UPCOMING EVENTS

652 – Breeding Dogs Around Diseases that Don’t Have a “Test”

Breeding Dogs Around Diseases that Don’t Have a “Test”

Host Laura Reeves is joined for part two of her impactful conversation with Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi, Project Director, IPFD Harmonization of Genetic Testing for Dogs at International Partnership for Dogs.

Today’s conversation covers some of the biggest hot button diseases impacting all dogs – seizure disorders, cancer, bloat and other life-threatening issues.

Llewellyn-Zaidi offers insight, information and details about new tests coming online and the ways we can minimize risk while working with small gene pools.

“(S)ome cancers are just kind of part of dogs, just being a dog. Or sometimes they’re part of being a type of a dog, like some types of dogs are more likely to be at risk than others, whether it’s size -related or maybe they’re a herding breed, and it’s just at some point in ancient times, (when we) started dividing out into generalized proto-breeds, when we started having our wolfie looking ones and spitzy -looking ones, and we started having our molosser looking ones, and we started having our retrieving looking ones. Before they were such distinctive breeds, there would have already been selection causing inbreeding and increasing some genetic duplication to get those desirable traits.

“And you may bring some things along with that. So some of these cancers are not specific, necessarily, to your breed and they’re just specific to that type of dog.

 

“With cancers there are two cancer tests that are available to all dog breeds or all dog types. There is something called a C -kit somatic mutation for mast cell tumors. All of this is on www.dogwellnet.com so you can check it out. And there’s also the BRAF mutation, so invasive transitional cell carcinoma. That’s for all dogs as well. And for my dear beloved Bernese people, there’s histiocytic malignancy that’s available as a genetic test as well.

 

“So for some of these specific cancers and specific epilepsies, there are genetic tests available that you can use to help you maybe make some decisions or at least to eliminate what might else be going on, right? So you know if you’re not quite sure what kind of a cancer it is, the genetic test might help give you some information on that.

 

“All of this really comes down to how risky do you feel? We can rebuild any breed from scratch if we needed to. It would just take a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of consideration. So in some ways, being very radical, and I’m setting health and welfare aside for just a second, being very radical, it’s kind of up to a breed to make a choice. Do you want to keep breeding to your breed standard until you reach a point of too much poor health and inbreeding depression and then you start again?

“Or do you want to try to conserve and maintain kind of where you are now? Or do you want to try to improve or expand your genetic diversity from where you are now?

“And all three of those kind of philosophies are acceptable, assuming you’re keeping at least welfare in mind. And all three of those philosophies probably will fit all the different kinds of breeds in their unique situations.

“Followed very closely by conserving that breed type or those breed qualities that are important to you, right? That’s the point. That’s the point and the pleasure and the art side, right?

“So if you’re keeping in the back of your mind those chess moves, whether it’s ‘I’m gonna use this type for a couple of times because I really like that or I want to introduce that and then I’m gonna have a couple of litters where I go out and just kind of rebuild that diversity and then maybe go back to that type I happened to like,’ that’s how you kind of weave through the genetic variation that you have within your breed population.

 

“You probably can’t do that forever unless you’re very, very lucky as a breed, like you can’t do that forever, but you can probably do that for quite a long time.”

 

651 – Bridging the Gap Between Art and Science of Dog Breeding

Bridging the Gap Between Art and Science of Dog Breeding

Host Laura Reeves is joined by Aimee Llewellyn Zaidi, project manager for the International Partnership for Dogs. Llewellyn Zaidi’s work is bridging the gap between art and science in dog breeding. They talk about inbreeding and genetic diversity, how those things go together and what you can do when there isn’t a test for a health problem.

Aimée Llewellyn-Zaidi and her Corgi.

“International Partnership for Dogs offers free resources for dog breeders and for vets to kind of give you some unbiased transparent guidance,” Llewellyn Zaidi said.

“I am a third generation Pembroke Welsh Corgi owner. My grandparents had beef cattle in Oregon in the 1960s. They started their farm up in Silverton, Oregon. And my grandmother was a little bit of an Anglophile. And so she got two corgis back in the 70s in Oregon, which there weren’t too many corgis out here then.

“And she had these great aspirations of having them being working corgis and they worked really hard at cuddling. And they maybe, you know, barked at things, but yeah, they started as working dogs but were 100 % professional lap dogs, you know, as corgis really know how to do it. And I just never lost my love for the Pems.

