We took some video clips of the H puppies. Again :)
You will see MaXwin Google (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida) playing with the puppies in the video clips. Google loooooooves the puppies! He doesn't even want to let them to sleep because he just would like to play with them :) The pups love him too and ask for more playing of him.
Ladies and gentlemen, may we present our H puppies & MaXwin Google :) (MaXwin Google in the photo as a puppy).
Our puppies moved to a bigger place yesterday. All went well and they are learning to walk on the floor. They still learn to walk and run but they alredy kill a toy :) They are propbably racing when they sleep as their tiny legs move so fast. The puppies are having teeth now. And they had their first minced meat yesterday. Oh, it tasted sooo good! All the seven eat very well.
Freida is not the only one with four legs who enjoys being with the puppies. The half brother of the puppies, namely MaXwin Google loves the pups. They are so interesting. He would like to play with them but it's so difficult when they are so tiny. How can one play with a so small whippet, thinks Google. Soon he'll run like hell all the seven whippet piranhas after him :D
Kennel MaXwin wishes you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Also MaXwin Freida sends you her greetings with her lovely puppies MaXwin Hippies, Hipster, Hulabaloo, Happyhour, Hiphop, Hooligan and Hurricane. We'll take new videos of the puppies on Christmas eve. Hopefully we'll have time to put the videos on our site on the same evening.
P.S. It seems that we'll have a white Christmas after rainy autumn. We have a small amount of snow and few minus degrees at the moment here in the south of Finland. Rudolf the Reindeer is on the way...
18th December 2011
We took some new photos and video clips of the puppies yesterday. You will find the photos in the MaXwin photo gallery.
The eyes and ears of the puppies are starting to be more or less open. The puppies also take their first steps. And Freida the mother is still taking so good care of her young puppies. Freida's one year old son Google was taking a closer look at his half brothers and sisters yesterday. We wonder what this young and playful boy will think about the puppies after few weeks when the puppies really start to be playful.
We took some new photos and video clips of the H puppies (Blits vd Spaarne Meute - MaXwin Freida) today. Antti Ruotsalo took photos and Minna Ruotsalo took video clips. Emmi Syrjänen was assistant of photgraphy and cinematography. You will find the photos in the photo gallery of MaXwin.
Freida and the puppies are doing fine. Freida takes so good care of her puppies. She hardly wants to leave them to go to eat or to go out for a short walk. The puppies will start to open their eyes and ears at the end of next week. They will have a whole new world then.
A few videos of the MaXwin H puppies (Blits vd Spaarne Meute - MaXwin Freida) and the milk bar of Freida. The quality of the videos in not very good but better than nothing, I suppose. We'll take better photos of Freida and the puppies during the weekend :)
MaXwin whippets are rarely taking part in the dog shows. Our dogs are racing dogs and they look like racing dogs. These type of whippets are usually not appreciated by show judges.
Every now and then some courageous MaXwin is presented in the show ring. This time it was the time of MaXwin Gamma (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida, born the 21st September 2010) to be courageous. Moa took part in the whippet happening organized by the Finnish Whippet Club the 26th November in Lohja. It was an unofficial show and Mrs. Kristin Hoff from Norway was the judge of the show. There were 16 other whippet bitches in the junior class with Moa. Moa was not placed but our young racing whippet girl was behaving very nicely in the ring. Here is the judgement of Moa:
Good head. Could have a better underjaw. Beautiful eyes and ears. Good neck. A bit tensed topline. Should build up a bit more from the brisket. New colour. Moves sloppy from front and rear. Doesn't relax, is tensed.
Moa enjoyed the show so much that she wanted to go to a bigger show. We had the biggest show of the year in Finland, the Winner Show the 3rd and 4th December in Helsinki. Moa did not take part in the real show but there was a presentation of sighthounds both days in the big BIS ring. Moa was there with her roommate Nanna (Paletin Rainbow) and her holder Emmi Syrjänen. On Sunday we saw a miracle as Minna Ruotsalo took part in the presentation with Moa. We wanted to presentate our racing dogs with their racing jackets on and we even had the muzzles with us :) It was fun!
MaXwin Freida and the H puppies are doing fine. All the puppies eat well and Freida takes really good care of her beautiful puppies. The milk bar is open 24 hours a day and Freida makes sure the puppies are clean. The puppies are all strong and lively.
