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1999 American Whippet Club Whippet Annual

Pages 26 through 50

Queenie’s Mister Earthquake
ARX, CRX, FCh
“Richter”

(Queenie’s Mister Contender, ARM, ORC x Wheatland Prairie Queen, FCh.)
1998 started off with Richter getting hit by a car in March. Due to his injuries, Richter only saw the field once, as ASFA Best of Breed. 1999 was the year Richter had been waiting for! Richter won all 7 CWA events he ran in, making him #1 in the CWA, and obtaining his ARX in just three meets. Richter also ran with the WRA, earning 6.33 points toward his WRCh. A second place finish at the AWC National Specialty, plus another Best of Breed, gave Richter
his FCh. A special thank you to Cheri and Ron for such a great dog and friend. Richter dedicates his 1999 season to his mother and father, who are no longer with us.

Whimsy’s Pipsissewa
Am/CanCh. Whimsy’s On A Wing ‘N A Prayer x Am/Can Ch. Whimsy’s Chamonix

Tyrone
AWC National Specialty 1999 – Reserve Winners Dog
This bold beautiful blonde is in hot pursuit of all that life has to offer him!

Whimsy . . .

Toby - our newest champion. He thrilled us by going BOW at the AWC National in St. Louis, with his brother taking Reserve. Their dam, Monika, won a huge Brood Bitch class to top it off. In spite of their winning ways, what makes these dogs so special to us is how much fun they are to live with. Looking forward to an exciting new millennium!

Toby, Tyrone and Lily bred by Chris & Mary Downing and Christine Hopperstad

Ch. Broadstrider’s Marble Arch

Doug & Ruth Broadfoot 18915 Pheasant Lane Tomball, TX 77375 bstrider@wt.net

Ch. Broadstrider’s Cordelia

(Ch Sonseeahrays’ In Hot Pursuit x Ch Broadstrider’s Georgie Girl)
Zephyr is pictured winning her second major under breeder-judge Cindy Scott. Her first came one month earlier at the MAWA Specialty, where she went BOW and #1 Select under breeder-judge Russell McFadden

Abbey’s Full Monty

Ch. Locar’s Martini on the Rocks x Ch. Hamrya’s Sweet Sensation

Owner: Jane Cooney 513-271-2740

Monty has been having fun with Pam out on the sunny West coast. Thank you judge Mrs. Polly Smith

Handler: Pam Lambie Breeders: Shirley Cooney and Donna Lynch 508-7558

Abbey’s Friendly Persuasion

Ch. Locar’s Martini on the Rocks x Ch. Hamrya’s Sweet Sensation

The Immune System
by Lisa Costello DVM, MS
A basic understandingof the immune system and vaccination

What really happens to your puppy when it is vaccinated? What is really going on inside their body? Does it simply impart *magic* protection? How do you decide when to vaccinate?

What does it mean when your dog is diagnosed with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)?

What on earth is the immune system anyway?

Some time ago, we were talking about similar
subjects on Whippet Talk, (Whippet-related computer discussion list), and someone asked me questions I found hard to answer. It became apparent to me that if my understanding of the immune system was weak (having had training in that area), there had to be dog owners out there who had never even heard of antigens, immunoglobulins, immune mediated disease, etc.; yet a rudimentary understanding of the immune system can make a huge difference in maintaining the health of your dog throughout its life.

Basically, the immune system is The Body against the outside world. The Body (or our Whippet’s body) is a happy, healthy, in balance environment that employs a small but ferocious army called the immune system. If foreign invaders (bacteria, virus, toxins) make contact with The Body, the immune system is the group who has to deal with it. When your Whippet rams into a tree doing 60 mph, the immune system is mobilized to fight infection and help with healing. The immune system’s main function is to recognize The Bad Guys (foreign substances or antigens) and rid the body of them. A good form of biologic warfare, so to speak.

There are many ways the immune system does this. Within the army’s ranks it has divisions of t-helper cells, t-killer cells, antibodies (little soldiers otherwise known as immunoglobulins), macrophages, etc., produced in several organs throughout the body. Each division has a specific job to do and specific ways they fight the Bad Guys. Once the war is over, the immune system remembers that particular invader and will respond even more quickly if it should show up again. No need to get in depth here, just need to understand the general concept. The Body against The Bad Things.

