AKC Ch Bohem Just in Time CR

Pedigree of Litter                      Photos of Justin                      About Candy

Why We Chose Justin to Sire Candy's Litter

A lot goes into the choice of a male when planning a litter. Though all good breeders want the best puppies their bitches can produce, we all have different pictures of the perfect litter and different requirements for that all-important mate. Some os us are, above all, breeding for winners in the conformation ring, others want competitive race dogs. Most of us want good all-round whippets as well, but we all have to have a goal in mind.

Our top breeding priorities are temperament and health. After that come soundness and type. Type is the combination of specific qualities -- physical and mental -- that make a whippet look and act like a whippet, rather than, say, like a greyhound or Italian greyhound. Here are the qualities that led us to Ch Bohem Just in Time CR.

1) Justin is seven years old and very healthy. He had a normal echocardiogram last summer. He's also had the usual pre-breeding clearances to rule out genetic problems in other areas.

2) In spite of his distinguished show record and pedigree, Justin has been used at stud very little. As a matter of fact, Candy was his first breeding. So far he's been bred just twice more. Using "popular sires," dogs who are big winners in the ring and siring many litters, limits the breed's gene pool and makes genetic disease more difficult to combat in the future. When most whippets are very closely related to each other, where do you find an outsider if a genetic defect appears?

3) Justin has the steadiest, sweetest temperament we've ever seen in a whippet. He and Nicky were raised together and even with a female in season in the house, have never fought. That's not always the case when two intact males are kept together. They live as housepets, so we know Justin's temperament. A kennel dog might have an entirely different personality when taken away from his kennelmates. We want to know how a dog acts in a pet situation. Justin is intelligent, easygoing, and has correct whippet instincts. The CR after his name stands for "Companion Racer."

4) Candy and Justin are not closely related. The inbreeding coefficient, which measures how closely two dogs are related, on this breeding is 7.8 percent. That's considered very low. We are great believers in outcrossing for breed health, even though the most successful show dogs are usually linebred. Linebreeding is a type of inbreeding, except the dogs are not as closely related -- think cousin to cousin rather than father to daughter.

5) Justin is correct, sound, and typey. He has some qualities Candy lacks and vice versa. Oh, and did I mention that he's beautiful? He finished his championship with 19 points, four majors (one of them five points) and a Best In Sweeps. He was owner/handled to his title. If you're familiar with show dog terminology, you'll know how impressive that is; if you're not, take my word for it -- it's impressive!

Our goal in breeding dogs is to produce whippets who are well-balanced mentally and physically, who have correct breed temperament, and who are capable of living as well-loved pets in normal homes. Though we do encourage our owners to participate in various activities with their whippets -- conformation showing, lure coursing, agility, racing, obedience, etc -- we recognize that most people who want a whippet are looking primarily for a healthy, loving pet. We try to breed the kind of whippet we want to live with -- the kind you can show or course, race, take for walks and runs, snuggle with on your sofa, or anything else you can think of to do with a go-anywhere-do-anything kind of dog. We believe that together, Justin and Candy will give us that.