Quite a few whippet based questions

[ladybones]

Ok so Badger is my first Whippet and also my first non rescued dog. I love him to bits, he is a dream, but VERY different to my other doggies (JRT and Lab)
Firstly he is the worlds BIGGEST WIMP! Like today hejust slightly caught his side on the door in his rush to leave the house and he was yelping like he had been shot! This makes it quite hard to tell him off, with my other dogs if they did somthing wrong and i caught them in the act i would give them a tap on the nose (in no way beating them) and afterwards they are a little sheepish but Badger yelps and sulks for days.. is this normal whippet behavior?
I am also slowly coming to the conclusion he might be a little slow! He has 'sit' and 'stay' down and his recall is pretty good but 'lie down' and 'paw' just dont get through to him AT ALL! whereas my other dogs have many tricks in their brains all taught in the same wayi hae been teaching Badger. So should i train him differently to other dogs?
Ok only a couple more i promise

his little jacket rubs him slightly and has worn a hole in his coat on both his back legs so i got him another one which doesnt rub but his coat isnt growing back

so is whippet's fur slower growing than others?
Last one now, you might remember i posted he only has one testical

i called the vet and she just said they would wait a little longer to neutar him incase his other one drops.. but i forgot to ask how long! so has anyonehad experience of this and if so how long did your vet wait?

Thankyou if you got this far.. cup cakes for all who managed!
And a little photo of my little prince!!

 

[RuthnMeg]

LOL
Love Whippets, AKA ''Wimpets' - yes they really are the biggest of the wimps in dog world! Take no notice of his wimps, cries and sulks, he will recover!! (they do adore good cuddles though, and then he will forget all about his stresses for about, ummm 5 mins!) They are not known for their intelligence, one small step at a time, he might get it, he might not but make sure you hide your laughs - he will sulk again otherwise.
Remember his attitude will change if a rabbit runs in front of him, thats what they are really good at - and sleeping on a fluffy mat!!
As for his 'male parts' - ain't got a clue, only had bitches!!
Have fun with him.

 

[FestiveSpirit]

LOL - whippets are a completely different sort of dog to labs or JRTs in terms of temperament and personality type, so I am not surprised you are finding him unusual

Yes they CAN be wimps - not all of them are mind you

It is the same with greyhounds, my latest little one is pathetic and you cannot breathe on her without her squeaking, but all the others have been a lot tougher

My two whippets were pretty stoical, but you sound to have the sensitive type

I have never trained my dogs to do anything other than come when they are called, and get out of the way when they are told, so cant say much about the training I'm afraid. I do know that some whippets are very good at agility, but I think it depends on the individual dog.

If his coat has rubbed enough to remove the hair then it will take time to grow back - glancing across at the sofa has confirmed that both my two greyhounds have bald patches on their back legs, caused by sleeping on hard surfaces when in kennels, so the hair may never come back if the rub was 'serious' enough (I know it wont have been serious, but hopefully you will see what I mean)

I havent had a monorchid whippet as I have only ever had bitches, but I would say you have to wait until he is sexually mature before you can confirm that the other testicle wont drop. I would guess that would be about 6-8 months old with whippets as that is when the bitches seem to come into season first

Hope this helps, I adore whippets, so do post more pics

 

[CAYLA]

Whippets are wimps, they are dinky and very thin skinned with tiny bones and they tear like paper, esp the dinkier ones, of which he looks in his picci much like my little blue girl, however they do go well over board and will act up to attention(put the drama on)

my little blue whip will run around the fields like a bullett and hang of the other dogs faces, she will run through freezing puddles and still she will fly around like a spiv, when she gets home, she then feels the after mathe of any injury and will sulk and shiver and yelp when she moves.(I mosty ignore this)

They are not the easiest or brightest to teach to sit and give a paw, my little blue whip is not bright at all my boy whipp who likely has some grey in him is very clever, both my whips retrieve, they scam and they are under handed(in that way, they are very clever) they jsut don't see why they should have to sit or give a paw

.......but they can, it just takes a little more time than the average and compared to the build of other dogs sit is not their most comfortable postion they have scrawny legs and no arse padding, so prefer to stretch or be comfortably cushioned

Re the coat rubbing and hair regrowth, s.b.t are terrible for this so not necc a whippet thing, some hair does grow back even after yonks of being out.
Re the castration, I will not leave him longer than 12 months with 1 testicle.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

My nearly-a-whippet is a big wimp, unless he's run off after deer when he can rip himself on barbed wire and not even notice it!

