Whippets

[jgm]

So after a lot of research we have decided to get a whippet after our summer holiday. I'm feeling very excited and broody while we wait, so would love to hear about your whippets / sighthounds as it seems there are quite a few owners on here!

I've got three whippets, know loads more and they truly are the best dogs ever

Mine are currently all fast asleep on the sofa despite the fact they've not been for a walk yet today (I'm looking after the youngest who has just been castrated and DH is still working), one of them is snoring very quietly. We're just about getting back to normality now the youngest is approaching 18 months old and this is bliss!!

If you're on FB I can heartily recommend joining the Whippet Appreciation Society to get a good whippet fix.

Also just going to leave this here as it makes me laugh

Easily the best dogs ever. Ours is fawn and looks like Cleopatra, with her black eyeliner. Soooooo unbelievably cuddly; she spends every night under DS2's duvet.

No hair shedding/trimming, no massive muddy paws, no slobbery jowls, no doggy smell. They spend most of their days curled up on the sofa. They can outrun anything - what's not to like?

Ok, they do steal food!

I'm jealous of your new additio!

Agree with futures post. My brother has whippet and she's a fab family pet apart from the constant stealing of food.

I have lurchers - ddog is possibly greyhound x saluki (ish) and dpuppy is possibly whippet x doberman. Both are rescue, though dpuppy was born in rescue so we know his mum is whippety. ddog is white and fawn with melting brown eyes and black eyeliner, dpuppy is blueygrey and fawn.

I loves them, and they are the softest things ever. Currently both are upside down asleep after going out running with me.

Food stealing is an issue for us so we have a baby gate on the kitchen. They are fine with the cats, and recall so love to run at high speed. Ddog only does straight lines or big circles, dpuppy can turn on a sixpence at high speed which is amazing.

Aw thanks all, they all sound so lovely :-) I'm loving that a constant theme is their laziness and lack of smell/easy to clean as that's what attracted me to them in the first place!

SmartAlec - I am indeed a member of WAS on Facebook, its a fab group :-)
FuturePerfect - I have a soft spot for the fawn ones!
CMOT - I'm glad to hear that yours are good with cats as we have two, and I've also read that recall can be hit and miss so we plan on doing lots of work on that.
Susie - Food stealing is something we are resigned to, although with two cheeky cats we already have to be careful not to leave food out on the counters etc.

I have to say I'm a bit scared of the crazy puppy stage, if it were just up to me I think I'd go for an older dog but I'm losing that battle with the rest of the family!

Some rescues get a fair number of puppies in at the 6 month mark, or just under a year, so its worth thinking about that.

Ddog came into rescue at 6 months when it was apparent to the people he was with that he would never run after anything, and it was great - young enough to train easily, the worst of house training was done, but the totally puppy stage had gone.

Dpuppy was hard work, I have to say. He's fine now at 10 months but I was very glad of our wipeable hard floors.

I really want a whippet. DH doesn't like them, thinks they are too bony. My best friend has one, he's gorgeous!

I may have sold him on a whippet cross though - currently obsessed with whippet staffy crosses, it's a bulkier whippet with a grin!

Most whippet crosses aren't so delicate looking - dpuppy is pretty solid. EGLR have some gorgeous whippetish puppies in atm

A few months ago we rehomed a pair of 5 year old whippets. They're great. They arrived house trained, crate trained, ok on the lead and don't go upstairs (much!)

Pros
Calm and clean in the house and garden (prefer to poo and pee on walks)
Non destructive
Affectionate
Cheerfully biddable (except when they see a moving cat, see below)
Love a chase and a play but then happy to sleep
Athletic, love to run and jump over puddles and streams like show horses
Will walk for miles or do 20 minute dash around block (we tend to do one quick walk on lead and one off lead over fields/woodland)

Cons
Small furries, especially cats and squirrels (fine with small dogs, even a Pomeranian, jumping and snarling at them) so have to be on lead anywhere near cats as their recall evaporates
Like to play chase with body slamming with other dogs and can interpret bouncy young labs who run and jump up as wanting to chase which can surprise dog and the "he's just being friendly" owner (we do recall them)
They have sensitive tummies and can be sensitive to teenage tantrums and too many treats

I don't know about whippet puppies though! I watched a short clip on fb of our girl whippet playing with her mum as an 8 wk old and it was lovely to see.

We've had our whippet from a pup, he's 10 months now

Pros
Very sweet temperament
Sleeps a lot
Does not steal food thankfully as he lives in the kitchen and I spend a lot of time cooking.
No smell, no slobber, no hairs, even after a muddy walk, he's close to spotless, all the other breeds need a bath or wash down daily and no barking
Eyes to melt your heart
Happy to go for an off lead run or a pavement walk.
Confident with both noises and other dogs and I know I worked hard at socialising but that still surprised me.

Cons
Can be very aloof - like a cat, wants us to be in sight but often at least a good few feet away, kids get upset sometimes with his lack of affection.
Was very hard to train through the puppy months - very easily distracted, recall from other dogs was close to impossible, thankfully they are now starting to bore him and we have finally got him off lead - think this is an age thing too, ...puppy stage was horrible, none of us would go through it again.
Doesn't steal food - isn't food focused making training very challenging.

