Are Bigger Heavier Whippets Better For Work????

[brenner 773]

 

 

 

 

thinking about whippet sizes............the breed is still a relatively new one and was made using racey terriers and small greyhounds, so i suppose its inevitable that we still have occasional taller greyhound throw backs too

 

could be onto something compo

The breed is not at all a new one, it,s register with the KC is relitively new that,s all.

sorry for goin off topic but ..an honest question for ye loafer, or anyone that knows a bit on the subject of whippet history.... What is the earliest drawing or mention of a small rabbiting dog that fits the whippets description ? .

I do know that if you keep going back far enough back through the whippet archives in my dogs ped ther is a write up attatched to the ped of a champion whippet that describes him and goes on to mention that the dogs coat is smooth, not broken " just as a whippets coat should be". You have to wonder why the owner of that particular whippet about 100 years ago felt the need to stress the point that he had a smooth coat. Was there whippets at the time still carrying terrier like coats?

The earliest written mention was 1413 in The Master of Game written by Edward Duke of York and the earliest art work was painted circa 1725 by Oudry. A lot of information on the whippet can be found in Walsh and Lowe's book; The English Whippet.

The earlier post by Astanley sums it up for me, a whippet is a totally different dog to a greyhound. Their running actions are totally different, their temperament's are completely different as well.

The larger whippet is neither one or the other and to me is more lurcherified; if that makes sense.

I once met a man at a OYCC meeting who had with him two whippets that he'd brought back from Canada with him. They were around 23-24 tts, he was telling me they were registered over there and the size of them was not unusual. I think the size of whippets is becoming excessive. I have had a greyhound bitch that only made 23 tts. Maybe I'm being a bit of a puritan but I think there's whippets, lurchers and greyhounds. Just pick one, obviously this is only my opinion.

thanks for the reply loafer , in fairness you directly answered the question i asked in the first part of my post but I would definitely buy into what compo is saying in regards to the breed not being "pure" until the kc stamped a type on them and so the odd throw back is bound to come out now and then. Having said that I agree that a 23 "/ 24" dog even if bred from a pure line of whippets does not run or move like a whippet , well at least the couple that ive seen anyway. And would personally regard them more as a lurcher aswell. Im not well up on what type they are breeding in canada but in regards to the size of whippets in ireland andthe u.k well I stand by what I said earlier about chasing back through the peds. Go back 100 years and alot of the dogs in the pics seem to be hitting the 21 mark or a little over in some cases which alot of people today claim is too big for a whippet

[bunnys 1,228]

being very fond of whipps ,i would say 23 24 tts aint a whipp breed type becomes lost movement changes ,non peds with grey come in all sizes weights and not to far back coat ,i was weaned on whipps rough broken smooth etc they all ran the same strings bends.the ratio of bone to muscle structure can be a huge difference in peds and none peds heavy animals of the ped type do not carry the same muscle mass has the nonepeds of same hight weight ratio ,where has well put together peds of the riight type are perhaps some would say more suited to field work ,the hight ratio of the 20 tts was put there for a reason to try and maintain breed type weight was irrelevant has in the coursing preban there was light medium and heavy weight . the turm whippety his there for that very reason ,one can go on all day but if one desires something 38 ilb get a lurcher bred for purpose .atb bunnys

[brad88 133]

Nice dog ideation mate

[alex1987 164]

Well said bunnys for me a bigger heavier whippet losses the running style what a whippet should have most notably the turning ability. I have two whippets of different breeding and I'll admit that even though my coursing bred whippet is very quick whippets lack that real top end speed that you get with done lurchers. However, that ability to turn sharply and the rapid acceleration makes the breed a very handy rabbiting dog. So IMO the bigger whippets not only lack the top end speed but loose that ability to turn as sharply. I wanted a dog bigger that 21 so I went for a lurcher not fit one moment did I consider a bigger whippet.

[carp king 155]

......

[bryanm45 787]

Ive had whippets ranging from 16lb to nearly 40lb and my experience of them is as follows, when i was racing them the racing weights were 16 to 32 lbs now the bigger dogs ran from scratch and the smaller dogs were given a yard per lb advantage eg a 25lb dog was given 7yards over a 32lb dog and so on, now the bigger dogs would nearly always gain yardage on a smaller dog. The point i am making is that quite often you think a dog is faster than it actually is, due to its running style, ive seen whippets that looked like they were turbo charged when they were coursing on their own, but could look mediocre when up against a dog with a different running style. I remember a whippet round my neck of the woods that had a reputation of being the fastest thing on four legs coursing rabbits its legs were going ten to the dozen and it really looked fast. But a deerhound cross owned by the same guy picked rabbits up for fun with ease.

This is the difference between a small whippet and a whippet of say 21"+ the standard whippet if fast but the longer back on a larger dog creates a longer stride therefore faster, but loses out in a turn to a smaller whippet, a smaller whippet can turn much more sharply and hold more speed in a turn.

For me I have two 18" whippets both bitches, one from coursing lines and one from race, now given that there both the same size would expect the catching capabilities of both dogs to be the same, but there not the race bred dog is much quicker in a straight line and will put a turn in its quarry quickly but from then on its the coursing bred bitch that takes over and nearly always will produce the strike, so not only does size matter on choosing you whippet but also bloodlines and breeding, bred for purpose dogs and will agree that a race bred dog has lighter bones and is easy to break, but the coursing bred bitch would have me out all day everyday if she could. JMO folks.

Can you guess which one is race bred.

[darbo 4,774]

 

Ive had whippets ranging from 16lb to nearly 40lb and my experience of them is as follows, when i was racing them the racing weights were 16 to 32 lbs now the bigger dogs ran from scratch and the smaller dogs were given a yard per lb advantage eg a 25lb dog was given 7yards over a 32lb dog and so on, now the bigger dogs would nearly always gain yardage on a smaller dog. The point i am making is that quite often you think a dog is faster than it actually is, due to its running style, ive seen whippets that looked like they were turbo charged when they were coursing on their own, but could look mediocre when up against a dog with a different running style. I remember a whippet round my neck of the woods that had a reputation of being the fastest thing on four legs coursing rabbits its legs were going ten to the dozen and it really looked fast. But a deerhound cross owned by the same guy picked rabbits up for fun with ease.

This is the difference between a small whippet and a whippet of say 21"+ the standard whippet if fast but the longer back on a larger dog creates a longer stride therefore faster, but loses out in a turn to a smaller whippet, a smaller whippet can turn much more sharply and hold more speed in a turn.

For me I have two 18" whippets both bitches, one from coursing lines and one from race, now given that there both the same size would expect the catching capabilities of both dogs to be the same, but there not the race bred dog is much quicker in a straight line and will put a turn in its quarry quickly but from then on its the coursing bred bitch that takes over and nearly always will produce the strike, so not only does size matter on choosing you whippet but also bloodlines and breeding, bred for purpose dogs and will agree that a race bred dog has lighter bones and is easy to break, but the coursing bred bitch would have me out all day everyday if she could. JMO folks.

Can you guess which one is race bred.

 

The Fawn one is race bred tell me im right

[bryanm45 787]

Spot on Darbo. Much lighter frame for race bred dogs.

[carp king 155]

Your right Bryan but I would rather have a fit race bred 18 inch dog than a 22 to 23 inch 40 lb cart horse for work mate jmo