Dena-Bena-Ballerina is a delight to live with! She is brave,
smart, silly, affectionate, beautiful, and persuasive. She rules the Longrun bunch, and has all of us humans wrapped
firmly around her dainty little paws. We sometimes call her the "fun police", because she barks if she sees other dogs playing,
then she might just join in! She sings whippet woo-woo songs, too.
The firstborn and largest puppy, she came into the world with her
tongue stuck out: "What's that little pink half-circle? Oh, no! Is that a foot pad? Is the puppy breech? Hey,
that looks like a snout - the pink thing is a tiny tongue!" She still has that "Of course I should always get things my way"
attitude, and she's so cute and adorable about it she usually gets just that!.
Called "Deuce" as a baby because of her two body spots, Dena was
our first pick from early on. As soon as the pups could walk (sort of!), she was always the first to toddle over to say,
"Hello!" whenever anyone entered the room. Her long, sleek body developed into lovely curves that also made her a stand-out. All
of the whippet experts we asked to evaluate our litter chose her first - which was great, because we were already so taken
with her.
Dena is the number one nap buddy around here, and loves to be touching
a human whenever possible. She can often be found cuddling with someone on the couch, or on a handy lap. Ya know,
it's kinda hard to type with a full-grown whippet draped across you; and she thinks the wrist rest on the mouse pad is her
pillow! She gives lots of kisses, too, and can be very persistent in that endeavor - hold onto your contact lenses and keep
your lips pressed tightly together if you don't want your teeth cleaned by a whippet tongue!
This girl is also very playful, and loves plush squeaky toys. She
doesn't usually kill them, but will happily join in the un-stuffing after someone else tears a hole in one. Dena
loves to retrieve, too, and will chase a ball or other toy (and bring it back!!!) as many times as someone will throw it.
Dena is a good little showgirl, and usually does very well in the
ring. She baits like a dream, and moves well as long as it's not "that time of the year" or the grass isn't wet (in which
case she holds her tail up - to keep it dry, maybe?). Her biggest handicap is probably the fact that she is trained
and handled by a total amateur - but I'm learning! You can see some of her win pictures on the "News and Brags" page. She
currently has ten points toward her AKC championship, and we're hunting for majors. Here, major, major, major! Unfortunately,
Dena's show career was sidelined due to injuries for much of the past year, but we aren't giving up!
You want prey drive? Check! Enthusiasm? Check! A cuddly little princess
that turns into a screaming, lunging maniac? That's my Dena! She
LOVES to chase the "bunny", and has tried her paws at straight and oval racing, as well as completing her JC in AKC lure coursing.
She will be doing more racing in the future, and we are very proud of her for achieving the CR award from the
WRA (straight track) and the OTR award from NOTRA (oval track). Dena isn't a contender for a racing championship, but she
doesn't know that - she just loves to run, and we love to watch her.
