Toy Poodle Or Whippet

Hi everyone me again i'm still deciding my future dog and have put it down to a toy poodle or whippet. I would like to know from people who own one or both the pros and cons of each breed?

What i want in dog is one that is affectionant,intelligent,small to medium,doesn't shed much or have a odour,easy to train, good with other pets as i own birds. I do plan on taking my future dog to obedience and walking every day for 15-30 minutes with 2-3 days a week offlead runing. So dog must be easy to teach recall. Thing is i like toy poodles my boyfriend does not he likes te whippet which i do too but i want a dog that will suit my lifestyle. My dad use to own whippets and he said his could be chasing a rabbit and he would whistle and the dog would return. I've seen and touched both breeds i love the feel of the whippets coat but also love the toy poodles size. I know with the poodle there high maintaince require clipping every 6-8 weeks i don't have any good groomers in my area that do poodles.

So if one mind i'm leaning towards Whippet then in the other side i'm leaning towards toy poodles. I know each dog is different but which breed is more destructive?

Both poodles and whippets are very active dogs who would need a good deal more than 15-30 minutes exercise a day once they are fully grown - say more like 1-2 hours walking for a young healthy dog and ideally a good run off lead every day.

Both are hunting breeds, so would need careful socialisation from the start around other animals. Poodles may look like cuddly little lap dogs, but they are very lively and intelligent and need a lot of training and activity to keep them stimulated, something like agility is fantastic for poodles, they seem to love it. Whippets (imo) are a bit more laid back in the house, but of course love to run and have a strong chase instinct, so getting good recall can be a challenge!

Do you know anyone who has these breeds that you can talk to about them and maybe spend a bit of time with their dogs to help you make up your mind?

I don't really have any friends that own these breeds i know theres 2 breeders of whippets in my area but no toy poodle breeders in my area or close to my area. I'm willing to exercise the dog for an hour need be some days but some days must be willing to accept half an hour walk depending how busy i am that day. I also will be playing fetch in the backyard with him also, I will probably still have my male chihuahua Rascal when i get one so must get along with small dogs. I could always email or call the whippet breeders in my area and see if i can spend some time with there whippets. We only have a medium size backyard and have a park within a few minutes walk and a oval 10 minutes walk away. IN my town we don't have any sporting for dogs eg agility,flyball etc. We have tracking and obedience thats it.

with you having a toy dog already i personally would be inclined to the poodle .

i know eople do have small dogs with whippets and im sure they will give you there opinion too .

i know my whippies would play too rough and " houndy " ie dragging there "prey" down by the neck :b to be totally trusted with a toy breed BUT in saying that i have 3 of them , maybe just 1 whippet wouldnt be as bad ?

i looovvveeeee my whippies but in your case maybe a poodle would suit you better ?

I have a miniature poodle and a whippet and I would say whippets are easier !

My poodle needs a lot more physical and mental stimulation than any whippet I have ever owned .

She also plays very rough and is happier playing with bigger dogs who can tolerate her being so rough .

The poodle coat requires a lot of maintenance and costs around £25 -£30 ever 4 -6 weeks for a groomer .

I could have several whippets at once but only one poodle !

Thanks everyone for your opinion it sounds like both breeds would suit me. My chihuahua is used to big dogs as i own a old golden retriever. Rascal my chihuahua i think would be fine with either breeds as long as the whippet isn't rough eg smacks its paws on his back. I'm having to rehome my female golden retriever cause she is just to rough with my chihuahua and has hurt him on several occasions causing Rascal to yelp and be in some pain.

Pros with the toy poodle

almost the same size as Rascal

will require the same amount of food

same size toys

will probably play with one another easier

easier to walk to small dogs then one small one medium

easier to train recall etc too

no shedding or doggy odour

cons of the toy poodle

clipping every 6-8 weeks

boyfriend doesn't like them

Pros of the whippet

no clipping required

hardly no shedding

boyfriend likes them

no doggy odour

cons of the whippet

harder to train recall

requires a bit more food

requires larger toys

As you can see the toy poodle has more pros less cons where the whippet has less pros more cons. Like i said i plan on doing obedience wih my future dog so a intelligent dog is a must. The only thing is my boyfriend doesn't like poodles but likes whippets. I will be the one looking after the dog and doing almost everything with the dog. Rascal my chihuahua is 3 years old right now i won't be getting another dog for quite a while eg when my golden retriever Einstein is no longer with us. So Rascal could be anywhere from 5-9 years old when i get a new dog just rough guess.

