Sit, down and come are pretty easy to teach a whippet. The thing we're struggling with is to get her to come when she's distracted by something to eat on the floor, or whatever it may be. If she's just chilling somewhere in the house or not distracted outdoors then yeah, she'll appear on command. But with a sufficient distraction, it's difficult. Another thing we're struggling with is to get her to drop things she's picked up.
Thanks for commenting and sharing some current problems you are facing with your pup! Both issues you've mentioned are pretty common with Whippets. And I personally believe they cant be completely solved, however, there are a few things I can suggest to help moving forward. Recall: 1 - When outdoors, only call your dog back once the dog has given you eye contact. Theres no point in calling a completely distracted Whippet. It's then your job to be more interesting than anything where you are walking. You can do this by always carrying stinky treats, by running sideways, jumping up and down, running away from the dog to create a chase etc. When the dog is back, celebrate with your dog and give plenty of praise. 2 - If you are in a busy area like a dog park. It your job to find possible distractions before your dog. So if you feel like you might need to get your dog back to you becuase of an elderly person walking, small child, burger van, bins etc. Get your dog back before a bad behaviour happens. This isn't always easy! We are only human and cant be ON 100% of the time. So don't be too hard on yourself. Dropping things: 1 - This goes hand in hand with point number 2 above. We as owners need to do our best to stop the bad behaviour before it begins. So if you spot a burger van and you know your dog will go and pick up a dirty chip. Call your dog back before he/she sniffs out the chip. Or if your dog likes to chew shoes, try to stop the bad behaviour before it happens with a sharp NO and introduce something way more exciting like a wrestle on the lounge rug or something like that. I hope this helps. I can make a video on this topic if you like with real life examples demonstrating what im talking about! I hope I dont come across like I have all the answers here. Just trying to help point out some potential options that may help. Whippets though can be very frustrating when training! 🥲
@@freddiethewhippett Thanks so much, appreciate the response! In the park, I want to be able to let her off the lead, but it's a risk when there's so many things in the grass. I'm hoping she'll grow out of eating everything she sees (including poop she finds). She's only 4 months old!
@@freddiethewhippett She's eating dry food for her main meals and supplementing that with kongs filled with frozen Greek yoghurt or scrambled egg. We do have some wet food but haven't tried it yet. Do you think it may be because she's not satisfied with her food? In terms of amount, the dry food brand recommends 215g per day of dry food for a dog growing to roughly 12kg. She gets that plus her extras, and training treats etc. Does that sound reasonable? Sorry, this is our first dog 😅 Edit, I just realised you asked 'when', my bad. She eats her meals directly before her walks (to help her poop outside).
@@matthewreynolds4382 thanks for the detail! This is helpful. Id advise you stop feeding her before your walks. If her stomach is satisfied she’ll be less inclined to come back to you while out on walks. Secondly, it can be very dangerous for a dog to run around with a full belly of food. As for what she’s eating… would you consider raw feeding? Any form of biscuit or tinned dog food is processed garbage and can have an impact on health and behaviour. It’s honestly like humans eating McDonald’s daily. No worries on the questions etc! I love this stuff. It’s what I live for 😅 Lastly. Your pup is only 4 months old. So you still have plenty of time to master her behaviour, what you want to feed her, routines that work for you etc! So don’t panic :) she will be just fine. Anything else please fire away any q’s 🙏
Just watching your videos we have just collected a 7month old Whippet and love your tips. Also feeding the same food Cosmo loves the stuff. We are about to start training 🤞🏻🐕❤
Makes sense, a dog is a great friend, and it’s a mutual trust thing, a couple of basic commands is enough, just enjoy your time with them, as you do with Fredy boy 😀
My Whippet has the attention span on a gnat, he's done with training after only 2 minutes. Not because he doesn't enjoy it...he just gets so bored by repetitive things SO fast. We have started agility training now; I have found that a flirt poll with a toy on the end is what really gets him wanting to focus, and for obedience training it's high value food. Whippets are really known for having short attention spans because they are bred to be independent/work alone and not bred to work with a human; such as a Border Collie which is bred to be obedient. For Whippets, and other independent breeds; it's really all about convicting them that the trick is worth doing. My boy is a SUPER slow learner but once he gets what I am asking he is reliable with/without a food reward (always high value praise!) and I know he is doing it because he wants to. ....He will not sit on concrete/certain surfaces though. lol.
Sit, down and come are pretty easy to teach a whippet. The thing we're struggling with is to get her to come when she's distracted by something to eat on the floor, or whatever it may be. If she's just chilling somewhere in the house or not distracted outdoors then yeah, she'll appear on command. But with a sufficient distraction, it's difficult. Another thing we're struggling with is to get her to drop things she's picked up.
