I am thinking about homing a new dog ( just thinking !) and I need a small dog that will fit into our doggy family without rocking the boat. Between our two households ( my daughter main house and me annex) we have 3 elderly boxers ( 1 female and 2 males) and a male Patterdale ( my daughters ) and an elderly cocker spaniel and a female Patterdale. ( mine) Forget what you have heard about Patterdales, these are very friendly little dogs with no aggro whatsoever.
I think adding another terrier could be a disaster as our two Patts are joined at the hip and best buddies, but I have been searching breeds for some time and have ended up with the breed Whippet in my mind, as they seem couch potatoes, laid back and friendly little things.
I am happy to take a rescue as I don't want a puppy, and would be glad to hear from any of you Whippet owners out there the pro's and cons of this breed.
I am going away the last week of April so will looking after this date for our new addition. I live East Anglia area, do you know of any whippet rescues in that area.
Any advice would be great before I do something I may regret as whatever happens this will be a forever home, so I have to make the right choice in the first place.
( I know they will chase small furries etc but so do Patts, so we are used to that, our private field and the woods are securely fenced, again for the Patts so this is all sorted )

Hi, cant help a huge deal as I dont own a whippet but friends of ours do and he is definitely not a couch potato but a very highly strung sensitive chap who will leap from one end of the lounge to the other and up and down on the furniture like hes getting attacked simply because the telephone has rung or someone has walked past the house! I dont know if this is common or if hes one of the minority but would recommend you perhaps meet some whippets before you decide they are the dog for you.

I came here asking for advice on greyhounds or lurchers when we were looking for a new addition and several warned me off them, saying they are too big and boisterous for a young child (my daughters 2) and another small dog ( I have a poodle) but the lurcher we ended up with has fitted in with our home perfectly. He also takes no notice of our two guinea pigs despite people telling me lurchers are bred to chase small furries. The point I am making is it depends on tue individual dog.

I dont know of any rescues near you but we went throguh the blue cross for our dog and they were amazing!! Very thorough, well knowledgable and very helpful. Literally couldnt fault them.

Freds Mum I would think your friends dog is quite unusual, most whippets love to sleep in the house, usually they find the warmest, comfiest spot and never move from it. They do love to zoom outside but once they've done that they will amble along beside you.

Like most hounds whippets tend to get on well with all other dogs, they are very tolerant and love to cuddle, either with human or canine friends :-)

They can be keen hunters but it sounds like you have the perfect setup for that :-)

If you fancy a hairy version then silken windhounds have the same characteristics.

Ive lived with whippets for a long time, they are sensitive..in they dont respond to shouting,they take everything personally,so if you shout at your other dogs a whippet will assume its meant for them.

They love to be on the sofas and warm and snuggly under blankets, they will feel the cold if your heating goes off at night

They dont generally enjoy being out in the garden if its cold and wet....ie  you let them out for a wee and within 2 seconds theyre at the door wanting to come back in

They are good with other dogs in general , especially their own pack and are very loving

The key to an easy ,happy whippet is simple....exercise every day without fail ( mentally aswell as physically they need a proper walk off the property and not just let in the garden, they wont exercise themselves in the garden)
A free run every day...included in the walk

Never off lead near roads, they are so quick

Warmth and company , good food and you will have a contented laid back whippet.

There are of course exceptions to the norm in all breeds

We have two main rescue groups

JR Whippet Rescue
Scruples whippet rescue

Plus some of the Greyhound and Lurcher rescues are brilliant at helping Whippets too...so worth a look on their sites

Jan

 

> they need a proper walk off the property

I guess this wasn't aimed at the OP, they have a private field and woods, securely fenced - sounds perfect for whippet exercise, with owner accompaniment and entertainment of course. I know many whippets owners with such a setup and the dogs are very content with it. Of course also walks off property for socialisation, but that doesn't need to be every day :-)

No it wasnt meant that way.....just trying to get accross the fact that where some breeds will play or charge round the garden for excercise whippets will in general be bored stiff with that, unless it has a daily supply of squirrels to chase, even if put outside in a gang like mine they will soon be standing at the door wanting to come back in

A private field and woods would be my dream ....and im sure any whippets too LOL

My daughter´s whippet is now living with me (for a year or so only).  He feels the cold dreadfully so needs pyjamas on winter nights and 2 coats for his beach walks in the winter mornings.  He gets on well with my papillon and 4 cats BUT he does have a tendency to bully certain dogs that he meets out on his walks.  He obviously senses which ones will allow themselves to be bullied because he´s only like it with some dogs.  The rest of the time he spends sleeping on the sofa or bed - or trying to raid the bins and cat litter trays.  As a young dog he ran - and ran, and ran and ran.  Fortunately he ran in massive great circles rather than straight so we could always see him.  Now he just has a little sprint to beat the papillon to the ball when i throw it and then he just chomps on said ball.  His recall is good but I would never, ever risk letting him off lead where he could get to a road (just incase).  In bad weather he has to be absolutley forced outside to do the necessary.  He´s not vocal indoors and my daughter finds him the perfect dog for her.  He´s a very loving dog.