MaXwin H litter was born today, the 1st December. The father of the litter is the European and Dutch champion in racing: Blits vd Spaarne Meute from Renkum, the Netherlands. The mother of the litter is our MaXwin Freida. Freida gave birth to four boys and three bitches (255-320 gr). We were expecting a large litter because our 10 kg Freida had got 4 kg more in weight :) We were expecting a lot of brindles but these two brindle dogs gave us not only brindles but also one brown and three blue/blue fawn whippets :) Freida and all the puppies are doing well and enjoying their lives for the fullest.
Today it is the 58th day of Freida's mating with Blits van de Spaarne Meute. We took the last photos of our whippet girl before she is giving birth. She is huge, bigger than last year (5 puppies). Freida has been happy and doing well during the whole pregnancy. Soon we'll have some whippet puppies :)
Here are some photos of Freida & Minna's trip to Holland. We are so grateful to Hanneke & Hans Geutjes and of course to Blits & the other dogs for a warm welcome. Freida and Minna enjoyed their trip for the fullest. The weather was so nice the whole time, the food was great but the company was the gratest! We had a chance to visit the track of Son too which was nice. We took some nice walking in the forest near Renkum. We enjoyed Max and the other whippets and the two galgos. Minna fell in love not only with Max but with Alma the Galgo also. We enjoyed watching Hans' birds and hearing them singing and hearing about their lives. We also enjoyed the other animals, Freida especially fell in love with the small rabbit. We had nice dinners at Geutjes and in the chinese restaurang. Oh, the food was so good! Biking in Holland is something everyone should experience when visiting this country of tulips. We miss you guys but soon we'll have some tiger puppies of our two darling whippets :)
It is actually lovely to remember our trip to Holland. It's November and we have no snow so quess what? We live in the dark here in the north! Yes, it's awful. The summer in Finland is so fantastic but at this time of the year... Well, it's not that fantastic. Minna had a chance to visit the FCI Jubileum in Münster in June, France and Golden haas in Beringen, Belgium in July, the European championship in Beringen, Belgium with Elko River and Antti in September and Renkum, the Netherlands in September. What a year! Thanks to all our friends for the lovely time Minna spent with you and for your hospitality. Thank you to Dunja, Martina & Günter, merci Chantal & Christian, Christiane & Jean-Paul, Anne & Rémy and thank you to Hans & Hanneke! And so many more. Missing you.
Last but not least. The Finnish Kennel Club had an election day today. Minna Ruotsalo was chosen to be a member of the disciplinary board of the Kennel Club. It seems that Minna was the queen of the votes and got most of the votes. It's nice to be a queen, I have never been a queen before :D I am grateful for the support and there will be a challenging but interesting work to do. Thank you to all who trusted in me and voted for me.
6th November 2011
MaXwin Freida has 37 days from the mating with Blits vd Spaarne Meute. It seems that we are going to have some tiger puppies, don't you think? :) Now we'll wait and see what kind of whale Freida will be this year. We are very excited. Here is the link to our MaXwin H litter page which is unfortunately still only in Finnish.
Freida has been concentrated in her pregnancy but Blits has still been racing on the oval in Central Europe. Blits the Champion raced in the old classic, namely in the Grote Prijs Beringen last weekend in Beringen, Belgium. No one could beat the European champion. Blits had a good start in the final and he was away from the others. He won with an excellent time: 21.75. It's a fantastic time in the final. The track was fast that day and many dogs ran very good times. We are very happy for Max's victory and we want to send our warmest comgratulations to Max, Hanneke and Hans. Well done!
Now we'll wait and see how Freida will get bigger and bigger. Soon we'll have some puppies! That's life :)
MaXwin Freida was mated with Blits van de Spaarne Meute aka Max the 30th September and 1st Ocotober in Renkum, the Netherlands. All went well, there was love in the air. Freida and Minna flew back to Finland on Monday evening. We miss the Netherlands and it seems that we are missed too. Poor Max has been looking for Freida and Minna since we left :) We had great time with Max, Hanneke & Hans and the other dogs. Thank you! There will be more news and photos of our trip later. Here is a short video of Max and Hans preparing for a training in Son the 1st Ocotober (video taken by Minna).
