Talk to me about whippet puppies 😁

[Didiplanthis]

I am picking our new whippet puppy up on Monday ! I have only had gundogs before.. tell my what I have in store - the good and the bad !!

Hello
I have had two whippets.
I now have a lucher and a GSD X.
So, erm... Whippets are very endearing. Thick as a plank, can be food robbers, untrainable mostly, unless you get the brainbox of the litter, will not ever come back if you have people watching you, after a few months you will realise that their brain is peanut sized hence the quizzical look when you ask them to sit. Mine were not arsed to make any connection between food and behaviour.

They need an operating temperateure of 22 degrees. Need a blanket in every room. Will chase all small things - cats etc. You will find your vocabulary increases, sometimes in a way you had not thought about... You will meet other whippet owners and pass knowing, harried glances at each other in the park.

Hmmm. anything else??? They don't shed. Are cute. Need a very short speedy run before returing to sleep for 16 hours.
My last one got into so many mental/ 'can't believe he did that'accidents* that our vet called him his pension plan, he lived to 16 and I would say the pet insurance guys cheered on his demise.

There you go!

*stuck a beech mast into his toes that was not found until we paid hundreds of euros for a gait analysis, impaled himself in the stomach with a branch, fell through a window, fell off a quarry ledge, hung himself upside down off a five bar gate etc etc. You get the picture... Best of luck!

My German Shepherd however was taught to sit in less than an hour and politely waits at the door until you are safely out or in first....

You'll want to secure everything to a height of, ooh, 6 ft maybe? The evenings are a bit wall of death zoomies.
I don't know how much your previous puppies slept, but sighthound puppies sleep a lot, have short bursts of 'floor is lava' high speed fun and then go back to sleep again.
They are naturally much thinner looking than a lab, thats OK, seeing their last two ribs is normal.
The puppy scream of death is amazing. You think you've taken a leg off at least when actually your slipper brushed the foot hair. Or in the case of my current little friend, someone looked at them funny.
My current foster is very whippety, and I always forget how hilarious they are when they are learning to control their legs as whippets can do a full 180' turn in full run (wheras greyhounds are more like supertankers in the stopping and turning department).
Do you know about using wide collars (I prefer martingales) and never extending leads as they can reach top speed in 6 strides, and even from a standing start their rear power can have you over

@Colin56

Hello I have had two whippets. I now have a lucher and a GSD X. So, erm... Whippets are very endearing. Thick as a plank, can be food robbers, untrainable mostly, unless you get the brainbox of the litter, will not ever come back if you have people watching you, after a few months you will realise that their brain is peanut sized hence the quizzical look when you ask them to sit. Mine were not arsed to make any connection between food and behaviour.

They need an operating temperateure of 22 degrees. Need a blanket in every room. Will chase all small things - cats etc. You will find your vocabulary increases, sometimes in a way you had not thought about... You will meet other whippet owners and pass knowing, harried glances at each other in the park.

Hmmm. anything else??? They don't shed. Are cute. Need a very short speedy run before returing to sleep for 16 hours.
My last one got into so many mental/ 'can't believe he did that'accidents* that our vet called him his pension plan, he lived to 16 and I would say the pet insurance guys cheered on his demise.

There you go!

*stuck a beech mast into his toes that was not found until we paid hundreds of euros for a gait analysis, impaled himself in the stomach with a branch, fell through a window, fell off a quarry ledge, hung himself upside down off a five bar gate etc etc. You get the picture... Best of luck!

All accurate. You failed to mention the Velcro aspect. You'll basically have an extension of yourself like a newborn baby sees themselves for a very long time (my friends whippet lived til 21 and her other nearly 19 - at least the dc go to school, college or uni and leave home in that time 😆)

Oh and food that is wrapped or behind closed doors or wrapped aren't even safe. They can open said doors and swallow whole huge blocks of cheese leaving the wrap neatly on the side in seconds (experience talking here)

@CMOTDibbler How I laughed, our dogs must be related.
I indeed forgot about the wall of death.. mine got sent home (mortification) from dog minder whilst on holiday for clearing 6ft in one go to visit local lamas.
I also forgot about that moment in evening sun when the sunlight streams through their earrs and legs from behind and they are weirdly bloodily see thru....
Of course I forgot to mention the 'day I fell down behnd the greenhouse and they had to use a jcb and ropes to lift me out carefully as I might break the glass and die'....
My wife said she would leave me if I got another (threat/ hope - who knows?) Sometimes I see people with whippet puppies and want to give them a hug and shake their hand for the change to their reality that will happen.
Floor is lava - also seen that....
Is it a deer? someone asked me once (WTAF????)

Aw they are so lovely. Mine is five now. He’s so lovely we all dote on him.

I bought a puppy pen and he took less than two weeks to jump over because of course whippet puppies are kangaroos!

NEVER use an expandable road with a whippet. Their acceleration is is so fast they will have reached escape velocity by the time the get to the end of the lead and you can be pulled over, break arms or get your fingers skinned to the bone. A short leash however will be fine; they are only small so they won’t pull you over from close quarters.

You need a webmaster harness. No other harness will stay on a whippet.

As soon as it’s vaccinated take it to the park and let it off. If you do it while they are still scared and want to come back to you you have a chance at recall. In the US they hardly let whippets off lead as they believe they won’t come back. Mine is fine.

