Are you considering a whippet cross as your next furry companion? Have you considered a whippet golden retriever yet? If not, you should. Both golden retrievers and whippets are generally friendly, loyal, energetic, and loving in nature, so are their mixes.
Calm but highly playful, this whippet mix can be a great companion for someone who loves being made a fuss of. A whippet mix usually inherits the whippet’s vigor, agility, sweet, gentle soul, and the Golden Retriever’s top intelligence level and friendly nature.
The traits above are just a few of the many merits associated with whippet golden retriever mixes. Living with Golden whippets sounds like a fun and exciting escapade, but you need to know more about them to care for it properly and fully enjoy its company.
This article provides comprehensive details about golden whippets, including their history, temperament, health, life expectancy, appearance, and other essential information about this dog mix.
Read on to learn more about whippet golden retriever mix to know if it’s the right choice for you and the best way to care and maintain it for a happy and comfortable co-existence.
What Is A Whippet Golden Retriever Mix?
Also referred to as golden whippets, whippet golden retriever mixes results from crossbreeding purebred whippets and golden retrievers. If you love both the golden retriever and whippet personalities, getting this whippet mix will fully satisfy your desire.
Predicting the look and behaviour of your golden whippet is usually challenging as it inherits these features from both parents. Some mixes can look and behave more like the whippets or the Retriever, depending on which parent had the most dominant genes.
To understand more about golden whippets, you should know more about their parents. Here is some brief detail about whippets and golden retrievers.
The Whippet
Whippets are among the most famous sighthounds today. Their unrivaled speed, strength, and sweet nature make them excellent working and show dogs. Initially, people bred whippets to help them hunt and race to earn a living and social status.
Today, most dog owners keep whippets as family dogs and their sweet couch potatoes. Whippets can always enjoy cuddling and chilling with you watching your best TV shows. However, they also need adequate exercising to burn off excess energy.
They’re relatively intelligent, small-sized, easy to groom, and highly affectionate. As hunting dogs, whippets are highly predacious and love chasing small animals. Although they’re agile and jumpy, whippets are very friendly, charming, and gentle dogs.
They have a sweet face, sleek skin, and slim bodies that make them unsuitable for harsh weather conditions like extreme cold and heat.
Golden Retrievers
According to the AKC, golden retrievers are the third most popular dogs globally. These dogs are highly devoted, intelligent, and friendly.
According to Coren, a famous professor/researcher, the golden retrievers are the fourth most intelligent dogs in the canine community.
The name of this canine breed is derived from the dogs’ dense and lustrous golden coats. These dogs are sturdy, medium-sized, and muscular, with a straight muzzle, short ears, and sharp eyes. They’re incredibly friendly, gentle, outgoing, agile, wilful, and easy to train.
Golden retrievers are excellent hunting, tracking, sniffing, and therapy dogs. They’re also great in canine sports, just like the whippets. Since they were initially bred to retrieve waterfowls, expect your Golden Retriever to love fetching and swimming naturally.
The Appearance Of A Whippet Golden Retriever Mix
A golden whippet is a miniature version of a golden retriever and a slightly bigger version of a whippet. An average golden whippet stands in a 20-23 inches height and weighs about 25-65 pounds.
Their coats are likely to be golden or cream-colored and slightly shorter than purebred Retriever but a bit longer than a whippet.
You may expect the colour to vary depending on the parents’ coat colours. Most retrievers have golden cream and dark golden coat colours. On the other hand, whippets can be red, black, blue, cream, fawn, white, or brindle-colored.
The Temperament Of A Whippet Golden Retriever Mix
Like appearance, your golden whippet’s temperament isn’t guaranteed as it inherits the traits from two different breeds. Generally, golden whippets are playful, affectionate, loving, loyal, wilful, outgoing, and friendly canines, just like their whippet and golden retriever parents.
Since these dog breeds were both bred as working dogs, they’re highly energetic and resilient dogs. The mix of these dog breeds can be a great furry companion for individuals with active lifestyles.
Both whippets and retrievers thrive on their owners’ company and love, and they don’t like being left alone. The same applies to your Golden Whippet.
He might not be happy staying alone for long hours. Most often, dogs become destructive and may have separation anxiety when they’re alone for longer durations.
Whippet golden retriever mixes are also very predacious like their parents. Training them to control their prey drive and be obedient can go a long way in ensuring they’re happy and respectful.
The Health Of The Whippet Golden Retriever Mix
The whippets and golden retrievers’ lifespan ranges are 12-15 years and 10-12 years, respectively. Meaning their mixes can live approximately 10-15 years.
Several factors can affect the health and lifespan of your pup, including age, care level, feeding, and environment its raised.
While crossbreed dogs are generally resilient and less susceptible to diseases, they may suffer from their parents’ common health issues.
Both golden retrievers and whippets are usually healthy canine breeds, but they can suffer from several ailments like cataracts, hip and elbow dysplasia, eye and ear problems, and bloat.
Where you procure your pup from usually matters. It’s advisable to avoid puppy mills to avoid getting poorly-bred dogs. Also, frequent vet check-ups and vaccinations will help ensure your golden whippet is always on his feet and lives longer.
Caring For A Whippet Golden Retriever Mix
Adequate care is essential if you want your whippet mix to be full of life, healthy, and a perfect furry friend. Your whippet golden retriever mix requires proper feeding, regular grooming, adequate exercising, socialization, and training to be live comfortably and happily.
If your dog is happy, you’ll easily coexist without any problem. As highly energetic and agile pooches, golden whippets require enough daily exercise to burn out the excess energy in their bodies.
A healthy golden whippet needs about 45-60 minutes of daily exercise and mental stimulation.
You can take him hiking, running, walking, swimming, hunting, and other dog sports like tracking, agility, or obedience competitions. Lack of exercise can make your puppy have destructive traits like chewing and digging.
As moderate shedders, whippet golden retriever mixes need regular grooming routines to maintain their general cleanness and wellbeing. Constant brushing can help reduce the tangling and falling of hair.
You also need to trim your whippet mix’s nails, check his ears, brush their teeth regularly, and check for any pests for healthy living.
Proper feeding is also essential for your dog’s wellbeing. It’s best to feed your golden whippet the right type and amount of food every day. It would help if you didn’t underfeed or overfeed him as it may cause him to be overweight or malnourished, and thin.
If you don’t know the best amount or type of food for your dog, it would be best to ask your vet for further advice. You may feed your canine buddy both commercial and raw food for a balanced diet. It’s also important to know that the feeding may vary with your pup’s age and activity level.
Another essential thing your dog needs is proper training and socialisation. Most dogs thrive on motivation and praise for training to be effective. Therefore, you should remember to get more treats for those training sessions and only praise your pup when he acts correctly.
Ensure you make the training sessions fun, engaging, and brief as pups get bored and distracted easily. Usually, training a golden whippet is generally easy due to their intelligence and outgoingness.
How To Stop A Golden Whippet
Spotting a golden whippet is usually easy if you know whippets’ and golden retrievers’ features and traits. Usually, golden whippets are slightly bigger than purebred whippets and smaller than purebred Golden Retrievers.
The coat appearance can also distinguish Golden Whippets from their parents. Whippets generally have short and sleek coats, while retrievers have dense and double-layered coats.
Outer coats are usually water-repellent, while inner oats are thicker for heat insulation. Retrievers’ coats can be either wavy or straight.
On the other hand, Golden Whippets have shorter coats than retrievers, but not too short like whippet coats. Their coats are usually wispier and longer than those of whippets.
Final Thoughts
Whippet golden retriever mixes are charming, loving, and adorable dogs. Their warm and affectionate nature makes them great couch potatoes. On the other hand, their agility and vigor make them perfect hiking, walking, and running companions.
They’re excellent family dogs and are good with strangers, pets, and children. However, they need proper grooming, feeding, adequate exercising, love, and training to be obedient dogs, happy, and comfortable.
They hate staying alone; hence, they may not be a perfect choice for extremely busy individuals who can’t involve them in regular plays and other dog activities.
I’m hoping the above information helps you properly care for your Golden Whippet and experience how wonderful they are!
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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!