Whippet crosses

[symbeau 0]

I’m writing this reply for the second time, (the first reply was didn’t get on the board) in reply to a post about whippet crosses.

 

He stated that the racing whippet was the result of; “crossing - K.C whippets with greyhounds then a 3/4 whippet cross a 1/4 bull terrier was crossed with the whippets greyhound. Later some of these hybrids were mated to 1/4 working fox terrier cross 3/4 whippets. Thus evolved the modern day racing whippet.â€

 

Well whippets were around when the kennel club was formed, but usually referred to as snap dogs, they were rough and smooth coated and used for rabbit coursing.

At a time when coursing was more popular than football, and the waterloo cup, attracted crowds of 25,000, the whippet was the working mans coursing dog.

Rabbits were caught in large numbers and kept in a shed or barn next to the coursing ground. They were then released one at a time onto the coursing field. They were given 50 or 60yrds law, and two dogs were slipped. The first dog to mouth the rabbit won the course. The overall winner was usually the best out of 21 courses, yes 21. These dogs must have been fast and tough with plenty of stamina! There were often wagers of £50, which was big money then, and various forms of handicapping. Say five bunnies start to one dog, and so on.

I have no doubt that various terrier breeds and greyhounds were introduced from time to time, to improve the breed. When I raced whippets in the 70’s, a lot of whippets showed a marked resemblance to bull terriers, and champion dogs tended to be flat backed rather than roach backed.

 

A friend of mine at this time had a record breaking racing whippet dog, with the old death or glory attitude, which he bred to various lurchers. He kept a pup from one litter, and this pup became almost a coursing legend of it’s time, regularly taking three out of three hares. It was 20†and 27lbs. He was offered a lot of money for this bitch, and eventually sold it, but that’s another story.

 

Personally I wouldn’t use whippet crosses now. Reason? Because I’d rather go forwards than backwards. The old whippet lurchers were always being rested because of injury, usually knocked up toes, or barbed wire rips. A friend in recent years bred a saluki bitch to a large racing champion whippet. A bitch from this litter, 24â€, and 48lbs became an exceptional coursing dog regularly taking three’s, and even eight hares one day, but it was accident prone just like the old stuff. At five years it ripped a muscle in its back leg and was never right again. In contrast its half sister bred from the greyhound, went on to nine years, and was just as good.

 

I do think that saluki blood can counteract some of the failings of the whippet. What do you think?

[tommy9 13]

I see where your coming from the whippet is a very game little dog which probably stems from its bull terrier ancestory most of them giving 100% in the field .Brindle is also a very common colour which is also a telltale sign they also have their down side being injury prone and do burn out quicker than youre collie type lurchers .I own a beddlington whippet 20ins great burst of speed and hunts like a demon never tried her on a hare allways thought she was to small but after what youve said its changed my veiw . After a days hunting her ears are down and cant wait to get home where as my collie lurcher is still raring to go .

[DUCKWING 302]

WELL SYMBEAU ,

 

IAM WITH YOU ON THE ORIGINS OF THE WHIPPET .....

THE LITTLE RABBIT COURSING DOGS WERE AROUND LONG BEFORE THE KENNEL CLUB TOOK AN INTEREST !!!

 

AND IT OFT MAKES ME LAUGH WHEN I HEAR THE KC WHIPPET MEN ... TRY AND EXPLAIN THEIR BREEDING RACING AND COURSING RULES

 

NO DOUBT THERES ALLSORTS IN THE MAKE UP OF THE WHIPPET ....... TERRIER BLOOD FROM BEDDYS / MANCHESTERS AND STAFFS ETC [ DEPENDING ON LOCAL AREAS ] TO GREYHOUND BLOOD ....... IN SHORT ANYTHING THAT THE BREEDERS THOUGHT WOULD PRODUCE THE WINNING WHIPPET !

 

AROUND THESE PARTS ..... THE RABBIT COUSING WAS CARRIED OUT BY MAKING A YARD CIRCLE IN THE CENTRE OF A FIELD .. INTO THIS WAS DROPPED A BAGGED RABBIT , THE WHIPPETS WERE HELD BACK 60 YDS AWAY TILL THE RABBIT LEFT THE CIRCLE THEN THEY WERE SLIPPED ... WINNER WAS THE FIRST TO HAVE THE RABBIT IN ITS MOUTH ! THE OLD PIT MEN OFTEN TOLD OF WINS THEY HAD IN 64 DOG STAKES .... THEN WERE DRUNK FOR A WEEK

 

AFTER RABBIT COURSING FELL FROM FAVOUR THE MEN SWITCHED TO RAG RACING AND DEVISED THE HANICAP SYSTEM OF WEIGHT

 

AROUND HERE THE RACING WHIPPET HAS ALWAYS BEEN CALLED A " SNACK "

 

 

 

ALL THE BEST

 

DUCKWING

[symbeau 0]

WELL SYMBEAU ,

 

IAM WITH YOU ON THE ORIGINS OF THE WHIPPET .....

THE LITTLE RABBIT COURSING DOGS WERE AROUND LONG BEFORE THE KENNEL CLUB TOOK AN INTEREST !!!

 

AND IT OFT MAKES ME LAUGH WHEN I HEAR THE KC WHIPPET MEN ... TRY AND EXPLAIN THEIR BREEDING RACING AND COURSING RULES

 

NO DOUBT THERES ALLSORTS IN THE MAKE UP OF THE WHIPPET ....... TERRIER BLOOD FROM BEDDYS / MANCHESTERS AND STAFFS ETC [ DEPENDING ON LOCAL AREAS ] TO GREYHOUND BLOOD ....... IN SHORT ANYTHING THAT THE BREEDERS THOUGHT WOULD PRODUCE THE WINNING WHIPPET !

 

AROUND THESE PARTS ..... THE RABBIT COUSING WAS CARRIED OUT BY MAKING A YARD CIRCLE IN THE CENTRE OF A FIELD .. INTO THIS WAS DROPPED A BAGGED RABBIT , THE WHIPPETS WERE HELD BACK 60 YDS AWAY TILL THE RABBIT LEFT THE CIRCLE THEN THEY WERE SLIPPED ... WINNER WAS THE FIRST TO HAVE THE RABBIT IN ITS MOUTH ! THE OLD PIT MEN OFTEN TOLD OF WINS THEY HAD IN 64 DOG STAKES .... THEN WERE DRUNK FOR A WEEK

 

AFTER RABBIT COURSING FELL FROM FAVOUR THE MEN SWITCHED TO RAG RACING AND DEVISED THE HANICAP SYSTEM OF WEIGHT

 

AROUND HERE THE RACING WHIPPET HAS ALWAYS BEEN CALLED A " SNACK "

 

 

 

ALL THE BEST

 

DUCKWING

 

 

Cheers for that, I saved the picture!

[timjim 43]

some great info here guys, very interesting

 

this is the type of stuff i like to read, alot of the threads on this forum seem to turn into bitchfests

why cant they all be like this

 

top stuff guys keep it up

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

Yep, very interesting read - cheers!

 

And that picture is ace

[Guest greengrass123]

Ive got a saluki whippet 21ats 30lbs and youre right saluki blood has increased the stamina, turning out to be a great little bitch. By the way snap dog is a yorkshire term snap is slang for food or a meal break round here.