How Much Exercise Does A Whippet Need?

[DaveGB]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Good evening everyone. I have done a search for this question but nothing seems to come up. I suppose it may be hidden in other discussions but the search does not highlight them. I am new to the forum so if I am doing anything wrong, please forgive me.

We have acquired our first Whippet who is almost three years old. We have had him three weeks now. He came from a very caring rescue person but she is not a whippet expert He was weighing over 18 kg when he came but is now about 17 Kg. I have been walking him twice a day and he is now off the lead and running free when safe. The two walks are (for me) about 1.75 miles in the morning and 1 mile in the afternoon although his activity does mean he is doing a bit more. The walking area is mostly fields some of which is long grass (including thistles which cause some scratches which he does not seem to notice) but there is also hard pathways. During the morning walk he does have "mad," fast, circular runs some of which he takes through this grass but usually trots along quite happily by my side having frequent sniffs when there is anything appealing. He seldom runs like this in the afternoon.

He does seem reluctant sometimes to come out at the start of the walk. That may be because he wants my wife to come as well but I sometimes wonder if I am doing too much too soon (he ran in a park previously when there was anyone to take him.)

I had also hoped that he might be able to come out hiking with me - say up to six miles - but I now wonder if he would have the stamina.

What do you think, please?

PS, We think he is a most delightful little chap and are really pleased we found him.

 

[meddling]

Welcome to k9

I have a 2 year old whippet, who fits in beautifully to what ever exercise comes her way....she hasn't been out this week as I have Swine Flu but she is laid back and chilled about it, but usually she has 2 hours a day with up to 4 hours a couple of times a week, and has done a lot of 10 mile walks with me too

They are an amazing breed

 

[TillynPip]

Hi DaveGB and welcome to K9.

We have two rescue dogs, one of which is a Whippet X and in May we acquired our beautiful Whippet girl, Gracie who is now nearly four months old. I don't count myself as an expert in the breed but it sounds as though you're doing all the right things. My two rescues are up for any amount of walking over any terrain and, on the flat, Gracie keeps up no problems. I haven't tried her on anything really hilly as she's a bit young yet (joints and bones etc) but I will do eventually and these lovely dogs seem to be up for most things. It sounds as though your boy might just be feeling his feet with his new family and doesn't want to let you out of sight yet but he obviously enjoys his walks :thumbsup: . Loads of praise and reassurance works wonders. Have a lovely time with him, they really are wonderful dogs with huge personalities. Post a pic of him if you can (I can't because photobucket doesn't like us and won't re-size any our our pics :rant: :rant: ).

 

[eve]

I have a 7 month old whippet who has been with us 12 weeks and have had many rescures and adopted whippets over the years. My whippets get just under hours walking a day split into two energetic walks. Unless of course it is pouring with rain when they usually refuse to go out. Building up his stamina with daily walks is the right way to go. In a few weeks his feet will have toughened up a bit and he will be fitter and ready for longer walks. The time inbetween you could work on his recall as after 3 weeks, he will still be just getting yo know you, trust you and learn what you expect of him. I carry a bag of treats and regularly use these to enforce recall with all my whippets. Whippets being sighthounds do tend to run off after the first rabbit or interesting thing they see and are not the easiest dogs to recall sometimes.. He may not be doing this yet if he is insecure he will probably stay close to you. My youngster is getting a lot more adventurous now that he has been with us 12 weeks and I am having to work on his recall quite hard.

Is the weight loss intentional? 1 kg in 3 weeks is quite a lot of weight loss in an 18kg whippet. If he has not had much excercise and is now getting more, he will probably loose weight naturally. I would feed an unneutered young male whippet of about 21 - 22" at the shoulder, getting plenty of excercise weighing 17KG about 250g - 300g of quality food a day. It depends of his size. if he is neutered about 10% less than this. It is worth feeding good quality food with about 24%+ protein as this will help him put on muscle. Avoid Bakers (full of additives). There are threads on how much and what to feed on the forum.

best wishes

Eve

 

[Nicola]