Thanks for commenting and sharing some current problems you are facing with your pup!
Both issues you've mentioned are pretty common with Whippets. And I personally believe they cant be completely solved, however, there are a few things I can suggest to help moving forward.
Recall:
1 - When outdoors, only call your dog back once the dog has given you eye contact. Theres no point in calling a completely distracted Whippet. It's then your job to be more interesting than anything where you are walking. You can do this by always carrying stinky treats, by running sideways, jumping up and down, running away from the dog to create a chase etc. When the dog is back, celebrate with your dog and give plenty of praise.
2 - If you are in a busy area like a dog park. It your job to find possible distractions before your dog. So if you feel like you might need to get your dog back to you becuase of an elderly person walking, small child, burger van, bins etc. Get your dog back before a bad behaviour happens. This isn't always easy! We are only human and cant be ON 100% of the time. So don't be too hard on yourself.
Dropping things:
1 - This goes hand in hand with point number 2 above. We as owners need to do our best to stop the bad behaviour before it begins. So if you spot a burger van and you know your dog will go and pick up a dirty chip. Call your dog back before he/she sniffs out the chip. Or if your dog likes to chew shoes, try to stop the bad behaviour before it happens with a sharp NO and introduce something way more exciting like a wrestle on the lounge rug or something like that.
I hope this helps. I can make a video on this topic if you like with real life examples demonstrating what im talking about!
I hope I dont come across like I have all the answers here. Just trying to help point out some potential options that may help. Whippets though can be very frustrating when training! 🥲
@@freddiethewhippett Thanks so much, appreciate the response! In the park, I want to be able to let her off the lead, but it's a risk when there's so many things in the grass. I'm hoping she'll grow out of eating everything she sees (including poop she finds). She's only 4 months old!
@@matthewreynolds4382 hmmm. Can I ask when you’re currently feeding her?
@@freddiethewhippett She's eating dry food for her main meals and supplementing that with kongs filled with frozen Greek yoghurt or scrambled egg. We do have some wet food but haven't tried it yet.
Do you think it may be because she's not satisfied with her food?
In terms of amount, the dry food brand recommends 215g per day of dry food for a dog growing to roughly 12kg. She gets that plus her extras, and training treats etc. Does that sound reasonable? Sorry, this is our first dog 😅
Edit, I just realised you asked 'when', my bad. She eats her meals directly before her walks (to help her poop outside).
@@matthewreynolds4382 thanks for the detail! This is helpful.
Id advise you stop feeding her before your walks. If her stomach is satisfied she’ll be less inclined to come back to you while out on walks. Secondly, it can be very dangerous for a dog to run around with a full belly of food.
As for what she’s eating… would you consider raw feeding? Any form of biscuit or tinned dog food is processed garbage and can have an impact on health and behaviour. It’s honestly like humans eating McDonald’s daily.
No worries on the questions etc! I love this stuff. It’s what I live for 😅
Lastly. Your pup is only 4 months old. So you still have plenty of time to master her behaviour, what you want to feed her, routines that work for you etc! So don’t panic :) she will be just fine.
Anything else please fire away any q’s 🙏
Thanks! Now I understand how to start training my girl. Very useful lesson! 👌
Just watching your videos we have just collected a 7month old Whippet and love your tips. Also feeding the same food Cosmo loves the stuff. We are about to start training 🤞🏻🐕❤
Makes sense, a dog is a great friend, and it’s a mutual trust thing, a couple of basic commands is enough, just enjoy your time with them, as you do with Fredy boy 😀
Thank you for the information. Much appreciated
This has been so helpful; I’ve definitely been guilty of some of the don’ts 😅
Thank you so much for sharing!
My Whippet has the attention span on a gnat, he's done with training after only 2 minutes. Not because he doesn't enjoy it...he just gets so bored by repetitive things SO fast.
We have started agility training now; I have found that a flirt poll with a toy on the end is what really gets him wanting to focus, and for obedience training it's high value food.
Whippets are really known for having short attention spans because they are bred to be independent/work alone and not bred to work with a human; such as a Border Collie which is bred to be obedient. For Whippets, and other independent breeds; it's really all about convicting them that the trick is worth doing. My boy is a SUPER slow learner but once he gets what I am asking he is reliable with/without a food reward (always high value praise!) and I know he is doing it because he wants to. ....He will not sit on concrete/certain surfaces though. lol.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing Jed