Living With A Whippet: What's It Like?

Owning a whippet is usually an exciting and pleasant prospect for many dog owners. Their history, sweet and loving nature, gentleness, agility, and intelligence are among the many reasons many people crave this tiny greyhound-like canine.

However, most individuals usually don’t understand what’s it like to live with whippets, how they truly behave, what they need, how they feed and care and how to maintain them to be comfortable, happy, and healthy.

Knowing the above is pivotal if you intend to have a whippet and enjoy its presence in your home. If you still don’t know, there’s no need to worry.

This article aims at exploring everything you should know about living with a whippet, including training, feeding, grooming, personality, health, exercise requirement, and proper diet.

Table of Contents

Preparation For Living With A Whippet

Bringing a new puppy home is a nice feeling, but it requires proper preparation and planning. Although whippets are fun dogs, they can be a great nuisance and quite expensive especially if you’re not fully ready for them.

Dogs have needs just like humans, and you always keep that in mind when buying a dog, particularly whippets. So, how can you prepare yourself to live with a whippet?

Here are several ways you adequately prepare for a whippet;

Consult With Your Family

Living with a whippet is a commitment, and you should talk to other family members to see if they’re ready or willing for it.

You can discuss how the dog will be taken care of, areas it can and can’t access, sleeping and eating plans of the whippet, and any essential information or ground rules that will govern the whippet’s wellbeing.

This aspect is crucial, particularly for busy people. Whippets are sensitive and tend to have separation anxiety when left alone. You might want to know he’ll be okay when you’re out during the day.

Ensure Your Whippet Has Toys & A Place To Sleep

It’s best to have a specific place you intend your whippet to sleep or rest while in the house. Usually, dogs will get curious or uneasy in new homes.

Therefore, it’s advisable to set aside a spot in your house where he can sleep or play without destroying your things and feeling uncomfortable.

Your whippet’s resting place should clean and safe too. You should remove any poisonous plants, cables, ornaments, or anything it can chew and cause harm to its health and overall wellbeing.

Ensure Your Whippet Has Clothing, Food & Bedding

It’s very wrong to view a dog as just an animal because they need everything you also need, including food, shelter, clothing, water, enough sleep, and socialisation.

Before bringing a whippet home, you should ensure you get the right food, warm clothing, comfortable beddings, eating bowls, and any other necessities your whippet will need to be settled and healthy.

Whippets have short fur and slim bodies; therefore, they require warm and fitting clothing to keep them warm during those cold, snowy, rainy, and draughty nights and seasons. The best clothing and bedding are those that are machine-washable for easy and fast cleaning.

Your whippet bedding should be slightly raised to protect it from cold from the floor and draught.

Purchase A Doogy Crate

One way or another, your whippet will need crate training, particularly during housetraining. A crate is also essential for easy transportation. It can act as a sleeping area or securing the whippet when leaving or busy doing other things around the house.

Living with a whippet can be daunting before you train it. It’s usually tricky to command it and teaching it potty manners. A crate can be an excellent solution for such problems. You should ensure to get the correct crate size for it to be effective.

Your whippet should be able to lie, move, and stand inside it comfortably. You can put in it soft and warm beddings to make it a cosy resting area. It shouldn’t be extra spacious to prevent your pup from using its corners as an elimination spot.

Buy Potty-Training Provisions

Whippets need potty training too, particularly the puppies, or they’ll soil all over your house. To easily live with a whippet, you should start training it to eliminate outside as early as possible. However, most puppies can’t control their bowel movements and bladder well.

Therefore, you can get puppy pads to prevent him from eliminating in the house, especially during nighttime when he can’t go outside.

What You Should Know About Living With A Whippet

The whippet’s admirable, athletic and small manageable sizes, elegance, and speed have made them a pretty popular canine breed today. In order to live with your whippet happily, there are several tips and facts you should understand about this dog breed.

Whippet Care & Maintenance

Caring for whippets isn’t hard. Their short, smooth, and silky coats make it easy to groom compared to other dog breeds with long and furry coats. You can easily maintain your whippet’s gleaming coat by merely rubbing its coat using a damp chamois.

The brushing should be frequent, but you can only bathe it once in a while, for example, when hits coat is dirty. Another good thing about whippets is that they shed less and their coats are odour-free.

