Are Bigger Heavier Whippets Better For Work????

[Ideation 8,216]

Keepitcovert - Very good points mate, I watch my lurcher, and my whippet running, and he has a faster running action, and yet she covers ground quicker. I put it down to stride length, power etc.

 

AAron - I agree that you can't really compare them to a lurcher in many ways, but i've seen plenty of 22" lurchers. Obviously with the right lurcher you will get a lot more stamina, durability etc. But many lurchers have no more than my whippet. He's easily capable of a few nights on the bounce 20-40 runs a night (we don't have enough rabbits local to run more), and I imagine could do a fair bit more if given the opportunity regularly. Mind you, I also have a lurcher, it's horses for courses.

[jukel123 8,314]

The best mooching rabbit dog I've had was a 17 inch whippet bitch from racing lines. She could catch rabbits on a regular basis when they were only 10 or so yards from their burrows. Also the most loyal bitch I ever had. Started to 'shadow ' me on the day I brought her home at 6weeks old. Game as any pitbull and a brilliant house dog.

I've got a couple of bigger working type whippets at the moment, I love em to bits, but If I were to get another I'd go for a wee race dog.

[wuyang 513]

I'm a fan of small robust whippets....as they should be in my eyes. I'd be more bothered about the poor skin and coat that seems to be the norm with a lot working whippets these days.

Edited July 18, 2014 by wuyang

[carp king 155]

astanley you hit it right on the head , wonder why the big kennels never thought that bigger heavyer whipps had more stamina and better for work years ago ,its simple they never and werent ........very interesting articles in the countrymans weekly the last couple of weeks on the pre ban coursing whippet ,, the whippet has changed a lot these days ................

[COMPO 54]

As an owner of my first whippet pup (have previously had lurchers) this is an interesting thread.

 

There are pluses on being big and being small...... But if I wanted a bigger whippet I would get a greyhound

 

Not sure on what size my pup will end up......

[stevemac 441]

depends on the work.

[Hareydave 1,214]

feckn hate whippets

[Meeks 153]

Lol how come?

[nothernlite 18,089]

feckn hate whippets

snap

[Hareydave 1,214]

show type that is. the coursing bitch I had was a good strong whippet an could take a knock

[aaron the coursing man 144]

I have a mate in my town I went to flimby dog show with he has a little bitch ther as fast as lightening it won every race but I think the lad would tell ya his self it would be no good for working ect lamping

[slip lead 862]

This big enough for ya

 

[brenner 773]

Dont know how to add a link but if you google " whippet archives sooty sam" just to use him as one exampel , and keep clicking on any dog in the last generation of ped all the way back to dogs in the early 1900's you will notice that alot of the dogs at that time dont apear any smaller in general to the whippets of today. That being said I have seen some freaks of ped whippets around ( from a couple of different lines aswell as s.sam)that really look like they have thrown back to something else snuck into these tidy peds but they are definitely in the minority from what I can tell. So putting the freak whippets aside, I say to the lads with whippets that are on the stronger taller side,, if they run like a whippet,look like a whippet, have the do or die attitude of a WELL BRED whippet , have the trainability and willingness to please of a well bred whippet and most importantly hunt like a whippet Ie. With the nose and lightning sharp response to bolters and an almost uncanny knowledge of were the next bolter is gonna spring from then my vote goes to the 21/22" whippet who has certain advantages over the smaller whippet. Obviously there are smaller whippets out there that would put bigger ones to shame on bunnies, but like was mentioned above even if all things are equal on bunnies ide still like the option to take the odd red lad that I might come across

[shaaark 10,876]

Dont know how to add a link but if you google " whippet archives sooty sam" just to use him as one exampel , and keep clicking on any dog in the last generation of ped all the way back to dogs in the early 1900's you will notice that alot of the dogs at that time dont apear any smaller in general to the whippets of today. That being said I have seen some freaks of ped whippets around ( from a couple of different lines aswell as s.sam)that really look like they have thrown back to something else snuck into these tidy peds but they are definitely in the minority from what I can tell. So putting the freak whippets aside, I say to the lads with whippets that are on the stronger taller side,, if they run like a whippet,look like a whippet, have the do or die attitude of a WELL BRED whippet , have the trainability and willingness to please of a well bred whippet and most importantly hunt like a whippet Ie. With the nose and lightning sharp response to bolters and an almost uncanny knowledge of were the next bolter is gonna spring from then my vote goes to the 21/22" whippet who has certain advantages over the smaller whippet. Obviously there are smaller whippets out there that would put bigger ones to shame on bunnies, but like was mentioned above even if all things are equal on bunnies ide still like the option to take the odd red lad that I might come across

Agree with most of what you've written there, and as I've posted a while back, big whippets have been around for as long as they've been called whippets, and are certainly not a new thing. I owned a 21" bitch, her dam being 21" and the sire 22", and a dog just over 22" (both with papers and registered) from slightly different lines, in the early 80's, and I didn't consider them to be out of the ordinary, as I'd seen dogs of similar size plenty of times before I owned them.

[COMPO 54]

thinking about whippet sizes............the breed is still a relatively new one and was made using racey terriers and small greyhounds, so i suppose its inevitable that we still have occasional taller greyhound throw backs too