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour was tested for doping the 13th August by the Finnish Kennel Club after he won the Finnish championship in 350 m. We had the result today and it is negative. No doping, he is a clean boy. We hope that the dogs would be tested more. Even though we don't believe that doping is a problem in Finland the only way to prove this by testing the dogs. (Copyright of the photo Minna Ruotsalo.)
You will find the videos of the 480 m championship on Internet:
Time flies. Our G puppies, the Glitters (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida) celebrate their first birth anniversary today. It has already been one year since they were born in the middle of the night! The mother of the G puppies, namely Freida gave easily birth to her first puppies. She enjoyed taking care of them.
Happy birthday to Gaga, Gamma, Geezer, Giga & Google!
19th September 2011
MaXwin Freida will be mated with the European and Dutch champion Blits van de Spaarne Meute (the Netherlands) this autumn. We are very happy to have the chance to use Blits to our Freida. Thanks to the Geutjes family! We have been following the career of Blits since the early spring. Minna Ruotsalo had the chance to watch the brindle boy to race in Gouden haas, in Beringen (Belgium) this July. Both Minna and Antti Ruotsalo saw Blits racing in the European championships in Beringen this September. And we liked what we saw :) Blits is a fantastic racer, a very nice looking male and good in character too. We are very pleased to use him. You will find more information of our planned H litter here.
We had the Finnish championship of 480 m here in Finland last Saturday. The championship was raced on a sand track of Virpiniemi (near Oulu). Our Oochigea's Hanaa did a new track record (32.36) in the first round. After another dog beat this record (31.94) our Elko River du Tepee d'Amour showed what he is made of. Elko River raced 480 m for the very first time: 31.69. This was not enough for our Elko. He went to the final with the red jacket and had box number 1. Elko took a very good start and ran to the championship with a new track record: 31.61. We are very proud of our young French boy with whom we plan to have a litter in 2012. You will find all the results from Virpiniemi in kennel Fast Pack's site. You will find photos of the competition in Emmi Ventelä's gallery.
The track records of team MaXwin in the racing season 2011:
Oochigea's Hanaa (born 2.11.2008, male):
Virpiniemi (sand) 24.6.2011: 23.27/350 m
Virpiniemi (sand) 25.6.2011: 23.15/350 m
Virpiniemi (sand) 17.9.2011: 32.36/480 m
Catkyll's Celine (born 21.12.2008, female):
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.93/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.92/280 m
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour (born 22.5.2009, male):
Tampere (sand) 2.6.2011: 18.06/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 2.7.2011: 22.48/350 m
Helsinki (grass) 13.7.2011: 17.77/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 13.8.2011: 22.35/350 m
Helsinki (grass) 17.8.2011: 22.31/350 m
Virpiniemi (sand) 17.9.2011: 31.69/480 m
Virpiniemi (sand) 17.9.2011: 31.61/480 m.
7th September 2011
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour made Finnish whippet racing history in the European championship in Beringen, Belgium. He went to the final with blue jacket. That means he was the second fastest male in the first and second round. Never ever has a whippet of the Finnish team raced in the final. We in the kennel MaXwin did it!! We have chased this for so long. MaXwin Ayscha was 11th in Freiburg 2004 and MaXwin Delaware was 9th in Oude Pekela in 2008. And now in the final with Teppo :) And with a blue jacket!
Elko River had a good start in the final and he was second at the beginning but there was a contact and he was heavily pushed outside. It seems that there was another contact a little bit later too. That's tough competition. Our boy finished with 6th place.
We are so very happy over Elko River's fantastic achievement. We know he is fast but he has never travelled by airplane in the cargo, he has never stayed in a hotel, he has been away from his family only a few times with Minna (who starts him in Finland too), he has never raced before in Beringen which is a difficult track for us (the shape of it), he has never competed on a wet grass on a rainy day, he has competed againts 6 dogs only in two or three competitions but not against as many tough dogs as in the EC final, he has had only 12 starts, he did not poo on Sunday :) With all these new things on his trip to the final, we are so very proud of our black boy. We do not have enough words to praise him. A fantastic racer. Minna wrote a while ago that Elko River has become a racer after all the hard work with him and he really showed his level to Europe on Sunday. Our boy :)
Thank you to Chantal & Christian Siino for this wonderful boy!! He is a nice, handsome and a fast dog. We just love this nice guy! And thank you to Jean-Paul Haroune who told us about Barnabe and let us know about the litter with Barnabe and Apalachee. Merci. Vive la France!
