SIGHTHOUNDS AFIELD - The Author & The Events

SIGHTHOUNDS AFIELD - & More Books for Lure Coursing, Straight Racing, Oval Racing

Denise Como

*** WOLFWIND ~ since 1966 ***

<< As the oldest of six children, Ms Como's parents would not allow her to have a horse. She was reduced to begging for a Collie to take to dog shows. Denise worked since she was 11, so she offered up the babysitting money she had stashed away. The begging worked, and in 1966 she bought a Collie puppy from the last of the old Bellhaven lines. As Denise learned more, she realized her show dog was only fair quality, but the Collie loved to go to shows. She later acquired a typey granddaughter of Eng. Ch. Lochinvar of Ladypark -- who hated shows. Denise decided that there was no justice in the world of dogs.

<< Since Denise could not have a horse of her own, her first real job as a teenager was doing the grunt work at an exclusive show barn (although she had ridden horses as a teen, her mother was not thrilled when Denise's barn clothes reeked of the fragrance of nature). When Denise's children were young she had a pair Shetland ponies, and later kept Arabian horses.

(photo of the Arabian stallion, Dakil's Kalil, bred by Sherry Hart).

<< Denise began showing dogs at age 15, bred & raised Collies while in high school. Afghan hounds came in 1972, then Borzois in 1977 - the Borzois stayed. NGA-bred Greyhounds joined the mob for a few years, and finally a Whippet... then another Whippet. In 1996, Denise & her husband drove to eastern Canada and recovered the last seven specimens of a colony of Rampur Hounds, a sight-hound breed from India -- now nearly extinct.

(photo of homebred Borzoi puppy, Wolfwind Gabrielle)

<< Reference-book resume': Como is the published author of a number of sighthound-oriented magazine articles in the U.S. and abroad. Her major reference book is Sighthounds Afield: The Complete Guide to Sighthound Breeds & Amateur Performance Events, With a Comprehensive Chapter on Adopted Ex-Racing Greyhounds.

Como co-authored A Breeder’s Guide to Genetics - Relax, It Isn’t Rocket Science with Ingrid Wood of Stormwind Whippets & Alpacas. Running Sighthounds - A Guide for Beginners, is Como's 6th reprint of the 1996 handbook, So, You Want to Run Your Sighthound. Running Sighthounds is now in print (December, 2009).

(Whippet Elise, Stormwind's Lotus Elise FCh (c) Dan Gauss, Shot On Site)

<< Sighthound resume': In the past, Como was President of Garden State Sighthound Assn for the last ten years of her 20-year tenure, a member of the Borzoi Club of America, charter & past President of the Borzoi Club of Central NJ, charter member of the Int'l Borzoi Council, Board Member of the NJ Federation of Dog Clubs, member of the National Greyhound Assn, Secretary of the Society for the Perpetuation of Desert Bred Salukis, and a member of the American Saluki Assn. She is a current member of the Eastern Whippet Assn & the American Whippet Club.

<< Denise & her husband, Richard Whritenour, are ASFA and AKC lure coursing judges and inductees into the Lure Coursing Judges Association (Lockjaw). They were proud recipients of the 1996 ASFA’s Gary Forrester Award and are Region 8 Hall of Fame inductees. Their clubs, GSSA & EWA, co-hosted the 1993 ASFA International Invitational, the inaugural AKC Lure Coursing National in 1994 & the 2000 AKC Lure Coursing National - all in central NJ. (photo of AKC BIF winner Elise (c) Jan Butterworth)

<< Denise feels privileged to have judged at ASFA & AKC National lure coursing specialties for Afghan Hounds, Borzois, Greyhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, Italian Greyhounds, Pharaoh Hounds, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Salukis, Scottish Deerhounds and Whippets.

On July 4, 2006, Denise joined the American Sighthound Field Association as the ASFA Field Trial Scheduling Chairperson.

<< Denise & Richard moved from central New Jersey to central upstate New York in 2003. They bought a 90-acre farm with a 200-year-old 12-room farmhouse. Repairs are constant - but it has the world's greatest front porch. After tearing down old paddocks, barbed-wire fencing, an old poultry shed & a dead tree, they installed French drains, nearly 1,000 feet of chain link fencing and lots of grass seed - for the hounds, of course.

<< The farm is split by a quiet road with 15 acres and a trout stream on one side, and 75 acres on the house side. When it’s not snowing, a Kubota 4630 tractor with a front-end loader and a 6' Bush-hog Squealer is used to clear the old hay & corn fields and maintain the land for the sighthound performance events. The panoramic views from the fields allow one to enjoy the serenity of the beautiful farm-speckled countryside.

<< Currently in residence at Wolfhound Farm are a school of Whippets and the last Borzoi of Denise's own breeding. A gaggle of guinea fowl in various colors also resides on the farm -- the numbers of which change without notice. There is an endless variety of fascinating birds and wildlife around the property, which Denise tries to capture with her digital camera. She continues to write in several genres, including romantic fiction.

<< In 2006, Como & Whritenour hosted the first lure coursing field trials at the farm, then added amateur WRA & LGRA race meets in 2007. The new club is CLASS, the Central Leatherstocking Area Sighthound Society. The membership is comprised of the old guard of tried-and-true sighthound folks and young up-and-coming enthusiasts - the best of both worlds.

(logo art by Phil Dimor)

<< JOIN US! The Gazehounds of New England & the New England Rhodesian Ridgeback Club use the fields here at Wolfwind Farm for a spectacular Labor Day bash offering 3 days of ASFA & AKC events & an onsite pot-luck BBQ on Sunday evening. Camp on site, at a nearby KOA, or at KC's Restaurant & Motel, CR-30 & US-20 in E. Springfield NY. Click on www.gone.net or www.nerrc.org for premium lists & info.