“I started working as a health manager for the Kennel Club in the UK (in 2012). And by the end of my time in the UK, I had developed a team and I was the head of health and research there, really focused on bringing evidence-based education resources to breeders and to the veterinary community and to breed advisors with lots and lots of tools and resources available.

“I really wanted to take the science and kind of translate it into something practical. There wasn’t a lot of in between at the time between researchers and the people who actually have to make the breeding decisions and that disconnect really bugged me. I think it really bugged me that there wasn’t such an easy way for communication between really the art and the science of dog breeding, trying to bring those things a little bit closer together.

“I want to take some of the mystery out of some of science or some of the resources that are available. I try to be really honest and transparent about what we know, what we don’t know, what’s still kind of out there, what things might be not the most ideal resources.

“I feel like that honesty is the best way for people to be informed and to make ultimately the breeding decisions. You guys have the hard job. You have the job of deciding, right? So, I just want to give you information that can help you hopefully make those really informed decisions.”

650 — Breeding a “Star” requires depth of knowledge

Breeding a “Star” requires depth of knowledge

Join host Laura Reeves for part two of her conversation with Cody Sickle, Cherokee Legend Bulldogs, breeder of Star, GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, BIS at the 2022 AKC National Championship.

GCH Cherokee Legend Encore, “STAR”. Breeders-Cody T Sickle, Connie Chambers and Sherry Hazelett
Owners- Alaina Moulton, BJ Whitlow, and Kevin & Natalie MasonLe

“I think there’s a lot of things to think about in breeding,” Sickle said. “I think one of the things to really focus on in breeding is watch what everybody else is doing. Just like in picking puppies, knowledge makes a difference. Knowledge makes a difference in this too. Look who’s breeding successfully.

“I think most breeders would actually be better if they never owned a stud. Because I don’t think most breeders have the fortitude, the self-control, not to think they’re going to make their own stud famous. I think the best breeders think in terms of ‘I don’t care who owns this dog, if I think there’s a stud out there that will improve my breeding program, even if I don’t care for the people that own the dog at all, doesn’t matter. I’m not marrying them, I’m breeding to their dog’.

“And when you do a breeding, be honest about it. When I do a breeding, I don’t have the idea that, well, I’m going to keep the best this or that out of the breeding. I don’t think of that. I’ll keep the best out of it if it’s good enough. But just because it’s out of two dogs that I have a high regard for if the puppies aren’t good enough, move on.

“We will frequently do grandfather to granddaughter breedings. I’ve only once done a brother and sister breeding. And it turned out to be wonderful, but they were the only brother and sister I’ve ever seen in our breed that I would have considered breeding together.

“We’ve been fortunate to have good studs. And a good measure of that is the last 40 years for the national specialty at least one Cherokee stud is behind every single breed winner. And that impresses me. And a lot of the record stuff doesn’t impress me.

“I think the future of Bulldogs in general is good. Bulldogs are a wonderful family dog. Not every family, you know, if you’re a family of athletes who’s going to go out running the marathon every weekend, Bulldog’s not the right dog. If you want a dog that is going to be a terrific family pet, love everybody, get along with everybody. A bulldog is an excellent dog. They’re just nice dogs.

“I think we are so fortunate to have the sport of dog shows. For a lot of us, it’s a major part of our lives and has been for the major part of our lives. But I like the dogs, I like the competition, I like the people, I like the camaraderie. There’s no place that I feel more comfortable than a dog show, and that’s because of the people for sure, and as much complaining as we see on social media, I think it’s a wonderful sport.”

649 – Veterinary Advice on Free Whelping Following C-Section

Veterinary Advice on Free Whelping Following C-Section

Dr. Marty Greer joins host Laura Reeves for a deep dive on the question of when your female has had a C-section and you breed her again. Is it safe to have the bitch whelp her puppies naturally? This question comes from a listener request.

“The most important thing to ask is why did you have a C-section in the first place,” Greer said. “If you had a C-section in the first place, because she’s a Bernese Mountain Dog or because she’s a Bulldog or a Frenchie or maybe a Clumber or a Corgi, some of the breeds that are more commonly having their puppies by c-section, you still have a Clumber or a Bulldog. They didn’t change breeds while they were pregnant, so that’s the most important reason.

