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Considering a Whippet?

chaerclio.jpg

Chaser and Clio
portrait by Yvonne Sovereign

The most important decision you'll make in getting a dog is the choice of breed. Many dogs end up returned to the breeder or dropped at a shelter simply because not enough thought was put into whether the breed was suitable for the home. Be very sure you want a whippet before getting one. They're great dogs but no breed is suitable for everyone!

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Cats

Whippets were bred to course and kill rabbits...small furry prey that runs. Though most whippets are not used for that purpose today, they are still bred with that instinct in mind, and the ones who are coursed and raced are bred specifically for high prey drive. Very few whippets are born without it. Even if your dog is raised with your cat and loves and plays gently with it, if he ever sees the cat running outside, it won't be his beloved Muffy, but prey. And whippets are "kill hounds." They don't play with their prey or bring it back alive. By the way he realizes that it was Muffy he was chasing, it will be too late.

Some owners do keep cats and whippets together successfully, but our experience has not been happy. The prey drive instinct is "hard-wired" into these dogs and even the best training cannot be guaranteed to control basic instinct. Not all whippets will kill a running cat, but most of them will. If you do have a whippet and a cat, we suggest never leaving them alone together unsupervised, and certainly you should never put the two outside at the same time.

The same advice applies to small dogs, especially very furry ones Whippets play roughly with other dogs, and part of their play is to chase and grab. A small, fast-moving dog is not really a good companion.

Along the same line, if your whippet has a yard, he's liable to kill something. Birds, squirrels, opossums...anything that wanders in is fair game. This can be traumatic for some people. If your own nature is too sensitive to be able to love a dog that kills wildlife, consider a collie instead of a whippet.




Last Updated on Saturday, 31 May 2008 19:32
 
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