|
 Chapter
One: The Plan
6-11-99
Ivy finished her AKC championship today--now we can discuss
whether we want to breed her. There are enough good dogs in
the world already, and no one should create more puppies unless
the breeding is likely to produce puppies who are an improvement
on their parents. Ivy's championship goes a long way towards
proving we're not the only ones who know she's a great whippet!
I've
never figured out what it cost to "finish" her, but it was
easily upwards of $2000 over the past two years, if you count
entry fees, gas, motel rooms, food, and miscellaneous travel
expenses. My daughter Johannah and I showed her ourselves,
so we didn't have professional andler expenses, though it
might have been cheaper to do it that way. Competition in
the whippet ring is stiff, and everyone loses more often than
winning. It took awhile to finish her. I went through a divorce,
a move from South Carolina to Virginia, and a new marriage
during the time between her first show and this one.
Total
showing expenses about $2000
|
8-1-99
After much discussion, we've decided that yes, we want
to breed Ivy. It will be my first litter in over 10
years and our very first whippet litter. I bred and
showed collies before whippets and we're still active
in collie rescue. We had three whippets before we got
Ivy, two of whom are living with Johannah in Boston
now, but Ivy is the first one we really believe has
"something to contribute to the breed." The timing is
not great for us personally; we have a lot of other
stuff going on in our lives right now, but Ivy will
be four in January and it's now or never. It's an expensive
proposition--you hardly ever make enough money on a
litter to even cover the expenses--but it's something
I've been studying for and planning for years. We've
looked at our finances and it seems to be something
we can afford to do. So we're going to go for it!
|
|
 8-3-99
We've been going through magazines and American Whippet
Club annualslooking at the ads with an eye to choosing
a sire for Ivy's litter. Jodi Stanner, Ivy's co-breeder
in North Carolina, is really excited about it and is
helping us look for a stud. There are truly some beautiful
whippets out there! We're trying to find out details
about the ones we're most interested in. Most important
to us is temperament. Whippets have to be good pets
before they can be good show dogs.
|
|
10-9-99
One of the sires we were considering is very "barky."
Ivy is a quiet girl and we want to maintain that in
her puppies, so he's out of the running for now anyway.
That's a disappointment. He is not too far away and
belongs to a person we like a lot. Another one we considered
is promising, but the owner is very difficult to work
with. Don't need that. There are plenty of stud dogs
available and we want someone we can talk to about problems.
|
|
 11-3-99
Checked out some more males. One's eyes are too
light. The American Kennel Club standard says eyes should
be dark, though in England, lighter eyes are acceptable.
Two of the males less-than-perfect fronts (structure
is extremely important to a dog bred to run) and another
is too tightly wound mentally for our tastes. Sometimes
the best showdogs aren't the best pets, and as I said
earlier, we're looking at temperament above all. It's
very tempting to just breed Ivy to a famous dog, as
his name on the papers would help sell the puppies we
don't plan to keep...but our puppies will go to people
who will live with them in the house, not store them
in a kennel. Walt is actually beginning to talk about
breeding Ivy to our own dog, Chase. I hadn't thought
about that before.
|
|
11-20-99
I
went several states north to look at a candidate for
breeding today and took Ivy with me. This dog is one
of my absolute all-time favorites but both his breeder
and I agreed that he's not for Ivy...they have a couple
of faults in common, and we want to breed away from
those. Very disappointing, as he is a lovely dog. Well,
none of them are perfect, but we don't want to "double
up" on faults. I appreciate the breeder's honesty. Not
all breeders are so forthcoming about their own dogs'
faults!
|
travel
$150
|
|
12-3-99
Jodi and I both have corresponded by e-mail with owners
of several males we're considering. The problem is we
have no way of knowing what their temperaments are really
like. Most breeders have been very honest with us about
their dogs' faults (which is a delightful surprise!)
but it's hard to evaluate whether a dog is hyper, laid
back, noisy, a bit shy, or anything else via e-mail
or phone.
Temperament
is one of the hardest things for an owner to evaluate
in her own dogs. After all, doesn't everyone think her
own dog is the greatest, though he may be a little nervous,
a little shy, whatever? Even trying to be objective,
it's hard. For instance, I wouldn't call Ivy nervous
or high-strung, but she is more...well, intense...than
I would like to see in our puppies. So choosing a very
relaxed dog for the father is more important than it
might be if she were a really laid-back girl.
