Cooper needs a job

[I'm Dun]

Cooper is my younger whippet, although his mum isn't papered and he seems to have thrown back to something more lurchery. Hes a lovely, very affectionate and sweet natured dog, but he has the most intense prey drive of anything I have ever known. Hes stock broken and has no interest in anything other than deer, rabbits, foxes and squirrels. Hes fast and strong and the smartest dog I've ever known.

Hes not allowed to hunt deer, its illegal and dangerous but I do allow him to pick off any rabbits he finds. If he doesn't get to do this he gets incredibly depressed and its horrible to see such a happy dog so sad.

I got him partly to lure race and planned to spend most summers travelling about racing. He only started race training last year. He doesn't want to do it! Its a proper track with experienced people and they've said they've never known a dog like it. He did it once and was quick, but then point blank just said no. Theres deer and rabbits in the woods around the track and he just doesn't see why he should have to chase some plastic instead. I will persevere with him, but when their hearts not in it its never going to be their thing.

I've run his fitness right down. Hes still far fitter than your average pet dog but he's not hard racing fit. He tends to do 8 miles mainly galloping to me 2 miles according to his tracker, so he gets as decent amount of exercise, but its not quite enough. I try to never do the same walk more than twice a month, he goes to busy towns and the local village as well as miles out in the countryside, so its not the same boring trek round the local field.

I've tried scent work, just at home, he's not keen. "Find it" where I hide treats and toys and they find it is my other dogs favourite thing in the world, coop just follows him about snaffling what he misses. He does quite like some enrichment toys, the ones where they lift lids and push things round. Hes well trained, dog netural and generally a pleasure to have around, but he really does need a job and I'm a bit stumped as to what to do. We do some flirt pole work but I've got whiplash at the minute and I just cannot do it.

He would probably be good at fly ball, he does like the very rare ball throwing session we do, but I worry about the risk of injury. If he got injured and couldn't be exercised my life would be unbearable! I've just booked him swimming lessons, he loves the water but wont take his feet off the floor to actually swim, so I'm going to see if he can get his confidence with some experienced help, plus my other dog is going for hydrotherapy so might as well take them both.

I think its all come to a head as I've had flu, then norovirus, a shed load of horrible things causing massive stress and now I've got whiplash and my back and legs are playing up so I'm limited to a couple of miles on good ground and even that hurts like hell. I'm hoping I will recover but I'm very compromised already so I'm preparing for the worst.

Anyway, that is a very, very, very long way of asking what can I do to occupy his mind and his feet?

Obligatory photo as he is gorgeous and an absolute athlete when hes not fast asleep in bed!

 

[stangs]

but I do allow him to pick off any rabbits he finds. If he doesn't get to do this he gets incredibly depressed and its horrible to see such a happy dog so sad.

Unless this is happening on your own land, or on land where you have the land owner's permission to be doing this, letting him hunt rabbits is also breaking the law.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

You could bring him up to West Yorks and clear our land of rabbits. We would welcome you with open arms,let alone allow it!

 

[Roxylola]

Agility? Hoopers?

 

[Exasperated]

Cooper is my younger whippet, although his mum isn't papered and he seems to have thrown back to something more lurchery. Hes a lovely, very affectionate and sweet natured dog, but he has the most intense prey drive of anything I have ever known. Hes stock broken and has no interest in anything other than deer, rabbits, foxes and squirrels. Hes fast and strong and the smartest dog I've ever known.

Hes not allowed to hunt deer, its illegal and dangerous but I do allow him to pick off any rabbits he finds. If he doesn't get to do this he gets incredibly depressed and its horrible to see such a happy dog so sad.

I got him partly to lure race and planned to spend most summers travelling about racing. He only started race training last year. He doesn't want to do it! Its a proper track with experienced people and they've said they've never known a dog like it. He did it once and was quick, but then point blank just said no. Theres deer and rabbits in the woods around the track and he just doesn't see why he should have to chase some plastic instead. I will persevere with him, but when their hearts not in it its never going to be their thing.

