Edith, Grovenor's
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Steven Klein of Grovenor Whippets has owned and been around whippets most of his life. My mother
brought home our first whippet from Marge Siebern in 1965. We had poodles and my mother was visiting on something poodle related.
She saw Guin, Seyberne's Lady Guinevere, CD, a Ricky and Betony daughter. It was love at first sight. She was just a few months old at the time, and I was 5 years old. My mother brought her
into the house and we immediately adopted each other. We bred our first litter in 1967, which produced two champions, one of which was a BIS winner. What started out as a family venture
became my mother and me during the early 70's until her death in '96. In '97 I moved from Ohio to Arizona , where I have established the Valley of the Sun Whippet Ranch to carry on our work.
One of the most important influences in whippets was ,of course, my mother. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of the breed and knew the
various dogs well. She could tell how a dog would move before she put her hand on it just by looking at it, and seeing how it was put
together.
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Early influences were Marge Siebern and Diane Moore ( I knew her well pre-Bleecker). Even as a child, I was eager to learn about the breed. I began showing our dogs even before I was old enough to show in juniors. I learned quite a bit about handling from Marge, and as I became older I was tutored by Jerry Edwards and also managed to bug LaMar Mathis from time to time. He judged juniors quite often and I would talk to him as to how to improve my handling. More recently, Rob
Figler has been of great help. Plus my Arizona friends have been terrific.
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One of my fondest memories is watching Midi, Ch Grovenor's Miss Chiff, finish her championship. She was from our first litter, and our first
home-bred champion. Another is Edith, Grovenor's Good Stuff, taking WB at Flagstaff in '97, our first show in Arizona. My main interest is showing, however, I have become active in lure
coursing and would love to see straight racing get going in our area. I would like to see more truly "multi-purpose" whippets that do well in
all venues.
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I would like to see a return to one type of whippet, a truly versatile
all-around performer, rather than a further splintering of show only, racing only, etc. My ideal whippet is functional and attractive,
although I favor soundness over sheer prettiness. I really admire the dogs that do well in a variety of venues.
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