This past weekend (July 12 to 14) was a whirlwind for North American whippet owners as national, regional and local dog shows got underway at the Aldergrove Lake Regional Park bowl area.
Whippet owners and handlers travelled from Canadian areas as far as Alberta and Toronto and American regions including Colorado, Oregon and Washington to take part.
Rebus, a seven-year-old veteran whippet, took third place after his owner Vanessa Lever showed him to Illinois judge Lisa Costello at the Whippet Club of B.C. show.
He was up against five other males in the veteran category for best in class on Friday morning.
On Sunday, the senior was victorious and named best veteran in show.
Lever – a Vancouver resident – admitted it was her first time in a show but not Rebus’. “I kept telling myself, ‘run in a straight line, don’t look at the ground’,” remarked Lever, explaining lessons from a handler’s class.
“It’s a good thing I have a pocket full of treats,” she grinned.
Handlers, dressed in their best, took turns trotting their whippets across the ring during two regional shows on Friday, a national competition Saturday and a Lower Mainland club event on Sunday.
“The dogs are judged on how they conform to the breed standard as set out by the Canadian Kennel Club,” elaborated Aldergrove resident Linda BuchHolz of the Lower Mainland Whippet Association.
On Saturday, the “big competition got underway with a judge from Sweden,” BuchHolz offered.
The national club hosted a whippet specialty show that rotates provinces, only in B.C. once every three years, BuchHolz said.
Elsie McKenna, a three-year-old whippet named after the female lead in “Somewhere In Time,” a 1980’s film, placed first in the female open class on Friday.
Her owner Mike Price, a Birch Bay resident and former whippet breeder, decided to show off the white-furred whippet, for the first time ever in competition.
“Elsie – like many whippets – is off and on,” Price said, “she’s either going 100 per cent or she’s totally crashed… and it doesn’t help that she’s in heat.” Price expounded.
Still, Elsie took the top title.
Gator, owned by BucHolz was awarded best whippet on Friday and Sunday.
Another Aldergrove pooch, Dustyn, finished his Canadian championship run with wins at both Friday shows alongside owner Laura Baratta.
Whippets are a sighthound canine, thought to be a cross between a greyhound and a mix of mini-terriers, Price said.
“They are not for everybody because of their strong prey drive,” Bucolz said, “They tend to take off running.”
Though, once you get started with whippets “it’s hard to get away from,” Price said.
“They’re like peanuts,” another dog owner chimed in.