I think your current exercise regime sounds fine, maybe build up a bit more gradually. He could be reluctant to go out initially because it has been a bit cold and wet of late. Whippets can be notoriously wimpy about walking in the rain. My whippet Fred hates water and will do anything to avoid the smallest puddles. He has a coat to keep off the rain. He has even been known to wee indoors rather than go outside in the rain. :b

Fred has accompanied me on long walks in the past and regularly been on 6-9 mile walks with me in the hills (and has even managed a Scottish Munro or two). He has suffered from corns on his feet over the last 2-3 years, so I would try to keep road walking to a minimum and keep his nails trim if you're going to be doing much longer walks. No one really knows for sure what causes corns (could be hereditary), but these could be preventative measures. Some would say it's bad for them to only have shorter walks in the week and then go for a really long walk at weekends (i.e. suddenly extending the walk) but I don't think this has caused any problems from my own experience.

Welcome to k9 btw :cheers:

 

[Nicola]

Welcome to k9
I have a 2 year old whippet, who fits in beautifully to what ever exercise comes her way....she hasn't been out this week as I have Swine Flu but she is laid back and chilled about it, but usually she has 2 hours a day with up to 4 hours a couple of times a week, and has done a lot of 10 mile walks with me too

They are an amazing breed

Heck Claire...you do a lot of walking in the week. Where are all the photos?

 

[meddling]

Welcome to k9
I have a 2 year old whippet, who fits in beautifully to what ever exercise comes her way....she hasn't been out this week as I have Swine Flu but she is laid back and chilled about it, but usually she has 2 hours a day with up to 4 hours a couple of times a week, and has done a lot of 10 mile walks with me too

They are an amazing breed

Heck Claire...you do a lot of walking in the week. Where are all the photos?

If it finally stops raining I might just take some sometime...thought you were all bored of Blue doing this and Blue doing that

 

[~Annie~]

A good way to build his exercise and work on his recall would be to invest in a ball thrower. If you have a flat area of ground where the grass is not too long he should be safely able to do some hard running after the ball, and if you give him a treat every time he brings it back to you, and call his name or whistle while he's bringing it back, then you're reinforcing his recall off lead. As eve says, now is the time to do this, while he's still not confident enough to stray too far.

Annie

 

[Suerose]

A good way to build his exercise and work on his recall would be to invest in a ball thrower. If you have a flat area of ground where the grass is not too long he should be safely able to do some hard running after the ball, and if you give him a treat every time he brings it back to you, and call his name or whistle while he's bringing it back, then you're reinforcing his recall off lead. As eve says, now is the time to do this, while he's still not confident enough to stray too far.
Annie

Would very much agree with this. Grace loves her ball thrower and it gives her masses of good exercise and fun in a shortish time. And I feel that it has been very bonding - she now looks more to me for fun and play rather than to any other dogs in the vicinity. Well, sometimes :lol:

 

[DaveGB]

Thank you all for your very quick replies. It does reassure me that I am heading in the right direction.

As for recall he does, at the moment, seem excellent at this. I use a dog whistle and Pedigree Training Treats. They work even when he has gone out of sight in wooded area. I call him back quite quickly as I do not want him getting disorientated. The only time they do not work is when he has found a particularly delightful scent to roll in (doubt that Chanel will bottle it, though.)

A ball thrower is on the list. At the moment a squeaky Air-Dog tennis ball does the trick but my arm is suffering. It gets him going for a while then he loses interest and just drops it - hence a bright yellow one.

For food, he had been fed on what the rescue centre could raise but my wife is giving him a can of M&S Luxury dog meat (smells like their tins of chunky steak!) supplemented by Burns' Chicken and Rice pellets. His weight loss, I imagine, is down to a more controlled diet plus exercise (it has yet to improve my weight!!) On other sites I have read that the whippet's weight should be about 13kg which would make him still very overweight (he is about 20" at the shoulder which I think may be quite tall for a whippet??)

His name, by the way, is Prince. He came with it and has the delightful, down the nose, regal expressions so he can stay with it. I will work on getting a photo of him on here as soon as I can.

Once, again, thank you all for your support.

Dave

 

[DaveGB]

I think I have mastered the photo thing so here goes. Prince in the garden.