So, how does vaccination help the immune system do it’s job?

Do you really understand what happens inside the body when you inject that cute, adorable little puppy with distemper, parvo, lepto, etc.?

I used to think once they got a “shot” they would be “better”. I used to think that as well, with antibiotics for animals who were sick. Simple problem, simple answer. Well, that is not exactly it! We have learned how to use the immune system to our advantage through vaccination.

You need to have a good grasp of this to understand vaccination protocols and what types of vaccines to use in your area. Vaccines are products
that are designed to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against whatever agent is in the vaccine. Basically, giving the dog a vaccine gives the immune army a preview of The Bad Guy so it will be ready to leap into action and protect against disease if the dog is exposed in the future.

Take the parvovirus for instance. The parvo vaccine is made up of some of the proteins that are found in this specific virus (these proteins would be called antigens). When these proteins (antigens) are injected into your dog, the dog’s body will recognize them as a foreign invader and will begin to manufacture antibodies to rid the body of that antigen (remember, antibodies are the Good Soldiers of the immune army). After the dog has a good antibody response to the vaccine, the next time it is exposed to parvovirus the body will remember the antigen, produce necessary antibodies and fend off the virus, thus keeping the dog healthy. Antibody titers are a measure of the level of circulating antibody found in the body. If an animal is well protected through vaccination, antibody titers will reveal this.

There are different types of vaccines available, with advantages and disadvantages to each. Our choices in small animal biologics centermainly around killed vaccine vs. modified live virus (MLV).

1). Killed: Most of the rabies vaccines used today are killed. The manufacturers do not want to take any chance of inducing disease in the animal, thus the virus in the product is killed. Advantages of killed vaccines include: no residual virulence and less likelihood of causing immunosuppression or long-term immune problems. Disadvantages include: shorter duration and levels of immunity; adjuvants (ingredients added to make the body have more of an immune response) may cause more allergic reactions, and more boosters are generally needed.

2). Modified Live Virus: One of the more common vaccines we use in dogs is the MLV. Many of the distemper and parvo vaccines are MLV. These are live virus particles that have bean attenuated or “strained” so they are avirulent (unable to cause disease) but are still infectious and immunogenic and have a strong capacity to stimulate the body to produce maximum antibodies. Advantages of MLV vaccines include longer and more complete immunity, fewer boosters needed and less chance of allergic reactions. Disadvantages include the possibility of retained virulence, immunosuppression, shedding of the vaccine virus (which may cause false positive tests with the parvo virus), and possibly long term immune problems

3). Live: Live vaccines actually contain real virus. We do not use these in the dog, but one example would be the Brucella abortus vaccine that was used in cattle. If the veterinarian was injected with this vaccine, they would develop brucellosis in their own body!

Vaccine choices and vaccination schedules
What does vaccination accomplish? Vaccines are given to prepare the body’s immune system against invasion by particular disease-causing organisms
(ie. The Bad Guys). Vaccines contain tiny particles called “antigens” which to the immune system “look” like The Bad Guys, but don’t cause disease. When the vaccine is introduced by injection or some other means, the immune system responds by producing antibodies and mounting a protective response. The next time the dog is exposed to The Bad Guy, the immune system is prepared and either prevents infection or reduces the severity of disease.

What are we vaccinating against?
1. Distemper: A viral disease which is highly contagious, spread by aerosol droplets (coughing, sneezing) or contaminated objects. Distemper has a 50% or greater mortality, with half the survivors having residual neurologic problems. It usually affects young puppies, but can affect adults, with an incubation time of 6 to 9 days before the first round of fever begins. Clinical signs include: fever, runny eyes, crusty nose, pneumonia, diarrhea,
depression. Neurological signs may be seen, as well. We have greatly reduced the amount of distemper seen, but there are still areas of non-vaccinated puppies where the incidence is high. It is one nasty disease. Distemper is easily prevented and vaccines are highly effective. This is a *must* to vaccinate against.

