A Retrospective
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A Retrospective Two winners of Best in Show at the American Whippet Club National Specialty, Ch. Merci Isle Burncoat Babylon and his sire Ch. Merci Isle Meridian. Photo by Samuelson Studios. Iva & Jeffrey Kimmelman Stow * Massachusetts * USA www.merciisle.com * [email protected] THIS BROCHURE WAS INITIALLY PRINTED IN SIGHTHOUND REVIEW’S SPRING 2015 ISSUE THE FIRST WHIPPET: Verdi of Merci Isle b. 1971 by Dahnwood Busstop Folquin Sprig x My Pretty Penny b. 1972 by Ch. Morshor’s Whirlaway x Ch. Ultimate Folly The Beginning erci Isle began in 1967, the Mine, and they had obtained her year I had my first hands- from Mrs. Margaret Newcombe’s on experience with a Whip- famous kennel in New Hampshire. pet. I was 18 years old at the time, I had seen the full-page color Mhad grown up in love with dogs photo in LIFE Magazine of Ch. and all animals and was working as Courtenay Fleetfoot of Penny- a kennel assistant to professional worth after he won Best in Show at handlers Ben and Marie Talbot at Westminster in 1964. That sealed the Royal Acres kennels in Wash- the deal, but I didn’t know it at the ington State. time. Peggy was a daughter of that I was into “real dogs” in those gorgeous Whippet in LIFE Maga- Widgets Pandora days, but this skinny little thing zine, and she charmed me into just wrapped me around her paw… “seeing” Whippets for the wonder- b. 1971 by Dahnwood Busstop She would stand a few feet away ful, beautiful breed that they are, x My Pretty Penny and just stare adoringly into my inside and out. eyes. At first I thought it was odd, My first Whippet was a little a Whippet some day. I also got his but after a while I found it charm- fawn-and-white dog named Verdi of registration papers, which were ing, and my fate was set. Merci Isle, who was given to me by blank. He was born in the town of The Talbots’ daughter owned Marie Talbot after I stopped work- Mercer Island in Washington State, “Peggy,” whose registered name ing at Royal Acres in 1971: I had where I grew up, hence my kennel was Ch. Pennyworth This One Is told her how much I wanted to own name and my beginnings. Continued Ch. Merci Isle Strange Brew b. 1973 by Folquin Sprig x Widgets Pandora, shown with Iva and judge Robin Hernandez. PAGE 2 A Watershed Stud Dog Ch. Merci Isle The Sting Ch. Westgate The Sorcerer b. 1975 by Ch. Westgate The Sorcerer x Ch. Merci Isle b. 1973 by Ch. Pathens Shaitan of Carrob x Ch. Strange Brew. BOW at AWC Western specialty 1977, Pennyworth At Odds. Bred by Susan Vargas. Owned and shown with judge Bo Bengtson and Rosemary Sutton. shown by Iva Kimmelman and Rosemary Sutton. Ch. Merci Isle Designer Genes b. 1982 by Ch. Summerwind’s The Magician (a Sorcerer son) x Merci Isle Magnificent Me (a Strange brew daughter). WB & BOW at the first So. Cal. Whippet Fanciers Assoc. 1983 under judge Dale Simmons, handled by Iva. PAGE 3 Ch. Merci Isle Celebrate Me Home Ch. Merci Isle Brave New World b. 1979 by Merci Isle Triad Jihad x Merci Isle Cariad b. 1979 by Ch. Westgate The Sorcerer x Ch. Merci Isle Cayenne. WB & BOW at the AWC Midwest specialty Strange Brew. RWD at the AWC Western specialty in weekend 1981, handled by Jeri Cates under breeder-judge Santa Barbara 1977, handled by owner Donna Lukasky Anthony Gutilla. under judge Lynnette Schelling from Australia. purchased as an adult, certainly serious about Whippets and took was. She is behind all Merci Isle me under their wings. Many be- erdi was a grandson of that dogs today. These two dogs were came my mentors — John Shelton, wonderful little Whippet I had the poster children for how Whip- Isabell Stoffers and Michael Dough- met, Peggy, and had some of pets charm everyone with their erty to name three of my favorites. the most illustrious names imagin- sweet, natural affection for people. They were highly knowledgeable, Vable in his pedigree: Ch. Ringmore I so wish I had dogs like them to strong-opinioned leaders, and I am Finisterre, Ch. Pennyworth Would breed to today. They were of beau- so grateful they didn’t just pat me You Believe, Ch. Courtenay Fleet- tiful type and had wonderful tem- on the head and ignore me. They foot of Pennyworth, Ch. Laguna peraments. They had it all. sought me out to teach me how to Ligonier and Ch. Tantivvey Diver Over the years I have been do things with dogs with honor and of Pennyworth. I learned