I've run his fitness right down. Hes still far fitter than your average pet dog but he's not hard racing fit. He tends to do 8 miles mainly galloping to me 2 miles according to his tracker, so he gets as decent amount of exercise, but its not quite enough. I try to never do the same walk more than twice a month, he goes to busy towns and the local village as well as miles out in the countryside, so its not the same boring trek round the local field.

I've tried scent work, just at home, he's not keen. "Find it" where I hide treats and toys and they find it is my other dogs favourite thing in the world, coop just follows him about snaffling what he misses. He does quite like some enrichment toys, the ones where they lift lids and push things round. Hes well trained, dog netural and generally a pleasure to have around, but he really does need a job and I'm a bit stumped as to what to do. We do some flirt pole work but I've got whiplash at the minute and I just cannot do it.

He would probably be good at fly ball, he does like the very rare ball throwing session we do, but I worry about the risk of injury. If he got injured and couldn't be exercised my life would be unbearable! I've just booked him swimming lessons, he loves the water but wont take his feet off the floor to actually swim, so I'm going to see if he can get his confidence with some experienced help, plus my other dog is going for hydrotherapy so might as well take them both.

I think its all come to a head as I've had flu, then norovirus, a shed load of horrible things causing massive stress and now I've got whiplash and my back and legs are playing up so I'm limited to a couple of miles on good ground and even that hurts like hell. I'm hoping I will recover but I'm very compromised already so I'm preparing for the worst.

Anyway, that is a very, very, very long way of asking what can I do to occupy his mind and his feet?

Obligatory photo as he is gorgeous and an absolute athlete when hes not fast asleep in bed!

View attachment 154623

Pretty dog. If he’s doing 8 miles galloping about while you’re only walking 2 miles on country walks, do you actually know exactly where he is and exactly what he’s chasing?
Speaking as someone whose horse’s leg was broken courtesy of a whippet galloping round after him, and as someone whose livestock has been chased (fatally in some cases) by dogs their out-of-immediate-sight owners were ‘walking’, this does not sound promising - particularly given he has the most intense prey drive you’ve ever known.....
I sincerely hope you keep this dog happy, and completely out of all mischief.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

No help, but what a stunning looking dog.

 

[KEK]

I would vote for flyball if you can find a nice supportive club. Whippets can be very good at it, it’s much more chasey than agility, with less training required. And probably less likely to injure him than agility as well as it’s so predictable and he’d have to jump much lower.
Totally hear you re the injury concerns having to rest and rehab a high drive dog is an absolute disaster of a nightmare :/

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I would vote for flyball if you can find a nice supportive club. Whippets can be very good at it, it’s much more chasey than agility, with less training required. And probably less likely to injure him than agility as well as it’s so predictable and he’d have to jump much lower.
Totally hear you re the injury concerns having to rest and rehab a high drive dog is an absolute disaster of a nightmare :/

Just out of interest, how hard is it on their legs to do the flying change of direction at the end of flyball? I always think that looks like quote an impact on the box but the dogs seem to cope with it well

 

[KEK]

Just out of interest, how hard is it on their legs to do the flying change of direction at the end of flyball? I always think that looks like quote an impact on the box but the dogs seem to cope with it well

Box turn? I think the way the teach it now, plus the newer boxes, make it safer. Of course they are going so fast (around 3.5secs for a fast dog) which obviously makes injuries possible but unless you are doing something low drive like sniffing stuff they are a possibility.
Caveat I don't do flyball but do follow it fairly closely.

 

[I'm Dun]

Pretty dog. If he’s doing 8 miles galloping about while you’re only walking 2 miles on country walks, do you actually know exactly where he is and exactly what he’s chasing?
Speaking as someone whose horse’s leg was broken courtesy of a whippet galloping round after him, and as someone whose livestock has been chased (fatally in some cases) by dogs their out-of-immediate-sight owners were ‘walking’, this does not sound promising - particularly given he has the most intense prey drive you’ve ever known.....
I sincerely hope you keep this dog happy, and completely out of all mischief.

Of course I know where he is. Hes always in my sight, but he just goes up and down at high speed. He likes to run ahead and be called back in a silly excited voice and have a huge fuss made of him. He also does the sight hound thing of running in big curves, and he plays with my other dog, although he's been recovering from a back injury and he's 8 so isn't as interested in rough games anymore.

