Hello To All!

[T Hoare]

We are on the whole a friendly bunch on here.

Welcome to K9 and it won't be long before you find your first Whippet now you have made your mind up. To second many other posts one is never enough. :luck:

 

[Lal]

Welcome to the world of whippet lovers (or is it obsessives?). Great choice of dog and one you will never regret as long as you don't mind the fact they will always want the best chair in the house, warmest spot in the house etc etc etc

 

[Carol Jepson]

Welcome to the site Mort, good luck in your search for a whippy puppy :luck: As for show bred whippets, my Barney is an extremely well bred show dog although we did get him at 11 months old. He was our first whippy and then we went onto get a further 5 race bred whips (w00t) lol, out of our lot he is the worst one for wandering off for furries if you don't keep an eye on him lol (w00t) yet one of my racers will not leave my side for anything I think all whippets are obsessed with chasing small furry creatures :lol:

 

[jayp]

hiya and warm welcome to k9, i also overthink everything,it drives me nuts.

you sound like a good whippie convert to me :cheers: :cheers: jan

 

[jue332]

Hello Adam and welcome to k9

First of all I'll just say what a lovely introduction to k9 you have written :thumbsup: sounds like you have put a lot of thought into getting a whippet and I'm sure you wont be disapointed they are an adorable breed :wub: and very addictive :- "

I have 2 show bred girls and are both very different in their personalities, both were very good as puppies and were house trained VERY quickly also as puppies they never chewed anything they shouldn't and seemed to grasp quite quickly which were their things i.e toys and household things they shouldn't. Apart from toilet rolls and tissues :b

All or most whippets are different, I have one who is so laid back and another who is an eager beever and inquisitive, the older one (nearly 3) is a plodder and the younger one (2) who will chase birds, rabbits (given the chance !) balls and frisby's. Both mine are always on a lead near a road as sight hounds they will run and chase.

A good idea is to go along to a whippet show or racing club and meet whippets and breeders and owners and have a chat, to see which lines you prefer :thumbsup:

I hope it's not to long before you own your first whippet and good luck in your search :luck: :thumbsup:

 

[rls22]

If you are in Warwickshire, you might not be too far from Manchester champ show, which is being held next Sunday at the Staffordshire show ground. A great opportunity to see lots and lots of whippets and talk to people. Will be a good chance to see, which lines you like and on the whole people are really helpful!

 

[jinnyfizz]

Welcome!!!!

I got my first whippet in June last year and I now have two :thumbsup:

I also have two GSDs and have walked the whippets with the GSDs right from the start. The GSDs have excellent recall and so the whippets tend to have learnt from them

I only let them free run in fields which are secure and, at the moment, I wouldn't trust either of them to return if they were to sight prey (w00t) I think they will improve with age but, in the meantime, I shall be playing it safe :thumbsup:

It certainly sounds as though you will be an ideal whippet servant :teehee: (whippets don't have owners!!) and I wish you lots of luck in finding your first whippie :luck: :luck:

Jane :cheers:

 

[Mort]

Thank you all for the new welcomes! I'm overwhelmed by the responses, so apologies to anyone I didn't manage to respond to directly.

I have to say that I do find the process a little intimidating (almost like going for a job interview lol ) but heading along to a show is a great idea. Thankyou both. Why didn't I think of that :b

All or most whippets are different, I have one who is so laid back and another who is an eager beever and inquisitive, the older one (nearly 3) is a plodder and the younger one (2) who will chase birds, rabbits (given the chance !) balls and frisby's.

As for show bred whippets, my Barney is an extremely well bred show dog although we did get him at 11 months old. He was our first whippy and then we went onto get a further 5 race bred whips w00t.gif lol, out of our lot he is the worst one for wandering off for furries if you don't keep an eye on him lol

lol! That's actually good to hear. I think I may have been a little too focused on making the "perfect" choice, so it makes the search parameters a little easier to work with

hiya and warm welcome to k9, i also overthink everything,it drives me nuts.
you sound like a good whippie convert to me

Thanks! I'm glad it's not just me. I've already bought a nice fluffy rug so there's a comfy spot in front of the fire, I've arranged transport and a helper for when the day finally arrives.... and I'm already considering getting a bigger car (my two seater MR2 is just not going to cope with the 3 dogs I'll end up with apparently )

 

[pepa]

wellcome to K9 adam

 

[trac]

Hi Adam and welcome to k9 i have two whippets one age 4 and a pup age 9 months who has chewed anything he can find... not only are whippets addictive but so is k9 (w00t)

 

[jue332]

Thank you all for the new welcomes! I'm overwhelmed by the responses, so apologies to anyone I didn't manage to respond to directly.
I have to say that I do find the process a little intimidating (almost like going for a job interview lol ) but heading along to a show is a great idea. Thankyou both. Why didn't I think of that :b

All or most whippets are different, I have one who is so laid back and another who is an eager beever and inquisitive, the older one (nearly 3) is a plodder and the younger one (2) who will chase birds, rabbits (given the chance !) balls and frisby's.

