Kobi & Oscar in 2005
My name is Janis and I live in a village in County Durham with Richard, my husband, and family, Louise and Wayne, and of course my various animals. I have always shared my life with animals, starting off with a large New Zealand white rabbit and a cat at the tender age of one. Numerous different types of animals came in and out of my life including tortoises, cats, horses, mice, hamsters, rabbits and guinea pigs but I had always wanted a dog!
Sultan
I showed rabbits in my early teens and owned a horse too. Then, in 1970, an uncle of mine bought me a tiny white whippet with a fawn eye patch, aged around 7-8 weeks old - a bitch and we named her Lady. I was totally hooked and started racing her, her racing name being Lady Jane, and she won several prizes and trophies. The highlight for me had to be winning The Working Men's Club Trophy in 1972 - I thought this a great achievement!
Lady Jane with the WMC Trophy in 1972
This lively little girl was part of our lives from 1970 - 1985 and I have such happy memories of her. From then on I just loved whippets but after Lady's departure from this life my mam decided to get a Cocker spaniel puppy called Ross.
After Richard and I got married we got a cat called Tinker and decided we would both like to own another whippet. Along came a gorgeous dark brindle puppy dog whom we named Chip. Tinker and Chip were great friends. He shared a very happy life with us for 12 and half years and will never be forgotten.
After sadly losing Chip in 2004, we went 8 months without a dog and thought that after the pain of losing Chip we may not want another dog ... but eventually I gave in after seeing so many gorgeous puppies after joining several whippet forums - the temptation was just too great! After contacting several whippet breeders, along came our gorgeous brindle and white dog puppy Oscar in October 2004, aged 14 weeks, from Russell at Veredon Whippets. He made our life complete again!
Oscar in 2004
It wasn't too long before I decided I would love a playmate for Oscar so, after persuading Richard, eventually we finally made the decision to drive to Falkirk in Scotland in May 2005 to pick up another brindle and white dog puppy, aged 10 weeks, from Emma Frame at Nemahelvic Whippets. We later named him Kobi. Now we had a brace.
Kobi
In early January 2007 we were given the opportunity to mate Oscar to Roxy Flyby Daisy. The result was a single boy pup born on 27/03/2007. Roxy's owners had been hoping for a girl so it wasn't long before we knew that the pup, now called Archie, would be coming here to live with his dad and Kobi.
Archie
Kobi, Oscar & Archie are great pals and really enjoy their county life, racing round with each other, or cuddling up together in their beds. It is a whole new experience for us owning three dogs and they give us a lot of love in return. At the moment they share their lives with our family - 3 cats: Meeko, Mitch and Sooty; also rabbits, fish and a hamster - but at any time those statistics could change!!!
Mitch, Meeko & Sooty
Janis Gascoigne, April 2008
