Deb Bob and mob

I saw my first whippets in 1972 while on tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the home of a patron who gave us a party following our concert, and knew that someday I must have one - just as soon as I had real time to devote to one of these elegant creatures! As a well-known flutist, I performed all over the world using my maiden name Deborah Carter, and that "someday" was only 19 years later when a bad auto accident forced me to retire to play more chamber & solo music, travel less, and finally be able to treasure a whippet. My first boy was CH Paris Sirius Tempo, a son from the superb breeding my friend Dr. Michael Hunter Holderman had done with his bitch Pauline (the elegant CH Paris Pauline) to Timely (the extraordinary CH Whippoorwill Tanager ROMX) and I realized I was passionately hooked on this amazing breed. The potato chip theory my mentor Dr. Barbara Henderson had warned me about took over, and I have no idea how it happened but all of a sudden there was a handful of whippets in my home and I was a different person! Gone was my glamorous life of evening gowns, 4" heels, and opera! I was shopping for clothes with pockets (this is fashion?), flat shoes I could run in (ugly), a van to hold crates that I actually had to haul around myself (horrors), and I was an obsessed whippet lover (wow)!!! William Smith, the brilliant long-time Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and my husband of 25 years had died in 1993 and now the men in my life had 4 legs - Oh My God...I really was nuts! My vocabulary contained new words where "soundness" meant something totally different than "sound" for an artist, i.e. the tonal beauty of an instrument or the acoustic qualities of a concert hall, and "lines" didn't mean the directional flow of a melody anymore! I had rapidly discovered that this dog world was something else again, and when it grabbed you, you were grabbed!

 

Deb

My second boy was also out of Pauline sired by William (Dual CH Paris Say You Will) and Frankie was the love of my life! Two years later he reluctantly let my new husband Bob Martino into our home, and it seemed only natural that I name my kennel Kokopelli (the ancient Southwest Indian flute playing icon prankster), and most of my whippets either have musical or airplane names. My line began with some famous old Paris and Whippoorwill stuff, and my first litter was born in 1994 sired by Frankie and my Timely x Arpel daughter. My first Diva had 8 beautiful puppies and I knew this was what I was destined to do! All my years of reading, studying pedigrees and learning about type, heads and movement were paying off...my life had new devotion and direction, and I was very happy!

Deb with her first litter in 1994

I had been searching for something sired by CH Broadstrider By George ROMX because I was in love with Chip's stellar movement and somehow had a feeling this would lock in the big reach and rear drive I cared so much about, and so when Sharon Sakson found this lovely mahogany brindle bitch from Cindy Hatcher named Midsummers True Glory (a Chip x Kukui daughter), I knew she was just the bitch to compliment the intense beauty of my glorious Tempo's phenomenal head and huge round black eyes. I bought Glory just for him and together they gave me my incredible Piper, the striking rose blue brindle Kokopelli Piper in Paris who became my foundation bitch. Piper's show career ended prematurely at 15 months of age with a freak tail amputation accident and her beautiful outline was disturbed, then later on a ruptured Achilles tendon and resulting surgery rendered her no longer sound, but she became the best brood bitch anyone could ask for, and I adore her!

Bobby

We left Pennsylvania and my huge new Italian family to come to northern Arizona and an airpark where Bobby could fly everyday and we could see my parents who had been here since the 70s. After we moved here, I bred Piper to Logan (Lori Nelson's CH Wildfire's Special Effects) and they produced my fabulous PJ (CH Kokopelli's Piper Mirage) who Mary Dukes finished for me in 8 shows with 5 majors! Her brother Kody finished next and their sister Darian recently won her championship in Prescott, AZ. Piper was bred again to Nemo, CH Alcyon Runamok Nautilus and she gave me another special 6 puppies, all of which are pointed or titled. I'm very proud that there are Piper, PJ and Emmy kids all over the country and am thrilled to say that 11 Kokopelli Whippets are now out there being shown, pointed and waiting to finish! I'm very proud that two of PJ's kids (both my Face daughter Visa and Cindy's Kody son Toby) each just won Best of Breed and were Group 2 and 3 placement winners within the past few weeks in October 2005.

Bobby and pups

Serious back surgery in April 2005 forced me to lower the number of dogs here so I could cope and heal, so we're now owned by just my two gorgeous girls Diva and Visa, with two Rozi puppies on the ground and promises of plans for future breeding excitement! I couldn't do this without my handsome, wonderful husband Bobby who is an amazing, inventive contractor able to build anything and definitely the more practical side of the two of us! He's always helping me somehow in some way by making a whelping box, putting in doggy doors, rearranging yet another room for the whippets, putting up more fencing for another run, driving or flying my puppies to their new homes, or just bringing me ice cream to energize my bitches as they whelp! Bobby's passion (aside from me) is airplanes and he is an instrument rated pilot. Other than my beloved whippets who consume most my days and nights one way or another, my artistic outlet is designing & making jewelry, and I love cooking, the computer, and shopping!

Deb and Visa

My vision in whippets is to maintain the elegance of the breed and hold onto the melt-you expression by keeping the big round eyes and a slightly broader backskull which is probably considered old fashioned today but I love it, and I will fight for my high-set crisp little ears and enough underjaw for balance. I want a head with stop and planes...I want to see a Whippet head, not a Greyhound head! I strive for a long nicely arched well-set neck, smooth shoulders to keep a nice big reach, a good topline with the appropriate rise over the loin (again old fashioned when I look at the flatter topline of today's more popular whippets), and then a moderate but still defined rear angulation, a pleasing drop-off, and a nice long tail! I don't want an extreme or too exaggerated rear angulation because I feel that this produces a dog with lesser rear drive than I want to see. I want my deep briskets that reach to the elbows and I will fight to keep tons of front fill. I'd like a smooth effortless floating combination of grace and speed in a well-balanced beautiful outline! Gee, I guess I want the whole package, lol!!! I prefer smaller, curvy bitches with that exquisite "look" and handsome dogs that need to still be completely beautiful in their masculinity and strength, but not too big! I'm such a sucker for tons of mascara and a nice even blaze, though I've fallen for a split-face or two also, and tiny little black ears just do me in for some reason! I have no color preference - I love them all, but I have very strong feelings about the discrimination that exists against the dilutes! I'd love to eliminate the stigma of the blue whippet that adversely influences judges, because I feel that there is a whole realm of beautiful colors out there that deserve to be recognized and honored as long as their eyes are appropriately dark enough and they are excellent specimens of our breed! I have no marking preference either - I love the fawns and I love the brindles, but if there's a solid fawn, I want to see pretty close to perfection because in my mind's eye, there are no stripes or patterns to hide a bump or a flaw - it's all out there visible and vulnerable...so show me fabulous if you bring me a fawn! The whippet's wonderful temperament is something that hooked me early on, and I want a sweet happy kissy whippet, huggy and loving to the max under the covers but sensitive and still OK when asked to get off the bed or be crated, lol!!! I know I'm in the minority, but I don't breed just to win, that's not the most important factor...I do have this vision and am devoted to the breed and am in it for the long haul to maintain and improve the breed. Call me stubborn, but I believe in our Whippet Standard and breeding for a balanced whippet and for a sound mover who takes my breath away with its intensity and beauty!  

Deb and Lotte in 2003

Home About Us The Mamas and the Papas
Tempo Frankie Piper PJ Diva Visa
Stars out Shining Fun Fotos Jewelry Looking Ahead Links
Sign our Guestbook Email Deb View our Guestbook