“Secondly. What were the other reasons? Did she just have too many puppies? If she had 14 and she’s going to have eight this time, yeah, that’s a whole different conversation. If she had a puppy that was oversized or misdirected, that’s a different conversation. But it’s going to depend on what happened previously. So you really need to have a good history on what went on when this last C-section was done.

“Statistically, according to the numbers, 75% of the time the bitch has the C-section because of a bitch cause and 25% are a puppy cause. So that kind of gives you some numbers to work with is 3/4 of the time you’re probably going to need another C-section, but 1/4 of the time it was an anasarca puppy, it was a misdirected puppy, it was oversized, it had some other kind of a birth defect, two were coming at the same time, so you had a log jam. I mean you just have to try and sort that out.

“That’s the general thought. It’s “V-back” on the human side, it’s vaginal birth after C-section, V-back. So most of the time you absolutely can go ahead. From a safety perspective, there’s reason to believe that it’s going to be unsafe. You assume that the veterinarian did a nice job closing the uterus.

“What I always kind of laugh about is when veterinarians say, ‘ohh, the uterus was paper thin when I did her C-section. You can never have another litter.’ OK, you take a uterus and you put 14 puppies in it and you stretch it out like a pair of old pantyhose and you wonder why it’s paper thin. It’s supposed to be thin. That’s the way your stomach looks after Thanksgiving dinner. That’s the way your bladder looks when you need to go to the restroom. That’s the way the organ works. It stretches out and it becomes thinner, but that doesn’t mean that it’s so thin that she can’t have a normal pregnancy and a normal vaginal birth.”

648 — Cody Sickle: Knowledge is the Key to Success

Famed Bulldog breeder-owner-handler Cody Sickle joins host Laura Reeves for the first of a two-part series on owner-handlers, dog shows, Bulldogs, breeding and camaraderie.

CHEROKEE LEGEND NOR’EASTER DEREK
Long Island Bulldog Club Specialty. Winners Dog & Best of Winners. Judge: Phoebe Booth

Sickle’s renowned Cherokee Bulldogs have quite a record. According to his records, he has bred or owned 256 Champions, more than any other Bulldog breeder ever in the USA. His dogs have won 99 All Breed Bests In Show and 591 Bests In Specialty Show, five National Specialty Bests Of Breed and 15 Westminster Kennel Club Bests of Breed. All of which rank as #1 all-time results in the breed.

Sickle says he knew he wanted a Bulldog from the time he was 5 years old. His parents said he had to pay for it himself. So he skipped going to the movies, did extra jobs, saved his allowance and finally was able to purchase his first dog for $60.

“I find the Bulldog people are terrific,” Sickle said. “They are just as you say. We go in the ring, we’re competing with each other and we’re obviously all trying to win. When it’s over, it’s over. We are all friends when it’s over. We are a good representative of what sportsmanship should be almost all the time. There are exceptions, but not very many.

“I’ve listened to people say, well, you know, the Bulldog people are good, but this breed is not. I’m not intimately familiar with the interactions of people in other breeds. But I am very into the dog people in general and the dog people in general are helpful.

Cody Sickle with CH. CHEROKEE MORGAN. Best In Show…Penn Ridge Kennel Club. Judge: James Warwick. August 1969

“I’ve never once in my life went up to any dog person and said tell me about this or tell me about that and had them say no, not ever. And when I was 13 years old, I used to hang around the handlers. Richard Bauer when Jimmy Mitchell was his assistant. Wendell Sammett when Paul Edwards was his assistant. Peter Green, the Forsyths, they were all terrific. They were all perfectly willing to share their knowledge. They’re perfectly willing to answer all my questions, and my questions were incessant.

“The Bulldog people were the same way. One of the benefits about the Bulldog people being good people is that, in order to learn I think it’s necessary to speak to lots of people. Because people have different views. Some people just can’t communicate what you’re trying to learn and sometimes whatever they’re saying, even though it’s just right on, it doesn’t register properly. So if you ask everybody and work at weeding out what sounds like nonsense and keeping what sounds like it’s valuable, you’re going to learn a lot more.”

647 – Building Blocks to Success in the Ring and the Whelping Box

Building Blocks to Success in the Ring and the Whelping Box

Host Laura Reeves is joined by breeder-handler Christian Rutten in part two of a wide-ranging conversation touching on some of the critical building blocks to success in both the show ring and the whelping box.