Thanks all,
I think the Whippet sounds perfect. I have done quite a bit of internet research and have found both the rescue sites mentioned (JR Whippet Rescue / Scruples whippet rescue) I am also stopping and talking to local whippet owners to get an idea of the type of characteristics likely.
The only problem I can see is sharing my bed with the whippet as well as my Patt. My patt spreads out under the quilt over most of my 4.6 bed ( she has 4ft and I have the .6 ! ) so they will have to share nicely as I don't mind sharing, but refuse to sleep on the floor while the dogs have the comfort of my bed.
Our field is very large with a duck pond with an island in the middle in one corner ( wild ducks to bark at ) woods rather like watership down with rabbit holes everywhere and horses, goats, sheep and chickens in the paddocks -  also to bark at , but they are securely fenced, they have to be with the Patts, it is the chickens that are in the most danger but they make no attempt to go into the dog field so they just strut around confident the dogs cannot reach them.
I hope Whippets don't swim as there are ducklings on the island in the spring.
I will carry on learning until I get back the end of April and then will contact both rescue sites to see what is available. In the meantime if you learn of any whippet needing TLC then I have plenty of that, (ideally on the small size rather the the large, thinking of room in the car when we go for beach walks at the weekend) please think of me

I grew up with whippets and have a big soft spot for them! They were such clowns, really big characters. They used to jump all four feet on the worktop to steal. They slept under the duvet in my parents' bed. And whippet zoomies are quite a funny sight! Whenever I see them now I have to touch them. :D

They sound perfect for you, good luck :)

I have one whippet that swims. Learned from the terriers, and is very happy to jump into the sea, even in the winter. The other one will "dance" around the waves when they hit the sand, as he just hates getting his paws wet.

They used to jump all four feet on the worktop to steal.

Thats a thought - how high can they jump as our fencing is 6ft which is enough for the terriers ( the boxers are too old to jump like that now ) and only 4.6ft into the paddocks. If they could jump over that we may have to add height to the paddock fencing before getting a whippet. ( I thought all about the fast running and chasing, but not about how high they can jump - silly me)

Well we had 6ft fencing and they never jumped it. Don't think they tend to stray, if it's solid fence I doubt they'd try at that height. Maybe if they saw something interesting to chase the other side they'd give it a go! 4ft fencing... not sure about that one. I think they'd be more likely to try to go through a gap rather than jump. But ours weren't terribly interested in escaping, rather be in bed :) I found they were very straight forward and easy to predict types to be honest.

> .....just trying to get accross the fact that where some breeds will play or charge round the garden for exercise whippets will in general be bored stiff with that, unless it has a daily supply of squirrels to chase, even if put outside in a gang like mine they will soon be standing at the door wanting to come back in
>

My breed are pretty much the same, they youngsters will romp a bit, but adults will just toilet and want back in, and use garden to lie about, not self exercising at all, need to be taken out.

> A private field and woods would be my dream ....and im sure any whippets too LOL

That would be my heaven for the Elkhounds too, especially if bunnies squirrels etc visit.

A whippet and a Patterdale are likely to give you a good Rabbit hunting team, look forward to lots of Rabbit pie.

We have a 3.5 ft fence separating 2 pieces of our garden which can be jumped by at least 2 of our Whippies(when they see the bloomin squirrels!!). I always strongly recommend a 6ft fence. We did have a bitch scale a 7ftplus chain link run once..not good as she was in season at the time!! At least she remained on our property & was only momentarily free...thank god!!!

We had whippets for years and I loved them to bits. Our boys were like chalk and cheese in temperament but both were great with other dogs, loved to snuggle up and hated the cold and wet. Ours lived with boxers and they all loved a good run together. My old boy who we sadly lost at the end of last year was a schoolmaster to all our boxers and taught them manners and calm. He set the standard for the dogs I own today. Brilliant little dogs.