Hes also on his lead near stock or where there might be deer or near a road etc, he has a harness and 15m long line, a beautiful bright pink one As I said in my post he is completely stock broken and will walk with me with no lead through sheep if asked. I don't ask because its not for other peoples sheep to test my dogs training. Ironically my other dog with no prey drive isn't stock broken and is absolutely not ever trusted round sheep. They have hacked out loose with me when I still had a horse and access to off road hacking, and he went to day care at the yard from 6 to 12months ish and used to spend the day hanging out on the yard with horses, cats, chickens etc. Sadly no horse anymore and no need for day care.

I did start doing flyball with my older boy back when he was about coopers age, but after the initial intro course they didn't run anymore and it never really went anywhere. He enjoyed it but he's a lazy clown so I'm not sure he'd have been that good at it. Cooper probably would be, so maybe I need to make more of an effort to find a club that takes beginners. I cant decide if I think he would like agility or not. He has no issue climbing up or jumping over things if asked, but the reason they don't tend to do well at that sort of thing is they are bred to have an independent streak and don't take well to the drilling sort of training it involves. He is probably the most trainable whippet Ive ever had though, so I don't know. But again, its nearly impossible to find anywhere that does courses. He doesn't need to do basic obedience, he's got that all down, but most seem to want you to start there and work up. I'd be bored senseless!

 

[I'm Dun]

You could bring him up to West Yorks and clear our land of rabbits. We would welcome you with open arms,let alone allow it!

To do it properly you need nets and stuff to set it up properly, he just finds them in certain areas of some of our walk. I had a long chat with the dog warden about it, and if I'm not tramping round with nets and ferrets and lamps, and its just him finding wild rabbits then while its technically illegal nothing will ever come of it. The places we go arent on private land, its usually EA land along the river, they don't care about who lives there or how its managed never mind one dog catching the odd rabbit daft enough to be out in the day time.

But if you wanted someone with properly trained working dogs and the kit to do it I can probably find you people who would jump at the chance. People take it every seriously and its a shame Cooper didn't end up with them. I just assumed he would want to race and that would be his thing. I still haven't given up on the idea, and will keep training with him even if it just turns out he does it for exercise. I'm still secretly hoping one day he will go and just go for it.

 

[HeresHoping]

Good grief there are some sanctimonious individuals on here. Always jumping in on the assumption that no one knows what real responsibility is. Or that the OP has absolutely no knowledge of anything, ever. You might have guessed I'm still a bit miffed that some assume I know nothing when it comes to horses....

Flyball, @I'm Dun. I think that's worth a punt. Also, is there any Cani-Cross near you? I have seen a couple of people asking to borrow dogs around our way because theirs is off games for (unrelated) issues.

 

[Annette4]

I would say choose your club carefully with flyball and choose where you race. Happy to discuss more via pm. In theory, with correct training it should be no more risky than any sport.

What about barn hunt? It's scent based but all mine love it even the sighthounds.

 

[druid]

Canicross or bikejoring are great for dogs who just have a drive to run

 

[CorvusCorax]

Some dogs, once they have had a live kill, don't be quite as interested in sport, unfortunately. Sometimes nothing really does it for them like the real thing. Whilst she has not ever had a kill, my female is very 'real world' prey orientated, but in the work, not so much, items don't hold so much excitement and she is not good at splitting drives.

 

[Equi]

No idea on activities bar actual rabbiting but just wanted to say gosh he’s in bloody good condition. Beautiful to see!

 

[Exasperated]

Of course I know where he is. Hes always in my sight, but he just goes up and down at high speed. He likes to run ahead and be called back in a silly excited voice and have a huge fuss made of him. He also does the sight hound thing of running in big curves, and he plays with my other dog, although he's been recovering from a back injury and he's 8 so isn't as interested in rough games anymore.

Hes also on his lead near stock or where there might be deer or near a road etc, he has a harness and 15m long line, a beautiful bright pink one As I said in my post he is completely stock broken and will walk with me with no lead through sheep if asked. I don't ask because its not for other peoples sheep to test my dogs training. Ironically my other dog with no prey drive isn't stock broken and is absolutely not ever trusted round sheep. They have hacked out loose with me when I still had a horse and access to off road hacking, and he went to day care at the yard from 6 to 12months ish and used to spend the day hanging out on the yard with horses, cats, chickens etc. Sadly no horse anymore and no need for day care.

