Welcome to Xiomara Whippets & Pekingese.
My name is Alex Maranon, and I have been an avid dog lover for as long as I could remember. I remember meeting my first pekingese at the home of a family friend when I was about 12 years old. I was infatuated with that fawn-apricot dog with the black mask and blaze, and I was determined to have one. Right around this time, I had seen a Disney movie called, "The Ugly Daschund", and I knew I would be showing dogs one day...little did I know to what extent! So by my birthday the following year, I acquired my first pekingese, Sidney, or Maranon's Sir Sidney, to be exact! Sid lived to be 16 1/2 years old. He wasn't a show dog, although I thought I could make him one. But I soon learned there was a very vast difference in his quality and the ones I had seen in the various books I had acquired.
Regis
Fast forward to about 2008, and after a few rough starts in acquiring a "show peke", I found, Regis, who I co-own with my dear friend Susan Pullar, in Philadelphia, PA. Regis is Am/Can CH. St. Aubrey Regent of Elsdon, who was bred by R. William Taylor & Robert Denis of Ontario, Canada. At my first show with Regis, he won Best of Breed over an entry of 18 pekes, including a Specialty winner, and then we went on to win a Toy Group 4 among Top Toys in the US at the time. Oh, I was HOOKED! From that fateful April day, until the fall of 2009, Regis went on to win several Toy Group Placements, including Group 1's over the nation's Top dogs, he was BOS at the National & Regional Pekingese Club of America Specialties in Denver, CO, he won Specialty Bests in Shows at the Illinois and Michigan Pekingese Specialties, and he was the #8 Pekingese in the Breed for 2008 and even in limited showing, Regis was the #16 Pekingese for 2009.
Am/Can CH. St. Aubrey Regent of Elsdon
While I was showing Regis throughout 2008 and 2009, I had really wanted another breed in a different group, a medium sized, no frills dog, that aesthetically beautiful, yet was generally clean and easy to maintain...just to keep myself in the ring while I showed pekes, and have a "real dog". So I chose a Whippet! It was a long and tedious process trying to figure out what style and type I liked, then learning pedigrees, then finding out who had available dogs that matched the style I was looking for. By the fall of 2009, I had been showing a pekingese for my Canadian friends, named Nik(Can CH. St. Aubrey Niklaus of Elsdon). Nik came to me in the beginning of Sept '09...and within a week of picking him up, under a breed specialist from California, he won a 5pt Major WD/BOW at the Imperial Pekingese Club of Greater Flint, and Best in Sweepstakes under renowned pekingese handler, Brenda Scheiblaur. Nik finished his American Championship in less than 13 weeks in as many shows, and a Toy Group 2 from the classes in Top Toy competition. Nik eventually became the #1 Top Dog All Breeds in Canada in 2011! I'm honored that I was able to be a part of his American show career.
Am/Can CH. St. Aubrey Niklaus of Elsdon
So during the time I was showing Nik, I had made a few inquiries with some people who I thought would be able to help me pursue my whippet endeavor. They all turned out to be dead ends. Through the phenomena known as Facebook, I met several whippet people from around the world, who's dogs I admired. One fateful day in Oct '09, I get an email from Tony Groenendijk, "Alex, are you still looking for a Whippet"? He tells me to go look at his James x Ella album and said there is a boy that is available to a show home. I look, and the only one who immediately jumped out at me was Liam, and I said that's MY DOG! Unfortunately, by the time I could ask Tony which one was available, he was already in bed due to our 7 hour time difference. I agonized ALL NIGHT about which dog it was, and by the next morning, I woke up to the response that, yes indeed, it was Liam that was looking for the right show home.
TO BE CONTINUED
