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The "want" List


MadWoofter
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ALL OF THE SIGHTHOUNDS :angeldevil:

I can only think of one breed of sighthound that I wouldn't want to own (Afghans) and that's more of a crazy grooming requirements issue than anything else.

Unfortunately for me, the Shitty Whippet has turned the OH into a crazy whippet man and now he doesn't have much interest in looking at new breeds.

I'd sell a kidney for a borzoi but him.. "Meh, they're ugly as teenagers. Shitty Whippet was never ugly, she's the prettiest princess ever and who wuvs hers? Daddys wuvs her! Yes he does, who's the perfect dog and we don't need any big, ugly dogs? No we don'ts!" *Proceeds to feed the Shitty Whippet food from his mouth like a mother bird*

A few weeks' ago, he made a comment about how he and the Shitty Whippet were going to run away together but didn't in the end because they couldn't agree on where to go. I assume he was joking but the Shitty Whippet has a way with people so you just never know. Either way, I suspect next dog will be another whippet.

My wants in a whippet are pretty similar to K's. I was a proper sized whippet (not a 20+ kg monster), slinky and curvy, with plenty of prey drive and a sensible temperament. Colour bothers me not quite as much, as long as it's not brindle. Or almost entirely white. A fawn with a little bit of white trim would do nicely. Bonus points if it has a heavy mask, because they look cute.

I just realised you mean me. We seem to have the same taste in whippets. I'm a bit more lenient with colour than I wrote there, I dont mind some white but I'm sick of seeing brindles, even though I have 2 of my own. I just miss seeing those graceful curvy little whippets. Now when I go to a show, which is rare, I sometimes take a glance at the whippets and immediately lose interest. Great long exaggerated necks like a horse, and those hind legs stretched waaaaaaay out behind them. The make me think of those dragster cars with the weird extension out the back of them. I think now too if they ever concentrate on breeding for temperament they breed to be outgoing and friendly, I assume to make them good pets, which makes sense I suppose, but I love the aloof whippets who love their person and will be friendly to people they know but turn their noses up at strangers. I suppose they were originally bred to be aloof so if a bloke was out poaching his whippet wouldn't go gushing up to the landowner.

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ALL OF THE SIGHTHOUNDS :angeldevil:

I can only think of one breed of sighthound that I wouldn't want to own (Afghans) and that's more of a crazy grooming requirements issue than anything else.

Unfortunately for me, the Shitty Whippet has turned the OH into a crazy whippet man and now he doesn't have much interest in looking at new breeds.

I'd sell a kidney for a borzoi but him.. "Meh, they're ugly as teenagers. Shitty Whippet was never ugly, she's the prettiest princess ever and who wuvs hers? Daddys wuvs her! Yes he does, who's the perfect dog and we don't need any big, ugly dogs? No we don'ts!" *Proceeds to feed the Shitty Whippet food from his mouth like a mother bird*

A few weeks' ago, he made a comment about how he and the Shitty Whippet were going to run away together but didn't in the end because they couldn't agree on where to go. I assume he was joking but the Shitty Whippet has a way with people so you just never know. Either way, I suspect next dog will be another whippet.

My wants in a whippet are pretty similar to K's. I was a proper sized whippet (not a 20+ kg monster), slinky and curvy, with plenty of prey drive and a sensible temperament. Colour bothers me not quite as much, as long as it's not brindle. Or almost entirely white. A fawn with a little bit of white trim would do nicely. Bonus points if it has a heavy mask, because they look cute.

I just realised you mean me. We seem to have the same taste in whippets. I'm a bit more lenient with colour than I wrote there, I dont mind some white but I'm sick of seeing brindles, even though I have 2 of my own. I just miss seeing those graceful curvy little whippets. Now when I go to a show, which is rare, I sometimes take a glance at the whippets and immediately lose interest. Great long exaggerated necks like a horse, and those hind legs stretched waaaaaaay out behind them. The make me think of those dragster cars with the weird extension out the back of them. I think now too if they ever concentrate on breeding for temperament they breed to be outgoing and friendly, I assume to make them good pets, which makes sense I suppose, but I love the aloof whippets who love their person and will be friendly to people they know but turn their noses up at strangers. I suppose they were originally bred to be aloof so if a bloke was out poaching his whippet wouldn't go gushing up to the landowner.