On Owner Handler vs Professional Handler

We all started somewhere. Christian reminds us we are all at a dog show for the same reason. To win and to have fun with our dogs.

“One of the things people say is ‘I just went to a dog show for 10 straight shows and I didn’t get any ribbons. And that it’s all political. And the handlers have the upper edge.’ I did the math because I was at a big string of shows and I walked in the ring 28 times and won two majors. This (other person) didn’t go into the ring 28 times in the year and she didn’t win any majors. So (handlers) have the opportunity to present a lot more dogs. So, although it looks like we’re receiving a lot more ribbons, but we’re also going to a lot more shows.

On Selecting Judges

“There are judges who I’ve taken a barrage of type and styles to over a multitude of times, and I can never get past them. And that’s fine. I just don’t necessarily want to ever exhibit under them again. And there’s other judges who are consistent as all get out. And you’ll say, well, they’re judging in North Carolina today and you look at their results and they put up litter mate to what you showed to them the week before that went winner’s bitch. And so I think finding that kind of balance of knowing what those judges are going to put up, if you can bring that to them every time, they’re going to love it.

“For me, there’s probably 20 people that I really seek out to show what I think are the best of what I have. The rest of them are just there and just kind of doing their thing, right? I don’t want people to get burned out on the fact that maybe they’re not winning, maybe they shouldn’t, right? That’s fine. But maybe they’re mentor says this is a great one. And what’s holding you back is your ability and the judges you’re exhibiting to. And once you figure that out and you find the right judges who appreciate that style, you’ve got the golden ticket. It’s a fine line between understanding that not everybody who’s putting the finger are experts. You need to become an expert yourself first and do this for yourself. And then from there, that’s when the success comes.

“I think that people, they want The Polar Express ticket to dreamland instead of just take the train and enjoy the view and the destination is worth it once you get there.

On Dog Show Basics

Christian brings basic husbandry and manners to the forefront of the conversation.

“First one is you never leave a dog on a table unattended. Seems like a very simple thing to a lot of us, but some people are never taught that. The second thing is don’t leave dogs in ex pens unattended. You’re asking for a disaster to happen. I see this from owner handlers to breeders to professional handlers.

“The other thing is, and this is a big one for me, and I kind of thought it was standard and I’m seeing it less and less. Congratulate the winners. I have probably walked into, I couldn’t tell you, thousands of rings from juniors as an owner handler, as a breeder owner handler, as a professional handler. I could maybe count on one hand the amount of times I didn’t say congratulations. If you’re in a full group, whether it’s the owner handler group, or the regular group, you don’t have to shake everybody’s hand, all you got to do is walk up to the winner and say Congratulations.”

646 — The Conversation at the Top is Different: Finding a Mentor           

The Conversation at the Top is Different: Finding a Mentor

Christian Rutten with one of his top winning Golden Retrievers.

Breeder-handler Christian Rutten joins host Laura Reeves to encourage new exhibitors and breeders in finding a mentor.

“I think the biggest mistake people make is they cut corners,” Rutten said. “They find the people who are sitting and just have a lot of downtime because they’re easy to talk to. But what you need to do is go to the top. The conversation at the top is different.

“Everybody’s collaborating ‘who can do this for what and what reason.’ The conversation at the bottom is usually, ‘it’s crooked… Oh, my dog is perfect and that one isn’t.’

“I would say that the most successful breeders of any breed are way more critical on their own dogs than there are of anybody else’s. When they say, you know, my dog is the greatest that’s ever been and the other one only wins because of who shows it, that’s problematic.

“You need to be self -reflective about what is this dog’s strength and weaknesses. And you know what? If you go ask a judge, right, you lost and you aren’t sure why. And you go ask the judge and the judge says, well, he didn’t ask for it on the day or the other dog showed better or whatever it is. I just discard that.

“When they say, you know, I wish your dog had a little better shoulder, a little bit shorter back, you could use a little bit stronger muzzle, and gets into the finite details, those are the people whose words you hang on, and from there you move forward. So look for the people who are extra critical first, not angry because they lost, but extra critical. And I think if you approach any judge from a standpoint of questioning, ‘what was it that you liked about the other dog better than my dog today,’ they’ll be honest with you.

