OSoSwift

Limited slip and cotton leads. The Whippets wear limited slip or martingale depending what I have made for them at the time. I do not like harnesses unless the dog has a specific problem ie a neck problem. I believe they just facilitate better pulling. I have used extendable leads in the past for toileting while travelling, but don't bother anymore.

Goodluck everyone, you will have a great time

I would say around 12 months. They are generally their full adult size so shouldn't have the growth plate issues in regard to desexing very young. I leave all mine until at least 12 months before desexing.

Hi Jed Hope you are progressing well in the recovery from you injuries. I hope you heart has healed just a teeny tiny bit. Still thinking of you as always Whippet hugs and kisses.

I had two very dominant bitches that cocked their legs and would get into peeing competitions with our then entire male. They cocked their legs on car tyres the works. One was entire one was desexed. The only fight they ever had (deadly serious one) was when they both cocked their leg on the same spot at the same time! My bitches were allowed to pee before the walk - not hard, they wanted to mark everything - then after that we walked. If they tried to pull towards something they had a small correction on their collar. It didn't take long for them to figure it out. They also had a toilet command. They were never allowed to pull me towards anything. If the lead tightened they got a correction.

I think the most important bit is have a puppy pen in the middle of the acyivity. That way when you have to take your eyes off the puppy, or help a toddler to use the toilet etc, you just pop puppy into the pen and then there are no worries.

Funnily enough my least destructive dog was my Dobe. I used to leave my purse in her crate at dog shows for safe keeping, never once chewed it. I could leave her sitting with all the shopping including ham and raw meat, cooked chickens - never ate a piece. Not like one bloody Whippet who just cannot help herself and must chew up any soft toys and de-stuff them, destroys any soft beds and her latest trick - takes the cover of the snugglesafe heat pad and systematically shreds it! I leave her access to nothing I value.

I had a 5 month old and a two year old and brought home an 8 week old puppy. When Lewis arrived at 8 months of age I had a two and four year old another WHippet and an old Stafford. It takes organisation, baby gates and puppy pens - and I had a play pen for the baby and it is all good. I realise a Lab is larger and more powerful than a Whippet, but you have had them before and know what youa re getting yourself in for. I generally find the dog is less work than the kids! You will have hard days, but it should go well. I thought I was slightly mad as I had a 5mo that was sleeping through and a new puppy that was waking me up for toilet breaks 3 and four times a night!!! At least that stage in puppies doesn't last very long!

I have asked the help of two friends that have a reasonable amount of Whippets between them. Some are show/pet whippets, some are race fit Whippets. I will let you know what they come back as when I find out. There should be a good dozen I think. Agreed Stormie, that is why I had their resting heart and respiration rates noted and written in the front of my diary. I have taken them around 4 or so times over a period of months so I get a good idea of their average.

Excellent, better to be safe than sorry.

I have had it happen with a large piece or trimmed horse hoof. Pliers, a few seconds and out - all good. It is a good idea to have a smallish pair of blunt ended pliers close at hand for things like that, then you are not putting your fingers in the mouth of a potentially very stressed out dog.

Vetbed?? I got some from the above link, was very happy with the service and price.

Ours has a decent boot, but I haven't been put on my bum yet! I have however sworn at it profusely a couple of times. A zap to the head would feel a bit odd though Funny thing is our old Stafford can get through it and not get zapped. He goes through near the posts where there is a small amount of wire on the dead side of the insulator. He only does it to get horse hoof trimmings after the farrier has been, and only once it is dark. I try and remember to throw them all a piece so he doesn't do it. I still find it strange that people have actually been prosecuted and had dogs removed due to having an electric fence - absolute stupidity.

Very good point Shmoo. Lewis is very laid back and couldn't care less if he is at the vets or not, so while I expect his heart to be slightly higher due to moving around etc, I wouldn't expect it to be significant, so maybe the fact he is a Whippet and also very laid back means it was quite a bit lower than they are used to?? Rommi does get excited when she goes as she loves everyone there an is looking for the puppies from puppy preschool, so hers could quite llikely be a bit higher than his?? Interesting

Just found an old thread about this Old thread re a dog low heart rate

They are both like that and are from completetly different lines so I am not too worried about any heart issues. I do remember reading an article about slow and fast muscle twich fibres in horses, eg between a Clyde and a Thoroughbred. It was very interesting, I will look for the one about dogs. if you find it Whippets I would love to read it. Oh and that is their heart rates when they are "resting" ie passed out on the lounge next to me, so that is about as resting as it gets. If one was very low and the other not then I might be worried.