I have a Whippet and 3 poodles including a Toy.

If obedience is your focus, a poodle would be a more obvious choice. This doesn't mean Whippets aren't trainable but they are more easily distracted. If you are first time dog owner or novice obedience person, I think you'd find a poodle an easier dog to work with.

Having obtained a whippet (Howard) after 12 years of poodle ownership, the main differences I've noticed are:

* poodles live to be with you. If I'm sitting down, the poodles are close. The toy poodle is on me if she can get there. Whereas Howard takes himself out to sunbake and doesn't mind being in another room. He is out sunbaking as I type. He's still an affectionate dog but it lacks the intensity of the poodles focus on me.

* grooming a Whippet after poodles (I groom them myself) is a delight.. so easy. If you're not going to learn to groom, you need to factor regular visits to a groomer into your budget.

* my poodles are far quicker to alert bark than Howard is. If noise will be an issue, I'd choose the Whippet.

My poodles had no trouble training Howard as to the limits of acceptable behaviour. They play together, but very much according to poodle rules. No dragging around by the neck in this house - Howard has other buddies for those games.

* Howard is much 'easier' around other dogs. He loves everyone and is large enough not to need protection from the attentions of big dogs. With small breeds, you have to be conscious that they are easily injured and do trigger prey drive in some breeds.

Personally, I'd go for both eventually! :lol: Both great breeds, both so enjoyable to live with.

There are other breeds you might consider, If I were after a small/medium obedience dog, I'd look at the Toy or Mini Poodle, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Corgi, Cocker Spaniel, Papillon or Shetland Sheepdog. Those are the breeds that tend to do well here in Australia.

I mainly take my dogs to obedience to learn the basic's sit,drop,stay,come and also qa outing for me and my dog. I'm not interested in doing obedience trails or anything like that, I just want a well ajusted dog that will know the basic commands. My dad said you can teach any dog anything as long as you have patience and the know how. My dads whippets were good he said he could put his whippets in a sit tell them to stay walk 20 yards away then call them and start runing and the dog listened. He said he only had 1 whippet that wouldn't come back when called so it had to stay onlead at all times. My dad has owned about 7 whippets when he was younger all execpt 1 were great dogs eg followed every command my dad gave.

I love the whippet too i love the fact it won't need clipping every 6-8 weeks more money to spend on toys etc for my dogs. Like i said i mainly take my dogs to obedience to learn the basic's,socialization,and an outing for both of us.

I know nothing about poodles at all but personally I think 15-30 minutes per day exercise is no where near enough for a whippet.

My whippets, one of which is 13 years old, still get and want atleast an hour and a half exercise per day on lead and some free running most days.

Although a whippet will happily curl up on the sofa, they really do need exercise and time to let off steam.I just don't think 15-30 minutes exercise is enough for any dog unless it's another chihuahua.

as for destructiveness, every dog is an individual and no matter what breed you go for, they can all be awesomely destructive if the mood takes them.

as for shedding, there is no certainty that a whippet will not shed..my whippet Woody was dreadful for shedding hair and even Badger sheds a fair bit despite daily brushing.

Also since you are already rehoming a dog perhaps it would be better not to get another one! what happens if you get a whippet and you find it does shed too much and is destructive and does menace your chihuahua too much...it would be very sad and upsetting for another dog to be rehomed.

if your Golden retriever is jumping on your chihuahua too much, would it not be better to train your Goldie and keep it rather than rehome it? something like that is down to training and the owner to take responsibility for...you need to teach your Goldie what is and isn't acceptable behaviour and if you are currently only giving it such a small amount of exercise, it needs more stimulation than that.

just my opinion.

I can understand where your at Shelley my female golden retriever is well trained she knows her sit,drop,stay,come,sit/stay,drop/stay,halt,wait,leave and ignore. But when it comes to other dogs training doesn't come into her head i can say No which she knows the word,leave etc which she will do for like a second then continue, To stop her i always have tap her on the bottom and say enough get in your kennel which she then listens. Rascal is now telling Shelley off which he didn't before he snaps at her. Shelley goes to obedience every monday night and is pretty good at it.