Christian started at ground zero in Junior Showmanship and worked his way up through the ranks.

“Where do you start from ground zero? First thing, anybody, whether you’ve done dogs for 20 years or you’re just starting, go to YouTube and look at Dog Steps. It’s not breed specific, right? It’s just about basic anatomy and how it works in motion.

“The other thing is attend the largest specialties and the nationals that you can and see a broad array (of dogs). If your breed has an illustrated standard, keep that. Go and you seek out those breeders that are just kind of next level. A, I want you to seek out the best breeder there is. B, trust their judgment. But C, be happy if you don’t have the Best in Show winner because when you get handed that Best in Show winner on a golden platter, you cannot figure out what it takes to make it.

“I wrote a thing one time that says sacrifices are made in the whelping box to preserve and protect individual pieces, not to breed just for winners, right? And that’s the thing. Talk to your breeder, what are the health issues that you face and how are you kind of navigating that in your breeding program?

“There’s a fine line between discarding everybody’s opinion and asking everyone and absorbing as much knowledge as you can. There’s 20 ways to get to the bus stop, but getting on the bus and going to your destination is on you.”

645 – Puppies and Kids: Expert Insight on Best Practices

Puppies and Kids: Expert Insight on Best Practices

Dr. Marty Greer, DVM and host Laura Reeves talk about bringing home your new puppy, introducing it to your children, how puppies and children interact appropriately, and how to make that be a really positive experience.

“The first place I would start,” Greer said, “is if you don’t already have a breed that you have selected and you have children, pick a breed that’s good with kids.

“You know, why start off with something that’s likely to set you up for a failure when you could get, oh, let’s say a Labrador or a Golden Retriever, which are notoriously outgoing, happy dogs, and, you know, they’re just easy to live with. They’re great dogs to have her own children. So, you know, don’t start off, and I don’t want to badmouth anybody’s breed, so I’m not going to specifically call up breeds that aren’t good, but don’t start off with a dog that you have concerns about.

“Start out with something that’s happy, friendly, outgoing and was raised in an environment that’s likely to be successful.

“There are situations where if the kids are inappropriate with the dog or really afraid of the dog or the parents aren’t working well with the children, that I just simply have to say to them, ‘you know, this is probably not a good match. Let me help you find another breeder.’

“For starters, I don’t leave the children and the dog unattended ever until maybe the dog’s five. That’s what what XPens are for. That’s what playpens are for. That’s what crates are for. And you can put X-Pens up across doorways.

“And it’s also a great way to introduce a dog to children or a puppy to children. And vice versa, they can see each other without the puppy jumping on the child, without the child shrieking, without the child having a meltdown, or without the child doing something else that’s inappropriate with the dog. So it’s a really safe way to start off is for them to see each other and interact with one another, but through the xpen or through the crate.”

Marty and Laura talk through dog body language, bite inhibition training in baby puppies and the sheer joy of kids and dogs raised together.

The Dog Body Language Chart Marty Greer recommends.

644 — Sheila Goffe On the CDC’s Importation Regulations

Sheila Goffe On the CDC’s Importation Regulations

Sheila Goffe, AKC Vice President of Government Relations, joins host Laura Reeves to discuss the CDC’s soon to be implemented rule about importing dogs into the US.

Goffe provides background on retail rescue as the impetus for CDC’s regulations, the work AKC, NAIA and other stake holders have provided to the CDC and the most recent update to the rule.

“CDC put out an announcement saying that they heard the concerns about the rabies certificate,” Goffe said. “Remember they had (originally) required that you had not only a rabies certificate, but a rabies from a USDA or Canadian accredited vet. So it’s not just like your regular vet. It’s like, OK, I have to go find basically the same vet I would go to if I’m importing a dog to another country.

“So that veterinarian-specific requirement, they have dropped that requirement. As of now, they’re saying that all you need to enter the United States with a dog from Canada or another low risk rabies free country is an import form. It’s now available online. You can fill it out online. It takes less than 10 minutes. You’re going to have a picture of your dog on it. You know, a little bit of information about you and an attestation that this dog has not been outside of a rabies free, low risk country for the last six months.

Dogs still need to be at least six months of age to enter the US from any country, Goffe added.

