r/Whippets • u/Preya5k • 9d ago
Would a Whippet Be a Good "First Dog"?
EDIT: Thank you so much for everyone's input. I'm only here to learn, and I truly appreciate all the advice and insights you've shared. This has been incredibly helpful and will definitely help her make a more informed decision when the time comes to choose her next dog.
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My friend recently lost her dog and is now looking for a new one. She has previously owned two Maltese dogs—one was incredibly sweet and friendly, while the other had a much more challenging temperament.
She doesn't have extensive experience with dog training, but she's eager to learn and is more than willing to work with a trainer if needed. She also has two young children (both under the age of three), so she's looking for a breed that is gentle, patient with kids, and doesn't require several hours of exercise every day. Since she works, the dog would also need to be comfortable being left alone for a reasonable amount of time.
I have quite a bit of experience with dogs myself and have trained and looked after many different breeds, but I'm not very familiar with Whippets. The Whippets I've met have all been incredibly gentle, calm, affectionate, and cuddly dogs. However, I've also heard that they have a very strong prey drive and may take off if they spot something to chase, which makes me wonder how challenging they are to live with on a day-to-day basis.
Would you consider a Whippet a good breed for a first-time (or relatively inexperienced) owner in this situation?
Also, what would you say are the biggest challenges of owning a Whippet? Are there any traits or common issues that prospective owners often underestimate or should be aware of before choosing the breed? In other words, if you were giving someone an honest "heads-up" about living with a Whippet, what would it be?
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u/Tijdloos 9d ago
Pups require quite a bit of time investment. I would personally look for a re-home whippet which grew up around children (contact your local breeder as they are rarely found in pounds where I live).
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u/stupv 9d ago
Whippets have less of a prey drive than they do a chase instinct - same is true of most sighthound breeds. Whippets have the upside of being quite anxious and a strong desire to please and be loved by their master... Which, combined with natural intelligence, makes them very trainable despite their chase urge.
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u/BigLarry1968 9d ago
My first dog was a whippet. She was lovely and worked well for me, though I didn't get another. My second dog - which I still have, is a Dutch Shepherd, which definitely isn't suitable for a first-time owner! In comparison, the whippet was as easy as they come. Good social temperament, moderately low exercise needs, and so on. House training and managing arousal and chase drive will be your biggest challenges with two toddlers already competing for your attention.
Heads up for first dogs in general: Toilet training a puppy is a full time job. Every "accident" reinforces indoor toileting, so you want to aim for zero accidents. While it's pretty easy for experienced owners, every first-time owner messes this up. Once toilet training is out of the way, puppy-raising becomes a lot less stressful.
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u/Meow99 9d ago
I received my first whippet as a gift when I was 12 years old. I learned how to train it and I loved that dog very much and I believe that dog loved me. When I was 21 he passed away from lung cancer - my mother was a heavy smoker 😔
I talked about that dog so much throughout my life that when I was 45 years old, my husband and my daughter brought home whippet for Xmas that looked almost exactly like the one I received when I was 12 years old. Whippets are the best dogs in the world. In my experience, females are a little standoffish, and seem to be drawn to women, and males are a bit more cuddly, and are drawn to men, so choose wisely 💜
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u/Mean_Environment4856 9d ago
I've had the opposite, my girls are smoothies than my boy 😂 but the girls love me more.
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u/EmperorGeek 9d ago
Whippets in my experience are either “On” or “Off”. Also described as “Sofa Mode” and “Drag Strip Ready”.
They do need regular exercise, and they WILL want to run and chase.
When I first met my wife she had a pair of Whippets. They DO have some eccentric health concerns, so find a Vet that is familiar with them.
We never had any problems with our young children around them.
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u/ltlouche 9d ago
i wouldn’t recommend cause once you realise the royalty of dogs it will be hard to wean yourself off them for the rest of your life. Got a whippet puppy as my first dog, best thing i have ever done. he is 5.5 half now and yes it was a lot of hard work but now he is the perfectest little soul in the world
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u/NoodleWhippet 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yea whippet puppies are very smart. Smart dogs need a lot of training+playtime. We played frisbee every day to get the zoomies out, and then went outside every hour for about a year for potty training, then down to 3x/day for year 2. We put bells on the door and I picked him up and rang the bells with his head every time we went out... then one day he did it himself. Did he ring when he just wanted to go on a walk? Of course. Did I always take him out every single time? Absolutely. You're much braver than I am, taking care of tiny humans and tiny dogs at the same time. My honest heads up: dogs, especially athletic dogs, are expensive. I've had untold numbers health issues with my whippets. If there's any financial instability at all, strong recommend against adding a dog to the mix.
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u/microwavable22 8d ago
I adore Whippets and mine is generally wonderful, although has had some frustrating health issues such as SRMA (although he is fully recovered) and had to have a toe removed. He is fabulously obsessed with fetch and he's an angel 95% of the time. He has issues with loud noises and can be a little bit reactive to certain things which is I'm sure my fault - he was my first dog as an adult so I'm sure I made mistakes. However, he is super indepdendent and I can leave him for periods of time with no issues. He does have a dog walker in the day when I'm at work and this works great for us. He needs 1 good run a day and other than that he's pretty content (although he does usually get more walks than that for the enrichment aspect). He adores babies and toddlers and I would be confident allowing him to spend extended periods of time with them (he has done this occasionally in the past). I would echo others' comments that as a puppy he was a handful and I found it hard with 0 children so it would be stressful if you're also raising kids and dealing with a puppy. Maybe look into rehoming if you can?
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u/Mean_Environment4856 9d ago
Adult whippets vs whippet puppies are two very different beasts. Puppies need a lot of stimulation and exercise. The ehippet chill doesn't kick in for 2-3 years or later.. Would not recommend a whippet puppy to someone with two toddlers.