Whippetsmum

Once again, Thanks to all who gave advice related to the original question. As much as I love the practical advice on Dol, I am always amazed how threads deteriorate so quickly! As someone said on the Guard Dog Training Centre thread, give something 24 hours on DOL, and you get fleas!** It's Sunday morning, I have some time to get creative, lets see what mischief I can come up with, maybe I'll find fleas. Warning- gratuitous use of emoticons, overuse of sarcasm Wow, thanks to everyone who has warmed things up The Whippets will be able to stay cosy now! Do they spend anytime in the house? No. Never ever ever ever ever! They are Whippets for heavens sake, what do you think? Have you ever tried to keep a Whippet out? (Mine have Jedi powers) I have the scratched floors, I have whippet coloured carpet, I don't know what colour it used to be! I only buy furniture that matches our Whippet's fur! They don't spend all the time in the house or in the yard, they of course rule the entire house and yard! If you bothered to read the original post, it was very clear the dogs sleep outside, not live outside. (Quick, someone attack now 'cause they are allowed on furniture) They are an inside breed :rofl: Are you mixing up Whippets and Chinese Cresteds? Of course Whippets must be an inside breed. Inside is the natural habitat for both Whippets and Rabbits, it must be 'cause Whippets love to chase rabbits. Whippets, being bred for speed, naturally must be kept inside where all the rooms of the house are built of a uniquely circular construction to create an adequate environment for Zoomies! Have I taken things too far yet? My Whippets love being inside very much, but they also love being outside, they are neither Innies or Outies. It's too cold for Whippets outside , yes, I'm just a horrible dog owner! Actually, I have specially bred Whippets, from the North Pole No actually, I use an ancient Druid method for keeping my Whippets warm, it's a totally unpronounceable Druid word, the nearest translation is "blankets". In all seriousness, the Whippets in Winter have double polar fleece coats, sheepskins, doonas, vet bed etc the crates are covered in thick wool blankets, tailored to keep drafts out, sometimes I buy old sleeping bags and wrap the crates in those. If you check our crate in the middle of winter, you will get hit by gust of warm air as you uncover the crate. Having been so "exposed to the elements", the Whippets both managed to not only maintain their weight last winter, but put on weight, around 100g each. Clearly I am doing major damage. Would someone like to flame me now for over cooking my Whippets? It's not rocket science to keep dogs warm, it just takes a bit of effort, and planning. If they ever don't want to sleep outside when it is cold, they are not forced, they actually have a choice....(waiting now for someone with a dog behaviour background to attack me for that!) Obviously I have no idea how to look after Whippets, and obviously I'm not the kind to care. I never put their needs first- e.g it wasn't me who checked her dogs immediately after a snake incident on a walk last week, and didn't notice the cut on her own leg for 30 minutes afterwards!) ( Oh no, they should never have been outside, what kind of woman walks her Whippets in snake infested jungles?, and no I wasn't bitten, just caught my leg on a stick getting the Whippets out of harms way) I never turn down invitations or leave a function early so I can get home for a Whippet snuggle. For what it's worth, though it's really non of anyone's business, when we bought our house, the last thing on our minds were the Whippets, I guess I'm just not a sutable Whippet owner. (In reality, we could have bought 2 houses for what it cost in time, effort and mortgage to find a Whippetable place with suitable yard.) The Whippets have a 44m2 covered deck, and the same again in the under the deck entertaining area, it's paved, multiple beds available, you name it they have it! Then they also have the grassed yard with garden which we landscaped to have soft leaved plants, ripping out the existing roses and anything that is at all sharp, to make it a safer place for the dogs, the fences are 2m high with specially ordered pool fencing, all locked. If only I'd asked some people on DOL and I could have just kept them inside 24/7! Or have I taken something out of context? BTW My Whippets don't even shrink when wet, I have tested it, they can get wet and survive! Only use warm water when bathing Whippets, bath them in the human bath, dry them with loads of big fluffy towels, finally blotting them dry with super absorbent paper towels to complete the drying process, Seriously, this is how I bath my Whippets. PS I do not recommend the use of a clothes drier when drying Whippets, they get dizzy and throw up! Yep, I clearly have no idea, you don't want people like me anywhere near Whippets! There endeth the ranting! PS **Anyone scratching?

Thanks for the advice about positioning the crates close by, and the advice about them needing to know where each other are, without being in the same space. That makes perfect sense, which is what I love about DOL- practical advice based on experience.

They are only crated overnight, originally it was a toilet training issue with my girl and she was crated, soon my boy wanted to be crated too. They originally had an inside crate, but when we got a larger crate, it was really too big for inside the house. We have a lot of room on the deck,so their crate is now outside. If they weren't in the crate, they would bark at the possums, chase bats and rats, and the neighbours cats which keep coming in, and otherwise make a nuisance of themselves, and could easily injure themselves in the dark. I don't mind my dogs sleeping inside, but I do prefer them crated, they often choose to sleep in their crate during the day and they go looking for the crate when it's bedtime, we often find they've put themselves to bed, so they seem to prefer it too.