Shelley is only 19 months old so still a fairly young which i'm hoping when she ages more she will settle down more. My golden retrievers get and are happy with any amount of exercise i'm willing to give which could be 30 minute offlead runing to an hour offlead runing or swimming or bit of both. They also get played with out the backyard with a toy but most of the time they end up playing with eachother. I'm thinking of rehoming Shelley i end up putting a advertisement up but normally end up changing my mind and can't go through with it as i love her dearly. Yes Shelley has some bad behaviours thanks to the breeder i brought her from, The breeder kept her in a cement kennel run all day with minimal human attention. She never got feel dirt,grass,sniff plants and cause of that she digs holes,chews up plants no matter what method i use to stop the behaviour, No amount of exercise stops her i have exercised her that much her feet were sore and she was that warn out she could hardly move and still she manage to dig a hole that night. I even trained for an hour each day thinking this would work her mind on top of the exercise but nope still didn't work. Shelley is just the way she is i've caught her in the act and told her no dig didn't work, i ignored the behaviour and reward when she didn't dig nope didn't work.My chihuahua Rascal loves his walks and he is very much caperable to handle just as much exercise as my goldens if anything my goldens ware out faster then what Rascal does.

doglover12 said:

I can understand where your at Shelley my female golden retriever is well trained she knows her sit,drop,stay,come,sit/stay,drop/stay,halt,wait,leave and ignore. But when it comes to other dogs training doesn't come into her head i can say No which she knows the word,leave etc which she will do for like a second then continue, To stop her i always have tap her on the bottom and say enough get in your kennel which she then listens. Rascal is now telling Shelley off which he didn't before he snaps at her. Shelley goes to obedience every monday night and is pretty good at it.
Shelley is only 19 months old so still a fairly young which i'm hoping when she ages more she will settle down more. My golden retrievers get and are happy with any amount of exercise i'm willing to give which could be 30 minute offlead runing to an hour offlead runing or swimming or bit of both. They also get played with out the backyard with a toy but most of the time they end up playing with eachother. I'm thinking of rehoming Shelley i end up putting a advertisement up but normally end up changing my mind and can't go through with it as i love her dearly. Yes Shelley has some bad behaviours thanks to the breeder i brought her from, The breeder kept her in a cement kennel run all day with minimal human attention. She never got feel dirt,grass,sniff plants and cause of that she digs holes,chews up plants no matter what method i use to stop the behaviour, No amount of exercise stops her i have exercised her that much her feet were sore and she was that warn out she could hardly move and still she manage to dig a hole that night. I even trained for an hour each day thinking this would work her mind on top of the exercise but nope still didn't work. Shelley is just the way she is i've caught her in the act and told her no dig didn't work, i ignored the behaviour and reward when she didn't dig nope didn't work.My chihuahua Rascal loves his walks and he is very much caperable to handle just as much exercise as my goldens if anything my goldens ware out faster then what Rascal does.

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it still boils down to training though...it's all very well saying you have her well trained but from what you say, she is clearly only partly trained since you are unable to get her to stop jumping on your other dog. One of my rescues was kept in a concrete kennel with little human contact. my other one was kept in one room and had never been outside or met other dogs etc...both dogs have gone to standard training classes like everyone else and are kept properly under control at home. I appreciate that everyone is different and some people find training their dogs is difficult but there is no reason to expect a whippet to be any easier to train or control than your current dog.

you also say that your goldie gets hours of exercise etc even to the point of sore feet and near exhaustion and yet in your first post you say you will only be giving your new whippet or poodle 15-30 mins a day..just doesn't add up, why would you be getting rid of one dog you cannot cope with and replacing it with another dog which you clearly intend to do less with etc..seems a strange thing to do...makes me rather sad, would be far better if you just got proper control of the goldie which doesn't simply mean wearing it out..

I shall leave this thread now because it is making me angry...so many dogs get rehomed through no fault of their own and the thought of a whippet ending up out on its ear like the goldie or at best given insufficient exercise etc makes my blood boil.....

How many dogs do you have? It sounds like you have more than one goldie? Digging is a natural recreational thing for dogs to do so I would not stress too much about it. I agree that it is not a good idea to trade in one young perfectly healthy well behaved dog for another. Maybe you should continue with the exercise and training and give the small dog his own space, maybe in a large cage or in a room behind a baby gate when he needs a bit of peace or you cannot keep your eye on them. Again, I believe playing is a normal interaction between dogs but because of the difference in size in your case, it needs to be supervised/managed.