2. Parvo: A viral disease, highly contagious and spread through contaminated feces. This virus is very hardy and can survive for months within fecal material at less than 20 degrees. It is easily carried on shoes, clothing and by flies, with an incubation period of 4 to 7 days. It usually affects young puppies, but can affect older adults as well. The parvovirus attacks rapidly growing cells in the intestinal tract and bone marrow. Clinical signs include: bloody diarrhea, bloody, intractable vomiting, severe depression and dehydration. Patients usually die due to dehydration. It is a very, very ugly disease to treat, with a high mortality rate in young puppies. The vaccine is very effective, depending on the breed and the type of vaccine used (Rotts and Dobes much more prone). Similar to distemper, this disease can still be seen with some frequency in non-vaccinated pups. This is a *must* to vaccinate against.

3. Hepatitis: This virus can cause anything from fever to death. It is spread by direct contact and can be shed for months in the urine of recovered
dogs. Affected dogs may be depressed, have runny eyes and nose, inflamed tonsils, red mucous membranes. Vaccination has reduced the incidence of this disease, so it is rarely seen (I have never personally seen it). Hepatitis is usually included in most combination vaccines. I would use it.

4. Corona: A viral disease that causes diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes bloody. Corona is usually a disease of young puppies, with a very fast incubation time (24 to 36 hours) and can spread rapidly. It has a low mortality however, and most cases feel better within a few days. It is a questionable vaccine that is no longer being used by many practitioners. I would recommend checking with your local vet before using it. I do not use it on a routine basis.

5. Leptospirosis: Dogs are generally exposed to the spiral shaped bacteria that causes lepto through the urine of rats. This is a bacteria, not a virus. It is very difficult to make vaccines against bacteria, as they have many more proteins than viruses do (Parvo virus may have 5 to 7 proteins, a leptospira bacteria has 33,000!!!!). This is one reason why the vaccines are not that effective. There are also many different serovars (types) of the lepto bacteria and one vaccine does not protect against ALL of them. This part of combination vaccines is thought to be the bad guy when it comes to vaccine reactions. Check with your local vet, but I usually do not recommend using lepto and never in puppies less than 12 weeks of age.

6. Bordatella and Parainfluenza: Together, this combination is one of the main causes of kennel cough, which can spread rapidly through dogs via aerosol transmission. While influenza is a virus, bordatella is a bacteria. This vaccine needs to be given twice a year for maximal effectiveness
and it is even then questioned as to its protectiveness. The best variety is the intranasal as the bacteria lives on the surface of the trachea (windpipe) and intranasal vaccination which allows for local immune response (through IgA production for those of you who love immunology).
This vaccine is usually recommended for dogs with high exposure to infection; those that are boarding, showing, traveling, or shelter dogs.

7. Lyme disease: The Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia, is a nasty little creature that is most often transmitted via the deer tick. It has an experimental incubation period of 2 to 5 months. Clinical signs include intermittent lameness and persistent fever. Lyme disease can be very hard to diagnose, as dogs exposed to the bacteria have positive antibody titers just as affected dogs do. This disease can usually be treated with antibiotics in the dog. As far as vaccination, the bacterin (vaccine against bacteria) for this disease has very questionable efficacy. I suppose if I lived in an area where Lyme disease was endemic (the northeast), I would think long and hard about using this vaccine. You would have to weigh the possibilities of reaction vs. protection vs. the vaccine, itself, causing disease. I would probably try to prevent ticks by the use of something like Frontline, rather than vaccinating. If you are not in an area where the host tick lives, don’t use this vaccine!!!!!!!!! We have never seen a case of this disease or any of the host ticks in Colorado, yet there are practitioners who sell this stuff every day to their clients. I feel this is a disservice to the animal, if not the owner.

8. Rabies: The BIG one. You must vaccinate for this, it is only the frequency that is in question. There are 3-year products and l-year products. If you live in an area where the 3-year vaccination is allowed, I would use this product and would not vaccinate any more frequently than that. This is the only vaccine that is federally- or state-regulated and you must comply with the rules. However, if you have a dog with immune mediated disease, you may be able to have your veterinarian write a letter concerning your dog’s health and the need to not vaccinate due to possible induction of disease.

