Another whippet question!

[chipped]

You have all been so kind and helpful so far

Does any know how they are (generally speaking), I guess how they tend to be, with horses? Either hanging round the yard or following a rider so alone on the ground?

Mine is scared of horses. My Dad's chases them given half a chance.

It would very much depend upon the individual dog.

If you're thinking of a rescue, just let them know you'd prefer one who would be good with horses.

Thank you. Possibly a puppy would be a better bet as we need it to be good with horses, cats and children!

Don't much fancy my chances of a rescue centre having one they deem suitable. Sounds like a puppy would be better anyway going by your experiences.

Whippets are not generally used for working as much as greyhounds and are mainly kept in houses, not kennels, so I wouldn't rule out a rescue.

Try Scruples Whippet Rescue

I wouldn't fancy having a whippy out with horses, I don't see how you could concentrate properly on the dog. If it was to see a rabbit and go, it could have disapeared before you even noticed and you wouldn't know where it had gone.

My whippy has excellent recall, but I need to keep a constant eye on him anywhere where there might be prey.

With all dogs there are no guarentees, even and sometimes especially with a puppy. I was speaking to someone at the weekend who's two whippys have lived happily with her cat for 3 and 6 years respectively, last week she came home from shopping and they had killed it .

Goodness, after all my that, that last post may have completely changed my mind! I've often ridden with my dogs, I find because you're constantly moving, often fast, they are occupied with staying with you, not hunting. Maybe a whippet would be different though.

The cat thing would be a deal breaker though. We're your friend's dogs hers from puppy hood and did they know the cat since then?

I grew up on a farm with horses/ponies and we had two whippets and a luncher (the accidental progeny of my sister's whippet and my father's sheepdog). They would regularly come riding with us and I can't remember any of them ever getting lost or being trodden on by a horse. I don't think we kept much of an eye on them tbh, it was up to the whippets to keep track of us. They used to dash off after rabbits and squirrels but they'd always come and find us after the chase had ended. We were very lucky in that we never had to ride on roads and I'm not sure we would have trusted them to keep to heel if we had needed to (they don't tend to be especially obedient). They particularly adored gallops with us.
They would always hang around the stables with us, so no problem there either.
We had a couple of farm cats and I don't remember any problems with them -indeed we have photos of my whippet sharing his food with one of the cats and them curled up together in a basket. I don't suppose they regularly met any other cats.
My mother had another whippet years later and that one was a terrible cat-hater/chaser - I'm sure she would have had a go at killing a cat had she ever caught one.
My stepsister has a lurcher (the great grandson of the whippet/sheepdog lurcher mentioned above) who didn't grow up with cats. She got a kitten about six months ago and her lurcher is very loving and protective of "his" cat, but will still chase my father's farm cat given half a chance.
My experience tends to be that they are OK with family cats but not to be3trusted with others...