hels
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by hels on Nov 9, 2012 16:42:56 GMT 1
Hi, my husband and I have never had a dog before, but after much consideration we have decided to take the plunge and find a dog to share our lives with. We have done a lot of research on breeds and my husband absolutely loves whippets so we have decided to look for one.
We are going to meet one that needs re-homing next week, he is 7 months old. It seems like he is coming from a good family who's circumstances don't allow them to keep him. I have sent off for a library of books to help try and educate us, but i'd be grateful for any advice on what to look for when meeting a whippet and suggestions on how to settle one in to our little home?
We are enthusiastic, committed and we are looking at our lifestyle to make necessary changes to ensure that whatever little dog we get will be happy and healthy. Having said that we have little experience or knowledge. Any advice, suggestions that you can give us on any part of whippet care would be appreciated. I am avidly trying to read all the threads on this site trying to educate myself. Thanks so much... Hels xxx
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Post by carrie on Nov 9, 2012 21:36:19 GMT 1
Hi Hels, welcome to the forum. If you're on Facebook as well then have a look for the Scruples page on there. We got our Whippet boy from Scruples back in April and we love him to bits. Hadn't had a Whippet before, but we have two Lurchers, so would consider ourselves pretty sighthound savy. At first we found Toby bonded with me very quickly and was a real cuddle monster, he'd cuddle my fiance in the house, but outside was quite wary of coming near Ian. That meant we had to be careful if anyone turned up and Toby was in the garden as he wouldn't let Ian catch him, but would circle within about a foot of him, it seemed Toby almost wanted to make a game of it. We were very careful, but when he was like that it would have only needed one slip up for him to be out of the gate if someone opened it. Thankfully he soon got over that behaviour. With any rescue I think you've always got to remember that you don't know them and equally they don't know you. Always remember the dog has no reason to trust you, they're in a strange situation and don't know what your habits and routines are. We did have a couple of accidents with Toby when he first arrived, our fault, we didn't know how to read his signs that he wanted to go outside. If you do have accidents in the house, don't think it means a non-housetrained dog, it doesn't, it means a possibly stressed dog unsure of a strange situation and location. Even if his owners say he has good recall, please don't risk letting him offlead until he's learnt to trust you. We're lucky that Toby is good enough to be able to go offlead and we were able to let him offlead within a couple of months and we know that he's very orientated on where we are and just loves to play with his toys when offlead. Our old Lurcher girl was a whole different kettle of fish, ex worker, high prey drive and very independent. It took 2 years to build enough trust for her to be able to go offlead. If he's moving to a new home with his bed etc that may help, something that smells familiar. But don't worry if he doesn't, he'll still learn to settle without. Whippets do like their home comforts, so will probably like a blanket to snuggle under as well as their bed. Our dogs sleep in our bedroom on their own beds, some other people let their dogs on the bed at night. Our dogs know they can come on our bed for a cuddle after the alarm clock goes off. The two lurchers will lie on top of the duvet, whilst the whippet tends to find a space on the pillows or he'll dive under the duvet. Find out what food he eats and initially have him on that food even if you want to move to another food eventually. Some dogs don't do well with an instant change of food and may get an upset stomach. We feed our dogs with dry biscuits and a mix of veggies, rice and meat. Some people go for the raw feeding option. If you're going for dry food please look at a good quality food. I'll let some folks more experienced in Whippets say more. Most important thing, hope your meeting goes well and that you're ready to have a bundle of high speed entertainment in your lives. We've got to admit that Toby is an unbelievably huge character who makes us laugh all the time.
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hels
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by hels on Nov 16, 2012 18:17:04 GMT 1
Thanks for replying Carrie. Unfortunately the dog we hopped to get was rehomed before we could meet him (but not before we fell in love with his photo!). We are still on the lookout. If anyone reading this has any advice they can give us, I'd be so grateful.
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Post by rbm1964 on Nov 16, 2012 21:02:07 GMT 1
The best advice I can give is to expect the unexpected !! Whppets are a great breed to have as a 'first.' Depending on their own individual temperament, they may have a bit of a stubborn streak when it comes to training; just a bit of deaf ears when it suits............ food treats can usually win them around. But for the reward of companionship and loyalty the deaf ears is a small price to pay!! That said, be prepared to share your favourite seat or lose it completely - and yes you can train whippets to NOT go on the coach, chair, bed etc.... but expect the stare
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Post by carl19692 on Nov 17, 2012 16:24:12 GMT 1
When we got Mog we were told she has issues bonding and with men in particular..... no recall at all.
She is my constant companion, i only have to go out the door and back in and i am greeted like i have been away for hours. Her recall, without any work on it, is brilliant a shout or whistle and she is thundering towards me.
Oh and it goes wthout saying she is mad as a box of frogs!!
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Post by carrie on Nov 18, 2012 14:02:16 GMT 1
Sorry that things fell through with the Whippet you were interested in. If you haven't done so already, please do fill in an adoption form for Scruples. Even if it might appear that they've not got the right dog for you in at the moment, you don't know what other dogs there are which haven't been listed for rehoming yet (our Toby never appeared on the rehoming page). If you've filled an application and had a homecheck then you'll be all ready for when the right dog does come along.
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