiet, trust me to open my mouth! :biggrin: I work part time for Royal Mail inputting data into the computer - very very boring.:sad:

Come on then the rest of you, tell us something exciting!!

 

[Mark Roberts]

Hi Nigel

           A bit about myself & my dogs?

go on then the basics behind the brains?????????

I started with dogs (running dogs) when I was 11 working lurchers and terriers, at 16 I met a bloke who raced Greyhounds and my love of racing took off as you can make a lot of money Greyhound racing! or so I thought?. then about 11 years ago my wife asked for a whippet I was horrified, what would all my mates say, they all had greyhounds and lurchers and my wife wanted a whippet! we'd have to move we'd be outcast's.

nothing would put her off so I started to ring round, why is it when you want a whippet nobody has any? after ringing everywere and BT offering me shares we bought a little Parti bitch Our Girl.

my wife after getting the dog then wanted to waste more mony racing it? we went to the Northern and I loved it my wife hated it!!!!!! so I started taking the little bitch myself after all I wasn't having it just sat round the house doing nothing, slowly the Greyhounds moved out and the whippets moved in, its funny though cos at about the same time I started having more money in my pockets again.

The little bitch loved racing although not the fastest she always gave her best, she also loved to work, rabbit-hare-fox if it move it was hers, we bred from her to Rowangarth Dawn Wind which got us a lot of critisism from racing people as show dogs cant run, they had never seen him work hares.

from that mating we produced Our Rose (Parkstone sweet Harmony) a good club bitch who always gave her best right up to the end of last year when she dropped a cruciate ligament and has been retired at 8 years old she's also worked and coursed so weve had plenty of good times from her.

we bred from WCRCh Kerry's Boy to Our Rose? we kept 2 back from that litter as we thought they would be handy, how wronge can you be the dog is very fast but will not race or work but loves Lure coursing? the bitch could run a bit but had the habit of kissing the other dogs in the race,  she does work and lure course so although not the flying machines we hoped for racing are earning there keep in other ways.

Our latest litters were a mating of mother and Daughter (Our Rose & Parkstone Taboo) to WCRCh Hammeron one of the pups is 15 months old the other was 12 months on Xmas eve, both have took to racing well and trialled in with no problems so weve got our fingers crossed and who knows what the future holds????

So weve now got the dogs we race, two we work/lure course & the oldies with their feet up in front of the fire.

one of the major things I did was to take over from Doug as Secretary of the Northern PWRC, I job I didn't fancy but was bullied into by a lady who works for the postal service (read previouse threds for the culprit) but I must thank June for pushing me into it as its the best thing i could have done as it's given me a lot of fun and pleasure.

well that brings us more or less up to now (thank god I hear people shout) our next mating will be from Davy Ovens's good little dog Warhhamer some time in the summer.

oh well thats it from me all thats left for me to do now is wish everybody all the best for the coming season and hope to see you all at the Northern Open on the 5th May.

(Edited by Mark Roberts at 10:06 am on Jan. 10, 2002)

 

[STEPHEN]

Hello All

 I got my first whippet just over 4 years ago she is a brindle and white parti mainly show bred.  I did not buy her as a pup she was six month old.  Her previous owner was not happy with her he said she was too soft.  I personally thought she was a little cracker so I took her home even though my girlfriend was not very impressed but within 5 minutes of our new whippet being in the house my girlfriend fell in love with her.  We named our new pup Sally, racing name Little Lassie.

I heard about the racing at a whippet show so I thought I would just go and have a look and I was absolutely hooked I loved it.   Sally didn't take to the racing at first but I persevered with her and now she races well but not got much speed but she enjoys it.  

I had already started to look round for another whippet before I went to the racing and with the help of Mark Roberts, June Jonigk and Judy Booker they put me in touch with a breeder in Kent Jean Goode.  When I rang her she had one bitch puppy left, so off to Kent I went to go and pick up Jazz, a little red fawn bitch with a black mask.  She took to the racing training like a duck to water she absolutely loves it especially at her home track the Northern.  We decided her racing name was to be Blade of Fortune.  We had a lot of fun last year with her she just got better and better every time she ran.  When we started open racing with her she met her match in the 22lb group nearly every open we entered we bumped in to an extremely good little bitch called Molly Malone in her heat so the best you can hope for there is 2nd but when we didn't have Molly Malone in our heat Jazz often came first.  Jazz has only made one main final that was at East Anglia where both myself and my girlfriend were over the moon with her.  