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour and Minna & Antti Ruotsalo from kennel MaXwin will fly to Belgium early tomorrow for the European championship in racing. The competition will be raced on Saturday the 3rd and on Sunday the 4th September in Beringen. Elko River will race on Sunday.
We are very happy to participate the championship with our Elko River. It will be a tough competition between the males as we have many excellent males in Europe at the moment. For us it will be exciting to see what Elko River thinks about flying, living in a hotel and the track of Beringen. We hope he can race at his own level even though he has many new things on this trip. We are also happy that the Tepee d'Amour, Elko River's breeders, and the Pack de la Jet where Elko River's American dad lived in for a year while he was in Europe will see our black boy :)
Beringen, here we come! Below you can find a video of Elko River as a puppy in Finland. Now he is on his way to the European championship :)
29th August 2011
Time flies and so does our G puppies. Three of five Glitters were on the oval today. It was wet at the Helsinki track and the grass was long. We were supposed to have all the five Glitters at the training but it was so a rainy day that we were not sure whether we could run. Some of us have a few hours drive to Helsinki so it was not worth coming today for all of us. Those of us who live in Helsinki decided at the last minute to run. MaXwin Gaga ran 280 meters in 19.00. Her earlier time was 19.15. This bitch is only a little bit over 9 kg so you can imagine how she "ticks". It's great! MaXwin Gamma is doing great too. Gamma's time was 18.75 today and her earlier times are 18.70 and 18.75. Gamma's running position looks very good. Google has been running a little bit too up and he did that also today but it's looking better now. He had a very good running position a few times today so we'll hope he will find it permanently. Google ran 18.55 and his earlier time was 18.75. We are very happy about our Glitters, it looks great!
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour had a final training at the track today before the European championship.
28th August 2011
We have been busy here in Finland competing with our dogs and training our G puppies (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida) on the oval so there has been no time nor effort to write the news in English. Sorry for that :) As you can see we have been writing the news in Finnish all the summer. It's worth to check the news in Finnish every now and then for the photos and the videos in case it takes a long time for us to translate the news in English.
We have had a great year on the oval this year. It has not been only good news for us, though, so that's why we enjoy the great achievements of our dogs even more. Our dogs have done so far nine track records this year. It has been absolutely fabulous! Our track redords statistic looks like the following:
Oochigea's Hanaa (born 2.11.2008, male):
Haukipudas (sand) 24.6.2011: 23.27/350 m
Haukipudas (sand) 25.6.2011: 23.15/350 m
Catkyll's Celine (born 21.12.2008, female):
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.93/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.92/280 m
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour (born 22.5.2009, male):
Tampere (sand) 2.6.2011: 18.06/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 2.7.2011: 22.48/350 m
Helsinki (grass) 13.7.2011: 17.77/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 13.8.2011: 22.35/350 m
Helsinki (grass) 17.8.2011: 22.31/350 m.
Our French import Elko River du Tepee d'Amour has really been great at the track in his first racing season. He won the Finnish championship and has done five track records. We have worked with Teppo as a team and are all very happy that our handsome black boy does so well on the oval. The work is not done yet, though. We hope he will get better and better in the start, getting out of the box which is not his strongest link :) Teppo had four starts in a five days period a few weeks ago and his result was awesome: 22.35 - 22.38 - 22.42 - 22.31. Teppo is the fastest whippet ever in Finland. We are very proud of him. He has been developing in the passed one year so well. Not just physically but also mentally. He is a real racer now :)
Our Belgium import Oochigea's Hanaa has done two track records too. He completed our joy by beeing third in the Finnish championship. Hasse is having problems in getting full speed at the track. It takes more than 100 meters, sometimes like 150 meters for him to achieve a good speed. And then he comes, fast. Passing the others. He keeps passing the other dogs but the best ones are usually too far away for him. It will be interesting to see him racing 480 meters this year. He is the champion of 480 meters in 2010. It's also worth to mention that Hasse was second in the Derby competition this year. It's once in a lifetime competition for those dogs who are or will be three years old that year.
Our German import Catkyll's Celine has not been racing for a while. This girl of ours is one fast whippet female with two track records from this year!
You will find more information about the Finnish championship here:
If you want to watch the video of our Elko River Tepee d'Amour racing a new track record 17.77 in Helsinki the 13th July, please visit Jakke Lehtonen's site.