Yes, The vet was certain it was a bite. I have also gone over the crate twice, all the bedding has been checked, nothing caught in it. My OH went over the crate too. There was nothing that he could have caught himself on, no sharp edges etc, not even a bit of a stick or anything that could have broken the skin. The part of the neck that has been bitten is the muscular section lateral to the trachea and all major veins, it seems a difficult place to self injure(Cephalo humeral muscle)

Hi, I have 2 Whippets that have always slept in the same crate. The crate they share is huge, I could fit in as well. This morning we discovered there had been an incident overnight, and our girl aged around 4 years has done some damage to our boy aged around 7 years. After a trip to the vet, our boy he is OK, having been treated for a nasty tearing bite to his neck muscle. I was awake most of last night unable to sleep, and there was a bit of a noise around 5 am, no bark or yelp, just sounded like the crate was rattled, so it's likely it happened at that time (the blood hadn't browned around the wound at 6.30 am, so another reason I think it was an early morning incident. The problem/question is: I'm off to buy a second crate to separate them from now on of a night, but as they've always slept together, I'm not sure how to approach training them to sleep apart. I'm probably overthinking it all, but will they be territorial over their old crate, who gets the old crate and who gets the new one? Other details that may or not be relevant/excuses/theories etc: Last night was a bit of a break in routine, no walk as we had to take our son to a birthday. They had beef for dinner, and nearly always have chicken. They had been barking at something in the yard when we got home, so could have been a bit wired. Our girl can be a bit of a b''ch, a bit bossy, she is very vocal and tells us and him off by yowling if we've been out late, or the door is closed and she wants it open etc. Mostly when she's yowling, she's hamming it and overexcited. She likes her own space at times, can be very aloof, separates herself from us and him at times during the day and evening. They are "inside dogs" when we are home, they have a big yard during the day, and their crate is outside, downstairs on the deck. As with all good my "dog suddenly snapped stories", it's the first time something like this has happened ( that I know of, please insert all the usual excuses) There was no food involved, we check the crate for stashes of food before we put them to bed. After a thorough checking, she's not ill/injured/on heat. He is otherwise healthy. Our assumption, which of course could be wrong,is that overnight something along the lines of: our boy stood on her/something similar happened and she has reacted. They are both fine to be together at present(I am supervising them/keeping them in sight), There has been no aggression or submission behaviour that I can see. Is there anything I should be doing/avoiding in introducing a second crate? Thanks for any tips

http://www.anbc.iinet.net.au/avian_vets.htm This has a Dr Harry Cooper listed as an Avian Vet specialist , Harry is known to have an interest in birds, so it could be the same Dr Harry.

It's not perfect, but a rubber dog grooming brush/glove/mitten gets most of the Whippet fur that's left behind by the Dyson car-turbo thing.( I think you get them from horsey places mainly)

She has a dog?- the poor dog.

I got some from Pet Barn. BTW, does anyone know which brand fits a Whippet best? I've tried 2 different ones and neither fitted particularly well.

My boy is fast asleep by 8.30- it's his religion. Even at training, at 8.30 he stops whatever he's been doing, and insists on being picked up so he can snooze on my shoulder.

I've been making a point of taking my dogs on new walks on weekends and have been looking for good resources for "dog allowed walks". I'm personally interested in a 45 minute drive (max) based in the Hills, Sydney, as I have a car sick dog. Does anyone have a favourite walk they can suggest? If you can give me a basic location or a link to a map, plus a comment about distance, time and diffciulty would be really useful for me. I did find the Beagle Club of NSW has some awesome info. Has any got any other resources, are there any map books?

Just a thought, but if you are prone to anxiety, could Ammo be picking this up and being defensive to protect you?

LIKE

Often there are nesting shore birds on beaches such as sand plovers, who nest in the dunes or other parts of the beach, camoflaged from people but easily sniffed out by dogs. Many times people let their dogs off leash on beaches to run around when they feel they aren't being watched or nobody else is there. Dogs kill nesting shorebird chicks, destroy eggs and nests and frighten the parents away from their nests for good. In NZ last week roaming dogs wiped out an entire colony of endangered fairy penguins. Dogs are not allowed on some beaches to protect wildlife or for other very good reasons. I'm all for excluding dogs from bird and other animal nesting site beaches. But what about man made beaches that wild animals are never going to use due to heavy foot traffic? I see no point in making these beaches no dogs allowed. I agree and people leave way more mess lying around than dogs do there are always plastic bags glass bottles and other nasty things that won't break down, I'm not for people leaving dog doo but hey it will break down and I have seen kids take dump on the beach and the parents haven't removed it. But they don't then ban kids. My original point was On Leash dogs, not off leash or marauding dogs. The penguin incident quoted was not apparantly not related to dogs being walked on a leash. If it were pathogens that dogs were exposing wildlfe to, that would make more sense. Dogs should be be allowed to attack wildlife, no disgreement there. An on leash dog is no more than 1.5 meters from it's handler (I don't count those long lines as on leash), so there is a huge difference between a pack of roaming dogs sniffing out wildlife, and a dog walking or resting beside it's owner on a beach. If beach authorities gave some more access (on leash) to appropriate beaches, i.e. not nesting sites, or specific parts of the beach, then maybe less people would break the rules? Just a thought, but we are expected to apply quite graded behaviours in other situations, e.g. we can travel to a max of 40km/hr in school zones when active, 60kms in other areas, obey variable speed signs on motorways etc, different rules for different locations. Couldn't there ne a more flexible/graded approach to beaches that still protects wildlife, taking into account different zones?

I don't take my dogs where they are not allowed, but I've never understand the "no dogs on beaches rule" at all, if we have to pick up what our dogs might leave behind, and they are on leash, what would the issue be? The allergy argument doesn't explain it, I've never seen a "No Peanut sign" at a beach. The "People are afraid of dogs" argument doesn't explain it either, people are scared of sharks, but go to a beach. Kids might get excited when they see dogs, but that happens everywhere, not just beaches.