Whippets!

[Willow2007)]

I’m looking for some advice. I have two, 7 month old littermates whippets male and female. Yes all the horror stories about littermates are true, they are very very hard-work even for me and I’ve always had two whippets all my life but never littermates. I know all about how they play rough etc but the female (who is petite at 8kg) will not let the male (bigger 11kg) run unless she takes him down. It’s like watching a cheetah take down a deer! As soon as they are off lead together she pounces on him. He entices her to chase him and boy does she love to chase him but he doesn’t like being body slammed and bowled over. She’ll bite his leg, pull his tail or grab his neck when/if she catches him. He then roly polys along the grass. I feel like this is an accident waiting to happen - broken legs or worse case neck. He will not tell her off tho which I know is what she needs. We’ve ran them separately to let off some steam first before running together but they always want to run together. I’ve also taught her the leave command but when they’re running there’s no getting thro to her. I feel at the end of my tether with her cos if they don’t have a good enjoyable run each day they are absolute hellers indoors. They’re not interested in balls, frisbees etc only each other. They have 2 other structured walks a day. We considered muzzling them but she would still body slam him. We’ve even considered giving her to a family member if she won’t allow him to run and enjoy their off lead time. Help!

 

[Annette4]

It's normal whippet play, my pair have a 3 year age gap and play in exactly the same way and my girl does the same with her sighthound friends. Muzzling does stop the worst of it but they do slam, they do bite, it's what they do.

Im lucky that mine are toy obsessed so will run after a ball/frisbee so don't go off lead together much but the best thing I found was using their brain and making them work for all their food to help with the chaos at home (youngest had dodgy legs as a puppy so had restricted exercise) as they were too tired for bitey face and body slamming.

 

[I'm Dun]

Mine are the same but in a nicer way it sounds. Ive aways found mine easy dogs compared to other breeds but puppies and adolescents are never easy and littermate issues really is a thing. Id walk them separatelty and spend time training them on their own so its not always a mad play session, but otherwise I dont think theres anything you can do.

 

[Willow2007)]

Thank you for replying Annette. When they’re not walking, playing or sleeping (briefly) I spend most my time doing mental stuff with them as she is such a quick learner and food obsessed. I play ‘find it’ with them with their food plus all the usual sit, wait, leave etc. sometimes this can over stimulate her and then they have bitey face and that gets out of hand. She has the typical tiny whippet neurotic syndrome I think ?. I Just wish she wouldn’t take him down so badly when running. I’ve never had one who does it as bad as she does.

 

[Willow2007)]

Mine are the same but in a nicer way it sounds. Ive aways found mine easy dogs compared to other breeds but puppies and adolescents are never easy and littermate issues really is a thing. Id walk them separatelty and spend time training them on their own so its not always a mad play session, but otherwise I dont think theres anything you can do.

Thank you for replying. I am hoping it will be something they may grow out of but some days I’m not so sure. I used to walk them separately to sort out a few issues they had and now they walk great together. I would love for them to run and have fun together but it’s not the end of the world if they don’t I suppose.

 

[Willow2007)]

It's normal whippet play, my pair have a 3 year age gap and play in exactly the same way and my girl does the same with her sighthound friends. Muzzling does stop the worst of it but they do slam, they do bite, it's what they do.

Im lucky that mine are toy obsessed so will run after a ball/frisbee so don't go off lead together much but the best thing I found was using their brain and making them work for all their food to help with the chaos at home (youngest had dodgy legs as a puppy so had restricted exercise) as they were too tired for bitey face and body slamming.

Thank you for replying Annette. When they’re not walking, playing or sleeping (briefly) I spend most my time doing mental stuff with them as she is such a quick learner and food obsessed. I play ‘find it’ with them with their food plus all the usual sit, wait, leave etc. sometimes this can over stimulate her and then they have bitey face and that gets out of hand. She has the typical tiny whippet neurotic syndrome I think ?. I Just wish she wouldn’t take him down so badly when running. I’ve never had one who does it as bad as she does.

 

[I'm Dun]

Mine are 3 and 6 and still do it. Its the bitch in my case as well. She gets put back on her lead if the dog starts to look fed up. The bitey face and charging round the house did stop with time and training though.

 

[Willow2007)]

Mine are 3 and 6 and still do it. Its the bitch in my case as well. She gets put back on her lead if the dog starts to look fed up. The bitey face and charging round the house did stop with time and training though.

I’ve always found the bitches are the more dominant fiesty ones. I do put her back on her lead when he’s had enough. Somedays I think to let them sort themselves out and hope he will put her in her place but I don’t think he’s going to.

 

[I'm Dun]

Mine never did. The only thing he ever took a stand over was the repeated theft of chews, sometimes from his mouth, always in the split second no human was watching. Once he told her off for that she never did it again. Not sure if that means the rough play isnt an issue to him or not though!

 

[Willow2007)]

Mine never did. The only thing he ever took a stand over was the repeated theft of chews, sometimes from his mouth, always in the split second no human was watching. Once he told her off for that she never did it again. Not sure if that means the rough play isnt an issue to him or not though!

he will let her take food, toys etc off him and even out his mouth. Often I’ll see them chewing the same chew both at the same time ?. This is the thing tho they have such a great relationship. She sleeps on top of him and he loves it, it’s just when they’re running she is such a bully! So annoying

 

[Esmae]

My 2 do the same thing. One 9 months and one 5 months but the 5 month old is a big boy by comparison. It's what they do. BTW you can't put a thread up about whippets without a picture of them. It's the law. LOL !!

 

[Willow2007)]

My 2 do the same thing. One 9 months and one 5 months but the 5 month old is a big boy by comparison. It's what they do. BTW you can't put a thread up about whippets without a picture of them. It's the law. LOL !!

yes they are devils for it ?. If she toned it down a bit it wouldn’t be so bad. I’ve tried posting a photo but apparently my file size are too big for the server or something ??‍