About Us
About Avalonia Whippets
| Our Foundation Litter |
| Nevedith Kennels, England Our Inspiration |
Our breeding program has been based from the start on the
bloodlines of the Nevedith Kennel in England , beginning with
our first dog, Nevedith Wood Chip, whose daughter, Am.Cdn.Ch.
Amazone’s Glastonbury Lily, when bred to Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch.
Nevedith Up Town Guy, provided us with the three dogs in our
foundation litter who have served as the basis of the entire
Avalonia breeding program over the past two decades. In recent
years we have relied on the exceptional Eng.Ch. Nevedith Justa
Jesta whose three sons and daughter – Cdn.Ch. Nevedith
Local Lancer, Cdn.Ch. Avalonia Wotta Jesta, Boxing Helena’s Art
Lover of Nevedith, and Cdn.Ch. Avalonia Wispa Jesta -- are
owned by and resident at Avalonia.
They, combined with our two most recent Nevedith imports, Eng.
Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Ceefa Ceely and Nevedith Ayfa Aylestorm, and
compatible bloodlines from Frontrunner’s in Denmark, Scheik's
in Finland, Boxing Helena’s in Belgium and Sporting Fields and
Windsong in the United States, are the stuff of magic in our
current breeding program.
bloodlines of the Nevedith Kennel in England , beginning with
our first dog, Nevedith Wood Chip, whose daughter, Am.Cdn.Ch.
Amazone’s Glastonbury Lily, when bred to Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch.
Nevedith Up Town Guy, provided us with the three dogs in our
foundation litter who have served as the basis of the entire
Avalonia breeding program over the past two decades. In recent
years we have relied on the exceptional Eng.Ch. Nevedith Justa
Jesta whose three sons and daughter – Cdn.Ch. Nevedith
Local Lancer, Cdn.Ch. Avalonia Wotta Jesta, Boxing Helena’s Art
Lover of Nevedith, and Cdn.Ch. Avalonia Wispa Jesta -- are
owned by and resident at Avalonia.
They, combined with our two most recent Nevedith imports, Eng.
Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Ceefa Ceely and Nevedith Ayfa Aylestorm, and
compatible bloodlines from Frontrunner’s in Denmark, Scheik's
in Finland, Boxing Helena’s in Belgium and Sporting Fields and
Windsong in the United States, are the stuff of magic in our
current breeding program.
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by Mick Morry
Whippets since 1984
I got my first whippet in 1984 when I was 15. My mother had just
gotten herself an Irish Setter pup and I was determined to have my
own dog of a breed I chose myself. While taking the Irish Setter,
Shelagh, to puppy obedience classes I saw my first whippet -- a
lovely fawn bitch by the name of Willow who was owned by my
obedience instructor. Willow was everything I ever wanted in a dog:
sleek and elegant and clever too, with her Canadian show, field and
obedience titles she was in fact a complete all-round package in
one compact and beautiful young dog. My mother, on the other hand,
thought Willow was ugly the first time she saw her. But on second
meeting she too came to see what I loved about the whippet. So
when the obedience instructor convinced my mother that a whippet
companion would make sure the Irish Setter got enough exercise to
keep her lean and fit, we went looking for one.
No one had puppies, no matter where we looked. And then one day
we got a phone call from a breeder in Montreal who told us about a
bitch she had taken back -- rescued in effect -- from a home she had
placed it in. Tiffany was 5 months old and in desperate need of a
home. The breeder brought her to Ottawa and what can I say? It was
NOT love at first sight because Tiffany didn't look anything like
Willow or what I imagined other whippets would look like. She was a
solid brindle and she was emaciated -- weighing just over 11
pounds at 5 months of age. After a huddle with my mother we
decided Tiffany needed us so badly that we should take her and so
the deal was done.
After a long and healthy life, Tiffany left us quite unexpectedly in April
2000, passing peacefully in her sleep at the venerable age of 16
years, 10 months.
After Tiffany came a few rescue and pet whippets -- enough, in fact,
that we went over the limit of dogs we were allowed to own in the city
where we lived. So in 1990 we moved to the country south of Ottawa,
Canada's capital, to an 8-acre property where we could have all the
dogs we wanted, and provide them with all the facilities they needed
to enjoy life fully.
Along the way, our interest in whippets expanded beyond the desire
to just rescue or acquire them as pure house pets. My mother was
particularly interested in having a whippet which she could show,
and perhaps eventually breed from as well.
She even came up with a kennel name for her dogs: Glastonbury,
after the mystical site in Somerset, England, where King Arthur and
his Queen Guinevere were reputed to be buried.
