Whippet mixes are the most adorable and spunky designer dogs today. If you select the dog that you breed whippets with carefully, you can end up with a highly adaptable and unique pup for your home.
One of the famous and highly charming whippet mixes is the whippet Dachshund mix. If you’re looking for a bold, loving, gentle, and yet highly energetic whippet mix, the whippet Dachshund mix will suit you well.
The whippet’s tranquillity, charm, sleekness, and agility combined with the Dachshund’s alertness, energy, boldness, and vibrant personality make a whippet Dachshund mix puppy a real charmer, with a stunning coat and other exciting features of its parents.
While having such a cute dog in your home sounds fantastic, not knowing how to care for him can significantly make life hard for him and you.
This article outlines all the essential information about whippet Dachshund crosses, including their history, temperament, appearance, health, and other crucial information to help you select the best whippet Dachshund mix and adequately care for him.
What Is A Whippet Daschund Mix?
Also known as a whiphund, a whippet Dachshund mix is a dog that is half purebred whippet and half Dachshund. This dog usually has a mixed temperament inherited from both parents.
Some may look and behave more like a whippet or the Dachshund, depending on the parent with more dominant genes.
In order to understand more about the whiphund, it’s wise to dig deeper into the parent’s history and personality.
Here is brief information about the whippet and Dachshund to help you understand more about their mixes.
Brief Detail About The Whippet
Bred mainly for hunting and racing, whippets are among the fastest dogs in the canines family, they can run at speeds of up to 57 km per hour.
They originated from England during the 1800s, where they were bred from greyhounds and terriers and later bred again with Italian greyhounds to give them their sleek and elegant look.
Whippets usually are called the greyhounds’ miniature due to their small greyhound-like bodies.
During the ancient days, people nicknamed the whippet a poor man’s racehorse’ because owners used them in coursing competitions to earn a living and gain social status, besides hunting rabbits for food.
Whippets are incredibly charming, agile, affectionate, calm, and very gentle dogs. They’re short-furred that makes them highly sensitive to extreme weather conditions like cold and high temperatures.
While they’re independent thinkers, they’re trainable and obedient dogs that love to please.
They’re good with other pets, but you’ll have to tame their high prey drive if you have other miniature pets like cats and rabbits in the house.
Brief Detail About The Daschund
The dachshund dog breed originated from Germany during the 1400s. They come in two different sizes, miniature and standard, with three coat types; smooth, longhaired, and wirehaired.
Standard Dachshunds were initially bred to smell, chase, and force out hole-dwelling animals and badgers.
Miniature dachshunds were bred for hunting small animals. They’re also known to help to track injured deer and hunt prairie canines in the US. While whippets are sighthounds, the dachshunds are scent hounds, trained mainly to hunt by scent.
The Dachshund’s legs are short and robust to dig out animals and get into holes quickly. They have flapping ears and curved tails for a reason.
Flapping ears help prevent diet from entering their canal, while curved tails help pull them easily if they get stuck on animals’ burrows.
The Appearance Of The Whippet Daschund Mix
Whiphunds usually have silky coats and are slightly smaller than standard whippets and somewhat more prominent than standard dachshunds. Mostly the appearance of your whippet Dachshund mix will depend on the characteristic of the parents.
Breeding whippets with wire-coated dachshunds will probably develop crosses with wire-coated fur while longhaired dachshunds and produce whippet dachshund mixes with longer coats too, and the same case may apply to short-haired dachshunds.
Most whippet daschund mixes weigh about 18-35 pounds, which may vary depending on whether you breed a whippet with a standard or miniature Dachshund. Your whiphunds colour may vary based on the bred whippet and dachshunds colour.
Standard coat colours in dachshunds are red, chocolate, fawn, brown, cream, brindle, and rarely black due to rare recessive genes. Most dachshund colour patterns are sable, liver and tan, tan and blue, merle, spotted, flecked, and bicolour.
Whippet coats can be either black, white, fawn, red, blue, cream, brindle, and other more combinations of the aforementioned colours, which can be spots, patches, or blazes form.
Your whippet can assume any of the above colors or a mixture of them depending on the parents’ coat colors.
The Temperament Of The Whippet Daschund Mix
Your whiphund’s can behave more like that of the whippet or the Dachshund. Most of the traits of these two purebred dogs are almost alike.
They’re both hunting dogs, highly energetic, charming, friendly, good family dogs, loyal, and easy to groom.
Therefore, your whippet daschund mix is more likely to have all these attractive traits. He can be super sprightly and speedy and require enough daily exercise to burn out excess energy for comfortable living and a healthy mental state.
Therefore, this mix might not be the best option for busy individuals who don’t have time to exercise and play with them. Whiphunds can sometimes be stubborn, which is why early obedient training and socialisation is essential.
Whiphunds are loving, calm, love attention, and hate to be left alone. Leaving your whippet daschund mix alone in the house can cause him to suffer from separation anxiety, leading to destructive behavior like chewing.
So, when you’re away from home for a while, it’s best to leave him under someone else’s care.
The Health Of The Whippet Daschund Mix
Your whiphund can sometimes suffer from common health disorders his parents had, but the good news is dog mixes are generally more resilient to health problems and have better general health compare to purebreds.
The key to selecting a healthy whiphund that’s less susceptible to doggy diseases is by getting him from a reputable breeder or animal rescue.
You’re advised to avoid puppy mills since most of them don’t select the dogs they breed carefully and don’t usually care about pups’ health.
You should highly avoid breeders that don’t guarantee their puppy’s health. A trustworthy breeder should honestly tell you about the pup’s health, potential health problems, how to address them, provide you with certifications of the parent dogs’ health, and let you inspect where he/she keeps the dogs.
Doing this will help you know if the puppy you want to adopt or buy is well-taken of, been staying in a clean environment, and whether or not to worry about its health.
Common health problems your whiphund may suffer from are dysplasia, back, knee, and skin problems, which are all a threat to both whippets and dachshunds.
It’s best to take your whiphund to vet check-ups and ensure his vaccinations are up-to-date to guarantee his health.
Caring For A Whippet Daschund Mix
Training, exercising, and grooming your whippet dachshund cross are among the vital care routines you shouldn’t miss.
Usually, dachshunds are low shedders while whippets are medium-shedders, so expect your whippet daschund mix to shed a little.
Investing in an effective vacuum cleaner will help you clean floors quickly. Regular bathing is essential too, but you should not overdo it to avoid drying out your whiphund’s skin.
Whiphunds are energetic dogs, so they’ll require adequate daily exercise to lower their energy levels. Exercising may include frequent playing, running, walks, or taking him on hikes with you.
It would be best if you also socialised him to stay comfortably with other people and pets.
Whiphunds are also intelligent, a trait they inherit from both parents. Therefore, training them won’t easy. But with patience and consistency, you’ll successfully train him to be obedient and housetrained.
The best training technique for these dogs is using the reward approach, where you give treats and praise your pup for everything he does right.
Tolerating any bad behaviour isn’t right; it’ll make him develop a bad habit and breaking it won’t be so easy.
Although they’re agile and energetic, whiphunds get bored quickly. Making the training sessions brief, fun, and engaging while using treats will help improve their attention and make them more eager for more lessons.
Feeding your puppy high-quality and proper food amounts is essential for him to be fit and healthy. The food amount and type may vary based on the pup’s age and activity.
If you involve your whiphund in highly strenuous tasks, you should ensure to feed him adequately.
You shouldn’t underfeed or overfeed him. Overfeeding him will only make him obese, increasing his susceptibility to health issues like hip dysplasia, and he won’t be able to live his average 12-15 years.
Underfeeding your pup will make him grow thinner and less active and can lead to unwanted behaviors like running away and stealing.
Feed your whippet daschund mix a wide variety of food types, including a raw diet to help keep them nice and strong.
If you don’t know the right food type and amount for your whiphund, it’s best to consult your vet for more advice and recommendations.
Final Thoughts
Whippet dachshund mixes are adorable, agile, and loving family dogs.
Their sweet loving nature and highly energetic bodies make them great couch potatoes while at the same time best walking, hiking, and running dogs.
Understanding your whiphund’s personality can help you know the best caring and maintenance requirements for him.
The above information will help you understand your whippet daschund mix better and give him the best love and care possible without a hassle.
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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!