As for show bred whippets, my Barney is an extremely well bred show dog although we did get him at 11 months old. He was our first whippy and then we went onto get a further 5 race bred whips w00t.gif lol, out of our lot he is the worst one for wandering off for furries if you don't keep an eye on him lol

lol! That's actually good to hear. I think I may have been a little too focused on making the "perfect" choice, so it makes the search parameters a little easier to work with

hiya and warm welcome to k9, i also overthink everything,it drives me nuts.
you sound like a good whippie convert to me

Thanks! I'm glad it's not just me. I've already bought a nice fluffy rug so there's a comfy spot in front of the fire, I've arranged transport and a helper for when the day finally arrives.... and I'm already considering getting a bigger car (my two seater MR2 is just not going to cope with the 3 dogs I'll end up with apparently )

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I had to wait what seemed like ages for my first whippy, found a breeder I liked and her dogs, then had to wait for the bitch to come into season, then had to wait to see if she was pregnant, then wait for the birth, did loads of visits, then wait for the day I could pick her up, didn't sleep for weeks (w00t) but the wait was worthwhile :huggles:

I too had a convertible at the time so had to change my car too :lol:

I wish you well again in your search, I'm sure you wont be disapointed and only think "why didn't I do this sooner " :lol:

 

[quintessence]

Hi Mort and welcome to K9. I see you live in Warwickshire, don't forget Crufts at the NEC in March. :thumbsup:

Good Luck with whatever you choose, and believe me you get used sitting on the floor when the settee is fully occupied.

Jenny

 

[nellypurple]

Welcome Adam, you've chosen a beautiful breed. Good luck.

 

[Hilary & Hounds]

Just be warned - whippets are addictive! I've ended up with 4 plus 2 rather large greyhounds (although the greyhounds did come first).

Welcome to the forum! :thumbsup:

 

[BlueNoise]

Hi welcome to K9 )

I have 2 whippies one is show bred the other racing bred!

Bet you end up with 2 as they will be company for each other and as others have said they are addictive

Good luck to you and future whippie(s) :luck:

 

[Cornish]

Wow. I've never heard Mort used as a surname before. A pleasure to meet another one My reason for chosing that name is far more geeky though I'm afraid to say. I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett and Mort is the main character in one of his books  :">
That was who came to mind for me too as I love TP :wub:

 

[madbella]

Hi, congratulations on choosing a fabulous breed.

I’m sorry if I’m repeating other people’s posts but I haven’t had time to read them all!

A whippet will make a great dog for you. Once they grow out of the puppy stage (if they do!!) then after a walk or a play they will be content just to lie down in front of the fire or radiator in the same room as you!

However, you may not get much work done with a puppy. Some days they are really good, or other days they are bad. Austin had a devil day yesterday where he was just trying to get to everything and I was almost tearing my hair out!!

The lead thing. You should let them off and let them have a good run. Very easy to tire them out if there are 2 people walking the dogs. Just practice your recall between the 2 people, one dog excercised, 2 people not having to walk very far!! :lol:

However, I only let my dog off when I know he isn’t next to a road.

Recall, I don’t know if you can pin it down to showing stock is better/worse. I think it depends on the dog and also how you train them.

My parents whippet, show bred, has a very selective recall. She will come back to you, when she wants to. And she has also given chase and caught rabbits etc. No hope in getting her to come back until she has stopped running. She did do some racing practice when she was younger so don’t know if that makes any difference.

My whippet, 6 months old boy, show/coursing bred, has an excellent recall at the moment. I don’t know if it is the cooked liver I give him when he comes back or if he just has a good recall, but 99% of the time he comes back at first call. I’m yet to see him chase something as I only walk him at the weekends (daylight) at the moment so I don’t know what his recall is like then, but in the park if he decides to run off to see some people/another dog, I can get him back.

But even if the recall is perfect there will always be the time when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and they are running after something. So if you are sensible and let them off away from roads, rather than letting them run on the grass verge!!, you should be fine.

Nothing better than seeing a whippy at full stretch!

 

[Janimal]

Adam just wanted to add something to my reply here too...

Mine are from show breeding too....and that dosnt stop them chasing anything that moves outside ....believe me.... :lol:

but as I said I also have three cats and tame rabbits here too.... so I wouldnt worry if you have other pets or want to socialise them with others.

Also they are quite happy too to snuggle up together when indoors and like to sleep a lot during the day. :huggles:

 

[wigglesworth]

Oooh, how exciting. I can sense another whippet addict in the making! :lol:

To share my experience, I had grown up with whippets - our first we came upon by chance as a stray and he ended up living with us for 18 years, then he was joined by another whippet girly, then italian greyhounds etc

So there was never any other breed for me when it came to having my "own" dogs.

We took the plunge this October of adding two 8 month old whippets to our family - there were lots of considerations, are we going to do the right thing by them, is our setup right, how will it affect our lives and so on - but we did it and have absolutely no regrets. We wouldn't be without our little whippety friends for the world :wub: :wub:

I was so nervous of owning them ("my" first dogs rather than family dogs) but I've found that they've shown me the way and they are really so easy to look after. The love and laughter is such a reward. And K9 is fantastic for advice.

My husband is a first time whippet owner so I predict (based on his behaviour) that within a few weeks you will soon find yourself:

-with a whippet under the duvet curled up at your feet

- blowing raspberrys on your whippet's tummy

- making up and singing ridiculous songs to your whippet (current favourite is to the tune of the A-team theme ) while dancing around like a loony :teehee:

- bragging about the speed of your dog to anyone who will listen

Good luck :luck: :luck:

 

[madbella]

My husband is a first time whippet owner so I predict (based on his behaviour) that within a few weeks you will soon find yourself:
-with a whippet under the duvet curled up at your feet

- blowing raspberrys on your whippet's tummy

- making up and singing ridiculous songs to your whippet (current favourite is to the tune of the A-team theme ) while dancing around like a loony   :teehee:

- bragging about the speed of your dog to anyone who will listen

Good luck  :luck:   :luck:

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So so so true!!! :lol:

Especially the last one!