Is A Whippet At Full Height At 6 Months?

[snowpea]

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What age does a whippet reach full height? Is it generally 6 months of age?

Thanks,

 

[jinx and rubys mum]

I would say that a whippet is not full grown at 6 months

They can continue to grow to at least 12 months :b

Quite often they can be skinny at 12 months and then grow into their bodies

Hope that helps xx

 

[bertha]

They usually reach full height between 6 and 8 months, then they will start to mature and fill out.

 

[JAX]

depends on the breeding IMO .

 

[Tigernidster]

Certainly not at 6 months! Between 9 and 12 months I would say.

 

[rls22]

As JAX said it differs from dog to dog.

One of ours had done all his growing upwards by 6/7 months and others have been 12 months, but even then extra after 6 months or so has only been an inch max. They all do plenty of filling out for the next year or more.

 

[Seraphina]

My girls certainly finished their rapid growth between 5-7months, after that it they grow at all it is only very little. As others said; they then take another year or so to fill in to their mature shape. Males may take longer, however dogs that are desexed may grow bit longer as the lack of hormones postpones the closure of the growth plates.

 

[GotWhippet?]

Depends on the lines I guess.

I know the lines I have will reach their maximum height at about 6 mths of age. Probably looks quite daunting to the judges, and breeders who don't know the lines, to see a whippet just out of baby puppy being the same height as an open dog.

 

[Hula]

All my whippets were fully grown at 6 - 8 months .

 

[Wayward_Angel]

As others have said depends on the lines.

Some will be slow others grow fast then will come down into themselves later on

 

[shenace]

Yes, depends on the lines behind the dogs.

My guys at 6mths are often not far off the height of the adults, then they have a spurt again at about 8 - 10 mths and sometimes again at 12mths where they will look to big for the puppy class & ready to go into the junior class as a rangey adult. Then I find about 12 - 16 mths when their shoulders relax back into themselves, they can drop approx 1/4 to 1/2" at the withers over the period of a few months. So they have mostly finished growing by 12mths but the "real" height is not measurable until about 16mths - this is the common rule of thumb for my guys at least.

 

[Avalonia]

Yes, depends on the lines behind the dogs.
My guys at 6mths are often not far off the height of the adults, then they have a spurt again at about 8 - 10 mths and sometimes again at 12mths where they will look to big for the puppy class & ready to go into the junior class as a rangey adult. Then I find about 12 - 16 mths when their shoulders relax back into themselves, they can drop approx 1/4 to 1/2" at the withers over the period of a few months. So they have mostly finished growing by 12mths but the "real" height is not measurable until about 16mths - this is the common rule of thumb for my guys at least.

I agree with you. Dogs 'settle' into their adult height after 12 months and between then and 18 months depending on the line. All of our dogs (all Nevedith lines) do this and that is really the best time to show the dogs when the body has matured, the shoulder has set, the topline is established, etc. etc. I have on a number of occasions shown a promising puppy then seen it become leggy and made the decision to pull it from showing till it settles. Inevitably that is at the end of what I call the teenage stage -- 18 months, most usually.

I have been fascinated reading this thread to read that the Oz standard height for bitches still recommends 17.5 to 18.5 inch bitches because I feared, with the massive influx of American lines in recent years, that the height standard would be altered to accommodate the increased legginess (because that is often what it is). I breathe a sigh of relief because two of our pups from our most recent litter (sired by Cdn.Ch. Avalonia Oscar Peterson x Eng.Cdn.Ch. Nevedith Ceefa Ceely) are destined for two separate Oz homes, and at 7 months these girls are where I expect them to be at this point... under 18 inches, and unlikely to go any more than 18.5 at maturity. I was beginning to be terrified they would be too small for Australia at that height and I am now greatly comforted that they will clearly fit within the standard and be seen as an appropriate height. For the record, while they are not tall they are solid. At the vets the other day for their blood draw for their titre testing for rabies antibodies before exports they were 22 pounds each... solid girls to be sure.

Lanny