Bohem Whippets in the U.S.

In the early 1980s, following a move to California, the Bohem line was brought into the U.S. through Int. Ch. Bohem Mae West (sired by Flamboyant out of a Leader daughter), who was imported in whelp to Filipin. Only three puppies from the litter survived, but one of them was Ch. Bohem American Way, through whom the line continues today.

American Way put Bohem on the map by going BOS from the classes at the 1983 American Whippet Club specialty in California under Mrs. M.P. Newcombe (Pennyworth), finished quickly and sired champions for several kennels. In the show ring, however, he was eclipsed by another import: the very young Ch. Hardknott Maestro of Bohem, brought in as a puppy after Bo Bengtson had awarded CCs to both his parents while judging at The Whippet Club and Windsor championship shows in England. A few generations back Maestro descended from the same Laguna and Fleeting lines as the earlier imports. He also initiated a long and productive cooperation with the Whippoorwill kennels of Dr. Barbara Henderson in Maryland, with whom Maestro spent almost all his adult life.

Himself a Group winner and BOS at the AWC National Specialty, Maestro was an influential sire of approximately 40 champions. A bitch from one of his first litters (x SBIS Ch. Whippoorwill Precious Gem) came West to Bohem and became Ch. Whippoorwill Bohem Aria, tremendously successful both in the show ring — as a Multiple Specialty BIS winner — and as a brood bitch. Like her sire, she received the American Whippet Club ROMX certificate, the highest award available for an outstanding producer.

For her first litter, Aria was bred to the old Barn Dance son, Ch. Proud Fox of Whippoorwill. She produced the cream fawn Ch. Bohem Whippoorwill Jenny Lind (Award of Merit at the AWC National) and Ch. Bohem Callas of Whippoorwill, who became the first U.S. bred Whippet champion ever in Scandinavia, won back-to-back BIS at Skokloster and produced champions as the foundation bitch for Nenne Runsten’s Airescot Whippets.

The most important of Aria’s three litters was her second, sired by American Way. Seven of the 11 puppies earned titles; the most notable were Ch. Bohem Moonshine Lullaby (an All-Breeds and AWC Specialty BIS winner who died tragically young), Ch. Bohem Whippoorwill No Strings (AWC Sweepstakes winner and dam of champions at Chelsea and Whippoorwill), and Ch. Bohem I Hear Singing, who continued the line at Bohem.

Aria also had a litter by Ch. Sporting Fields Strider, which included Ch. Bohem Magic Flute, Ch. Bohem La Traviata (both AWC specialty weekend winners) and the white Ch. Bohem La Bohème.

In order to create a separate but related line, Aria’s litter sister Ch. Whippoorwill Sonatina was leased in 1986 to be bred to the great sire Ch. Delacreme de la Renta. Of the four puppies, three became champions and produced BIS or SBIS winners: Ch. Delacreme Bohem Impala for Barbara Wayne’s Charlemagne prefix; Am. Can. Ch. Bohem Delacreme Chevrotain for Terry Taft’s Baccarat kennel in Canada, and Ch. Bohem Delacreme Demoiselle for Bohem, Summerwind and Snowy Creek. The latter, shown by Phoebe Booth, became the first Whippet bitch ever to win multiple Best in Shows at both all-breed and specialty shows in the U.S. (In all, she won 100 BOB, 20 Groups, 5 All-Breeds and 3 AWC Specialty BIS, including the National.)

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