We'll post pictures and updates here as often as possible, and you're welcome to join the Pupwatch email list at Yahoo for news about these puppies and our plans for future litters. We also have a if you prefer to receive the updates in your inbox rather than by visiting a forum. If you're interested in one of these pups or in future litters, please fill out our puppy questionnaire to give us a little information about you.

Please note that we do not ship our puppies (we're in Virginia) though we've had people come from New York, Florida, and Nevada to pick them up. It's okay to take one on the plane with you in a carrier. Also, we do require that someone be home for most of the day until the puppy is six months old. We just believe they get a better start that way. If these requirements are a problem for you, we'll be happy to help you find another breeder. Just add that to your questionnaire and we'll forward it to someone else who may have puppies available.

Our puppies are reared literally underfoot. The whelping box is in our guest room and I spend my days there when we have puppies. Once they climb out of the box, we cover the floor with plastic sheeting and newspaper and give them the run of the room...under my feet! At about five weeks, they begin trips outside to play for about an hour at a time, always attended by their mama as well as their human "mama." Weaning is determined by their mother. She stays with them as long as she can stand them and usually continues nursing at least a little through six or seven weeks. At six weeks, we all pack up and move downstairs to the office/doggy den, where they're introduced to and learn to interact with the other whippets and start their housetraining. There's a door to the yard from that room, so we can begin getting them outside to poop and pee.

We've found that keeping the puppies till ten weeks is about optimal, though there's no harm in leaving them here longer. Whippets bond with new owners at any age! But they learn bite inhibition and manners from their littermates, Mom, and the other adult whippets. Our experience has been that puppies sent home at eight weeks are a little more "bitey" and a bit slower to housetrain.

Our owners are asked to join the Timbreblue Pups mailing list for tips, suggestions, and story/photo sharing with the rest of the gang. When you buy a Timbreblue puppy, you really do become part of a family and will get to know the other owners. Some of them exchange dogsitting services and get together for playdates with each other. Our annual "family reunion" is usually in June in Brandywine, Maryland (just south of DC) at the home of John, Karen, Kate, and Angel Haynes.

And now...meet Diamond and Arthur!