I did start doing flyball with my older boy back when he was about coopers age, but after the initial intro course they didn't run anymore and it never really went anywhere. He enjoyed it but he's a lazy clown so I'm not sure he'd have been that good at it. Cooper probably would be, so maybe I need to make more of an effort to find a club that takes beginners. I cant decide if I think he would like agility or not. He has no issue climbing up or jumping over things if asked, but the reason they don't tend to do well at that sort of thing is they are bred to have an independent streak and don't take well to the drilling sort of training it involves. He is probably the most trainable whippet Ive ever had though, so I don't know. But again, its nearly impossible to find anywhere that does courses. He doesn't need to do basic obedience, he's got that all down, but most seem to want you to start there and work up. I'd be bored senseless!

Jolly good, I am genuinely delighted this dog is continually under observation and full control, simply because far too many are not.

 

[I'm Dun]

Other peoples dogs are why we walk where we do. Once we get a mile out we rarely see another dog. We went to the park on Sunday just for another thing to do and it was interesting to say the least. 11.30am on a Sunday morning is apparently when you bring your dog out for its weekly walk and turn it loose in the park. It was mayhem.

 

[I'm Dun]

Some dogs, once they have had a live kill, don't be quite as interested in sport, unfortunately. Sometimes nothing really does it for them like the real thing. Whilst she has not ever had a kill, my female is very 'real world' prey orientated, but in the work, not so much, items don't hold so much excitement and she is not good at splitting drives.

Yup thats him. He loves attention but doing "things" is very much on his terms. He likes to be a good boy and is generally pretty obliging in every day life, but he has no interest in things he deems boring. If I really push him and am OTT with rewards and energy levels he will do it once or twice then downs tools. I'm so sad about the racing, I had a really fast dog previously but we never really got going as I broke my back and all sorts of things happened then he was too old, my older boy is adorable, but dim and clumsy and is the opposite of a racer. It never occurred to me that Cooper wouldn't want to do it.

 

[Clodagh]

Yup thats him. He loves attention but doing "things" is very much on his terms. He likes to be a good boy and is generally pretty obliging in every day life, but he has no interest in things he deems boring. If I really push him and am OTT with rewards and energy levels he will do it once or twice then downs tools. I'm so sad about the racing, I had a really fast dog previously but we never really got going as I broke my back and all sorts of things happened then he was too old, my older boy is adorable, but dim and clumsy and is the opposite of a racer. It never occurred to me that Cooper wouldn't want to do it.

I suspect the ship has sailed but if he hadn’t been self rewarding with killing then he may have done it.
Brandy, our first Labrador, wouldn’t pick a dummy again once she’d moved on to game. They ain’t stupid!
If he’s really ball driven then maybe fly ball. He needs a live rabbit to jump out the box when he turns. (Joke everyone!).

 

[I'm Dun]

No idea on activities bar actual rabbiting but just wanted to say gosh he’s in bloody good condition. Beautiful to see!

You should have seen him when he was hard fit! 20kgs of solid muscle. I've let him down fitness wise quite a bit as Floyd got attacked and hurt his back and then I got sick, then more sick then whiplash, so he's out of condition for him really.

 

[I'm Dun]

I suspect the ship has sailed but if he hadn’t been self rewarding with killing then he may have done it.
Brandy, our first Labrador, wouldn’t pick a dummy again once she’d moved on to game. They ain’t stupid!
If he’s really ball driven then maybe fly ball. He needs a live rabbit to jump out the box when he turns. (Joke everyone!).

I did ask if I could put either a dead rabbit or rabbit skin on the lure and was told no

 

[FinnishLapphund]

You're not well, he needs exercise, your other dog is going to go for hydrotherapy, I vote for that if there's room for him anywhere where it's wet at the hydrotherapy, chuck him in it. If it's somewhere his paws have contact with the ground the way he likes it, fabulous! Wading in water is very good exercise.
If the only available option doesn't let his paw touch the ground, borrow a life vest for him, and let him learn. Think how many brain cells he'll have to use when figuring out he won't drown.