We've always loved him but we've only recently started to really enjoy having him.

That's interesting Sconess. One of my DC really wanted a cat and now says the whippets are pretty catlike.

DD's boyfriend, a farmer, said they were a bit dim when he met them. He has 2 collie sheepdogs and they literally walk at each ankle waiting for the next command and are desperate to please.
He now says you can see that sigh hounds were bred to work WITH the hunters rather than FOR them and they are more independent minded.
Ours don't run far away in the woods, have us in sight and if we are walking in a big group of people and dogs like to be able to see us and run back and forth.

They love a cuddle though. Here they are sharing a sofa with DCs

Our whippet isn't comfortable running out of sight either - he used to be but now, especially with the dcs, he likes to keep everyone together, will barely acknowledge another dog while with the dcs.

The other thing I meant to mention in the pros - effortless toilet training - don't know if it's a breed thing but Dpup barely needed any encouragement to be clean.

OMG Chillycamper - so cute! When people say they steal food, does that mean they will snatch food out of hands, or more that they will pinch unattended food?

I think my husband's thinking is that if we get a puppy it is more likely to accept our cats as it will grow up with them?

Thanks again to everyone who has replied :-)

Unattended food is what is at risk here. Though tbh its at risk from the cats as well.

Possibly most puppies could be taught to leave cats alone (or at least their own cats), but rescues always cat test the dogs to see how they feel. Ddog was in a foster home who had 15 cats and you could see he had no interest. Actually he is well under the paw of evilgingercat who has been known to sleep on top of ddog.

In this house we very quickly learned not to leave any food (or drink for that matter, DWhippet2 is a demon for stealing cups of tea) unattended anywhere the whippets have access to.

DWhippet1 will even get up onto the kitchen worktop if he thinks there's food worth snaffling up there

We had ours from a puppy, he is now just over 5 months. We also have a cat who bosses him around. He is a complete joy, very good with the kids, will take as much walking or as little walking that you can give and without fail every night will just cuddle on the settee. here he is at the moment in his bed in front of radiator...

Oh hello, another whippet-eer signing in. I would say it's a good thing you are getting a pup used to being with cats. There is no way my whip could live with a cat now, having not been raised with one (we do have guinea pigs, but he hasn't cottoned on to them yet. Bit dim).

Enjoy your pup - they can be whiny and suffer with separation anxiety. Mine did. But he is completely silent now - never barks (so not great guard dogs. Basically they think everyone is a friend and it's all about them...)

Oh, and when I got my whippet I said, 'first rule - no dogs on the sofa.' Pa ha ha.

This is a fab thread. We're picking up our whippet puppy in a few weeks and I feel very reassured we've made the right choice for our family.

I'm glad to hear from so many owners, they seem a bit of a rarity around here (despite living in yorkshire)! TwistAndShout I'd love to hear how you get on!

I have no issues with them going on the sofa / bed, when we first started researching breeds I decided I wanted a lapdog (although I didn't picture quite such a pointy one)! I have heard they are addictive though and not many people seem to have just the one!

Is there any truth in the claim that male whippets are more affectionate than females?

Our experience was similar to that of a pp. The puppy phase was, on the whole, a nightmare; I chose this username when at my wits' end with the non-stop chewing, stealing and general charging around the house. Training didn't come easily - we managed 3 weeks of our first puppy class before the trainer suggested perhaps it might be better if we didn't come back!

On the up side, our boy was very quick and easy to house train and he has always been a happy, affectionate and comical soul. We found a class that suited us better, held outdoors. He is now 14 months and much calmer - it is a pleasure taking him out now and he always gets lots of compliments. I think that now I can see the dog he is going to be, and I wouldn't be without him.

I suppose I am just saying that not all whippet puppies are the kind of meek little dudes that you barely know are there. However, as with all dogs, if you are prepared to make a bit of an effort it is repaid a thousand times.

All our boys, and all the other whippet puppies I've known, have been monstrous little things. Every time we get one we both say never again.....

jgm I've not found there to be a huge difference between dogs and bitches. We've only got boys but my friend (who shows and breeds them) has multiple girls and they're just as lovely and cuddly. I know a few other owners/breeders through showing and there's no clear division between the two.

Whereabouts in Yorkshire are you? I'm in Yorkshire as well () and although we rarely see whippets out and about I know loads of whippet owners through a ringcraft class I go to sometimes. It's true about them being addictive. We've got three, my breeder friend has five, someone else who lives locally has five and I even know someone who has got a crazy number like twelve or something

SmartAlec we are in Sheffield! If you're nearby and know of any good places to let them off the lead let me know!

CrazyPuppy your user name and description of your puppy is kind of what I am fearing lol!

Dafty dog is a whippet cross with a corgi
Doesn't do rain wind darkness puddles
Vergo dog will sit next to me when I am on the loo
Very loyal and loveable
When off the lead she does laps around us and always keeps a eye on us