Why Wont My Whippet Run

[Mr Whippy]

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If any of you have seen the ' Is my dog a bully whippet' thread will have seen that one of my dogs can certainly run. My new dog however seems to ballet dance rather than run. He is only 18 months old but still gambols like a puppy. It's almost as if his legs are too long to get up to any speed. He has run on the beach with us but he is overtaken and lapped by Captain at every turn. Is this normal?

(p.s. we've only had him for a fortnight so could it be lack of confidence?)

Any advice/insights would be appreciated.

Cheryl

 

[FeeFee]

It could easily be lack of confidence - perhaps he's reluctant to go too far away from you?

Sophie, my little rescue whippet x, will run around fine on a long lead but as soon as I let her off lead she sticks to my side like glue. I think she's just terrified I'm going to leave her

The only way I can get her to have a really good run is to have someone with me and call her backwards and forwards between the two of us.

 

[Mr Whippy]

It could easily be lack of confidence - perhaps he's reluctant to go too far away from you?
Sophie, my little rescue whippet x, will run around fine on a long lead but as soon as I let her off lead she sticks to my side like glue.  I think she's just terrified I'm going to leave her 

The only way I can get her to have a really good run is to have someone with me and call her backwards and forwards between the two of us.

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Thanks for the suggestion, we've already tried getting him to run between us but its more of a prancing skip that he does whilst our other dog has run between us both and back again in the same time. He's confident enough to wander about a hundred yards away by himself so he isn't totally clingy. Even when he plays with my other dog he just never seems to get to speed. He was an unsuccessful show dog, could it be simply that he has never had the opportunity to run? He is still learning to play with toys/chews and has now mastered the stairs so perhaps it maybe that he needs to learn to run also? As far as I know he was not kept as a pet and lived in an indoor kennel/run with the other show dogs.

Here's a picture or him 'racing' towards me. (note Captains - my other dog -absence from the picture as he was already on his way back to my husband after reaching me)

 

[Zephyr]

Do you know his history? It may be that he has never been off the lead before, and he hasn't really developed his running muscles yet. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon now he's in a loving home with lots of free running. :thumbsup: :luck:

 

[Mr Whippy]

Do you know his history?  It may be that he has never been off the lead before, and he hasn't really developed his running muscles yet.  I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon now he's in a loving home with lots of free running. :thumbsup:   :luck:

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As i said in my previous post he was bred as a show dog but then wasn't deemed suitable. The owner only bred dogs for showing not selling so she kept him but not as a pet. He lived in kennels with her other dogs. The property had penned areas where the dogs were exercised so it could be that he never really had the space to run before perhaps? I'm sure he'll get over it, he cracked stairs within four days - he went from refusal, to crawling on his belly to running up down and up again. He's beginning to build in confidence so I hope he'll soon be giving my other dog the run around.