Whippets and vizslas are quite popular dogs today. Their sweet demeanor and sleek, lovely coats make them adorable and exciting dogs for families. While they share some characteristics, these two dogs are unique in several ways.
If you’re planning to get a whippet vizsla mix or wondering if it’s a suitable choice for your home, you can be concerned about its probable behavior, appearance, and adaptability. Well, this post aims to provide you all the information you need about the whippet vizslas.
After you conclude reading this article, you’ll know if a whippet vizsla mix is the best canine for your home and how to effectively care for it to be the best buddy you desire.
What Is A Whippet Vizsla Mix?
Popularly called the Vizsla Whips, whippet vizslas are designer dogs developed by crossing purebred whippets and vizslas. They usually have mixed traits and personalities from their parents.
Both whippets and vizslas are naturally loving, gentle, loyal, and charming dogs. Vizslas tend to be more clingy to their owners and mostly need to be loved. They’re also energetic and playful like the whippets and require adequate exercise and romping to be happy.
Just like their parent breeds, whippet vizsla mixes are lively, energetic, charming, and affectionate dogs. They have the hardworking and versatile character from their vizsla parent, who enjoys having a job to do instead of idling.
Since this crossbreed has little history, it’s useful to understand it by digging deeper into its parents’ origin. Let’s take a quick peek at whippets and vizslas below.
The Whippet
Whippets are small-sized sighthounds bred from terriers and greyhounds to hunt and race. They’re believed to originate from England in the 1800s.
Snap Dog’ and poor man’s racehorse’ are other whippet nicknames they acquired for competing in races to help owners gain social status and a living.
Whippets still compete in obedience, rally, lure coursing, agility, and flyball today, but most owners keep them as apartment companions. Their sweet nature and dynamic energy make them effective working and show dogs.
Whippets are generally stylish, sociable, perky, charming, and affectionate. They require sufficient daily exercising to lower the high energy in their bodies. Since whippets rarely bark, there aren’t the best canines for people looking for a watchdog.
They’re an excellent choice for someone wanting a lively, sturdy, energetic but incredibly loving, and calm dog.
The Vizsla
Vizslas are famous for their unique red coats, versatility, and guiding ability. They developed in Hungary to help hunters with pointing and retrieving prey. Vizslas are naturally live pooches that love being busy and playing.
Their loyalty, athletic, and affectionate nature make them a famous canine breed for owners who love to be out and about. Vizslas mainly need love from their owners to thrive. They’re even considered Velcro canines because they highly get attached to their owners and family.
The vizslas’ Velcro nature can be related to their past and the primary reason they were bred. As the hunter’s best friend, vizslas were used to spending most of their time with their masters, a trait that’s still evident in today’s vizslas.
Despite their clinginess and sensitivity, vizslas are among the most hardworking and adaptable pooches globally. A vizsla would be happier when it has something to do. Daily exercises, hunting, and different dog games are great ways to indulge your vizsla.
Unlike whippets, vizslas love barking, moaning, and making funny noises to speak their mind. If you don’t control this trait early, a vizsla can be a recreational barker. But generally, they’re sporty, energetic, gentle, and affectionate dogs.
Whippet Vizsla Temperament
Whippets and vizslas are both devoted, friendly, gentle, and affectionate dogs. Therefore, you can expect your whippet vizsla cross to be super sweet, tranquil, loving, and adorable, just like its parents. Though calm and relaxed, whippet vizslas are incredibly vibrant and full of fun.
Your Vizsla Whip will require lots of daily exercises to burn off excess energy, be mentally stimulated, and stay fit. If left alone for long hours, it will get bored and start destroying things. It can also develop separation anxiety.
As hunting dogs, whippets and vizslas are highly predacious dogs, a trait they pass to their mixes. With its medium-sized body, your Vizsla Whip can easily take off from small openings in your home.
Therefore, proper fencing and obtaining a leash for your dog are crucial to guarantee its safety and your own peace of mind.
Whippet Vizslas are also intelligent and biddable canines. They quickly get bored; therefore, you should ready to indulge your pup in various activities and games.
Like their parents, vizsla whips are speedy and full of energy, making them excellent running, walking, jogging, and hiking buddies.
While whippets make poor watchdogs, Vizslas excel in this task. Therefore, their mixes can also be alert with keen senses like their vizsla parents, making them the best therapy, guide, and guard dogs, with retrieval and hunting instincts.
Whippet Vizsla Appearance
Whippets and vizslas come in different coat colours. Vizslas usually have rusty golden coats, which can assume different types of shades.
Whippets’ coat colorus are vast compared to vizslas. They can be either black, fawn, white, red, cream, blue, or brindle with various kinds of patches, spots, and blazes.
Whippet vizslas can assume the vizsla’s golden coats or the whippet’s coats, or a mixture of both parents’ coat appearance and pattern.
They can also get other unique lovely features like the vizsla’s flop ears, the whippet’s sweet, long face, and their parents’ sleek, beautiful short skin.
Since both its parents are medium-sized, a whippet vizsla mix is a moderately sized dog you can easily care for without breaking your bank.
A standard vizsla whip will measure about 20-23 inches, with a 25-60 pounds weight, with females being relatively smaller than the males.
Whippet Vizsla Mix Health
While whippets and Vizslas are usually healthy dog breeds, they’re susceptible to specific health issues common to their breed type. These issues can also affect their mixes if they inherit them. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure you get a healthy and well-bred pup.
When purchasing a puppy, it’s crucial the breeder shows you their; parents’ health clearance documentation to guarantee your dog’s health. This documentation shows if the parents were healthy and fit for breeding.
Whippets are more likely to get eye defects, hypothyroidism, cardiac aliments, congenital deafness, eye issues, von Willebrand’s disease, and cancer.
On the other hand, Vizslas are vulnerable to epilepsy, hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and lymphosarcoma.
A whippet vizsla mix can get any of the above infections. But with proper selection of parents, you can avoid most of these health issues can be.
If you want your pup to be always healthy and resistant to common dog health problems, timely vet check-ups and up-to-date vaccinations are crucial.
With proper healthcare and maintenance, a vizsla whip can live for about 12-15 years.
Caring For Your Whippet Vizsla Mix
Dogs are just like humans. They need food, exercise, medical attention, love, and other essential things to live longer and comfortably. Whippet vizsla mixes are among the easiest canines to care for, especially when it comes to grooming.
Their short coats are effortless to groom and are low shedders like their parents. You can brush your pup at least once a week and bathe it 1-2 times every two months.
Their short fur makes them more vulnerable to injuries. You should keenly check for any wounds during grooming and use softer brushes that won’t scratch them.
Proper diet and correct food amount are essential factors when raising any dog. Your dog’s food type and the amount may vary with its age, activity level, health, and metabolism level.
Your vet is your best consultant when changing your dog’s diet and finding out about the appropriate food type and amount suitable for it.
You should be keen not to underfeed or overfeed your dog. Having a feeding schedule and removing eating bowls after your dog eats are the best ways to ensure your puppy feeds correctly.
As playful dogs full of energy, vizsla Whips need adequate exercise and mental stimulation to burn out extra energy. Whippet Vizslas need around 1-2 hours of daily practice. They have an excellent smell sense too. Hence, you’ll need a leash to contain it.
It would be best if you also take your pup to various environments they can sniff and explore. Obedience training and housetraining are vital too if you want a disciplined and compliant dog.
However, you should ensure the training session is fun, engaging, and brief to get your pup’s full attention.
Praises and positive reinforcement can also go a long way in increasing the training’s effectiveness and success. It’s best to start training and socialisation early for your dog to grow as a responsible and courageous canine.
Is A Whippet Vizsla Mix Right For You?
Whippet vizslas are adorable medium-sized pooches with an affectionate nature and playful energy.
They’re best for people who can regularly exercise and play with them. As loving and sensitive canines, vizsla Whips need to be doted and adequately cared for to enjoy their company fully.
When loved, fed well, adequately groomed, exercised, and trained, whippet vizsla crosses are very fantastic companions. They’re energetic, friendly, calm, playful, and affectionate canines, excellent for active households.
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Hello. I’m Luke- the founder of WhippetCentral. I’m somewhat of a whippet nut and have been for most of my life. In that time, I’ve owned and raised numerous whippets. Bonnie is my latest girl; she is currently eight years old and keeps me very busy! Understanding the need for whippet-specific content, I decided to create this blog to share what I have learned and to share my expertise regarding owning and raising whippets – the right way!