I should give you the phone number of the trainer that does obedience she has said Shelley is one of the best goldens she has seen and the most well behaved one in glass specially for her age. Most goldens shes meet at Shelleys age doesn't even know how to sit, were jumpy,wouldn't settle down. Obbvisously you didn't read my other posts in this thread to well i said i'm quite happy to walk a dog for an hour or more some days but some days may be shorter not everyone can spend 24/7 with there dogs you know. There is such things as house work,shopping,appointments,paying bills etc so dogs have to exept that they may get a long walk or a short walk. You come and meet my dogs and you will find out just how well they are i have them sitting and droping with the click of my fingers, i have them coming back to me with a whistle. Even my chihuahua knows the commands sit,stay and come and people have said chihuahuas are very hard to train sit etc too.

Every dog is different if you know golden retrievers you should know that more time spent with them at a young age eg 4 to 8 weeks makes for a better dog. If a golden retriever isn't given enough attention at this age they will end up with behaviour problems and anixity problems which is what Shelley has. She is mainly doing it cause she wants to play which i tell her no and most of the time she listens. She also does it cause Rascal snaps and chases her which is what she wants. I think i know my dog and what she is thinking most times. Shes starting to learn the chihuahua is out of bounds and is now leaving him alone. Cause of what Shelley has done with Rascal he know has a sore back sometimes.

Think of it this way different temperments towards a purebred golden retriever to a mutt. Not all breeders are good i got Shelley from a registered breeder she is the way she is cause she was deprived of attention. Golden retrievers are very social dogs and if deprived of that behaviour problems arise, I spend alot of time with my dogs i'm always walking in and out giving them attention patting,playing,brushing,walking etc. The problems are caused by the breeder not me why is that so hard to believe. She wasn't treated the way she should of been when with the breeder, she was very timid when i got her which isn't the normal for a golden retriever. When i aproached her she had her tail inbetween her legs she even peed a bit, She wasn't even use to a collar or lead. All she had was her brother and sisters to keep her company nothing else not even a toy. She was 14 weeks old when i got her so she learnt bad behaviour from the breeders house. Shelley is a great dog in her own way and i accept that, I have removed my advertisements for Shelley she is a happy dog just plays rough.

I think you need to give time to the dogs you already have before you consider adding to your numbers

I won't adding anymore dogs for ages i'm reading up on breeds of dogs i like is that so bad to research well in front. At least i'm trying to find out which dogs suits me better then going out and getting the first dog i see. Even if i did rehome Shelley which i'm not going too now, i wouldn't go out the next day get another dog. I would wait till i'm actually ready for one.

I own 1 11 year old male golden retriever 1 19 month old female golden retriever and 1 3 year old chihuahua.

It sounds like you are putting a lot of work into your Shelley, good for you, she sounds like a very normal young dog. I think you are right not to get rid of her. Having such a difference in size of dogs just needs managing.

Well done for having the little dog trained, they are very smart dogs and capable of so much more than being carried in handbags!

I think it's terribly sad that you are thinking of rehoming your Goldie, after the bad start she had to be passed on again is going to be very hard on her. Have you really tried absolutely everything to manage her behaviour with the Chi including consulting a good behaviourist or trainer to see her at home and give some advice?

Please if you absolutely decide you have to rehome her consider doing so via a good rescue like Irish Retriever Rescue http://www.irishretrieverrescue.com/ (they take English dogs as well). They are used to dealing with dogs that have had difficult backgrounds, and will give her backup for life so she doesn't end up getting passed around from pillar to post or used for breeding if she isn't spayed.

I really don't think that now is the time to be looking ahead to what your next dog is going to be, I think you need to sort out your current problems first. Any young dog you bring in is going to need plenty of exercise and is going to play rough, so you could rehome your Goldie and end up in exactly the same situation

Just a thought, but if the Goldie and the Chi really can't live together it might be better to consider rehoming the Chi? There are many more good homes out there for small easy dogs than there are for large dogs who already have some behavioural issues.

Sorry, I missed your last post where you say you aren't thinking of rehoming Shelley now. Well done for sticking with her, I hope you can sort things out :luck:

"She was 14 weeks old when i got her so she learnt bad behaviour from the breeders house"

This is quite a young age to take her on - so her "bad behaviour" has not been learnt from the breeder, I'm afriad. She is still young and hope that you can persevere with her.