Karen Lee and her family have owned whippets since 1979. Karen started owning whippets own her own in 1983. My mother was active in showing dogs from the time we were small children. I fell madly in love with the first Whippets she brought home in 1979--Whippoorwill Moonstone ROM and Ch. Whippoorwill Surrey. These two were followed shortly by Ch. Baywood's Surrey Hill Heather, a linebred Chalmondoley daughter. My mother would be my main mentor, but I also learned a great deal from talking to many people who had been in the breed longer than I. These would include people like Jeanne Simonsen, Barbara Henderson, and Mrs. Margaret Hodge. I learned a lot about racing and performance from Linda Buchholz. I've been blessed with many peers with whom I can have frank and open discussions. I enjoy socializing with people who do not share bloodlines or tastes with me. One can learn so much from looking at different styles and lines.

I guess my favorite Whippet memory from the past would be the time that Stoney threw up on my then-boyfriend. It turned out to be a very spot-on assessment. I have lots of good memories but they mostly involve people and dogs, not just dogs. I remember when I went down to Kathy Armato's house to help her whelp the litter out of my bitch Katie (Am.Can.Ch. Surrey Hill's I'm No Angel F.Ch. ROMX). Katie was ensconced in a big kiddie pool downstairs. She had 11 puppies in about 2 1/2 hours so as you can imagine, we barely got one cleaned up and dried before another was on the way. I'm trying to whelp and Kathy's husband has a video camera practically shoved up her butt so he can film them as they come out, all three of Kathy's kids are hanging over the side, a veterinarian friend and I think some other dog friend was there, too, spectating, and in the middle of all this, Katie is just calmly pushing them out. You can but admire a bitch who is that accepting. Of course, Kathy is now practically a professional canine midwife herself, but this was the early beginnings of "de Sud kennel"!

I feel the breed will continue to grow steadily in popularity but never become a "fad". It really is an ideal breed for many people. I feel that there will be another upsurge of interest in using foreign lines as we are starting to get very genetically undiverse in many of our show and racing kennels. I would like to share with other people that this is a delightful and intelligent breed and the best kept secret in purebreds, but they must live as housepets. That they should not be considered a dog to just stick in the backyard with a doghouse.

I have had my ups and downs as a breeder, certainly, but I am proud that Surrey Hill Kennels has been very successful in providing good stock to other breeders, that our dogs have generally been very physically and mentally sound and stable, and that we have managed to make gradual improvements in the performance aspect of our line. In addition, both Mother and I have done a great deal of club work on the local level. My involvement in putting on performance events goes back many years and my mother is an obedience and handling instructor, and does public education and school visits. I think it is very important to give back to the hobby in this way and it is unfortunate that the workers of this world often do not get the respect shown those who simply enter dog shows and get big wins. I haven't counted lately, but I believe that as breeders/co-breeders mother (Carolyn J. Bowers) and I account for something over 60 AKC and many other CKC bench Champions, and several dozen Field Champions, plus obedience and agility-titled dogs. To be sure, we have owned one ROM dog and one ROMX bitch, and bred one ROMX dog, two ROMX bitches, and one ROM bitch. In the ring, we have bred a #1 Whippet in the breed, owned a National winner, and bred many dogs who have done well at the Specialty level. For a small kennel that is quite a good record, but we could not have done much of this without the efforts of our co-owners and puppy buyers, and those who sent their nice bitches to Stoney and Houston.

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