You can get a variety of combinations of the above viral antigens in combination vaccines. Thus you can find 3-in-1, 4-in-1, etc. More is not necessarily better, so it is necessary to speak with veterinary health professionals in your geographic area to determine which vaccine choices are right for your Whippet(s).

In addition to different viral vaccine combinations, there are also many different vaccine companies with varying quality of products, ie. NOT all vaccines are created equal. If you vaccinate your own litters or adult dogs, I highly recommend you set up your program initially with the help of a veterinarian who can recommend good quality, efficacious vaccines that impart high levels of immunity with minimal side effects. Quality control with regard to vaccine type, method of shipping and handling and the company that provides the vaccine can seriously affect the final immunity of your dog.

Now that you know what is in vaccines, we will next discuss vaccination schedules.
When do I vaccinate my puppy? My litter? My older dog? My geriatric dog?

This is a subject of great diversity and debate right now and you will find almost any answer to your question if you keep looking. If you try to plan your vaccination schedules with the Immune System in mind, you will at least be making an educated effort instead of “shooting from the hip”.

It isn’t going to help that there are no hard and fast answers to this - there just never is a free lunch! Each individual dog has to be considered: what it is going to do in its life, what the exposure to possible disease is going to be, etc. This will be a general discussion and hopefully your vet has already developed a program, based on current knowledge and what types of vaccines are needed in your area.

1). Puppies: As a general rule, most of the whippet puppies we will be breeding or acquiring will be from dams that have been well vaccinated. When puppies nurse, they get “pre-made” antibodies from their mother that help protect their innocent little immune systems while they are developing (remember, antibodies are the good little soldiers). After leaving the womb, the puppy is exposed to millions of foreign proteins (antigens - Bad Guys) on a daily basis. If left to protection by its own immune system, the puppy would surely die; thus the loss of many pups who don’t nurse or who lose their dam. If you have a litter or a puppy that is born to an immunocompetent (well vaccinated) dam, then you usually do not need to start vaccinating until the age of 8 weeks, 6 weeks at the earliest.

The reason we have to give a series of boosters is that we never really know when the mothers immunity begins to wear out in the puppy and when the baby immune system begins to gear up and produce its own antibodies. If, at the time of vaccination, the puppy still has a high level of maternal antibodies, the puppy’s own immune system won’t respond and the vaccination is useless. This is why puppy vaccinations are given as a series; we have to catch the puppy when his maternal antibodies are low enough for the vaccine to be effective, but we don’t want to wait too long, and leave him defenseless.

Typically, some 30% of puppies can respond to vaccines given at 9 to 10 weeks and the percentage rises to 100% between 12 to 16 weeks. I have known some well vaccinated pups that end up coming down with Parvo around 12 to 14 weeks and it is likely due to something called “the window of opportunity” between the loss of the dam’s immunity and the beginning of the pups production of antibody. It can be hard to understand, but it is very important.

The schedule for pups is usually 8, 12, and 16 weeks using combination vaccines that include distemper, parvo and whatever else you need, depending on where you live (lepto no younger than 12 weeks). If you have a puppy of questionable immunity (ie. did not nurse well, dam died, found as a stray, etc), then you can start them at 6 weeks with a distemper/measles combination product, and continue the 8, 12, and 16 week regimen (and keep them indoors - limit exposure!). For susceptible breeds, you can also add a 20 week parvo to ensure protection.

Some folks recommend the separation of distemper and parvo (especially the alternative practitioners), with the use of killed parvo virus in young pups. What I hate to see is breeders who vaccinate their puppies every 2 weeks or who start vaccinating younger than 6 weeks. This only serves to create a completely immunosuppressed puppy that never has the chance to fully respond to the vaccines. It takes at least 10 to 14 days for a puppy to mount a good immune response (production of antibodies) to a vaccine. If you give another vaccination about the time this is happening,
it will wipe out the antibodies from the previous vaccine and you will have a puppy with no protection.