 

[I'm Dun]

I would say choose your club carefully with flyball and choose where you race. Happy to discuss more via pm. In theory, with correct training it should be no more risky than any sport.

What about barn hunt? It's scent based but all mine love it even the sighthounds.

I have found someone doing hoopers and barn hunt about 25 miles away, there's a barn hunt beginners workshop in March. I'm going to take him. Cooper hates rats! When we lived on the boat we got invaded by them one winter and he's hated them ever since, he used to turn the boat upside down looking for them so I'm pretty sure he will like it. He would probably prefer death by cooper, but it might hold his interest enough to engage him. I can have a chat to them about Hoopers/agility while I'm there.

 

[I'm Dun]

You're not well, he needs exercise, your other dog is going to go for hydrotherapy, I vote for that if there's room for him anywhere where it's wet at the hydrotherapy, chuck him in it. If it's somewhere his paws have contact with the ground the way he likes it, fabulous! Wading in water is very good exercise.
If the only available option doesn't let his paw touch the ground, borrow a life vest for him, and let him learn. Think how many brain cells he'll have to use when figuring out he won't drown.

He'd never forgive me! His brother is pretty nervous and I've put a lot of time into making him confident and happy, but he's still a sensitive flower. If I chucked him in a pool hed pack his bags and leave home! But they do swimming lessons for dogs where they build them up slowly, so I'm going to book him in for that. Once he gets his confidence he will enjoy it, he's just worried about actually swimming. Given he nearly drowned himself twice as a puppy I don't really blame him.

 

[Exasperated]

To do it properly you need nets and stuff to set it up properly, he just finds them in certain areas of some of our walk. I had a long chat with the dog warden about it, and if I'm not tramping round with nets and ferrets and lamps, and its just him finding wild rabbits then while its technically illegal nothing will ever come of it. The places we go arent on private land, its usually EA land along the river, they don't care about who lives there or how its managed never mind one dog catching the odd rabbit daft enough to be out in the day time.

But if you wanted someone with properly trained working dogs and the kit to do it I can probably find you people who would jump at the chance. People take it every seriously and its a shame Cooper didn't end up with them. I just assumed he would want to race and that would be his thing. I still haven't given up on the idea, and will keep training with him even if it just turns out he does it for exercise. I'm still secretly hoping one day he will go and just go for it.

Traveller communities are nifty with long-nets and lurchers, would probably jump at a dog so wired for live prey, too. Plenty of gypsies in W.Yorks!
Ever read ‘The Last English Poachers’, memoir of Bob & Brian Tovey (2015, Simon & Schuster)? Not gypsies, but big on working sight hounds.

 

[I'm Dun]

Travellers offered me 15k for him and would have gone to 75k. As someone so broke it's painful I often think of that day and wonder what would have happened if I loved the little bugger less and could have let him go. They wanted him for hare coursing where they said they'd make that money back in one night on betting. While he'd have loved and excelled at the job, as a very loving, very spoilt dog with an anxious streak who adores me and my other dog, he'd have hated the rest of it.

The older generation of lurcher men love him as well, he's got a floating rib and a neck ruffle which apparently means something very good that I don't quite get.

 

[merry neddy man]

Unless this is happening on your own land, or on land where you have the land owner's permission to be doing this, letting him hunt rabbits is also breaking the law.

Hunting hares foxes and badgers is illegal, hunting rabbits with a dog IS allowed/legal if you have the land owners permission, to be on the safe side get written permission from the land owners/farmers and preferably a Ordnance survey map with all their boundaries marked on it.

 

[stangs]

Hunting hares foxes and badgers is illegal, hunting rabbits with a dog IS allowed/legal if you have the land owners permission, to be on the safe side get written permission from the land owners/farmers and preferably a Ordnance survey map with all their boundaries marked on it.

Did you read my post before you tried to correct it? That's exactly what I wrote...

Anyway, going back to OP, triebball might be a shout. We've one whippet who enjoys it and it's a good mix of mental and physical work.

 

[merry neddy man]

Yes I did thank you, I wasn't trying to correct it, I was merely adding my written permission and map marking bit. And pointing out it only applies to rabbiting.