Jean Goode repeated the mating of Just Dandy x Emma so we went back for another one we called her Vienna she is now 10  months old and a real handful.  For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Vienna you will probably agree with me when I say she is an absolute crackpot.  For the first six months she did not do a single thing she was told and I often thought she had hearing  problems but she obviously hasn't.  We are going to race this one as Goodnight Vienna, lets hope see can run like her sister.

         see you at the traps

 

[Kim Saxby]

My relationship with whippets started 17 years ago when I followed Dave and Myra Sawyer’s car to the Harvel Whippet Club.  Pete King had bred a litter by Savannah Boy out of Sandspring Seymour and I went there to choose a puppy.  I ended up taking home two brothers, Guye’s Gambler and Guye’s Goliath; which, luckily for me, turned out to be a an excellent racing line. Little was I to know where it would lead; Flash became a Racing and Federation Champion and finished 4th in the Top Ten.  I was hooked!  

In time Sharon Ireland graciously allowed me to buy a Beeno puppy out of her bitch Charona Miamigo.  Eric had a great personality and as Guye’s Grenadier he became a Federation Champion, won Best in Field at Lure Coursing and set the track record at the Greyhound Stadium, aged 5 years!   He was mated with a Fleetway show bitch, the result of which I put to Guye’s Goliath, which produced Guye’s a Go-Go herself a championship class bitch.

I also wanted to breed a whippet who would be able to hold its own in the show ring as well as on the track; and this is where my lovely blue bitch Ester came in. Chris & Ernie Ruffell’s Velvet Night was her sire and her mum was an unraced litter sister to Agile Dream.   Ester raced as Guye’s Gazelle and her last trophy was to win the Cornish 24-26lb Maiden Final, but not before she won Best Puppy in Show, Best In Breed, Best Puppy in Breed and qualified for Crufts too.  As many of you will know, Ester and Carla (Guye’s a Go-Go) met with a tragic accident and died before they could prove themselves in racing.

One of Carla’s non-racing litter sisters was mated to Hang on Elvis to produce a gaggle of nine.   Only two of these made the race track; half coat Delter Wish ‘n’ Tell and Rch Guye’s Gwithian.  I often wonder if there were others in the litter faster that were left at home ?  Alhough there is no sure-fire method for breeding fast dogs; I did a lot of research into the bloodlines of whippets and do believe that some homework in this area can reduce the gamble.   I keep mainly bitches now, the exception being Guye’s Gunner (which Mark & Leslie Shearing bred) and Jack.

The Cornish connection continued, Ted & Terri Smith (Citizen Whippets) had mated Jolly Minx to Townshend Dalwhinnie, litter sister to Rch Logans Boy and I was very excited to be able to acquire a puppy.  Rosa, better known as Guye’s Guinevere, has confirmed my confidence in such good breeding with the added bonus of being such a sweet natured bitch.

So here I am in 2002, with a lot of road walking to do before my dogs will be ready for the new season.  Whippet racing has given me so much—travelling to different parts of the country, the excitement of training my own dogs and making many good friends. Friendship has been one of the best benefits and I would like to be able to give something back.  Therefore I have offered to stand for election this year onto the WCRA Committee and hope that enough of my peers think I am worthy of their votes.

 

[Martin Tucker]

THE DAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE !!