2). Adult dogs: After you give a full puppy series and the one-year follow-up vaccines, the area becomes a bit gray. I usually recommend that people vaccinate the second year and then every three years after that. To be honest, some dogs will be immune for life for parvo and distemper after a good puppy series, but unless you do titers every year, you will not know if this is your dog or not. Titers can tell you how much antibody
your dog has against a particular disease, but the cost of doing titers can be prohibitive if you have a large number of dogs. Not all laboratories
do a good job with titer measurement, so you will have to check with your vet on what the best option is for you.

3). Geriatric dogs: It is thought with distemper and possibly rabies that the immunity of old age is not as good as it once was (like everything else in the geriatric years). Some practitioners recommend vaccinating more frequently after the age of 10; I do not. I have never yet seen a dog that has contracted parvo or distemper in the geriatric stages of life. It is hard for me to justify vaccinating those old creatures yearly, when they are suffering from other maladies that will be their demise much sooner than distemper. I feel geriatric dogs need their immune systems to fight other types of disease, thus I still only vaccinate this age group every three years.

Some people are concerned with vaccinating their dogs due to the growing awareness of immune-related disease possibly linked to over vaccination. While I believe there is definitely merit in being aware of immune-related disease and NOT over vaccinating, if we do not protect our dog population against these common viral invaders, we will begin to experience viral disease (distemper, parvo) with growing frequency and lives may be lost that could be saved with simple vaccines. In other words, you still need to vaccinate, just do it in an informed and judicious manner!

As I said before, this is a hotly contested area and there are many, many different vaccination protocols. I strongly recommend that you consult with your own veterinarian when developing a vaccination schedule for litters you breed, your adult dogs or the puppies your purchase and acquire in the middle of their vaccination series. Hopefully you will glean something useful out of this that you can apply to your own dogs.

ONYXX Whippets
Onyx - Our first Whippet. He started it all for us.
Attitude, soundness, style and devotion. What more could one want.
We would like to thank all the wonderful people that have sent their bitches to Onyx.

Bill & Lynn Weller
175 Newbury Lane, Newbury Park, CA 91320 • (805)498-9944
onyxxwhip@aol.com

Ch. Merci Isle Celestial Light, SC, FCh
(DC Gold Dust’s Guilty As Charged, SC, FCh x Ch Riverchase on Merci Isle, SC, FCh)
Halo’s first show was a major; her last major was a 5-point win over 80 bitches at the Eastern Regional Weekend. She achieved her ASFA Field Championship in 4 trials. She is my dance partner in Canine Musical Freestyle and is pursuing a tracking title. Halo plans to have millenium puppies by Geordon’s Anchor Man, JC, FCh. Our sincere thanks to Iva Kimmelman and Lisa Buzzell for breeding and letting us have this versatile girl.

Betty and Bill Lewis 17 Danbury Circle Amherst, NH 03031 603-673-3263 Waccabuc Great Danes & Whippets

IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR…
Thanks to wonderful puppy buyers, 1999 was a really good year. We mostly stayed home and were thrilled to hear how well others did with Bohem dogs: ten new homebred champions in less than a year is more than you expect when the “kennel” consists of one spayed old veteran, one three-year-old and the odd puppy or so…

Mostly, however, we are proud of the results at the four West Coast specialty weekends, with the average entries of around 100 Whippets per day: 3 BOB, 3 BOS, 4 Awards of Merit, 5 majors, 2 major reserves, Best in Sweepstakes and BOS in Sweepstakes – all divided between 9 different dogs from 3 homebred litters.

A highlight, of course, was watching “Winona,” Ch. Bohem Age of Innocence, (owned by Pattee & Curt Singer) win the AWC Western
Regional Specialty in Lompoc – becoming the fourth AWC Specialty BIS winner from Bohem and the 11th individual BIS or SBIS winner in the past decade. (Not counting an equal number in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.)