“Blame the irresponsible importers,” Goffe said, “because frankly, they claimed to be us. They claim to be personally owned dogs. And now CDC is saying we can’t tell the difference. So where we need to go with CDC is create a solution where we can say ‘we can tell you the difference, we can show you what we do that those folks would never be able to do. We can show you that this dog has been registered from a registered litter. You know, we can demonstrate this dog was at the vet at two days old getting dewclaws removed. I can prove to you this dog was here in this country and it has not gone to Azerbaijan and come back.”

Goffe encourages exhibitors and breeders to reach out to their representatives to share their concerns. Find resources HERE.

 

643 — Bo Bengtson on Whippets and His Newest Book

Host Laura Reeves is joined by Bo Bengtson, legendary breeder, judge and author of The Whippet: An Authoritative Look at the Breed’s Past, Present and Future.

Questions for Bo:

Bo Bengtson judging the American Whippet Club National Specialty.

1) This is your fourth edition of the quintessential book, “The Whippet,” first published in 1985. What made you want to update it again? What will readers find that is new?

I guess it’s pretty unusual for a dog book that was published that long ago to be reprinted, but it was last published in a much enlarged edition in 2010 and so much has happened in Whippets in the last 15 years! Whippets have become one of the most popular breeds at many shows: Crufts in England has had about 400 for the last few years, only Labs and Goldens have more… I have judged a show with 250 Whippets in Sweden, they have a Sighthound show in Germany that has 235 Whippets as a top figure, and it has become amazingly popular in many countries where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it: the big shows in e.g. Poland all have more than 100 exhibits NOW.  The 2024 FCI World Dog Show was held in Croatia last month and there were 171 Whippets entered, which is fairly typical figure for the World Shows. And there are over 6,000 entries from the Czech Republic alone to the Internet’s Whippet  Archive, so that’s probably the  next big Whippet country! 

USA doesn’t have the biggest registration figures, but the American Whippet Club holds a National Specialty in April every year that is the largest in the world, sometimes with more than 600 Whippets present and over 1,200 entries.  I made a point of including all countries that have affected the world population in some way. Did you know that there is a world class Whippet breeder in South Korea that often wins in Europe and works with American bloodllines?

I read parts of that 1985 book recently … It’s not a bad little book for its time and a lot of the content is in later editions also, but it’s fairly typical of breed books then, both in scope and size. Not many photos and all black and white, but I’ll always remember how proud I was to get into Foyles Bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London and seeing my book on the shelf there!

To get back to the new book, I’m so grateful that Denise Flaim convinced me to update it! The book is available both on Amazon and via Denise’s RevodanaPublishing.com —they did a beautiful job: the book is much bigger than I expected — I don’t know why I didn’t expect that because I know that we added a lot of text and about 200 photos of winners from the last 15 years. Anyway, it weighs about 3.25 pounds, covers 530 pages, and when I took an advance copy to the National specialty in Tennessee in April, one reader actually started to cry because it was so beautiful!! 

2) Share with our listeners some of the fascinating breed history you have gathered over the years, from its humble beginnings hunting hares, to its popularity as “the poor man’s greyhound,” to today.

Well, of course the Whippet became popularly known as the favorite dog of the poor mining families in the North of England in the 1800s. There was organized racing with considerable sums to the winners, so of course the dogs were really well taken care of and in fact fed much better than the people. What’s really amazing is how many people turned out to watch the races: there are some grainy black and white films still in existence from the late 1800s, and they prove beyond a doubt that there were thousands of spectators, many thousands.

But what I’ve found was that the Whippet had friends much higher up on the social ladder as well. Gertrude, the Lady Decies, was socially very prominent and owned several champion Whippets, including the two first brindle champions. She was primarily a cat fancier, breeder and exhibitor but she showed the dogs herself, in post-Victorian voluminous skirts and cartwheel hat. And there was also Sir Edmund Chaytor, Bart., who was a frequent exhibitor with Lady Chaytor and helped reorganize the Whippet Club after the first World War. 

There are even some royal connections: in Kitty Kelly’s biography of the British royal family there is a previously unknown photo of Queen Mary with three of her sons, dating from perhaps 1910, which has a very good-looking Whippet in it: I have not been able to find out the name of the dog, but Queen Maud of Norway, who was born in England and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was often photographed with her Whippets.

So I think that the Whippets has gotten a somewhat unfair rap for appealing only to one particular segment of society while in reality it was appealing both to high and low.

 

3) Talk about the Whippet internationally and the cooperation amongst breeders that has made it one of the deepest in quality globally.

There are differences between the standards in U.K. and in the U.S., but they are not greater than that a really good dog can win in both countries. The days when you almost needed an English Champion to win in the U.S. are long since gone, and the English added some American blood since then, which was quite successful, but mostly they import from Continental Europe these day – and Europe is full of fantastic Whippets of part English and part American breeding these days … The Europeans are almost more American than we  are in the U.S. — and they LOVE American imports! 

I must give shout-out to Italy, which has some wonderful Whippets and probably five or six word-class breeders, and Holland, who has a long history in the breed and currently houses Europe’s probably most successful stud dog,  — who was born in South Africa of part British and part American background. The most successful breeder in England actually lives in Holland!

 

4) What other factors can you identify that account for the depth and breadth of quality in the breed?

I mentioned the Internet’s Whippet Breed Archive earlier; it has more than 372,500 pedigrees online — I just checked! — many of them illustrated. It’s an incredibly important tool for both novices and longtime fanciers like me, and everybody uses it. You can find statistics, both current and from the past, about things like population, color distribution, health, and the most popular sires, and you can even make up mock pedigrees for planned litters. I really think the success of the Whippet Breed Archive has been the success of the whole breed world-wide!

And there are so many different competitive outlets for Whippets, which probably accounts for much of the activity in the breed and explains why we lose so few new fanciers. You can focus on conformation, of course, but there are also field activities that you can participate in: racing or coursing, and we always have a couple of days of field activities during our national specialties, and sometimes there are the same dogs who participate. There were 200 entries in the coursing alone at the 2024 National, and 50 of them were conformation champions! And at the National Specialty there are invariably special classes for those who are racing or coursing qualified, and a special award to the winner of Best Performance Dog. Then you can of course participate in obedience or rally, like hundreds did at our last national specialty. And there are always well-filled Versatility and Triathlon classes!

 

5) What are Whippet breeders doing that the rest of the purebred dog fancy could learn from? 

The fact that we have a really great, large and strong National Specialty is really important, I think. The Whippet people more or less take over a hotel or motel in a different part of the country in April every year, and beyond national specialty judging there is so much going on that there is no way you can participate in everything: there’s racing and coursing, Breeder’s Sweepstakes, Veteran’s Sweepstakes, Futurity, Top 20, health testing, judges education, parades of Honors and Rescues … and probably even more that I’ve forgotten, like obedience, agility and rally. … It gives people something to focus on; I’m really sorry for the breeds that don’t have a great National Specialty.

And it probably helps that we are as a group generally NICE! There are some exceptions, of course, but when I hear what goes on in some other breeds I am so grateful that I’m in Whippets! I doubt that anybody would refuse to let their stud dog be used on some bitches because they just happen to be owned by the “wrong” people, and if someone would like to buy a promising show puppy from another kennel, just let them. There is the usual grumbling about the wrong winners, of course, but I bet there’s less rancor and bad feelings in Whippets than in most breeds. We really try to be happy for each other when somebody is winning, even if it isn’t what we would have done if we were judging,

6) Can you identify and talk about three quintessential, iconic “lines” or families or kennels of Whippets, either standing alone or working together, that have most influenced the modern breed?

English Laguna: a son of the great stud dog Laguna Ligonier was sent over to the U.S. in the 1960s, Greenbrae Barn Dance, and basically created the American Whippet. He was an incredibly strong sire for his own elegant type, and his litter brother was exported to  Canada: the sheer beauty of these dogs and their offspring was overwhelming; they were saved from an over-refined appearance by the strength of the Stoney Meadows more genuinely American line — bred by Mrs. Wear, Doris Wear.

And of course there was Peggy Newcombe and her Courtenay Fleetfoot of Pennyworth, who did wonderful PR for the breed by winning BIS at Westminster and being No. 1 dog of all breeds. 

Later there was Ch. Delacreme De La Renta, who was a terrific sire, and his grandson Ch. Starline’s Reign On: both have sired well over 100 champions each, and Reign On is in the news again now for having sired many more champions in a couple of litters by A.I.

We are lucky to have so many clever breeders in pretty much all areas of the country, which makes it difficult to win with mediocrity anywhere. Sporting Fields has bred many litters, often in partnership with other breeders, but they have the number of champions for it, and six Sporting Fields dogs have won the National Specialty! Or seven if you count Ch. Bo-Bett’s Air Force One, who won in 2023 – he was officially co-bred by the late Carol Harris with Debbie Butt and her daughter Amanda Giles.

There are so many other kennels and stud dogs that have had breed-changing influence, like Starline and Chelsea and Plumcreek and Saxon Shore that it’s impossible to mention them all.

 

7) You have judged all over the world for decades. Name three dogs you have seen that you most admired and what made them stand out in your mind. Of the many beautiful Bohem whippets you’ve bred, which was your favorite?

Oh, that’s very difficult … Some of the dogs I’ve put up in Europe and Australia have been wonderful, but the best Whippet I’ve judged remains Ch. Brushwood’s Moxi of Endeavor in the U.S., who’s a perfect balance of elegance and strength. She should have won many more BIS than she did, but she won the AWC National three times, once under me. 

I haven’t judged the Crufts BIS winner Ch. Pencloe Dutch Gold, who was wonderful and whom I got the opportunity to go over when he was shown not for competition when I judged a specialty in Scotland the same year he had won Crufts. He was so much more exciting than his pictures!

Nor have I judged GCh. Pinnacle Kentucky Bourbon, just admired her from ringside — I can still remember how enthusiastic some breeder-judges whom I really respect were about Bourbon when they had put her up at specialties before she was famous and had won more than a hundred BIS at all-breed shows.

By FAVORITES I have bred, I assume you mean by conformation? I haven’t bred a lot, but I must mention a dog I bred in Sweden long ago, Int. Ch. Bohem Mome Rath — most of the dogs we bred then don’t hold up today but he really does. Such a pity that I have nothing left of him; he was hardly used at stud at all and was owned by a teenage girl who was not easy to deal with and kept him way too fat! But she redeemed herself by later telling me how much she loved him when I had moved to the U.S., so that was OK.

The other dog that I’m really proud of is Ch. Bohem C’est la Vie, who had a short but brilliant career shown by my partner Paul Lepiane, who’s an excellent handler. He won both all-breed and specialty BIS with her but she remains famous mostly because she was lost at JFK Airport in the early 2000s and thousands of people spent months trying to find her until the NY Times declared her an “urban legend”… She was never found, but fortunately I had bred her young, and through her son she’s behind everything that came later.

 

ADDITONAL QUESTIONS (if there is time)

8) What other books have you written?

I wrote my first dog book when I was 22, so that’s a while ago — 58 years to be exact —and there have of course been a few books since then … I wrote a breed encyclopedia that I wasn’t particularly happy with, so I sold all the rights to it back to the publisher for not very much money … whereupon it was published in lots of languages and sold half a million copies! That would have been some nice royalties for me, but of course I got nothing and in fact only saw the book once after that — in a book-store window when I was judging in Brazil!

But I did write one other book that was good: it was called “Best in Show, The World of Show Dogs and Dog Shows” and was published in 2008, so  it’s not exactly current. I worked on it for at least a couple of years and tried to make it as world-encompassing as possible and historically correct as possible. It has all the biggest winners of all the different breeds in the world in it and photos of most of them!

Dog shows had an early beginning in the 18th Century and  descend one the one hand from shooting and hunting people and one the other hand from the rat catchers in the pubs of London: eventually these were considered offensive and gave rise to more humane activities, including clubs for “fancy dogs.”

But that book was never promoted as it should have been. It got wonderful reviews and won some awards, but I think the people who had worked on it with me were all fired, so nobody was left at the publisher who knew what it was about. I think it still is available on Amazon for about $20.

 

9) Why are you focusing so much on the past?

Well, because history is so fascinating, of course! I did’t think so when I was younger, and almost no younger person thinks so, so maybe you have to be kind of a historical artifact yourself to appreciate history? You can never know exactly what went on as recently as e.g. 100 years ago, because although people haven’t changed that much, in some respects people were different then — but you can read the remaining reports and guess what was meant by them. 

I’m sure that many contemporary dog fanciers think that my fascination with the past is at least a little weird. Nobody can foresee the future, but as Churchill or someone said, “If you want to know about the future it helps to know the past …”