But we were in no hurry: choosing to take the view that good things
come about best when you plan well in advance for them and know
what you are doing and why you are doing it. So we didn't begin
showing until we had lived with whippets for 5 years, and the first
Glastonbury litter was not bred until 1991.
Our first important dog was an English import from the world
famous Nevedith kennel. As luck would have it -- and here we have
to believe in destiny too -- Nevedith Wood Chip was imported to
Canada by a friend who went to Crufts and bought him while she
was there. Luckily for us, she asked if Wood Chip could live with us.
And after about a year that friend graciously and kindly signed Wood
Chip over to our ownership because she knew how much we loved
him.
In 1989 Wood Chip was bred and we were offered our choice of the
bitch puppies, as a present.
The bitch we chose after carefully watching the movement of the two
nicest bitches in the litter, became Glastonbury's, and ultimately
Avalonia's foundation bitch -- Cdn.Am.Ch. Amazone's Glastonbury
Lily, as my first litter was out of Lily.
Only a couple of litters were produced by Glastonbury, after which I
took over ownership of all the dogs and began a breeding program
under my own affix -- Avalonia.
Like Glastonbury, Avalon is also linked to the legend of King Arthur,
and Avalon is also the peninsula in Newfoundland where my family
has lived for the past 200 years since they left Dartmouth, in Devon,
England, to live in North America. So Avalon became Avalonia and
thus a strong link for me to several important pasts!
Since Tiffany came into my life 16 years ago, whippets have been a
central focus of my life. In recent years I have owned more than 20
Canadian and American champions which I have bred or imported
to Canada from England, Denmark, Finland and the United States,
and I have exported more than a dozen young dogs to Europe where
many have done exceedingly well in the show rings there, with a
number now finally old enough to have gained titles in their new
countries. I am particularly proud of the fact I bred Cdn.Fin.Nor. and
World Ch. Avalonia Wheatfield Waving, who won his World title in
Helsinki in 1998.
Left to Right:
Glastonbury Victoria Regina
Am.Cdn.Ch. Amazone's Glastonbury Lily
Cdn.Ch. Glastonbury Victoria 'n Albert
Glastonbury Classic Victorian
Glastonbury Victoria Regina
Am.Cdn.Ch. Amazone's Glastonbury Lily
Cdn.Ch. Glastonbury Victoria 'n Albert
Glastonbury Classic Victorian
The Story of Avalonia Whippets
Avalonia Kennels
In Canada I operate my own boarding kennel in partnership
with my mother Lanny and I continue to maintain a sizeable
population of my carefully line bred whippets, maintaining the
commitment to Nevedith bloodlines that began with the
acquisition of Wood Chip and his daughter Lily, and continuing
to this day with Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Local Lancer, Cdn.Ch.
Nevedith Wotta Wispa and Nevedith Evening Dusk.
My program is based on using primarily English bloodlines and
breeding to the English and FCI standards, although I live in
North America. This means I am aiming for a moderate sized
dog with excellent shoulder set, good bone and structure, and
with superb movement. I like all colours but prefer mahogany
brindle and black particolours, and I love blues, though they are
a difficult sell to many here in North America, despite the fact
that good blues are, in my view, essential to any decent
breeding program. So I have a good stock of blues who, bred
appropriately, provide me with the black-eyed particolours so
many today find pleasing.
Because I run a busy boarding kennel I do not have a lot of time
to take my dogs out to show, so the whippets I retain are
usually shown just to their titles and are then retired to the
comforts of the living room couch and my bedroom or the stud
dogs kennel.
For this reason, when I have particularly promising young show
dogs, I prefer to place them in good homes with caring owners
who will show them widely. And I bask in the reflected glory of
their successes, worldwide.
Unlike most whippet kennels which base their programs on the
bitches in their kennel, I have based my entire breeding
program on the strength of my male bloodlines. I prefer males,
and own more than 20 of them. It would not be an exaggeration
to say that I believe I have the widest selection of English and
European bloodlines in my stud dogs of anyone in North
America.
My goal -- the goal of Avalonia Whippets -- is to continue to build
on the quality bloodlines I have been entrusted with.
The best piece of advice we got as we undertook our breeding
programs was to consolidate our foundation through
multi-generational line breeding of our most important
bloodline.
This advice came to us from the two parties whose opinions we
have learned to most respect in the whippet world -- Edith and
Nev Newton in England, whose Nevedith bloodstock has been
the bedrock of the Glastonbury, and now the Avalonia breeding
programs, and of Stuart and Aileen Harvey, Canadians whose
decades of experience with English, Canadian and American
whippets proved to be an equally invaluable and essential
source of enlightenment and inspiration for us.