Rommi is a bitch 1 - because she is a female dog 2 - because she got up onto a dining chair and ate the kids tea! I have no problem with anyone calling her a bitch as that is what she is. I generally use the term cross breed, not because I don't like them being called mongrels, just because that is what they do. I do not see it as a term meant to be a putdown. It is just a term.

We had ringlock on my parents farm and yep it never stopped any of the dogs! We have five strand plain wire. Two are attatched to the electric fencing unit. The house yard is 5 acres so they are not contained by it as such, if they are contained they are in the dog runs, and soon to be dog yard attatched to the front of the runs. There, of course, is no electric fence on those. All of the dogs have had one zap reasonably early on in the piece and have never been near it again, not that they really get far enough away from me to get close to the fence anyway! The fences are not constructed to contain dogs they are a by-product of having cows, bulls and calves.

I am not concerned, more interested. I start think about things like that and think, I wonder?????? I have seen others comment about vets worrying about slight arrythmias etc in Whippets that are considered very normal for a Whippet. My dogs are fit, but not race fit by any stretch of the imagination. The heartrate is what I have checked, they didn't give me a number. I have checked it over a few different occasions as I like to know what normal is so I can tell when it is not normal. I have used a stethoscope and a femoral pulse. They do see a few Whippets at the vet hospital, a couple in particular quite a lot! So I would have thought that they would be used to a Whippet, but I guess they see lots of other dogs so may not think about or remember what the other Whippets HR's are.

I have used it on dogs with no problems, and have been given for a dog by my vet.

Thanks for you reply - I was thinking if the smaller the dog the higher the heart rate, then a Whippet would have a higher heart rate then your Labs. I am guessing that being a sighthound they have a lower heart rate than a dog of comparable size. Very interesting. The increase in heart rate when breathing is interesting, but ours does that a bit as well. Maybe that is why Whippets and Greys are just so good at laid back!

Definately get him to a vet and so he can vomit it out - if it is in his stomach! Ratsack works by binding up the vitamin K in the blood stream. So your dog starts bleeding. This can take from a couple of days to about 5 or so depending on how much the dog has eaten. They do not fit or collapse or any of the other things you would assume from a poisoning. Ratsack and equivilents are silent killers. They can bleed into their internal organs, they can have blood in their poo or if they vomit. They can also bleed under the skin if they have had a pat, they can bleed into the whites of the eyes. Sometimes people will notice it because they have blood around gums, or in the whites of their eyes. A friend of mine had a dog who had a massive nose bleed and collapsed, I know of another who bled into her brain. The reason Vitamin K is give is because that is what is bound up, Vit K is needed for clotting. Dogs can have a lethal dose and no amount of Vit K can halt the symptoms if that is the case. Many need blood transfusions, sometime multiple ones. Your vet can do a clotting time test on his blood, but at that point in time it may not have a clotting problem that could show up in a couple of day I hope he hasn't eaten it and all is okay, but a vet visit is definately required - good luck

His coat will feel and smell much nicer if you use a shampoo (good one) instead of a flea rinse. If he doesn't seem to have a flea problem he won't need the flea rinse. I have used Aloveen shampoo by it's self and with conditioner on my Dobe. He coat was fine after both ways. You can also mix about 1/5th Aloveen to 4/5th water in a bottle when you are using it. It makes it go further and is easier to work through the coat, whilst still cleaning them very well and leaving them smelling lovely and soft.

Hey Jed, Hope this finds you another step closer to a full recovery. We are sending lots of positive and get healthy vibes to gently wrap around your heart to try anf help with your healing. Whippet kisses and hugs from us to you and your babies who are missing their mummy.

Great to hear it all ended well for the puppies. Great effort on your behalf :rolleyes: