I've had dogs since the early 1990's. I started with borzoi, but changes in my life along the way have resulted in me now having just two whippets: Jesse and Sara. I moved from Denmark to The Netherlands in 2006, and will hopefully return to the show rings here this year.
I had my very first whippet litter in March 2004, and all puppies have turned out really beautiful, with wonderful temperaments. The only one in a show home, Rocky (Dragonwing Sirocco), gained his American Championship in only 5 months of showing in California during spring 2005.
I do like to show my dogs from time to time, but it is not my very first priority - I'm not "bitten by the show bug" but I see the necessity. Showing for me is to confirm that my dogs are up to the standard, which is important for breeding, and also to look and learn, and to compare what other breeders have made. I will "show that I can breed "(an expression, NOT a statement that I know everything), rather than breed only to produce show dogs for myself, whippets are so much more than that. Having said that, few things please me more that seeing my pups having success in activities with their new owners - showing, agility, lure coursing or obedience.
I aim to produce correct classic, healthy and correct whippets with good temperaments if and when I decide to breed. I'm fairly new to breeding, and the more I read and study and talk to other breeders, the more I find out I need to learn - but I do have breeder friends and mentors, whose friendship is priceless for me, and who I don't know what I'd do without - and who I often turn to for advice and with questions. Even breeders with decades of experience were beginners once (and some forget that) - and I aim to keep expanding my knowledge of this wonderful breed.
Some of my breeding in the future will be focused on quality black and blue whippets, with exellent quality dogs of other colours used to keep the offspring as close to the standard as possible. Naturally, there will be puppies, or even whole litters, without any blacks or blues, but these colours are my personal passion, and have been somewhat neglected, and deserve attention. Since all colours and combinations are allowed in this wonderful breed, I feel all colours should be taken seriously. However, in the only 3 years I've had a black whippet, there seems to have been a boom of lovely black whippets suddenly appearing in the show rings.
In my limited spare time, I make - and sell - coats and now also collars, mainly for whippets, but have also had customers with greyhounds, Italian greyhounds, and several other breeds. Visit my Coats page if you're looking for something - all coats are made individually after measurements, and none of them are exactly the same.
Terje Ellingsen,
Dragonwing Whippets
Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
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