If you have cats when your whippet is a puppy it will be fine. Don’t be afraid to let the cat swipe the puppy and claim Top Cat position.

If you don’t have a cat when whippets is a puppy it will want to chase and depending on the dog may not be safe. Ditto tiny dogs. Mine wouldn’t hurt a fly though.

They are ace. Don’t bark, you can pick them up, they fold up small and don’t moult much. They don’t smell either. What’s not to like?

@liveforsummer Yep. They live forever...our current lurcher is mostly whippet and I fear I will be pension age before she goes..(I'm 48!)

Oh and also I found out that at 27mph they run faster than Usain Bolt. Don’t even bother to try and catch one. This is why you must make it want to come back to you.

Best of luck OP!
MIL’s whippet was everything written so far, as thick as sh1t (ran into barbed wire fences/ sheep fencing/ anyone standing still’s legs etc) and completely deaf to recall for the whole of its life. Furries of any species were fair game and heaven help you if it sighted a rabbit/ hare/ deer/ squirrel/ cat because chances of seeing it for the next 2 hours were zero.
Luckily MIL loved it, it was the bane of my life!

My first one was so deaf to recall she ran up the side of a roof after a cat, got to the top ridge and fell off.
Cant wait for the OP to re-visit this thread

On the cat thing, it really does depend on the dog and what they learn. One of my cats marched in and sat on the puppy earlier and she didn't turn an ear.
With all my pups (and I'm somewhere around the 60 lurcher puppy mark) they start recall from the first day with me. In the garden (everytime they go out is a recall opportunity) at first, then in a secure field. They all go off lead, inc those who didn't get any training till 6 months plus, its all about the work you put into it

Sounds fun ! I have 2 cats. One is permanently at the vets as he is soo accident prone and stupid so I am used to that.. he chased a squirrel up a roof ridge and fell off and smashed his teeth jumping at bird the wrong side if a window. Noted about extending leads !

Ds1 and his fiancée have a whippet - she is absolutely gorgeous, and a real sweetheart, but I was nodding in recognition at pretty much everything said here.

She is definitely the third person in ds’s relationship - in her eyes, he is hers, and she sits on his lap, looking at his fiancée, with a look that clearly says ‘mine’! She sleeps at his feet in his office all day (he’s wfh), and has been popular when she joins in on zoom meetings. Ds1’s fiancée is not allowed any blankets of her own either - every new blanket is annexed immediately by Maisy.

They came to stay with the whippet and their second dog - a rescue greyhound, and as we have two dogs (an elderly brown lab, and a rescue pointer cross), so it was a fairly chaotic weekend - but fun.

So many people look at me shocked when I tell them my whippet isn’t very smart. It’s true though and I need to know this to try and keep him out of trouble.

Good thing he’s stunning and the biggest sop ever. I really do love him.

I have a 7 month old whippet, he is gorgeous, affectionate, doesn't smell, hardly malts, doesn't really bark, loves his sleep and I wouldn't be without him but absolutely yes to everything that has been said . Mine also suffers with separation anxiety which we are just working on.

Our 6 month old whippet has fantastic recall, the best of the 5 whippets I have owned.

She will sit on command and won't touch her food till I tell her to.

She sleeps in a crate at night, that has been hard work training her and we still have a whimper at night just to see if we will come and save her.

She can reach the counter now and had my sandwich yesterday...and a few biscuits out the packet. Fucker!!!!!

We are getting a pup in December as we think it will be nice company for her.

Please post some gorgeous pictures for the rest of us to drool over.

Don't have a whippet but have 2 whippet cross lurchers. Previously had a lab/collie and spaniels when I was growing up.

Second everything PP have said but I now absolutely ADORE sighthounds. They are the maddest, funniest, most loving dogs. I nearly started a post yesterday about how much I love them - I was folding washing, sitting on the floor and they were climbing in my lap and snuggling me - gorgeous dogs.

Mine will happily walk as much as you like but equally happy with a 10 minute blast and then go back to sleep.

Both mine are terrible food stealers so have to be super cautious about anything that is bad for them being accessible (and everything is accessible) That said, my previous lab/collie once ate a whole chicken carcass from the bin!

Mine is just over 5 months old and he’s my first whippet.

He was easy to toilet train and will sit, lie down and give paws for treats. He is very driven by good treats.

He was walking off the lead at 3 months (although never near roads!) and his recall is great unless there are other dogs around in which case he refuses to leave the playtime fun about half the time.

He doesn’t bark and is really laid back about most things in the house like the hoover, doorbell. No shedding either and easy to clean after walks as it’s mostly washing paws and legs in the bath but the rest is clean and off the ground.

Mine is a very fussy eater and although he loves treats, dinner time needs to become a game to make him eat.

He is daft and hilarious and super cuddly. There’s always a head or a paw in my lap and he sleeps in bed with us (don’t judge).

He is an absolute food thief and has learned how to open the bin. He was a piranha when we got him and the biting and chewing was super frustrating but that quickly settled down with training. Expects cuts, bruises and ruined belongings unless you hide them.

Buy loads of blankets and get really interesting treats for recall training like chicken, fish etc.

Also with winter coming buy lots of jumpers as they’ll get cold. They grow so fast so 2nd hand might be best to start with.

My baby

@Outbutnotoutout precious little creature ❤️

😍

❤

Gorgeous outbutnotoutout