Re training - never trained ours to do any tricks, but Finn sits, stays, walks to heel, and has fantastic recall (apart from deer!) just like our other dogs - whippets IMO are pretty intelligent, he is probably just wondering why he should bother to give you his paw!

Re the hair growing back, when Finn was castrated four years ago the vets shaved halfway along his penis, and around the testicles and none of the hair has grown back, so he has a furry end to his willy!!

 

[FestiveSpirit]

[ QUOTE ]
Whippets are wimps, they are dinky and very thin skinned with tiny bones and they tear like papaer, esp the dinkier ones

[/ QUOTE ]

Oi, my first whippet was tiny (17 1/2" at the shoulder) and looked really frail but she was actually as tough as old boots

They are not ALL wimps you know

Just most of them...

 

[CAYLA]

Mine is actually, she is smaller than that

she can be teared from arse hole to breakfast time and not feel a thing, but when it comes to stapling it, she screams murder, also injections she screams murder, if it suits her she feels nothing if she wants attention or a diversion she screams

 

[FestiveSpirit]

LOL that sounds SO like Flick, she drives me flipping mad screaming every time something MIGHT have hurt her and she feels hard done by

Bless their little attention seeking socks

Sorry OP, I shall stop hi-jacking now

 

[ladybones]

Haha! Cheers everyone, good to know i'm no such a cruel mummy afterall!

Just to make it clear am very much in love with whippets (think i will defo have more in the future) i just find them sooo different and such a mystery!
Thanks CAYLA, he is cominup to 8months i will call the vet again and arrange a time for his lonely ball removed! Bet i'll be in for a month of sulking then! Just ouf interest do they normally have a look for the other one whilst they're in there?

 

[CAYLA]

Yes, they will open him up and find the other, if not it could become strangulated or cancerous(tumour) thats why it's important to get it sorted asap, it's more expensive than a usual castration as they have to investigate and it become an internal op.
The akita I took from the pound had 1 in his abdomen, and was all twisted and yacky, it's a very hereditary condition.
Get him booked sooner rather than later.

 

[Charmaine18]

I think Leah might be half whippet (the rescue centre we got her from as a puppy said she was greyhound/GSD, but she is much smaller than either breed) and she is a very intelligent, eager-to-please dog. She is a MASSIVE WUSS though!

Not just with things like screaming when she hurts herself, but also just in general - when we were taking down the Christmas decs the other day she spent the whole time with her ears pinned back and her eyes bulging, following me around like she was glued to my leg because she was so worried by all the unusual activity. *rolleyes* She also has a bald patch right under her chest, where her ribs meet, which has never grown back. No idea why. She's the best dog in the world though.

 

[mainpower]

My greyhound always had bald calloused elbows, a reminder of sleeping in kennels in her racing days. When I got her, I was told that Greys can't sit, and she certainly never did, would go down in front and stick her bottom in the air instead. And she was a huge wimp, zero pain threshold! My Grey/Saluki x is a lot tougher, but sometimes remembers hours later that she hurt herself earlier in the day! She sits and has reasonable recall, but that's all. She acts the dumb blonde, but I actually think she's quite brainy underneath.

 

[kirsty127]

My little whippet is a tough cookie! He barks with the doberman and thinks hes a big boy!
Anyway, he does have a bald patch underneath him from where he used to rub it on the carpet. It never has grown back but ive never thought anything of it tbh.
My Whippet can sit, paw and lie down when ive got food

but the rest of the time he ignores! Hes loyal, but his recall isn't great, and if a rabbit or cat came into the equation - well i dread to think!

 

[SouthWestWhippet]

My older whippet is pretty bright and knows lots of tricks. She is also a coniving, sly, theiving rat bag who will not only wait HOURS for you to leave the room before she steals what it is she wants, but then encourage other whippet to join her before quickly leaving other whippet with stolen goods when she hears you return so she doesn't get into trouble.

My younger whippet is thick as mud, it has taken her about 3 years to learn "sit", "shake a paw" and "come to heel". She is also very nervy and finds all sorts of things very frightening (ironing board, exercise ball, partner's bike... the list goes on).

Both are hard as nails when they are on the hunt and will happily tear themselves to pieces without noticing but if I take them to the yard and it is raining, they won't even get out of the car and older dog sulks if she doesn't have her pyjamas on in the house in winter.

I have found with both of them that rubs either don't grow back at all or take absolutely ages to grow back. only got bitches so don't know about testicle-thing.

I adore my whippets, they are such characters but they are definately different to most other breeds.