This weekend MaXwin Fantom ran in the European Derby 2011 competition. It was organized by the Finnish Greyhound Racing Federation. Fantom won his first round start on Wednesday and was third in the final on Saturday with his new personal best (21.16/325 m). You can find photos of the competition in the kennel MaXwin photo gallery.
Kennel MaXwin is specialized in racing. We breeders Antti & Minna do never coursing with our dogs. It's too dangerous. Some of the MaXwin dogs do coursing, though, but only few. This weekend we had the Finnish championship. Our F boys who have won the championship in the last two years did great also this year: Fabio was 2nd and Fico 4th. If you are interested in finding out more results of the coursing competitions in Finland, please visit the site of kennel Sattuman.
We have been active not only competing with our dogs but also training the next generation, namely MaXwin G puppies. Four of the five puppies have run two times 280 meters at the age of a little bit over 10 months. The best time of Geezer is 18.65, Gamma 18.70, Google 18.75 and of tiny Gaga 19.15. Giga had a small injury and he has been taking it easy. He is full recoved now and is able to run. We are very happy over the G puppies. It really looks great with them! The puppies have been enjoying the summer in other ways too. MaXwin Gamma shows you some swimming style:
Our older dogs have also been enjoying the summer. Oochigea's Vanille, 14 years old shows you how to enjoy on the couch at the summer cottage:
Minna from kennel MaXwin had a chance to spend one week in France on her summer holiday in July. A few days both at the kennel Tepee d'Amour in Drancy and at the kennel Pack de la Jet in Coubert, wow! Mille merci à Chantal & Christian et Christiane & Jean-Paul! Je suis très heureuse que j'avais une chance de passer le temps chez vous et vos chiens. Je l'aime bien :) Et merci à Anne et Rémi Crepin pour le voyage de Liverdy à Beringen. J'aimais beaucoup de notre voyage!
Minna visited Golden haas in Beringen on his holiday too. It was so nice to meet Dunja and her pack from Germany and all the other friends! We are so happy to have many whippet racing friends in other countries. Whippet racing is a fantastic hobby in so many ways. Minna met also Catherine and José Fernandez from France with their pack. Raptor du Pack de la Jet, the father of MaXwin B litter looks so great at the age of 11 years. It was so nice to meet you, Catherine & José :) Finally Minna got to see our G litter's dad Ringdove Jamiroquai to race in a competition. And fine he did: Silas won the Gouden haas in the Sprinter class and was the fastest whippet of the day. Well done, Silas & Dunja! Minna had the honour to be the caddy girl of these two when Silas started :) A short video of Silas after the final:
Last but not least, kennel MaXwin is planning a litter later this year. The mother will be MaXwin Freida, the mother of our G litter. We are very happy about our G puppies. We have not yet decided the male but have been thinking between a few good ones that would match with our Freida. You will find our MaXwin H litter page on our site but it is so far only in Finnish. We will translate it in English soon. If you are interested in our litter, please contact Minna Ruotsalo (minna.ruotsalo(at)kolumbus.fi).
By the way, you will find us on Facebook these days under the name MaXwin Racing Whippets.
Our French import Elko River du Tepee d'Amour raced a new track record last Saturday at the Helsinki track: 22.48/350 m. The earlier track record 22.56 belonged to MaXwin Albugo (2004) and Kiiturin NN-Remy Martin (2010). We had the 50 years Jubileum Race of the Helsinki Sighthound Club in Helsinki and Elko River won the competition. He started from box 6 in the final and it's not an easy box to start from in this dictance at this track. Elko River had an ok start but not an excellent one and got to the lead only in the third bend and was away from the others. His time in the final was 22.65. This competition was also the preliminary competition in Finland for the European championship 2011 in Beringen, Belgium. Elko River had a small injury in the 8th June competition and this was his first competition after his injury.
We had also Oochigea's Hanaa in the A final. Hanaa raced with black 4 jacket in the final and was 4th. MaXwin Evil and Paletin Rainbow who trains with us raced in a graded race.
