Update~
Whew. It's been a while.
In a nutshell, Willow is doing great! She has completed all of her vaccinations, and is growing like a weed. She seems to have plateaued a bit in the recent weeks, but she is just turning five months, so I'm sure there's a bit more growing to be done. I do think she will be quite small as far as whippets go... I'm not sure if she would even be big enough to enter the show ring... even if I wanted to try.
I am SO glad the baby puppy phase is over. She is pretty much housebroken too. Now the only reason why she would go in the house would be because no one was paying attention. Luckily that hasn't happened!
The main reason why I thought about this journal today is because we participated in our first all-whippet event this morning. I got the info about it from my breeder, but apparently the event was hosted by a local whippet club. They asked if I wanted to join right then, but I didn't have enough money for dues, so I passed. I will be doing more research on it when I get a chance though.
In any case, in one fenced field there was agility equipment for anyone interested, and in the larger fenced area next to it was an open area that was the lure coursing area. However, when we got there it was just an empty field for the dogs to run amok within it. Willow didn't really take to any of the dogs during the free run. Mainly the reasons were because 1.) I think she knew she was a lot smaller than them and was fearful about being trampled and 2.) There was this one young pup (about four months, I think) that just kept barking and barking and snapping at her. I know he wanted to play, but he was just too in her face for her. She did not take kindly to it, but she held her own against him in terms of telling him to back off. Persistent little bugger.
After the free run, they set up the lure coursing equipment. During the wait, we sat next to another young couple with a different four month old boy whippet. He was such a darling! Willow didn't mind him at all, and he seemed to take a liking to her. It's odd because he looks JUST like one of the girls from Willow's litter. In fact, when I saw him I thought he was the girl, so I had to ask where they got him. Turns out he was from South Carolina, so that rules that idea out! Since it took a while for the lure stuff to be set up, we took them to the agility field to romp around.
Anyway, skipping ahead to Willow's turn at the lure coursing--She. Did. AMAZING. She was so awesome! I am so proud! At first, they didn't think she was going to do anything, so they just teased her once by just "bumping" the bunny. But when she jumped on it fast the guy was like, "Hmm.. okay then." He turned it up to full speed and she just WENT! WHOOSH! I have never seen her chase anything with that sort of vigor. It was amazing. Since she was one of the puppies, she only got to do a shorter straight line, but she did wonderfully. I think she found her niche in the whippet world. She was also noticeably faster than all the other puppies, but she has extremely defined muscles in her back legs. I was trying not to be biased, but she really was like a bullet in comparison. I wonder if she has that weird half of the "bully whippet" gene.... I don't know. It was soooo sweet to watch! I wish I had recorded it, but everything went by so fast (literally and figuratively) I didn't even have time to grab my camera.
So yes, I think that's a negative on confirmation, but lure coursing is definitely in Willow's future. I am looking forward to getting into this!
In a nutshell, Willow is doing great! She has completed all of her vaccinations, and is growing like a weed. She seems to have plateaued a bit in the recent weeks, but she is just turning five months, so I'm sure there's a bit more growing to be done. I do think she will be quite small as far as whippets go... I'm not sure if she would even be big enough to enter the show ring... even if I wanted to try.
I am SO glad the baby puppy phase is over. She is pretty much housebroken too. Now the only reason why she would go in the house would be because no one was paying attention. Luckily that hasn't happened!
The main reason why I thought about this journal today is because we participated in our first all-whippet event this morning. I got the info about it from my breeder, but apparently the event was hosted by a local whippet club. They asked if I wanted to join right then, but I didn't have enough money for dues, so I passed. I will be doing more research on it when I get a chance though.
In any case, in one fenced field there was agility equipment for anyone interested, and in the larger fenced area next to it was an open area that was the lure coursing area. However, when we got there it was just an empty field for the dogs to run amok within it. Willow didn't really take to any of the dogs during the free run. Mainly the reasons were because 1.) I think she knew she was a lot smaller than them and was fearful about being trampled and 2.) There was this one young pup (about four months, I think) that just kept barking and barking and snapping at her. I know he wanted to play, but he was just too in her face for her. She did not take kindly to it, but she held her own against him in terms of telling him to back off. Persistent little bugger.
After the free run, they set up the lure coursing equipment. During the wait, we sat next to another young couple with a different four month old boy whippet. He was such a darling! Willow didn't mind him at all, and he seemed to take a liking to her. It's odd because he looks JUST like one of the girls from Willow's litter. In fact, when I saw him I thought he was the girl, so I had to ask where they got him. Turns out he was from South Carolina, so that rules that idea out! Since it took a while for the lure stuff to be set up, we took them to the agility field to romp around.
Anyway, skipping ahead to Willow's turn at the lure coursing--She. Did. AMAZING. She was so awesome! I am so proud! At first, they didn't think she was going to do anything, so they just teased her once by just "bumping" the bunny. But when she jumped on it fast the guy was like, "Hmm.. okay then." He turned it up to full speed and she just WENT! WHOOSH! I have never seen her chase anything with that sort of vigor. It was amazing. Since she was one of the puppies, she only got to do a shorter straight line, but she did wonderfully. I think she found her niche in the whippet world. She was also noticeably faster than all the other puppies, but she has extremely defined muscles in her back legs. I was trying not to be biased, but she really was like a bullet in comparison. I wonder if she has that weird half of the "bully whippet" gene.... I don't know. It was soooo sweet to watch! I wish I had recorded it, but everything went by so fast (literally and figuratively) I didn't even have time to grab my camera.
So yes, I think that's a negative on confirmation, but lure coursing is definitely in Willow's future. I am looking forward to getting into this!