Banjoman

A whippet person here so please don't forget a photo of them too.

Wonderful memories of a very special friendship!

I have never had a dog yet who would touch a Nylabone!

Oh boy, are you in for some fun. i've done 4 whippet puppies and by the end of the first week I looked exhausted! wouldn't have had it any other way!!

I was so thankful that I still had Chancey after my whippet Banjo had to be p.t.s. after a sudden & unexpected disk problem left him paralysed last year. Having had multiple dogs for the past twenty years I've always been grateful for the remaining one/s to help through the grief but then I've tried to find another as soon as possible, not to 'replace' the one who died but to fill the hole they left in my heart. I have found the interest, preparation and excitement of getting ready for a new family member is better than sitting at home mourning the one who died. The only reason i still have just Chancey by herself is because she can be a screaming, leaping whirlwind if she sees small dogs running around in the forest where we walk daily. I have to hang on to her lead and try to keep her under control (after 2 years she is improving) so although I would love another whippet I know i have my hands full with her and cannot honestly adopt another dog for a while yet. I know how distressing it can be when one of your dogs has to be p.t.s. at such a young age, I had to make that decision with one whippet just a day after his 6th birthday, luckily I had Banjo to keep me company until a little Japanese Chin made her home with us for 8 years. When I could see her failing I started looking for a greyhound and look what I got!

My grandson and Chancey - they stayed like this for over half an hour.

I know Salukis as 'horizon dogs' - when let off lead they disappear over the horizon, one of the reasons I decided that a greyhound from the RGT might be a better option than a saluki lurcher (and most of them seem to be like that) when I started looking for another dog. Welcome and good luck with your search and choice.

I have to keep a muzzle on Chancey when we are out in "forested areas" because my insurance insist on it. When I applied for insurance and they asked if she had attacked another dog or animal I truthfully said I had just got her but as she was a retired racer it was possible she might want to chase & catch another smaller dog or a cat. Wearing a muzzle was a condition of the insurance cover. As it happens she is a bouncing idiot around other dogs and still has her chasing instinct so wherever we are out walking I keep a muzzle on her for her own safety, so that she couldn't get herself into trouble & be put down because she is a "Dangerous dog". I deliberately chose a bright pink muzzle for her so that she does not look too threatening.

Sad though it is, you know in your heart that you did the right thing for her and that is all that a houndie who loves us can ask from her loving owner. Run fast and free Pearl.

Do you want to wait until she really is in pain or you cannot get her to a vet (or a vet to her) quickly when you need to? I believe in letting them go on a good day while they are still happy. Always "Better a day too early etc."

Have you shown Gf the photos of the two dogs snuggled up together? If he saw how well they get on together and that Arthur really loves being with Sam maybe he might reconsider?

Greyhounds and whippets seem to know their own kind & usually seem to accept each other even though they are a different size. I lost my whippet in May last year and miss him a great deal, not least because he was of a size that we could cuddle up together on the settee. I had him for eleven years and he was my dog completely. Chancey takes up most of the settee and there's no way I can curl up around her and whilst she comes to me for a fuss I don't have that same relationship with her. If Chancey was well behaved when out walking i would be looking for another whippet now but she is over reactive to other dogs when we are out walking in the forest & I have enough of a job holding on to her without trying to cope with a new dog with quirks I do not know. i hope that sometime I will return to a two dog household and one will be a whippet! Enjoy your new addition but just make sure you give Sam time and attention too.

When I first got her Chancey didn't like going out into the back garden at night, possibly because it was quite dark out there. I had one wet carpet the second evening, when I sent her out and she did nothing, then came back in and 5 minutes later she did a wee. After that I took her out on the lead until she did something - the weather wasn't conducive to toileting out side, I must admit. If you are expecting to crate Free during the daytime I think it is only fair that she has freedom of movement when you are home at night. I crate Chancey downstairs at night (I'm home virtually all day), I've never had dogs in the bedroom. If I have been out in the evening and had to crate her (I don't trust her not to eat things she shouldn't), I stay up late so that she has time to stretch and move around before I crate her again at bedtime.

Out of four male whippets that I have owned only one was neutered and he put on weight around his middle and was always after food. It was really difficult to keep his svelte figure. The neutering seemed to make him dog aggressive, maybe because he felt more vulnerable than before? I have had up to four entire dogs at a time and they were all OK together. As I would rather not have my dogs have any operation under anaesthetic unless it was absolutely necessary I wouldn't bother with neutering as long as you are very careful to keep him safely under lock and key at home so that he cannot escape if he is aware of an in season bitch in your locality!

Whippet puppies usually have their dew claws removed a couple of days after birth and a lot of people, including vets, say it is cruel and should be banned but there is a good reason for it, they are easily damaged when whippets make a quick turn while chasing something i.e. if they are used for coursing. One of the dew claws on my last whippet, Banjo, was accidentally left on and he was always tearing it off when out running and playing. At one visit to my veterinary practice I had a very opinionated vet who disagreed with the process of removing dew claws because 'I've never had to remove a torn dew claw in all my years of practice" - she obviously had never come across a whippet like Banjo! After the first time he tore the claw half off and I took him to the vet to get it removed I gave up going and it usually healed up OK by itself. It always grew back! On the opposite side of the coin I have read that people prefer to leave the dew claw on hounds because it helps with braking and turning if they are chasing something, maybe that is why they keep them on greyhounds that are bred just to race around the track, not doing the jinking and quick turns of a coursing dog?

What a sweetie!

OK, so when & why did you then get Paige? She's the second dog that TeriD needs to know about.

Baby enjoyed her last day with you and her friends and left on a good note. While hard, you know that you did the right thing for her and no hound can ask for more from the owner she loved. Run free Baby!

As always, you did the right thing for Henry and no houndie can ask for more from the humans he loved.

Even with my whippets I have told every neighbour with a cat that if it comes into my garden I cannot guarantee its safety. I do my best to ensure that any cat has fair warning before I open the back door but recently there have been a couple who seem to have a death wish, sitting under the Jasmine right outside the back door, waiting to catch the birds or the Field mice. In my daily newspaper recently there was a letter requesting greyhound owners to put a muzzle on their dog when letting it out into the garden 'cos somebody's cats had be caught and killed by some greyhounds. Whilst sorry to read about it I thought it was a bit cheeky considering the dogs were in their own garden!

My whippet was always tearing his one, (accidentally left on) dew claw and the nail would get torn off or injured about once a year. i suspect the quick will dry up and shrink back and the nail will come out. The main thing is to keep it clean and antibiotics should help with any risk of infection. I have used the Pawz on him for another injury but found that a plastic bag tied round the foot & leg sufficed for trips out into the garden. The Pawz are OK if there is a dressing on a wound but would be difficult and uncomfortable to put on an already sore foot.

Because I would not risk anything happening when out on a walk i keep a muzzle on Chancey whenever we are out unless i am in a part of the forest where it seems we are less likely to meet other dogs, but I carry the muzzle with me. My concern is that if Chancey caught and injured a cat or another dog, especially something small & fluffy, she would be considered a "Dangerous dog" and could be put down and I am not prepared to take that risk with her life. There is nowhere locally that is safe to let her off lead so she stays on all the time. She walks happily with 20+ greyhounds when we do a regular monthly sighthound walk but can still be excitable when meeting other dogs out in the forest, yodelling and leaping high in the air to go and play with them. I say "better safe than sorry" and keep her away unless she is quiet. My whippets have always played by chasing and biting the back of each other's neck but I can imagine the whippet you met could have been scared when a greyhound tried to do that!

While you make up your mind what to do, I would keep a muzzle on her while out walking, then if a small fluffy does come within reach she cannot 'chomp' on it, causing her to be called a "Dangerous dog" and getting into trouble. My Chancey lives minutes away from forest walks so stress from transport, noises etc. have never bothered her but she is still, after 18 months, on the alert for anything moving when we are walking around the quiet streets of my housing estate. I keep a muzzle on her to account for unexpected meetings with cats or small dogs. Out in the forest when she sees another dog she can become a screaming banshee, leaping straight up in the air, twisting in her collar, trying to get to the other dog. This morning I got her past a couple of dogs successfully by making her stand, with me hanging on tightly to both her martingale and tag collars, then we met a little brown terrier who always comes rushing up to us (we walk with friends most mornings). It was impossible to keep her quiet under those circumstances and I was hanging on to a bucking bronco of a greyhound until the owner of the terrier finally managed to catch her & pick her up. That is dangerous enough on a sandy path, I would hate to be coping with that on a busy pavement! Good luck with whatever you decide.