You will find results of the Helsinki competition in kennel Fast Pack's site. You will find photos of the competition in
The breeders of Elko River du Tepee d'Amour, namely Chantal & Christian Siino from France are enjoying of Teppo's great achievements with us. They send their hugs to their puppy here in the North. Their puppy is a race dog now :) We are happy to have Elko River with us here in Finland. Teppo's brother Eyak River du Tepee d'Amour gave more reasons to smile for Chantal & Christian Siino this weekend. Eyak won the Belgium championship at his home track in Awans. Great Eyak, we congratulate Sylvia & Philippe Collins for this fantastic achievement :) You will find photos of Eyak below, taken by Stijn Vandermeulen. Please, do not not copy these photos without a permission.
Kennel MaXwin's three imported dogs have raced six track records this year. The track record of Haukipudas was taken from MaXwin Baxter. The track records of Helsinki and Tampere were taken from MaXwin Albugo. Albugo raced his records in 2004 and 2005. It took this long to beat Albugo's records which tells how a fantastic race dog he was at his time. Our gentle and fast whippet boy.
The track records of team MaXwin in season 2011:
Oochigea's Hanaa (born 2.11.2008, male):
Haukipudas (sand) 24.6.2011: 23.27/350 m
Haukipudas (sand) 25.6.2011: 23.15/350 m
Catkyll's Celine (born 21.12.2008, female):
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.93/280 m
Helsinki (grass) 19.6.2011: 17.92/280 m
Elko River du Tepee d'Amour (born 22.5.2009, male):
We have enjoyed the Midsummer here in Finland this weekend. Minna Ruotsalo's team spent the weekend at the summer cottage on the island of Rågö (Raasepori). The sun has shined and we have enjoyed the beautiful summer weekend and the Finnish nature. Taika (Oochigea's Vanille, 14 years old) has enjoyed the sun the most. Taika is old but still in good shape. Though, one can feel she is not that sharp she used to be. The connection is getting worse, she on the way ... But she still enjoys posing for the camera. Our lovely whippet girl :)
We have also had a racing competition in Finland this weekend, near Oulu (at the track of Haukipudas). Oochigea's Hanaa represented team MaXwin. And he did represent very well. Hasse raced a new track record in 350 m on Friday: 23.27. The earlier record was from last year and had been raced by Hasse's roommate MaXwin Baxter. We have had the 350 m distance at the Haukipudas track only for two years. Hasse's time in 280 m was 18.91. Hasse's was the fastest whippet (350 m + 280 m) in the Midsummer Race on Friday.
Hasse raced also on Saturday at the same track. And he did a new track record in 350 m, again: 23.15. Great job, Hasse! Team MaXwin has achieved a triple this year. All our three imported dogs have raced at least one new track record. What an achievement! We are proud of our dogs:
The racing season 2011 has started in May in Finland. If you are interested in taking a closer look at the results we advice you to visit kennel Fast Pack's site. You will find some photos in Emmi Ventelä's Photo Gallery. We will mention only some results on our news.
The first great MaXwin achievement of the year was our Elko River du Tepee d'Amour's (Teppo) new track record in 280 m in Tampere (sand) in his second race the 2nd June. The earlier record was MaXwin Albugo's 18.34 but Teppo put it to the history by racing 18.06. Absolutely amazing!! What a new record in 280 m :) The track was not even in fast condition. Teppo had a super start and made a super race. Teppo was also the fastest in 350 m in the same day (23.03). Unfortunately Teppo injured in the next race so he is out of the oval for some time. We hope he will be able to race soon. Merci à Chantal & Christian Siino, France de notre rapide mâle :)
Catkyll's Celine (Cox) made history yesterday at the Helsinki track (grass). We had the championship of 280 meter in Finland (TS-2011). Cox raced last year 17.96 and was the first female ever under 18 seconds in 280 m in Finland. Only few dogs have been able to race under 18 seconds here. Yesterday Cox did a new track record 17.93 in the first round. The earlier record belonged to MaXwin Albugo, 17.95. In the second round Cox raced 17.96 and in the final she made a new track record for the second time: 17.92. And took the championship, the others were far behind her. To run to the championship with two track records and to race three times under 18 seconds in the same day. That we call more than an excellent and an amazing achievement!! Thank you to Martina & Günter Brecht, Germany for this great girl. Danke schön. We are so happy to enjoy her with you :) We are happy that Cox's achievements make also Tom Smet, the owner of Cox's father Tauranga Cannavaro, and Anja Rogiers & Henri Wouters from kennel Tauranga, Belgium happy :)
Our third import, namely Oochigea's Hanaa has been racing also quite well here in Finland. Hasse is better in the longer distance. The longer the distance is the better he is. It takes time for him to get in full speed. He won last year the 480 meter championship in Finland. This year Hasse has been the second in the Finnish Whippet Club's championship (350 m) and third in the 280 meter championship. Good for Hasse!
