IVA KIMMELMAN, MERCI ISLE WHIPPETS
top to bottom: Am. Aus. Ch. Byerley Savile Row, ROMX; Ch. Merci Isle Dove Feather, FCH, ROM; Ch. Merci Isle Light The Way, FCH; Ch. Tangens The Maverick Cosmonaut, FCH, CRX, ROM
They all live in my home with me. Otherwise, what is the point of having them? And as we all know, the days of those big kennels with 100 dogs are long gone. This is a good thing for the dogs’ sake. I have 40 acres of extremely private land abutted by my own conservation land; two acres fenced attached to three indoor/ outdoor runs. We plan to clear about three acres in the woods with grass and fencing for exercise and, maybe, setting up a lure machine for training pups this summer. The dogs have their own room, a separate crate room for feed- ing only. But they spend their time in my office on numerous beds, or in the kitchen or in other areas when they are not outside in their two-acre running space. It is a good life for all of us. I am so thankful to have them. I recently moved from a larger home that we shared for 34 years, with lots of room to have one or two litters every year, to a smaller, more private home with lots of land for dogs to run, but not the same facilities to breed. This is okay. I probably have two or three litters left to do before I need to stop. I must stop eventually, no matter how good I am at it now, or how much I love it. It used to make me sad to look at all my stunning bitches that I created, that cannot be bred due to time and space. Then I just look at them and remember that that is what matters; that I have them to look at and love. Not every great bitch (or dog) needs to be bred. I had hoped in the past to share some of my superior bitches with others who wanted to start a breeding program. However, as we all know, the world has changed. This is sad, but it is reality. I have spent time—too much time—on people who I thought were as serious as I am about being a dog breeder, but they have all fallen by the wayside. We are all still friends, but they just do not have the desire and they do not think they have the time to accomplish what I have, so they do not want to bother. Who were/are some of your most significant Whippets, both in the whelping box and in the show ring? I am a breeder first, more than a competitor. I truly thrive on the creative process. I spend far too much time doing pedigrees on our Whippet Archives that I will never breed. It brings me much happiness to plan for things that “might have been.” I show my dogs to their championships and coursing titles, and do not do more. Yes, I attend specialties and National events with champions, but I do not have any desire to compete at the all-breed level. So, although Ch. Merci Isle Meridian, ROMX and his son, Ch. Merci Isle Burncoat Babylon, are both National Specialty winners (and Meridian was a significant sire, including being behind my best brood bitches), my focus is on my bitches. I do not think a dog or bitch needs to be a show champion to be bred. However, I am unlikely to breed bitches that will not run after the lure. They are few and far between, but it happens. Some of my most famous lure coursers, one of which is Ch. Merci Isle Jacaranda, LCM, would not even look at the lure until she was almost a year old. Then she surprised even me, by win- ning the breed at our AWC National ASFA lure coursing event in 2014 with a competing entry of 158. Two judges, both saw her in the same light.
72 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2021
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