We feel guilty about not running the dogs, but there just isn’t time. Our own dogs have to content themselves with ground squirrels, but we are happy that Kim Otero is doing so well with “Tootsie,” Bohem Romanesque, that some people cannot believe she is show-bred…

Bo Bengtson • P.O. Box 30430 • Santa Barbara • CA 93130
Fax preferred to phone or email: 805-967-2984
Visit our website: http://geocities.com/~bohemwhippets

Champagne
“wishes & kibble dreams” for 2000

“Scotch” Bohem Baroque (Ch. Watch Me Ari Independence x Ch. Bohem Of Thee I Sing) 1st Puppy Dog 9-12 mo. and Winners Dog (5-point major) AWC Western Regional – also Winners Dog, BOW and BOS over specials competition at San Fernando KC, Winners Dog and BOW at Yuma KC, and several Reserves, all at 13 months of age.

and “Soda” Bohem Bearded Lady (Ch. Chelsea Gold Rush of Keynote x Ch. Bohem All About Eve) 1st Puppy Bitch 6-9 mo. and RWB (5-point major) at So. California Whippet Association. 1st Puppy Bitch 6-9 mo. (Sweepstakes), AWC Western Regional. 1st 12-18 mo. Bitch and Winners Bitch (5-point major) at No. California Whippet Club specialty weekend, Del Valle KC. “Soda” appeared to have a bearded chin as a little puppy (thus, her name), but since then she has grown into a really “Elegant Lady.”

First year well worth celebrating!!! – Toast with us to their future success!

Christa
Bohem Resounding Renaissance

Before her first birthday in October ‘99 and in less than five months of showing, Christa has been honored with seven Best of Breed wins (often over Specials) and a Group II, a Group III and 2 Group IV placements.

Owner-handler Susan Salladay Resounding Breeder-handler Bo Bengtson Bohem Sire Ch. Watch Me Ari Independence Dam Ch. Bohem Of Thee I Sing

“Winona”

SBIS Ch. Starline’s Reign On, JC, ROMX      BIS Ch. Bohem Of Thee I Sing

SBIS Am/Mex/World
Ch. Bohem Age Of Innocence

Multiple Group Winner
AWC Specialty Best In Show Winner
World Winner for 1999
Top Twenty Contender for 1998 and 1999

What can we say except, Dreams Really Do Come True.
Bohem and Diva Whippets are proud to announce the upcoming breeding of Winona
to SBIS Ch. Chelsea Gold Rush of Keynote.

“Cruise”

SBIS Ch. Starline’s Reign On, JC, ROMX       BIS Ch. Bohem Of Thee I Sing

AWC Select
Ch. Bohem American Graffiti

AWC Futurity Class Winner 1997
AWC Western Regional
BOS Sweepstakes Winner 1998
AWC Western Regional Winners Dog 1998
AWC Select Winner, Western Regional 1999

Cruise has been waiting in the wings during his sister Winona’s specials career.
Look for him soon in the specials ring, handled by his owner.
Cruise is available at stud to approved bitches.

Bohem Three Ring Circus

(BISS Ch. Chelsea Gold Rush of Keynote x Ch. Bohem All About Eve)

In 1999, in very limited showing - only on Specialty weekends - he won BOS in Sweeps
at the AWC Western Regional in Lompoc, Best in Sweeps at the Greater San Diego Specialty, and WD/BOS over several top ranked male specials the next day for a four point major.
(under Frank Sabella, pictured)

In 2000, we intend to get serious…

Owned by
Rick and Kathy Kail
Charwin Curly Coated Retrievers and one nutty Whippet!
Santa Ana, California

Ch. Bohem Circus Runaway

(SBIS Ch. Chelsea Gold Rush of Keynote x Ch. Bohem All About Eve)

Pictured with breeder-judge Julie Holm.
“ Blaze ”
Finishing at 12 months old with 4 majors
and already establishing himself as a contender in the Breed ring.
It’s been a while since our last Bohem dog, our “Wyle”,
and I’m very thankful to Bo for the opportunity to own this fabulous dog.
Blaze will be selectively shown while we wait for him to mature.

A strid and Pippi are from a litter of three
and both are close to completing their championships.
Pictured is Astrid taking Winners and Pippi Reserve under judge Sandra C. Fikes.
A strid is co-owned, loved and shown by Juanita Irvin.

Breeder/Owner: Barbara L. Henderson, VMD 16200 Burtons Lane Laurel, MD 20707 Phone: 301-490-6598

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