 

[rls22]

Prince looks a lovely boy and it sounds like you are doing a grand job by him. He will be looking sleek and lovely in no time.

20" for a male whippet is by no means big. Weight wise my 21" dog is about 14.5kg. I don't have a particularly recent photo of him, but you can see how covered he is on this pic - I don't like to see all of a whippets ribs, but do like to be able to just see the pin bones. Just my preference though!

 

[meddling]

Prince does have a very superior look on his face :wub:

 

[pippywhippet]

Hi, Prince has a very regal look to him!!

My 3 have approx 1.5- 2hrs exercise daily, with approx twice a week being road walks and the rest running on the beach, woods or in the dunes.

My tallest boy is 21" and weighs 12.5kg, though he does look quite lean

 

[eve]

Prince does look nicely covered. Toddy is 20" and weighs nearly 13KG (I have had to get weight onto him). He now looks about right.

The favoured food by may forum members is James wellbeloved and Arden Grange and Burns. Dry kibble and raw chicken wings will help keep his teeth in good condition.

Prince suits him. He is lovely

 

[kirsty]

What a lovely boy Prince looks I bet he will be treated like one too by the sounds of it Good luck with him :luck:

 

[Esty]

Prince is so lovely

For comparison, my two whippets are ten months old, 22" and weigh 17.5 kg. To be honest I rarely weigh them, I tend to go on what they look like. I only know their weight because Roscoe had to be weighed for antibiotics a couple of weeks ago when he had kennel cough. They eat James Wellbeloved Junior kibble with a bit of canned food added to make it more appetising (they can get a bit bored of it otherwise). They have two meals a day of 150g each time plus the bit of wet food ( about a quarter of a tin each time). Their exercise varies - like others have said when it's rainy you are lucky if they'll walk around the block with a pathetic look on their face! This week we've been on holiday and they've come everywhere with us so have had loads of exercise. The usual would be exactly what you are doing with Prince, with maybe a couple of 2-3 mile walks at the weekend.

You sound like you are doing a great job with him - don't deliberately try to get his weight down, go off what he looks like rather than any 'standard' weight because whippets vary so much in size and shape that suggested weights can vary massively.

 

[~Annie~]

An important point to remember is that muscle weighs much more than fat. My 21" boy is a super fit agility dog who also lure courses, he is all muscle and weighs 33 lbs or so/approx 15 kg. There's a recent pic of him here.

Annie

 

[FifeJillandIan]

I think I have mastered the photo thing so here goes. Prince in the garden.View attachment 66402

He certainly does suit his name ... Prince is a very handsome boy :wub: Good luck with him. My two and a half year old, 21" boy, Blue, weighs in at 12.6kg at the moment - it's the heaviest he's ever been as it has always been a problem getting weight on him. Since his wee nephew, Alfie, came to live with us a few months ago and we've been feeding them both on raw tripe three or four times a week, Blue has finally managed to put a little weight on and is looking good. Keep us posted on Prince's progress :thumbsup:

 

[caitlin]

Hi - welcome to K9!

Further to earlier advice - I have a biggish whippet (15kg and she is not fat) :thumbsup: Ivy gets anything from 1 to 3 hours walking a day. If it is bucketing down she might only get 1/2 hour! I try to vary the walks so that she gets a mix of pavements, fields and woodland. Sometimes she gets a 20 min. walk first thing in the morning and will not get another one until my husband gets home 3 or 4ish. Having said all this, I feel that she would actually like to have walks every 2 hours or so - if she doesn't get this she can get a bit delinquent and 'chewy' - she starts eyeing up the children's toys and stealing our food (as we are trying to eat it sometimes!) :angry: So, in answer to the question how much do they need - I think whippets probably need upwards of an hour each day to include a bit of fast running (I would second that ball flingers are good for this).

I have a feeling that whippets don't have great stamina - my brother was thinking of getting one to accompany him fell running. Am I right in thinking that a whippet would not be suitable for this? My brother eventually settled for a Border terrier.

Good luck with Prince - whippets are rather lush!! :wub: :wub: