New whippet owner

[bluebrindle 0]

Hi all, I have recently been lucky enough to re-home a large whippet. He lacks a certain joy which I have thought to be cured by trying to test out his hnting instincts. After a lot of fruitless walks in wooded areas I cme across an old quarry today where we finally had a full tail wag and pright ears. He found in an open field and chased a rabbit, which I thought he had lost only to find him with it, dead and him licking it gently (perhaps as if he didnt realise he had killed it?) It took a long time and some growling from myself to pull him off it- it was a big rabbit which he couldn't lift. I want my boy to be a shappy working like this and as a horse owner who has suffered the damage caused by rabbits I am happy to control the population this way but am worried about changing his temp, and the length of recall- I am very scared he will run off forever etc. Sorry for being girly abot my dog but to watch him today was awesome, esp as he was so happy but couldn't loose my best mate to high spirits either way. What are your tips for getting him to "hear" me when in the thick of it? Thanks all, sorry for being naive!

[bluebrindle 0]

He is two, not a lot of history known but extremely devoted usually- hates to be out of my sight etc.

[Ideation 8,216]

Firstly you've done pretty well. A lot of folk would be very hapy to end up with a dog that on its first chase put up and killed a rabbit. First bit of advice is next time, praise him. If you dont like the idea of him running off after game then give him to someone who does, because it's hard wired into him and what he will do. If your ok with it then build a good bond with him, spend a lot of time with him and work on the recall, get him coming back on a command or whistle. Then work on retrieving. The time he puts, up a rabbit, courses it, catches it and brings it back tail waging will be one of the best of your life.

[Ideation 8,216]

By the way sounds like a good dog - any pics?

[bluebrindle 0]

Thanks for that, will work on the recall first. He is a very sensitive chap who I have mollycoddled to get some condition on him and he gets a few flat out runs day and night on the beach. He's excellent around small children and my friend's cat, shows no interest in stock or birds ( well seagulls!)I just want to make sure that he knows when he is "working" or not if that is possible. I will certainly post some pics when I have some with him not in some sleeping/rugged up pose or another. Cheers again

[bluebrindle 0]

Thanks for that, will work on the recall first. He is a very sensitive chap who I have mollycoddled to get some condition on him and he gets a few flat out runs day and night on the beach. He's excellent around small children and my friend's cat, shows no interest in stock or birds ( well seagulls!)I just want to make sure that he knows when he is "working" or not if that is possible. I will certainly post some pics when I have some with him not in some sleeping/rugged up pose or another. Cheers again

 

 

Oh and sorry, a more inportant question. He won't chase anything like a ball, toy etc to retreive it....in fact he won't "play" with anything- if I get him bones etc he'll try to slink off with thm somewhere so I get him to bring them back to me in the house but outside he has to play chase with me, which involves a LOT of walking away quietly then calling him. Any ideas? or are whippets just not the tennis ball type? Thanks again

[skycat 6,173]

If only dogs could talk! He can't tell you what his life was like before you had him, but it does sound as though he hadn't had much positive interaction with humans.

 

 

If he runs off and catches a rabbit, go to him,praising him all them time. Retrieving might come later, but for the moment you don't want to do anything negative like growling him off it. Just pick the rabbit up by the hind legs, with him still holding it, and walk on/back/home or whatever: telling him all the time how good he is. He will eventually let go and prance along by you side. If you must throw the rabbit away, do so when he can't see you: he should think that you are pleased with his catch. If you can skin the rabbit and feed him on it so much the better! Google BARF!

 

The best thing for getting him to come to you instantly, happily, is to throw a dried rabbit skin rolled up: attach it to a about 6 foot of string so he can't run off with it, and when he runs to grab it praise him like mad and call him, reeling him in if necessary.

 

I've found with some sighthound types which haven't been properly played with as youngsters, and even some that have, they won't retrieve balls but will happily retrieve things they have caught.

[Dan37 6]

Thanks for that, will work on the recall first. He is a very sensitive chap who I have mollycoddled to get some condition on him and he gets a few flat out runs day and night on the beach. He's excellent around small children and my friend's cat, shows no interest in stock or birds ( well seagulls!)I just want to make sure that he knows when he is "working" or not if that is possible. I will certainly post some pics when I have some with him not in some sleeping/rugged up pose or another. Cheers again

 

 

Oh and sorry, a more inportant question. He won't chase anything like a ball, toy etc to retreive it....in fact he won't "play" with anything- if I get him bones etc he'll try to slink off with thm somewhere so I get him to bring them back to me in the house but outside he has to play chase with me, which involves a LOT of walking away quietly then calling him. Any ideas? or are whippets just not the tennis ball type? Thanks again

 

Hi, I have two whippets myself -wonderful dogs. When young neither had much of a toy chase drive, I found the best way to get them interested in chasing was to hold the ball in front of them and get all excited about it (say 'do you want this', 'look at this' etc in a silly excited voice) then run away from the dog with it, if he follows you because your running, great, if not call him to you - but keep running yourself. Once he's moving with you throw the ball forward and give your 'fetch' command - instinct should take over and he'll go after the ball. Once he has it work on the retrieve.

 

Once he has the ball and starts coming back to you take a second ball out of you pocket as he approaches and act all excited about that, then once he nears throw it away, in the opposite direction from which he is coming from. He'll then chase that (hopefully).

 

Once he's happy chasing you can work on the retrieve. And as everyone has said, remember lots of praise and initially at least keep training sessions fairly short and varied (don't work on the same command for too long in one go) whippets tend to get bored fairly quickly

[bluebrindle 0]

Thanks guys, brilliant advice. Worked on recall this morning, making sure he came all the wayback to me rather than a half hearted attempt where I had to catch up. Will try all that you suggested and yes I was considering the BARF approach in conjunction with our little trips. The good dog man in our area is currently rather ill so really appreciate help over the net. Think if he could talk it would be a sad tale- he did have a lovely owner but she had JR's and other dogs too and he really likes a one to one. So glad that he's starting to get his mojo back!

Heres the best pic I could find, not very "actiony" I'm afraid...

[sean925 2]

I have a 14 month old whippet and while I was training she would retrieve every time now that she's retrieving live game she won't even lift a ball or rabbit dummy she sprints up knows it's not game and will just come back on recall.Try and train the dog to recall with a dog whistle.treats shuld help this. Then when your whippet chases and hopefully catches a bunny recall with whistle the dog will hopefully bring the catch back.

[bluebrindle 0]

Thanks for that, another member suggested a whistle too so have just ordered one. Very excited for him now as got lots of ideas to get him "playing" and better on recall for a bit of working. Should I encourage him to linger over his kill or let me pick it up straight away? Sorry for being so naive- I can train horses but the dog is impressivley clever (won't let the horse hear that!)

[staffs riffraff 1,068]

Very refreshing to see that don't take this wrong but an ordinary member of public getting a dog then bringing it out of himself doing what there meant to hope you hey what I'm trying say but just keep getting his trust sounds like he was a quiet dog in a very rowdy pack and just very unsure of himself good luck with him n get him catching his dinner

[sean925 2]

Once his recall is spot on and you have a bond with the dog you will see progress . Ideally you would want the dog retrieving the catch if Possible. After the dog catches it's next rabbit recall the dog with the whistle if that's the method you are using the dog will hopefully bring the rabbit back with it. If so give the rabbit back to the dog this worked wonders for me with my bitch. Work on the recall before anymore hunting though.

[bluebrindle 0]

Hey, take that as a compliment. Always enjoyed watching hounds work so just trying to get a similar smile on his face. Finding it all fascinating- Am a fimr believer that everyone, animals and peole get on a lot better eating and living as nature designed them to but will have to work up the nerve to skin a rabbit...

[bluebrindle 0]

Slightly better pic-showing no interest in sitting bunnies, maybe just switches on when he finds?