Meet Our Family
Welcome to our family, where our passion for the Whippet breed brings us together! We are Che and Justin Rivera, along with our wonderful daughter, Audrey Boyer. We live in the heart of the Silicon Valley, making us central to many families in Northern California. We've been involved with Whippets and the Whippet community since 2015, starting with our first whippet, Disco. Disco showed us how truly wonderful these medium sized sight-hounds can be!
Audrey and I have been a mother daughter duo in the show ring and dog sport events for several years. Justin and I are in Tech, while Audrey is an accomplished Art Student. Our RENAISSANCE Logo was hand drawn and digitized for our website by 17 year old Audrey. Audrey is not only an extraordinary artist but an enormously talented dog handler, with 10 years experience is the show ring in the breed as well as being a top ranked whippet junior handler for years. She now moonlights as assistant handler to a professional dog show handler.
We currently live with Disco, Yoshi and Juno, while we wait for our exciting litter in August. Please visit the "Our Dogs" section to learn more about our fabulous whippets!
When we are not out with our dogs, we enjoy our weekends with our two horses, Dallas and The Pepto. They are both AQHA Quarter horses and live and work at Bishop Cutting horses. Dallas is an extraordinary all around, quiet ranch horse. The Pepto is a semi-retired cutting horse with over $21k in NCHA earnings.
We have a deep understanding of purpose breeding, which we see not only in our dogs but our horses as well. We truly appreciate the unique attributes that these breeds bring to all aspects of our journey together. It's the amazing temperament and drive of a whippet that is bar-none. Our commitment to responsible breeding reflects our love of these animals and the joy they bring us every day.
Why Whippets?
Our family has been passionate about animals from the beginning. As a child, I was the kid playing with the Barbie horses and dogs, while Barbie stayed under the bed collecting dust. There was no doubt about where my interests lay.
Over the years, we have had many breeds. The last few dogs were sweet, but not bred with health in mind. We unfortunately lost them at an early age due to congenital disease. We were devastated, but knew there had to be a better way to bring a new puppy into our home, with quality in mind.
Our search led us to the Whippet. We appreciated their gregarious nature, paired with good health. Whippets are a wonderful culmination of a sporty yet gentle dog in an elegant package. With their blend of energy and affection, Whippets aren't just companions; they’re a joy to engage in various activities with, making every moment spent with them truly special.
We have had the pleasure of experiencing various sports and activities with our dogs. We've enjoyed and titled our dogs in most of the following events:
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Dock Diving
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Straight Track Racing/Running
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Lure Coursing
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Rally (a very fun obedience-based event)
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Fast CATs
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Trick Dog
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Canine Good Citizen
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Trail Hiking (Our favorite FITDOG activity)
They are quite active, especially as youngsters. If you are considering this fantastic breed, we invite you to watch this informative video that highlights some of the pros and cons of living with a whippet (it's worth the watch):