Taking their advice provided a roadmap to the success Avalonia
whippets has enjoyed in recent years. By maximizing the
benefits of the known strengths in the bloodlines that were
used in the breeding program, Avalonia has also effectively
increased the bench strength of its gene pool in the process.
In Canada I operate my own boarding kennel in partnership
with my mother Lanny and I continue to maintain a sizeable
population of my carefully line bred whippets, maintaining the
commitment to Nevedith bloodlines that began with the
acquisition of Wood Chip and his daughter Lily, and continuing
to this day with Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Local Lancer, Cdn.Ch.
Nevedith Wotta Wispa and Nevedith Evening Dusk.
My program is based on using primarily English bloodlines and
breeding to the English and FCI standards, although I live in
North America. This means I am aiming for a moderate sized
dog with excellent shoulder set, good bone and structure, and
with superb movement. I like all colours but prefer mahogany
brindle and black particolours, and I love blues, though they are
a difficult sell to many here in North America, despite the fact
that good blues are, in my view, essential to any decent
breeding program. So I have a good stock of blues who, bred
appropriately, provide me with the black-eyed particolours so
many today find pleasing.
Because I run a busy boarding kennel I do not have a lot of time
to take my dogs out to show, so the whippets I retain are
usually shown just to their titles and are then retired to the
comforts of the living room couch and my bedroom or the stud
dogs kennel.
For this reason, when I have particularly promising young show
dogs, I prefer to place them in good homes with caring owners
who will show them widely. And I bask in the reflected glory of
their successes, worldwide.
Unlike most whippet kennels which base their programs on the
bitches in their kennel, I have based my entire breeding
program on the strength of my male bloodlines. I prefer males,
and own more than 20 of them. It would not be an exaggeration
to say that I believe I have the widest selection of English and
European bloodlines in my stud dogs of anyone in North
America.
My goal -- the goal of Avalonia Whippets -- is to continue to build
on the quality bloodlines I have been entrusted with.
The best piece of advice we got as we undertook our breeding
programs was to consolidate our foundation through
multi-generational line breeding of our most important
bloodline.
This advice came to us from the two parties whose opinions we
have learned to most respect in the whippet world -- Edith and
Nev Newton in England, whose Nevedith bloodstock has been
the bedrock of the Glastonbury, and now the Avalonia breeding
programs, and of Stuart and Aileen Harvey, Canadians whose
decades of experience with English, Canadian and American
whippets proved to be an equally invaluable and essential
source of enlightenment and inspiration for us.
Taking their advice provided a roadmap to the success Avalonia
whippets has enjoyed in recent years. By maximizing the
benefits of the known strengths in the bloodlines that were
used in the breeding program, Avalonia has also effectively
increased the bench strength of its gene pool in the process.
| Nevedith Up Town Guy |
| Nevedith Wood Chip |
Pedigree for
Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Up Town Guy
Whippet
| Sire Eng.Ch. Nevedith Paper Weight (15 February 1982) |
Sire Nevedith Merry Monarch (10 October 1980) |
Sire Eng.Ch. Akeferry Jimmy (18 December 1969) |
| Dam Trimar Trycolena (8 February 1978) |
||
| Dam Whitbarrow Minimist |
Sire Cockrow Saturn |
|
| Dam Whitbarrow Eustacia (b. 1974) |
||
| Dam Sakonnet Alfalfa (18 August 1980) |
Sire Eng.Ch. Akeferry Jimmy (18 December 1969) |
Sire Cockrow Partridge of Crawshaw |
| Dam Eegee Jane |
||
| Dam Sakonnet Black Mustard |
Sire Eng.Ch. Black Knight of Carmodian (10 August 1974) |
|
| Dam Eng.Ch. Sakonnet Sprig Muslin |
This pedigree page was built for free at the SitStay GoOut Store
| The Dogs that Got Us Going |
Guy is here because he provided the foundation litter on which Avalonia has been built. Guy was an Eng.Ch. and the future hope
of Nevedith Kennels when Peggy Newcombe spotted him at Crufts. She had to have him and Guy joined her in America shortly
afterwards, remaining her companion for the rest of his life
Peggy showed Guy to both his American and Canadian championship titles, making him one of the few whippets in North
America to hold all three titles
The foundation sire for Glastonbury/Avalonia whippets, Guy was sadly used sparingly during his life, but his son Victor (Cdn.Ch.
Glastonbury Victoria n' Albert) and daughter Mouse (Glastonbury Victoria Regina) have produced well for Avalonia. We are
confident his grandson/great-grandson Avalonia Dom Perignon, who greatly resembles him in type will continue this tradition
Before leaving England Guy was bred once with spectacular results. His daughter Eng.Ch. Nutshell of Nevedith became the
most winning whippet in the 100 year history of the breed, capturing 44 CCs, all under different judges before her retirement.
