Advice for a wannabe whippet owner please

[Girolle]

Hello. I've had lots of lovely people helping me on here as I agonise over breeds for our first family dog which I am looking to get in autumn next year ( hence LOTS of research).

I'm very drawn to whippets ( and mini schnauzers for what it's worth), so I would love to hear from whippet/pointy hound owners. By the time we hopefully get a much wanted family dog my children will be 12, 8 and almost 6. I am a SAHM so will have the time to devote to training etc.

Some of the questions I would love some input on are:

1. Could a whippet cope with a relatively noisy ( in a nice way) family? There are lots of comings and goings and visiting children etc. I would ensure that my family appreciates the need for the dog to be respected and especially their own space, but can they cope with the general Hurley burley of family life?
   
   
2. We have a lovely park and I saw a beautiful whippet the other day doing zoomies round another dog. How difficult is recall with a whippet and how much off leash time do you give?
   
   3)How easy are they to train and will they be up for some fun and games with the children or will they just want to sleep lots?
   
   4)How much do they shed? A friend's gorgeous lab visited recently and I could not believe the amount of hair after such a short period of time.
   
   
3. Is it true they are prone to car sickness?
   
   Where would I start. In an ideal world we would love a puppy to start from scratch with, but I know that rescues seem the way to go but the dogs there are often much older. It seems to be really hard to get a whippet.
   
   Enough blethering. If any of you lovely people could pass on any collective wisdom, I would hugely appreciate it. I was in Costa the other day and was fixated by a whippet I saw across the road. Beautiful. I just wanted to run across the road and accost the owners and interrogate them, so thought I would do it here instead!
   
   Huge thanks.

[CMOTDibbler]

I have a lurcher who is a rescue that we got at 6 months (and EGLR have a gorgeous whippet in atm if you look on their fb page)

For my pointy

1. Yes, he loves people and just trundles off to his crate if he's not happy
   
2. You might need to work harder on recall than with a lab, but ours is great after a lot of work. Most exercise for ours is off lead, though he goes running on the lead with me.
   
3. Not the fastest on the uptake, but loves to play and is happiest when playing ball with ds
   
4. Very little
   
5. Mines not

[CMOTDibbler]

Mr Bo

[Girolle]

Thanks CMOTdibbler. Mr Bo is absolutely adorable. Wish I could snap him up now.

[lilyfire]

We have a whippet. Children are 6,7 and 10. Loads of noise and people coming and going. He is absolutely fine with this and very tolerant of the children.
His recall is fairly good - lots and lots of work with treats. If he saw a squirrel or a cat though, he wouldn't come back.
He runs so fast that gets a lot of exercise in fairly short time if not much time for long walk. He's happy to walk for hours though.
He's very happy to play with children if anyone wants to. Sleeps if nothing going on, but not grumpy at being woken up. He's been fine to train for basics - but never going to win any super-intelligence prizes.
Doesn't shed much -thin coat.
Not car sick, except as a puppy.
He's basically a really lovely family pet. He farts and barks more than I thought he would, but not sure if that's a breed thing. He is also very focused on getting best place on sofa and bed, which I think is a breed thing.

[Misspilly88]

A bit OT but you mentioned mini schnauzers.... After having several breeds of dog we have a mini schnauzer now and I cannot recommend them enough. Sounds like it would fit perfectly into your family life. Plus, they hardly shed their hair which is a huge bonus. Pm me if you want any more info!
But I share the love for whippets, they just wouldn't fit our lifestyle being all chasey-chasey!

[OnaPromise]

I have a whippet cross pup and a greyhound and a close friend who has whippets. Both mine are rescues.

Busy households with kids, no problem but look for a confident well socialised dog obviously. My whippy cross pup is extremely confident and loves my dd.

Recall, hmm, our greyhound has none but we got him as an adult. My friend whippet has recall although she had issues with him running off when a teenager. Just needs some work.

None of them are car sick.

My pup seems quite bright and easy to train although this may be the non sighthound side! Having said that my grey is easy to train apart from the recall when other dogs around.

They don't shed that much.

[Gooner123]

I've got a beddy whippet,brushed regular doesn't shed much,recall is good,we went to classes for 14 mths,was well worth it,but if there is a small furry to chase he will be off,so choose where to walk him with this in mind.I like whippets but find them a little too fragile,but mixed with a bedlington you get a very hardy dog.
Sleep does take up a lot of his time,but he will play & is very social,with people & other dogs,they are real cuddle monsters,& like there comfort,& will soon take over your sofa & bed if you let them.
Two 1hr off lead walks a day is plenty.

[EasterBunnyFuntStoleAllTheEggs]

My friend had a whippet, she sadly lost her recently to IBS. My DD is almost 3 and her and the whippet were best friends. The whippet would listen to DD, she'd sit when told to and if she ever tried to snatch a biscuit from DD's hand, DD would go 'Ah ah!' Whip her hand away, wait until whippy was sat nicely and then hand over the biscuit :) whippy was a fantastic dog who absolutely adored children, I would really recommend them.

1- Yes, this whippet would've slotted straight into a home with children (her owners are OAP's with no children at home).

2- She had good recall unless she saw something interesting. But I do know of a poster on here with a whippet, who (the last I heard) has fantastic recall, the poster does tend to have a pocket full of raw heart or something similar though.

3- She was fairly easy to train, knew the basics (sit, stay, down etc) she also knew speak.

4- She didn't shed much at all that I ever noticed. Whenever she visited our house I never saw any of her hairs.

5- Yes, she was carsick. But only in someone else's car that wasn't the one she usually travelled in.

Hope this helps :)

[basildonbond]

One of dpup's best friends is a whippet/bedlington cross - she's 3/4 whippet and 1/4 bedlington so looks just like a whippet only a bit sturdier

She's v playful with dpup and v sociable with people - she's not the brightest dog on the planet though and v easily distracted. Doesn't shed much and isn't generally carsick

[Girolle]

Thanks for the really helpful posts. Really appreciate it!