It was October`74 and I was eleven. I had always wanted a dog, but my mother was always against it. Then one Sunday morning when I awoke, I could hear a wimpering noise down in the kitchen. On investigating, it turned out to be a little blue whippet bitch. Dad used to borrow a whippet x when he was young to go hunting so had decided if we were to get a dog, it was going to be a Whippet. It could have been any breed , I didn`t care !! I found out later that day, that she had got sick all over my mum on the way home ...not a good start !!We named her Kim and I was the proudest person around as I brought her up to the local park, where all the local dogs used to chase her , but she made fools of them and they soon gave up the chase. At about 15 months we found out you could race them , so we headed down to Fetcham near Leatherhead and went to Surrey W.R.C. Sadly, Kim wasnt too interested in this, and half way down the track would take a detour and head for the car !! She eventually got the hang of it by parking the car behind the winning line and I was so proud when she won her first race and I still have the silver spoon that went with it. They used to race on a Friday night at Bracknell, around the Football pitch and Dad used to like going there for the night out. One night our Kim showed her real potential one night, as there was a little competition on, with the five winners going through to a Final. Kim took off in the final, having run well to win her heat and won the Final and a nice Silver Cup sponsored by the Bookmakers. The great WCRCh BEETLE, owned by Claire England chased her home. What a night, I was now well and trully bitten by the bug. A new puppy was next and Smokey was aquired...what a disaster, from an early age he howled and howled. The neighbours complained, my parents nearly divorced !! But he stayed and he won his first race. However a couple of days later he was very ill, and it turned out he had a brain tumour and there was no hope for him and he died at 14 months. I had never experienced death before and it was hard to understand. Mum and Dad bought me a new Black dog puppy to ease the blow. We called him Prince and he was my pride and joy. Even as a pup Prince didn`t like other dogs and if he saw one on Epsom Downs, where we lived he would go after them and start a row no matter how big they were ! When it came for him to race it was no problem and he started off winning. The trouble started when another dog went to pass him, he wasn`t having any of that and gave what I could only describe as an `exhibition` !! Eventually the blinkers were tried and he ran without ever doing anything wrong again.We were able to take them off later in his career. He was great Club dog winning two good competitions at Surrey WRC and East Sussex, but what ever it was,Racing Champions and dogs he was beating week in week out at Club meetings (there wern`t the number of Opens in those days as there are now) he never had any luck in the Championships. In 1980 I bought a pup by WCRCh COUNTRY SQUIRE out of JACKSONS sister. We called her Sandy. However my parents decided to move back to Ireland and in January 1981 we moved with the 3 Whippets. I was sorry to leave but had always wanted to live in Ireland. No whippet racing, but I used to bring the 3 along and put on a race at the local Greyhound Tracks on their big nights and the crowd loved it. We soon got involved in the Greyhounds. Sandy had pups to Prince and soon we were putting on 5 dog races. Never having an interest in the family businness I got married in `89 (my good friends Andy & Julie Brooks were at it ) and decided to go full time and try and make a living out of Greyhounds. Now, 13 years on, with all the old ones gone I still have a whippet,Yogi, he`s no relation of the others, but he`s now 8 and he`s still like a pup , in fact he`s always out with the puppies and brings them off hunting.

We are still full time at the Greyhound where we run a very successful stud as well as breeding a few litters, rearing pups and racing a few dogs for my owners.

I often look back and wonder what would have happened if my father had arrived home that night with an Alsation or any other breed of dog ?

You can see what I am at by checking out my web-site:

www.irishgreyhoundstud.com

Martin Tucker.

 

[LJH]

My first encounter with whippets was when my husband took me to meet his friends. "They have whippets ", Iwas told. Yuck, I thought, those skinny things! But half an hour with Nigel and Judy Booker, and Duster and Kato and I was hooked.

 My first dogs were show stock, and while they weren't that quick on the track, they could both ' do the biz ' lure coursing. Sax won best in field x1 and came 2nd x2.

My next dog, Xcel was bred by Alf and Enid Hayes, and may best be remembered as a complete nutter at the track. Work collegues would cringe at the bruises I used to sport on Monday mornings.

I had to think long and hard about buying my next whippet

( about 10 seconds). Xcess was bred by Clive England, out of

Magical Mystery by Hammeron. He was quite simply a privilege

to own and a year after his premature death I still miss him dreadfully. One consolation is that I do have his son Xcite.

But, what a handful he's turned out to be! Unlike his brother Time Keeper, Jools did not take to racing straight away. I must thank everyone who never gave up on him, even when I had.  Nigel and Judy --thank you!

With luck we should see you all at the opens this year.

Now the boring bit --I am a physiotherapist, and for my sins I still work for the NHS (someone has to). No consultations on Sundays please, it's my day off. You may also meet my daughter, India. She is a dear really, but like Xcite, she can be a handful too. Please send her back to me if she becomes a pest. See you soon.