Wcrch

[Joanna]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

I am interested to hear the views of the experienced.Is it down to chance and breeding that a dog is good, or is it down to how the owner trains, feeds and responds to the dog. Have any of you dramatically changed the way you briong up a pup to get a fantastic result.

This is not a deathly serious topic, but purely a request for anecdotal responses...........Well obviously any hot tips will be gladly accepted, but just for fun really :teehee:

 

[Paula Roberts]

IMO Joanna, its all down to luck you either have it or you dont, some people take years to own a champion some take months, I know a fantastic race dog who is totally show bred, there again i know someone who has a race bred dog out of champion parents whos never done anything. Knew someone years ago who had a great race dog that was never exercised, only went outside to empty, yet come Sunday it turned into a machine that couldnt get beat. We all have our own theories and training methods, hopefully in the future we"ll all get a champion if the lucks on your side.

 

[conway]

IMO Joanna, its all down to luck you either have it or you dont, some people take years to own a champion some take months, I know a fantastic race dog who is totally show bred, there again i know someone who has a race bred dog out of champion parents whos never done anything. Knew someone years ago who had a great race dog that was never exercised, only went outside to empty, yet come Sunday it turned into a machine that couldnt get beat. We all have our own theories and training methods, hopefully in the future we"ll all get a champion if the lucks on your side.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

that's very true paula :thumbsup:

jo i think that you can help the dog with diet, training and lots of love, but if it's not in the dog then it's not there.

 

[Strike Whippets]

The dog has to have the ability in the first place ..........and then good food, proper fitness (training) and kindness play the other part ...........

 

[Joanna]

Interesting views......................I am a fatalist and in all aspects I think you are destined or not to be a winner. I think born is the key. Last year, I asked a supreme finalist winner what they fed their dog on................The reply? "Some dried stuff".

Prove me wrong, but I do think nature plays more part then nurture.

This will be our first year racing in competition. I don't think he's a born winner, but I would love to be proved wrong :lol:

 

[Vicky]

I'd have to agree with Conway & Hannah, If they've got it in them you can help them along with good food and proper exercise, if the dog hasn't got it you can spend all the time in the world training and feeding the best you possibly can and it won't make any difference.

 

[conway]

you all know how much exercise my lot get :- " and they are fed on omega tasty (w00t) but they run ok, so who is to say that if i walk the legs off them and feed they best beef that they will run any faster. i don't think so

 

[Vicky]

so who is to say that if i walk the legs off them and feed they best beef that they will run any faster.  i don't think so

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

I said "help them along" not that they'd run any faster. Although i'd put money on it you'd get better results with a balanced diet rather than tinned chappie!

 

[Joanna]

Going back to nature................You can get two dogs out of the same litter brought up in the same way by the same person and one can be really good and the other just OK.............I'll go with Dave you've either got it or you haven't, BUT you probably can improve the performance of any dog with diet fitness etc.

Does any-one know a WRC who was brought up with a sibling that never performed as well?

 

[Judy]

Well breeding definitely counts or the racing bred dogs wouldn't be any faster than the show bred ones. There was a thread about this a while ago and I remember I came up with some statistics and I'm to lazy to do it again so I've done a search for my old post.

Very roughly, by my reckoning an average of about 100 - 125 passports are issued every year and each year about 7 dogs become champions, so thats less than 7%. Therefore, if more than 7% of puppies with a champion parent become champions then it would indicate that having a champion parent is a factor in success. Of course what we really mean by a champion parent is a fast parent but there are no statistics available for that.
Right, I've bounced the computer with the database inside it around the room, wrote some stuff down, used a calculator and turned what was left of my brain to jelly and come up with this:-

895 dogs that I have racing names for, were born in the last 10 years. Of those 501 had a racing champion parent and 394 didn't. Of the 895, I've already worked out that 60 (6.7%) became champions. Of the 501 dogs who had a champion parent, 50 became champions (10%). Of the 394 that didn't have a champion parent, 10 became champions (2.54%). Whats more 90 puppies had both parents being racing champions and 26 became champions (17.78%).

I think that means it most definitely helps to have champion/fast parents or that at least it raises the average quality of the litter.

Having said all that, not all puppies in a litter are the same due to genetic recombination so its down to luck wether you get the fastest one or not.

As for nurture, I don't think you can make a dog faster with good feeding but a bet you could hamper it with bad. Also it does seem to be that some people are better at training their dogs, both physically and psychologically, than others.

 

[Joanna]

Well breeding definitely counts or the racing bred dogs wouldn't be any faster than the show bred ones. There was a thread about this a while ago and I remember I came up with some statistics and I'm to lazy to do it again so I've done a search for my old post.

Very roughly, by my reckoning an average of about 100 - 125 passports are issued every year and each year about 7 dogs become champions, so thats less than 7%. Therefore, if more than 7% of puppies with a champion parent become champions then it would indicate that having a champion parent is a factor in success. Of course what we really mean by a champion parent is a fast parent but there are no statistics available for that.
Right, I've bounced the computer with the database inside it around the room, wrote some stuff down, used a calculator and turned what was left of my brain to jelly and come up with this:-

895 dogs that I have racing names for, were born in the last 10 years. Of those 501 had a racing champion parent and 394 didn't. Of the 895, I've already worked out that 60 (6.7%) became champions. Of the 501 dogs who had a champion parent, 50 became champions (10%). Of the 394 that didn't have a champion parent, 10 became champions (2.54%). Whats more 90 puppies had both parents being racing champions and 26 became champions (17.78%).

I think that means it most definitely helps to have champion/fast parents or that at least it raises the average quality of the litter.

Having said all that, not all puppies in a litter are the same due to genetic recombination so its down to luck wether you get the fastest one or not.

As for nurture, I don't think you can make a dog faster with good feeding but a bet you could hamper it with bad. Also it does seem to be that some people are better at training their dogs both physically and psychologically than others.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Thanks for those stats Judy...............I do remember the thread now. That is really interesting, but it does suggest there is hope for every-one.

Next question......(as you can see I am on a learning curve and am feeling like a big sponge for information at the moment)

Which current racing whippets have 2 WRC ch parents, what weight groups are they in, and should I try and bribe the organisers if my little Fynn gets drawn against them :lol: :lol: :lol: ?