We are fostering a whippet x at the moment with a view to adopting him. He is really lovely and the reason we looked into a whippet/ greyhound type dog is that we knew they didn't need tons of exercise and they could be left as we both work. He's not usually left for more than 3 hours without a dog walker and he seems fine. I'm working from home today and was interested in what he did all day. He has literally laid on the sofa! I gave him his Kong which he played with for a bit until it got too difficult to get the bits at the end, he ran around the garden for about 5 seconds then had a lie down, I threw him a frizbee and a ball but he just looked at me! Should I do something else? I got him a big bone from the butcher, a string of sausages to chew, a soft scrunchy toy to squeak,none of which he bothers with! He has a long morning and afternoon walk and is forced out for a quick loo walk in the evening.
I used to have a grey who would literally sleep or lie down watching us between walks. She would sometimes play with a cuddly toy (well, carry it around) and very occasionally run around the garden like a loon. But generally had lazyitis!
Oh good. My MiL has a 10 year old whippet who is quite lazy, but hes 18 months! I dont mind, as I'm just going to be working all day, but I felt a bit guilty that he's just lying about!
I have two lurchers, and foster lurcher puppies, and that is totally normal for sighthounds over 1. Puppies literally bounce off the walls at times, but after that they like to be around you, but spend most of the time when in the house sleeping. Usually upside down tbh, though when sunny mine shout for me to drag their beds out on the deck so they can bake happily.
oh wow sounds like the dog for me...we've been thinking about dogs for ages but have been worried about the walking commitmnet.. whats the downsides of lurchers/whippet then ? we live in city so have v small garden but right next to great parks and canals
I've got whippets and that all sounds pretty normal. Mine haven't been out yet and they're all currently fast asleep in varying states of upside down-ness
They are essentially sprinters and although mine do enjoy longer walks they seem to find shorter bursts of very explosive exercise the most satisfying. I use a flirt pole with mine regularly and they absolutely love it, I would definitely recommend trying one if you want to get him playing a bit more. As well as being great fun for the dog they're a fantastic tool for working on impulse control and are also a great outlet for prey driven dogs.
Mine also enjoy training sessions (as long as they're fairly short and suitably rewarding), particularly if they involve body awareness exercises. This FB group is great for those.
Mine do love to be out and about though, we go running, mountain biking etc together and they love running after a squeaky ball. Ds likes to play cricket with them using a tennis ball
I'll leave him to it then He's livened up now the kids are home, but a quick play and a prowl round the dinner table and he's back on the sofa! I'll look up the flirt pole.
averythinline He has 1 walk in the morning for about half an hour, a shorter one, about 15 minutes in the afternoon and that enough for him really. My DH literally has to carry him out the door in the evening to let him do his business before bed and he's back in about 5 minutes because he's done it as quick as possible and turned to come home again! He is beautiful, as is mil's so so far, can't think of any downsides! Some more experienced whippet /greyhound owners may know more. He's always on a lead because he can run off so fast but we haven't been able to do recall training yet. That's about it!
How long has he been with you? His mischievous personality may well start to show itself in time. Our greyhound took 6 months or so to fully get his feet under the table, but then the world was his oyster.
Ours is slightly more active - sleeps most of the day but has a busy half hour at around 2pm, when she carries all the shoes out into the garden. She's part Saluki though, so not playing with a full deck.
Oh we've only had him 3 weeks. He had come out off his shell that time. The rescue think he's never been given a chew it toys so he's not sure what they are
She loves a good walk in the morning, then sleeps for hours.
She's funny in that she likes to be in the same room as me, but can be left for 4hrs easily.
I occasionally chat to her/sing to her(i was not aware I did this until DS filmed it ) /stroke her and sometimes she does this thing where she looks into my eyes and winks at me.
It's all very harmonious. She also cured my nephew of dog phobia (by ignoring him )
Best dogs, in my book. And a deep bond slowly grows, she will learn to read your moods and interact a bit more with you over time.
I even trained mine to retrieve tennis balls (not very lurcher-like), so playfulness can develop over time
I have a collie, a breed people associate with exercise but he sleeps for England, I think most dogs do past the puppy stage. They sleep if there's nothing more interesting happening basically
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