Grooming & Care

Whippets require the same routine care as any dog: Toenails should be trimmed weekly , ears and teeth need cleaning on a regular basis & the occasional bath will help to maintain a healthy skin and coat.

Keep your whippet up to date on vaccinations, worm reguilarly and use a flea treatment if required.

Whippet skin is fairly thin and poorly protected by the fine coat. What would be a small cut on another breed can become an ugly tear on your whippet. Unless blood is actually spurting out this is not an emergency but may require a vet to stitch him up so the injury will heal cleanly.

Whippets require thick comfortable beds as they don't have a great deal of coat. If you use a crate, provide lots of cosy soft bedding.

Leads, Collars & Coats

For daily wear most owners use flat leather with a simple buckle.  It is best not to leave dogs with collars on when they are alone as they can get teeth caught while playing. At best this breaks a tooth, at worst it starts a fight.  Even the best-trained whippet lunges to the end of the lead when he sees 'prey' (anything small and fast moving!) and the wide collar stops his progress without injuring his throat. Never use a metal choke chain on a whippet.

Be sure to keep an ID tag on your whippet at all times, and microchipping is a good idea, proving very useful if you are ever in the unfortunate position of losing your dog.

On a very cold or rainy day a coat will keep your whippet dry and warm. The choice is enormous and many makers will stitch one especially to fit your whippet.

The Loose Whippet

Don't even walk a whippet from the house to the car without a lead. It is amazing how quickly the worst can happen, and the first time a sighthound gets away from you can easily be the last. It's easy to become casual about it when your whippet is generally obedient and calm. Remember that if he's okay off-lead 99 times out of 100, that 100th time could be the day you lose your best friend.

If your whippet does get away from you in an area where you he should not be loose, don't chase him. There's no way you'll catch him. If at all possible, get his attention. (not easy if he is chasing the neighbourhood cat) Then fall on the ground and begin laughing and yelling. He will come back just to see why in the world you are acting so strangely. Don't grab at him. Calmly take his collar and praise him for coming.

Nails

Nail care is an important part of a regular routine, whippet nails need a regular trim and it's important to train your puppy to view this procedure as a rewarding one.  So plenty of treats, patience and kindness and they will come to see nail care as time for special rewards

There are many reasons to keep Whippet nails short , if you neglect trimming the blood supply to the nail will grow with the nail making it a slow process to trim them short enough without causing pain . The blood supply or kwik should never be cut and can be seen inside the nail .

Its easier to keep the nails short with regular trimming every week or two

Long nails will cause problems with the foot as the dog changes weight bearing to compensate for long nails, corns can be one of the problems associated with badly cared for feet .

This diagram illustrates the changes resulting from nails left untrimmed