Sorry, was too lazy to scroll back up and see how you spelled your name :p

But yeah, the pretty little whips you see in old photos- small enough to scrunch up and hide under your overcoat when you see the landowner coming, sweet-natured and not nervy but disinterested in strangers. You still see some greys with a temperament like that but they're disappearing in favour of the overfriendly, slightly.. rude(?) dogs who seem more like a labrador in temperament than a sighthound. (no offense lab people, it's a nice temperament in the right breed!)

I think prey drive really matters because at the end of the day, it's one of the traits that make a sighthound, a sighthound. I also don't buy into the argument that if you get the form right, function will follow. That's not how breeds were developed and it makes no sense to me to "improve" the breed by attempting to work backwards. If function favoured a trait, many generations of selecting successful hunters would have gotten us those traits. Instead, trait are being changed to favour an opinion of how something should be. Almost like someone saying.. "Well, I'm sure zebra stripes are camouflage but I can't see how they'd work so I think we should paint all zebras yellowish brown because dry grass is that colour and they'd blend in better", ignoring the fact that those silly stripes have been working perfectly well for a very long time and if function favoured zebras of other colours, they'd be the ones around.

Probably should've zipped up the ol' flamesuit before saying the above but it's what I believe. I know there are a few Doler whippet breeders who do actually test their dogs' function through lure coursing (which is a very good thing) but that focus on function does not seem to be the focus of the majority.

The more you think about the subjective judging of a dog against a loosely worded (and at times, very ambiguous) standard to determine quality, the odder the concept seems. I can see how it might have had value in weeding out the true aberrations in form (the whippet with eight legs, or no teeth or huge, bulbous eyes) but once you have a fairly homogeneous population, it starts to become more about personal taste than any sort of science.

Anyways, before this turns into a flame war.. yeah, probably the same tastes.

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Two others not in Aus that i'd love:

kooikerhondje and tamaskan (there is some tamaskans in Aus, but not really easy to get)

I'm with you on kooikers! Absolutely gorgeous little dogs, but I think I might have to wait until I move to Europe someday.

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I WILL have a white shepherd, have to wait for the current dogs to shuffle off their mortal coil though as they are hard enough to manage as it is at the moment without adding any more.

I will need to have another chi at some point, having severe chi withdrawals since I lost my little one a few years ago.

Love my huskies might have to have another one but will need a break from the lack of biddability for a while before I'm ready to go there again lol

Vallhund - as above lol

Other breeds I would really really love to own

Dally - Such fun and sweet dogs.

LGD - any breed but I really like the CAS's, awesome working dogs.

St Bernard - if you don't just want to cuddle them like a big teddy bear there's something wrong with you.

Bull terrier - I'm not usually a bully person but that roman nose gets me I love it.

Rottie - love em

Dobie - love em

Kelpie - super fun and trainable

Bernese mountain dog - like the saints just so cuddle-able

Foxie - gorgeous and virtually bulletproof

That's all off the top of my head, there's probably more though lol

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  • 3 weeks later...

Madwoofter reminded me of this thread with her introduction of George.

I've now got it into my head that I would like to travel to England to search for and bring back my perfect (or as close to, to my eye) whippet. Oh well, one can dream. :D

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I've loved Ibizan Hounds, ever since I saw one, 30 or more years ago, in perfect Sphinx posture during the Down Stay in obedience competition. Unfortunately, commonsense says "No" -- I don't have time or resources to cope with a sight-hound (plus) that can soar over 5 foot fences. Speaking of soaring over fences, google "Ibizan Hound jumping" for some pictures of sheer beauty.

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