Our G litter (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida) has been learning to race after the lure and to start from the box. We have so far had our private training and the youngters have visited tracks only to get used to the lure machine noise, people and dogs. They are crazy about the lure, also at the track! All the pups do well. Soon we'll start running on the oval. We are so happy that Jamiroquai's owner Dunja Baensch, Germany is interested in our youngsters. We hope that she can some day see at least some of them in live, not only in photos and videos :)
Kennel Maxwin's Minna Ruotsalo visited the 4th and 5th June Münster, Germany for the FCI Jubileum. We had no MaXwin dogs in the competition but Minna was Finland's team leader. Finland had only a small team (one italian greyhound and one barzoi). It was so nice to meet again other team leaders and foreign racing people we know. I so expect these racing meetings!
It was so nice to meet Dunja Baensch and her dogs from Germany again. Thanks to Dunja for the company. And thanks to Renate too, for the food also :) To see Silas (Ringdove Jamiroquai) to race before the competiton started on Sunday morning, wau!! A dream come true. We know he is fast and now I have seen it with my own eyes! Ruby (Winsome Yankees Arizona) did so great in Münster, the second placement was absolutely fantastic. And she raced so well yesterday in Hünstetten in the German championship too (4th, with 2nd best time to the final). Our congratulations, Dunja and the Winsome Yankee's team! We congratulate Dunja also for Lyyti's (WY Apache) achievements here in Finland. Lyyti did a new track record 17.93 yesterday in oversized whippets in the Helsinki championship. It has been nice to meet all the dogs of Dunja's A litter. I met WY Atlanta and Alabama in Münster too.
It was so nice to meet Sylvia and Philippe from Belgium and their dogs Eyak & Echota River du Tepee d'Amour also in Münster. Eyak and Echota are the brother and the sister to our Elko River. It was nice to meet Oochigea's Hindyllius & Hamagotchi too with their owners. The sister and the brother to our Hanaa. And many many other people with their dogs. And it was surely nice to meet Christine Paîllet and Jean-Paul Haroune from kennel le Pack de la Jet, France. C'est toujours agreable de vous rencontre et parler francais avez vous, mes amis francais :) Et Cosetta Sarti (Italia), comme le monde est petit, n'est-ce pas? And Henk Hendricks from Belgium is always there were the good competition is.
The breeders of our Catkyll's Celine, namely Martina & Günter Brecht were not in Münster. They were training in Hünstetten on Sunday for the German championship. So off Minna went to Hünstetten on Sunday to meet Martina & Günter :) We spent a nice day in Hünstetten in training the dogs and talking and laughing. Minna had the honor to start Celine's mother Amidala for the 350 m. Jippii!! Speedy is so lovely and so fast. I haven't see her for a year and a half and she has already grey in her face, the mother whippet :) It was nice to see Catkyll's Bamboucha and Bobby Mc Gee also, not to mention the youngsters out of Mick Jerome vom Rauhen Meer - Catkyll's Amidala and Defton du Pack de la Jet - Catkyll's Alicia. Thank you, Martina and Günter for the lovely day we had together. I so love you. Kennel MaXwin congratulates kennel Catkyll's for Bamboucha's great 3rd place yesterday in the German championship! This is a good place to say that it was nice to meet Mick Jerome's owner Kirsten in Münster too :)
You can take a closer look at the results in Münster here. And the results of the German championhips in Hünstetten here.
Oochigea's Hanaa aka Hasse was measured for the second time. He has shrunk a big time! Hasse used to be 50.6 cm and now he is 49.6 cm. His weight is 16.2 kg. Hasse is an extremely strong dog, a rare type. You can see photos of Hasse and his roommates MaXwin Alysa and Baxter in Emmi Ventelä's Photo Gallery.
The fift puppy in our MaXwin G litter has now run after the lure too, namely MaXwin Gaga. Gaga did well! All our Glitters have now tested their skills in the lure running and it's looking good. This is a good start for all of them. We have the whole summer ahead of us and we'll enjoy it for the fullest with our puppies.
We have also received sad news a while ago. MaXwin Vice from our first litter (born 28.12.1998) has been put to an eternal sleep in January due to a liver cancer. Taisto was 12 years old.
We had the first competiton (without the snow) yesterday here in Finland, namely a coursing competition. MaXwins do not take part in coursing (except few dogs) because we prefer racing but we had a Glitter meeting during the competition. It was a warm and sunny day, just perfect for the meeting.
All the MaXwin G puppies (Ringdove Jamiroquai - MaXwin Freida) except Gaga were at the meeting. Gaga was on Easter holiday. MaXwin Gamma, Geezer, Giga & Google enjoyed meeting each other. Their mother MaXwin Freida was there too. What a happy family meeting :) We send our love to father Silas in Germany.
We are so happy the long and dark (and snowy) winter is behind us. It seems that the whole Finland is alive again :) We humans and the dogs. It is so nice that we will be seeing each other more often from now in the racing competitions and trainings. Yesterday we had the first lure training for our Glitters. Here we go!!
There are two new sites concerning MaXwin whippets on Internet. MaXwin Geezer aka Spede (born 21.9.2010) has started his own blog under the name Spedeilyä. This blog is only in Finnish but you can some photos there. The blog is not only about Spede but you can also find whippets Pentti (MaXwin Fabio) and Pirre (Eimikin Grindelia) and Pätkä the Pinscher (Baron Castle Wildest Dream) there.
Emmi Ventelä, the young owner of MaXwin Baxterin aka Luigi has also opened up her own site. You can find photos on Emmi's PhotoGallery. There are photos of Luigi and his roommates Brie the Whippet (MaXwin Alysa) and Hasse the Whippet (Oochigea's Hanaa). You will also find racing photos on Emmi's site after the racing season 2011 starts here in Finland.
We wish you enjoyable surfing on Spede's and Emmi's sites! We are working on the article about Whippet Racing in the North America on MaXwin site at the moment.
20th March 2011
Surfing on Internet on Sunday morning is a good winter hobby. We can only dream of whippet racing here in Finland in March. And envy people e.g. in the South and Central of Europe and in the USA for beeing able to race already. What do we do here in the cold North? We watch photos and videos of racing, of course :D As a result of my Sunday morning surfing I found some fantastic videos on the site of British Pathé. Whippet racing in the early 1900's.
We have tested three more dogs in our MaXwin team for the bully gene, namely MaXwin Alysa, MaXwin Baxter and Oochigea's Hanaa. Last year we decided to test our young imports Teppo (Elko River du Tépee d'Amour, France) and Hasse (Oochigea's Hanaa, Belgium). Our import from Germany, namely Cox (Catkyll's Celine) is known to be clean due to the fact that her "dad and mom" have both been tested clean.
Teppo was tested clean earlier (see below) and we had Hasse's result: he is clean too. MaXwin Alysa and Baxter who live in the same family as Hasse were tested clean also. Their "mom" Oochigea's Vanille (Belgium) had been tested clean earlier (see below).
So all the above mentioned dogs of team MaXwin are clean (N/N) from the bully whippet gene. Our G litter is clean too because Ringdove Jamiroquai (Germany) and MaXwin Freida have both been tested clean. You can read more about the bully whippet problem below (26th February 2011 news).
We did a myostatin deficiency test to two of our whippets: our old Oochigea's Vanille (Belgium) who is _the bitch_ for kennel MaXwin and our young Elko River du Tepee d'Amour (France). Both are totally clean from this mutation (normal alleles N/N).
This so-called DNA bully test is done to make sure that the dog does not carry a bully gene in it's inheritance. A bully whippet is a dog who has a mutation in it's so-called myostatin gene and who has got the mutation both from the father and the mother. This mutation causes heavy muscling and other health problems. A dog who has got the mutation only from it's father or it's mother is a carrier. These carriers can be more heavily muscled than normal whippets but one needs to test a dog to know for sure whether the dog is clean or a carrier. A research says that there is a correlation between a bully gene carrier and the speed of the dog.
Surfing on Internet on Sunday morning is a good winter hobby. We can only dream of whippet racing here in Finland in March. And envy people e.g. in the South and Central of Europe and in the USA for beeing able to race already. What do we do here in the cold North? We watch photos and videos of racing, of course :D As a result of my Sunday morning surfing I found some fantastic videos on the site of 
