Hi,

I was wondering where the best places to look for a show bitch puppy would be Please? I am hoping to fulfil a lifelong dream of showing successfully but first and foremost looking for a family pet who we can cherish and who my children can grow up with. We are experienced dog owners who have been without a dog for a while after our vizsla passed away. We are now ready for a dog again and after careful research a whippet fits the bill perfectly. Any advice please or does anyone know of any litters? I am happy to wait as long as it takes for the perfect pup! Thanks in advance x

You would be better to start going to championship shows, or whippet club open shows and start talking to breeders there. You're unlikely to get an 'exceptional' show quality bitch as an unknown person. To get first or second pick of a litter you would normally have to be known to the breeder and be prepared to wait. So, I'd start going to shows and sitting at the whippet ring, look at the dogs in the ring and see if there are any you particularly like, and that are also doing well in the ring and start talking to their owners and breeders.

When I decided I'd like a borzoi to show I knew nothing about either borzois or showing having came from a collie/obedience family background, so I started going along to championship shows and just sitting watching the judging, looking at catalogues and making notes on different types. I fell in love with a big winning dog who was also quite a popular sire and was lucky to get a son of his from a line bred litter. Despite my not having a clue this dog became a champion, and a champ show group winner so it is possible to have an exceptional first show dog, but it won't happen without a lot of homework and ground work.

Be careful of local open shows, it's easy to get drawn into a local breeder who may appear very successful at open shows, but if they're not repeating that at championship shows steer clear.

Thank you so much, great advice! I've been going to shows and made a list of dogs with type and movement I like and researched those lines but I haven't approached anyone as I didn't want to disturb then whilst they were showing. Good to know about perhaps not getting a good show puppy as an unknown person, I didn't realise that. Also, I'm aware that it isn't possible to know for sure that a pup will do well as an adult, it's only ever potential. Thanks again.

Oh that's great that you're already doing that, go ahead and speak to people, though you're better speaking to them after they've been in the ring, beforehand they may be nervous or preparing dogs.

It's impossible to guarantee a show quality puppy of course but it is possible to pick a very good pup at 6 weeks and providing there are no mouth problems in the lines and the pup is reared correctly there is no reason why it wouldn't fulfil it's potential. I find at 6 weeks old a hound has all the same curves and angles it will have as a mature adult. After 6 weeks they grow at different stages, their back legs might shoot up and it takes the front a while to catch up. Teenage hounds can often look as they have no angulation at all and then they drop back down into their angles and eventually resemble that lovely shapely 6 week old baby

> I haven't approached anyone as I didn't want to disturb then whilst they were showing

You need to, shows are the very best place to approach exhibitors/breeders. We aren't that scary & we love to encourage new owners. The only time we are less inviting is when we are just about to go into the ring but I would say something along the lines of 'more than happy to talk your ears off when I come out of the ring'.
Fortunately with Whippets they are extremely popular (Top Hound entry & sometimes are top breed overall) & there is always someone to talk to, particularly at champ shows. There are many 'new exhibitors' that win in the ring BUT no breeder can guarantee how a 8 week puppy will turn out at 6, 9, 12months or older...it's all a lottery.

Please approach exhibitors/breeders whom are on your list is my advice 

> I didn't want to disturb then whilst they were showing.

It's wise not to approach somebody going into the ring - but afterwards should be fine ..... provided they weren't feeling sore at being chucked out with the rubbish    

Re a good show bitch - hum.   Most of us breed a litter for our next generation only these days and that's normally going to be a bitch unless the breeder happens to want a dog from that particular litter.   You may get lucky if somebody has a really good litter and can only keep one more bitch however.   If you locate somebody who seems to be breeding what you like the look of, and is successful, you could approach them, telling them your plans and see what happens.   Many people might want somebody new who is keen on getting into the breed, and showing their stock.   If you are lucky!    Some breeders will also run on more than one from a litter, and make their decision about which to keep later on, meaning they could still have something promising available, just a bit older although with Whippets, it's perhaps 'easier' to see what you have at an earlier age than with my main breed.    I was lucky with my girl in that her breeder let me have pick bitch, much as I may have made the wrong pick (for showing!).  But then again I was known, in my main breed.

You might think about going to Discover Dogs, which I think is still held, in London although it sounds as if you have done lots of homework, so go ahead and approach people!!   They won't bite!

My very first show bitch was bought as a pet and I had 4th pick of bitches and yet despite my inexperience and refusal to let someone take her in the ring for me I made her up to a UK Champion. My second bitch was 3rd pick out of 4 bitches and the only bitch in that litter to get made up and all were shown so not always the case that not having pick means you wont get a good quality bitch. I know breeders in my breed who have had 30 plus litters with 30 years experience and still not owned/produced a champion. Construction and movement can be observed in puppies but ring presense is not always evident in young puppies and can make a huge all the difference.