Due to their skinny bodies and short-haired coats, whippets are sensitive to parasite bites. Therefore, you should always check their bodies for any ticks and fleas and destroy them—however, it’s better to prevent them than wait until they infest your whippet.

It’s essential that you trim your whippet’s nails, have its ears and teeth checked more often, and always ensure their slim bodies are well-protected from cold and harsh weather.

Whippets also don’t do well when left alone for more extended periods. Therefore, you should leave your whippet under someone’s care when you’re not at home.

Whippet Diet Needs

Whippets’ diet usually differs with age and activity level. Either way, all whippets require a complete and balanced diet to keep their tiny and muscular bodies fit and healthy. You can feed your whippet dry dog food plus some fresh meat.

Whippet puppies usually enjoy chicken necks because they have soft bones that they easily chew and swallow, and they also help them loosen teeth milk. As your whippet grows, gradually introduce it to food suitable for its age and activity level.

Older and active whippets can comfortably thrive on more meaty bones and ‘active’ dry foods. As it gets older and less active, you also need to change its food amount and type until it adapts gradually. Your aim is maintaining a healthy weight; you don’t want to be underfed or overfed.

Dogs thrive on routines and consistency. Therefore, you should feed it at a consistent time, food amount, and intervals every day to develop a good eating habit. You should also remember to remove the bowls after your dog finishes eating.

If you don’t know the right food type and quantity for your dog, you should ask your vet for advice.

Whippets Exercise Requirements

Generally, whippets require adequate daily exercise, but in shorts bursts. Averagely, whippets require up to 60 minutes of exercise daily. It can be either daily walks, runs, hikes, training, playing, or simply any activity that involves your pup’s energy.

Since they’re highly predacious, you should take your whippet out when on-leash and well-fenced fields to quickly get a grip of him when he decides to chase on prey.

To easily live with a whippet, you should train him to respond to your commands promptly and walk off-leash. This way, he can freely without worrying about losing him.

You can secure your yard and home well for your dog to explore on his own; it’s necessary for its mental sanity and adjustment.

The Cost Of Living With A Whippet

Whippets can be quite pricey to own, particularly for first-time owners. You need to be prepared for the set-up costs, purchase, and any other ongoing costs you’ll incur while raising your lovely canine buddy.

Some of the set-costs include puppy vaccines, neutering expenses, and equipment purchase such collar, harness, dog bed and bowls, toothbrushes, toys, grooming brushes, and tags.

Examples of ongoing expenses include food expenses, preventive healthcare, vet bills, pet insurance, and other accessories like poo bags and replacement of broken or torn equipment.

If you’re busy during the day, you should also budget additional expenses like boarding and day-care costs.

Training Your Whippet

Whippets aren’t highly trainable and quick at picking up things like other dogs, such as the German Shepards. Therefore, you’ll have to be very patient and committed when training your whippet tricks, socialisation skills, and obedience.

If you don’t want to struggle living with a whippet, you should start training him immediately you bring him home.

Puppies normally learn faster than older dogs. Teach your whippet the essential command cues, housetrain and socialise him and you’ll love the feeling of owning a whippet.

Whippets Are Fun, Energetic & Lving

If you’re looking for a dog that has tons of energy and loves to explore outdoors, then a whippet could be the right choice for you.

The American Kennel Club say that whippets are known for their well mannered temperament, making them a pleasure to own and relatively easy to train with proper guidance.

Living with a whippet is a jow that I believe everyone should experience, this breed is often overlooked but is one that brings grat joy to many whippet owners around the world.

Final Thoughts

Living with a whippet can be fun and exciting if you understand this dog breed well. If you train, feed, exercise, care, groom, and socialise them well, whippets can incredibly turn your life around. Their sweet nature and elegance make them excellent therapy dogs too.

They are willing to obey and are royal canines. Combining these traits with their charming, friendly, and loving personality, you’ve got a perfect dog for your home.

Living with a whippet is fun for all the family, they love exercise and to take long walks in the countryside with their owners. They are a bundle of joy and will cheer you up on your down days, they really are one of the best dog breeds in the world.

Living With A Whippet: What’s It Like?