Meeting
dogs at shows doesn't tell you a lot since they're not
in a home environment. Complicating matters is that
some of the big breeders keep most of their dogs kenneled,
and it's hard to know what they would act like in the
house.
|
 12-10-99
We took Ivy to see her breeder, Cal Perry, Appraxin
Whippets, in Bristol, Tennessee, who has been breeding
and showing whippets for 40 years or more. Cal is
one of the most respected and knowledgable of the
"old timer" whippet people, and he knows
as much or more about the breed than anyone else we
can think of. Our male Chase (Appraxin Kamikaze) went
along for the ride--four hours one way. We looked
at a couple of Cal's males and asked what he thought
we should do about breeding Ivy. He looked hard at
Chase and said, "Why not him? He's got everything
she needs improvement on, plus it's a great linebreeding."
Cal suggested one other dog, but insisted that he
really thought breeding to Chase would be a good move.
|
travel
$50
|
12-13-99
The suggestion of using Chase for Ivy is very tempting.
Walt, who suggested it first (even before Cal), is
looking very smug these days. I'm still not sure.
We ran their pedigrees through a program to determine
inbreeding coefficient, and it's not a bad breeding
at all. Chase's grandfather is Ivy's father, so we
thought it might be too close a breeding. According
to the formula for determining these things, it's
well within the "safe" range. Very experienced breeders
can inbreed successfully, but it's safer by far to
stick with linebreeding, which is breeding dogs that
are still relatives, but not as close relatives as
in inbreeding. Inbreeding usually involves mother
to son, father to daughter, etc. Breeding cousins
is an example of linebreeding.
|
|
1-5-00
Still waiting for Ivy to come in season and still aren't
completely decided on a male, but we're leaning towards
Chase. The disadvantages are that he has not finished
his championship (though he's certainly good enough
to finish) and that he is an unproven stud. We don't
know if he would even be able to sire puppies, and with
Ivy being a virgin also, the breeding could be difficult.
Chase has had prostate and urinary problems occasionally
too.
|
|
3-1-00
We took Chase up to a urinary/reproductive specialist
in northern Virginia to get a sperm count and some other
tests done. About $350 later, we were told that he is
fertile, though his sperm count is a little low right
now. We were instructed to put him on Glyco-Flex, MSM,
and Vitamin E, plus some prescribed antibiotics.
|
vet
$350
travel
$20
|
|
4-1-00
Pre-breeding tests at the vet for both Chase and Ivy
-- brucellosis, thyroid, fecal check for worms, vaccinations
updated, heartworm check, general checkup. About $250.
We discussed x-raying for hip dysplasia, but it is practically
unheard of in whippets, so we decided against it. Still
not sure about that decision.
|
vet
$250
|
|
6-3-00
Another $40 for opthamology checks to be sure they are
free of hereditary eye defects. We had to take them
to an eye clinic held at a dog show about 100 miles
away--there are not many certified canine opthamologists
outside of vet schools, and there certainly aren't any
around here.
|
vet
$40
travel
$20
|
|
 4-10-00
Ivy is in season finally! Boy, it seems like they come
in seasonlike clockwork months when you don't want to
breed, but once you make up your mind to breed, it takes
forever! Chase seems eager enough but it will be a few
days before she is ready to breed. When I had collies,
I always sent my girls away to be bred, so I never had
to worry about thispart. We've gotten lots of conflicting
advice: Keep them apart till breeding, let them play
together as usual; breed them only once, breed them
twice, breed them three times, breed them every other
day, breed them every day. If they won't breed naturally,
we're not going to artificially inseminate. Breeding
problems can be hereditary, and we don't want to perpetuate
them if either of these two has any.
|
|
 4-15-00
We aren't getting a lot of sleep. I had forgotten how
obnoxious dogs can be when one is in season! Chase shrieks
and cries all night trying to get to Ivy. We can't leave
them together all the time because they might very well
hurt each other trying to breed. She is not happy either.
4-17-00 Okay, Chase is sleeping in the van
in his crate. He tried to eat through the door to
get to Ivy last night and he almost succeeded. He's
always been pretty pathetic when she's in season,
but he seems to know things are different this time
and it makes him even worse. Hmm. Wonder if I have
to include the hundred bucks or so to repair the door
in my litter budget?
|
| 4-20-00
A successful breeding! They seemed to know exactly what
to do without any help from us, thank you very much. After
some of the stories I had heard about difficulty in breeding,
I was a little surprised at how easy it was. Lots of folks
have to deal with artificial insemination, bitches who
don't want to be bred, stud dogs who are not cooperative...
Just the simple act of breeding can be very expensive.
After the business with the door, it's a good thing Chase
caught on fast! |
Total
expenses planning stage $2880
|
|
|
|