She was also Reserve Best in Show at Crufts in an entry of 18,000 dogs.
of Nevedith Kennels when Peggy Newcombe spotted him at Crufts. She had to have him and Guy joined her in America shortly
afterwards, remaining her companion for the rest of his life
Peggy showed Guy to both his American and Canadian championship titles, making him one of the few whippets in North
America to hold all three titles
The foundation sire for Glastonbury/Avalonia whippets, Guy was sadly used sparingly during his life, but his son Victor (Cdn.Ch.
Glastonbury Victoria n' Albert) and daughter Mouse (Glastonbury Victoria Regina) have produced well for Avalonia. We are
confident his grandson/great-grandson Avalonia Dom Perignon, who greatly resembles him in type will continue this tradition
Before leaving England Guy was bred once with spectacular results. His daughter Eng.Ch. Nutshell of Nevedith became the
most winning whippet in the 100 year history of the breed, capturing 44 CCs, all under different judges before her retirement.
She was also Reserve Best in Show at Crufts in an entry of 18,000 dogs.
| Nevedith Wood Chip |
Pedigree for
Nevedith Wood Chip
| Sire Eng.Ch. Harque to Huntsman (6 June 1980) |
Sire Harque to Eclipse at Hekla (11 August 1977) |
Sire Eng.Ch. Akeferry Jimmy (18 December 1969) |
| Dam Eng.Ch. Harque Yonder (24 September 1971) |
||
| Dam Eng.Ch. Harque to Coppelia (31 August 1974) |
Sire Harque to Yeoman |
|
| Dam Harque to Wistful |
||
| Dam Nevedith Victory Salute (15 February 1982) |
Sire Nevedith Merry Monarch (10 October 1980) |
Sire Eng.Ch. Akeferry Jimmy (18 December 1969) |
| Dam Trimar Trycolena (8 February 1978) |
||
| Dam Whitbarrow Minimist |
Sire Cockrow Saturn |
|
| Dam Whitbarrow Eustacia (b. 1974) |
This pedigree page was built for free at the SitStay GoOut Store
Nevedith Wood Chip represents Ground Zero for the Avalonia breeding program because it was Wood Chip who sired
Am.Cdn.Ch. Amazone's Glastonbury Lily, who, when bred to Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Up Town Guy, produced the framework
on which the Avalonia breeding program has been based and carefully husbanded.
We credit Wood Chip for many of the qualities seen in Avalonia whippets today: wonderful heads, large expressive eyes,
excellent underjaw, and the sweet, affectionate, easy-going temperaments which make Avalonia whippets so easy to live with.
Aptly nicknamed Mr. Smooch, Wood Chip is behind virtually every whippet owned by Avalonia today.
Wood Chip died unexpectedly in his sleep just after his 11th birthday, the day before a much anticipated breeding to his
granddaughter, Cdn.Ch. Glastonbury Alabama. We miss him terribly.
Am.Cdn.Ch. Amazone's Glastonbury Lily, who, when bred to Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Up Town Guy, produced the framework
on which the Avalonia breeding program has been based and carefully husbanded.
We credit Wood Chip for many of the qualities seen in Avalonia whippets today: wonderful heads, large expressive eyes,
excellent underjaw, and the sweet, affectionate, easy-going temperaments which make Avalonia whippets so easy to live with.
Aptly nicknamed Mr. Smooch, Wood Chip is behind virtually every whippet owned by Avalonia today.
Wood Chip died unexpectedly in his sleep just after his 11th birthday, the day before a much anticipated breeding to his
granddaughter, Cdn.Ch. Glastonbury Alabama. We miss him terribly.
Send mail to avaloniawhippets@yahoo.ca with questions or comments about Avalonia Kennels
Or to cjmorry@ncf.ca with questions about this web site.
Copyright © 2000-2009 Avalonia Kennels
Last modified: February 01, 2009
Or to cjmorry@ncf.ca with questions about this web site.
Copyright © 2000-2009 Avalonia Kennels
Last modified: February 01, 2009
It goes without saying that Avalonia Whippets would not be what it is today if it were not for the fabulous dogs from which all
our current and future generations have come.
Alas, as dog owners we all know the heartbreak that inevitably faces us from time to time when one of these precious friends
is taken from us.
It is the very least that we can do to commemorate their lives and to cherish their memories.
The pages below are the testimonial to the love and bittersweet memories that we share and will always hold for these, some
of our most beloved and sadly missed friends.
| Eng.Am.Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Up Town Guy |
| The Dogs in Avalonia's Past |