A word of caution about relying on breeders. In my breed we currently have about 7 of what you would call "old-timers", long years of experience, active in the show ring and breeding, and producing quality dogs. These are the breeders you would normally go to when looking for the right show puppy. However, from what I have witnessed in the past few years:

- 2 of these breeders never sell puppies to a show home; they would keep the most promising pup for themselves, and the rest would be sold strictly as pets even if they are very promising show quality.
- breeder number 3 has large kennel and tends to keep all promising puppies, by looking at show results one can see that there were a couple of times over past few years when they sold a puppy to a show home, however these puppies have never done well.
- breeders number 4 and 5 would sell promising puppies/young dogs to a couple of other experienced breeders who would be their friends.
- breeders number 6 and 7 are happy to sell a show puppy to anyone, however looking at past results you can see that again, neither of the puppies they sold to others has ever done well. Moreover, on 3 occasions that I had the opportunity to see the litters myself, these breeders knowingly sold poor quality puppies as promising. Of course they said the usual thing, "this puppy is promising but there are no guarantees", however it was clear from looking at the puppies that neither was promising, neither was likely to achieve great results at champ show level. This wasn't clear to the buyers of those puppies though who simply placed their trust in these breeders when they asked them for show promising puppies. Incidentally on neither of these occasions the buyers were new to the breed, by the time they approached these breeders they already had a dog or two that they had been showing for couple of years and they were looking for a better quality puppy to continue showing.

So there you go, not very encouraging picture and particularly breeders such as 6 and 7 are not nice. But they exist. My breed is small numbers, perhaps the situation is somewhat different with a more numerous breed? I don't know. But I would still say the likelihood of you getting a show quality puppy, particularly a bitch puppy, is very very slim unless you get very very lucky.

  

And having said that, I would ask you: what is going to happen when you buy a puppy, raise it and then realise that this dog will never going to do well at a decent show? What would you do in such case, given that it will signify the ruin of your "lifelong dream of showing successfully"? Would you give up on your lifelong dream? Would you continue to cherish this dog? Or would you re-home it and look for another puppy to hopefully fulfil your dream?

> <br />And having said that, I would ask you: what is going to happen when you buy a puppy, raise it and then realise that this dog will never going to do well at a decent show? What would you do in such case, given that it will signify the ruin of your "lifelong dream of showing successfully"? Would you give up on your lifelong dream? Would you continue to cherish this dog? Or would you re-home it and look for another puppy to hopefully fulfil your dream?

Good point, this one.    When we started in Bassets, we went to a nearby kennel, which just happened to be one of the most successful in the breed, at the time.   We didn't have a choice but in all honesty, I'd not really thought about showing - I just wanted 'a Basset'!!   Of course, during the first months, both of us were convinced we had the next Crufts BIS     Until reality told us otherwise and fact is, moving overseas with him, he didn't even make his title out there where it's comparatively easier to do so.    Poor lad, he was very much a dog that I learnt with!   Being around other Basset people, joining the Club etc., got me into looking at showing and we booked pick dog from somebody who was showing a nice puppy - we persuaded her to do a repeat breeding.   That dog did gain his title overseas by which time the bug had bitten and the next step was to buy the best bitch we could get our hands on so we could take something we'd bred ourselves into the ring.   And the rest is history.

In this, I'd suggest the OP does similar - gets her hands on as good a quality bitch she could, with excellent bloodlines, so if things don't work out as planned with her, at least, with the help/advice of the breeder, you should be able to set about breeding something really good yourself, to take into the ring, eventually.

Approach them after they've been in the ring and they will mostly be very happy to talk all about their dogs for ages! :-)

> In this, I'd suggest the OP does similar - gets her hands on as good a quality bitch she could, with excellent bloodlines, so if things don't work out as planned with her, at least, with the help/advice of the breeder, you should be able to set about breeding something really good yourself, to take into the ring, eventually.

I agree this is the best way of getting a quality show dog. However many people don't want to breed, they just want to buy a puppy and show it. Which is absolutely fine the only difficulty is expectations, showing can be very disheartening unless you approach it with a right attitude.

> showing can be very disheartening unless you approach it with a right attitude.

Indeed - and be aware, unlike some other breeds, Whippet entries are generally high, so competition fierce.   Before you forge ahead, once you have your 'show hopeful', I'd go back to her breeder for her, hopefully unbiased, opinion as to how your bitch has developed.  Showing is expensive, apart from anything else and you do need to develop a very thick skin so being 'thrown out with the rubbish' doesn't hurt too much!!  You have to remember you always bring the best dog home with you - and not all judges like the same type!

Good luck - showing apart, Whippets are very loving creatures even if early days it can take a little time to get inside their heads to learn what makes them tick 

> Indeed - and be aware, unlike some other breeds, Whippet entries are generally high, so competition fierce.

Aren't they just...hence the comment in my post(sometimes top entry over all breeds)