later that blessed with some great mentors, integrity. Peggy was the dam of Ch. Penny- and also learned from some bad Merci Isle has always been a worth Starlet, the famous bitch that examples I have seen, but like small breeding operation, breeding went to Jackie Q. Kubat’s Dragonfly everything else, I didn’t realize the on average barely a litter per year, Whippets, now in Argentina. value of this in the big scheme of plus a few co-bred with others. I Although Verdi was never used things at the time. Right or wrong, have bred, according to old records in my breeding program, his litter I learned from the best and the and what I can get from the AKC, sister, Widgets Pandora, whom I worst. Only later, as I looked at my well over 100 AKC show champi- dogs, at my dogs’ ons and at least 40 that are Lure pedigrees and at Coursers of Merit, AKC and/or ASFA what I have accom- Field Champions. There are also plished over nearly Merci Isle champions in Canada, 50 years of loving Sweden and Great Britain that I am Whippets, did I real- extremely proud and grateful for. ize that I had really Welcome to this visual repre- been paying attention sentation of my beautiful Whippets to these people. and the many rewards that loving I was fortunate them has afforded me through the to know the people years. I hope you enjoy what you Ch. Merci Isle Touch Gold, FCh. I did: A-list breed- see! b. 2006 by Ch. Byerley Savile Row ers and exhibitors IVA KIMMELMAN x Ch. Merci Isle Velvet Hammer, FCh. who saw that I was Merci Isle Whippets PAGE 4 Sires of Significance Iva with Ch. Merci Isle A few sires of the past have had Strange Brew great significance for Merci Isle. in the 1970s. Ch. Delacreme de la Renta, Jeffrey Kimmelman ROMX want to take this opportunity to b. 1983 by Ch. Saxon Shore Amber thank my husband, Jeffrey, for Waves x Ch. Runner’s Creme de la being my biggest cheerleader Creme. Bred by Mary Dukes. Owned and supporter. He has also been an Iimportant guide for decisions that by Mary Dukes and Doris Bandoian. turned out really well. It was Jeffrey who insisted we rescue and take possession of Spectre Forever Amber when her owners thought so little of her they literally threw her and her AKC pa- pers over her breeder’s back fence. We took Amber in and Jeff saved her. She was a wreck, a totally feral Whippet that had ap- parently received no socialization Jeff with puppies born 1987, sired by whatever. Jeff won her over with Ch. Hound Hill Sea Otter out of Ch. infinite patience and offerings of Merci Isle Designer Genes Ch. Hamrya’s Lucky Charm, SC, FCh., ROM cheese, which she loved, and it was he who encouraged me b. 1987 by Ch. Morshor’s Majestic to breed her to Ch. Morshor’s Prince x Ch. Hamrya’s Moonscape Majestic Dell, which produced V Tyobi. Bred and owned by Donna five champions, including Ch. Lynch. Merci Isle Hot Flowers. The rest is history, as they say. Amber’s dam was a granddaughter of Ch. Merci Isle Brave New World, so she was at least partly of my breeding. Jeffrey is also quite a good handler: he never gets stressed, doesn’t care about the unimportant things that go on, tries to win with a dog he believes in — and often does. Ch. Sporting Fields N’ Erin Merci Isle Piano Man The Maneater, FCh. b. 1994 by Ch. Topaz Jazz Singer x b. 1986 by Ch. Spectre Sporting Fields Simplicity. Bred by Westgate The Mystic x Ch. Merci Dionne Butt Giles, owned by John Isle Designer Genes, pictured and Sharon Lyons. lure coursing with Jeff. PAGE 5 Racing and Lure Coursing raced my dogs before I ever exhibited in the ring in the early 1970s. I was taught to show and race, usually on the same week- Iend. Then I discovered open field coursing and later lure coursing, through Lyle Gillette, whom I knew from the field. Lyle had started the American Sighthound Field Associa- tion in California in 1972. I have long been identified as a Whippet fancier who promotes the tradition- Ch. Merci Isle Jacaranda, LCM al dual purpose enjoyment of our breed, and I still breed for healthy, b. 2011 by DC Surrey Hill’s Golden Boy, LCM handsome, well-made dogs with a x Ch. Merci Isle Dove Feather, FCh. keen prey drive. I have tried hard, and often It’s All About Agility and Speed succeeded, to produce dual-titled Whippets with every litter. If a Whippet can’t run like a Whippet should, it is not really a good rep- resentative of its breed. Ch. Merci Isle Butterfly Ballet, LCM b.