Whippet recall??

[Xena Daisy]

hey a friend of mine has just got a whippet puppy.
the pup is only ten weeks old but my friend is adament that the pup will never be let off the lead, because "whippets have no recall" and they will kill small dogs.

are whippets that hard to teach a recall?
if they are trained from day one?
are they that likely to kill small dogs etc if they are well socialised from day one also?

her friend lost a whippet after it chased a rabbit completely out of a "secure" park and into a main road so her fears aren't completely unfounded but as she is planning on taking the pup to training classes surely it could hav a fairly reliable recall?

[chook]

No they wont kill small dogs - whippets ae no different to any other sighthound, plenty of scocalisation with other dogs,
recall unless they see a small furry then most have verry good recall,
she needs to get it off the lead now, and start its recall training,
otherwise it will end up with no recall at all,
most who have sighthounds train them with the emergency stop/down,
that way if they need to stop them - they can.

[Xena Daisy]

thankyou,
would an emergency stop be more likely to be reliable in the event of a small furry then?
will they still chase small furries if they are never encouraged?

[sarabe]

The best way to teach a recall to a sighthound is to let it chase a small, pretend furry attached to a piece of string attached to you.

[lurchercrazy]

just to confuse matters mine (ok not a whippet, but a sighthound cross) was a working dog - actively used to chase and kill small furries, yet she is fine with small dogs and cats - again comes with socialisation.

I believe that if you channel the chase instinct into something constructive then they wont seek out other thrills such as small furries. I use a stuffed toy on the end of a lunge whip to encourage her to chase - and she loves this.

And with the emergancy stop - it needs to be strong before contemplating calling them off chasing - it can be done.

[Xena Daisy]

thankyou i will pass on the advice
using a toy on a rope sounds like a great idea to teach recall, does it not then encourage them to chase other furries? sorry im probably wrong

thanks lc, this dog will not live with but will be frequently around a yorkie so that is encouraging -x-

[sarabe]

Originally Posted by Xena Daisy

thankyou i will pass on the advice
using a toy on a rope sounds like a great idea to teach recall, does it not then encourage them to chase other furries? sorry im probably wrong

You don't need to encourage a sighthound to chase furries, it needs to chase furries which is why you make sure that the only furries it ever chases is the pretend one attached to a piece of string attached to you.

[chook]

Originally Posted by Xena Daisy

thankyou,
would an emergency stop be more likely to be reliable in the event of a small furry then?
will they still chase small furries if they are never encouraged?

That would depend on how good the emergency stop was instilled in to the dog, and how strong the chase instint (sp) is,
all sighthounds will chase - even if they've never been encouraged,
my own lurcher was used for working, i have been able to call her off a chase,
she took off after a red deer last year, with in minuites she was back at my side, the key is to know the dog and get comands or distract before the red mist sets in,

with penny we used a rabbit skin dummy, got her chaseing, retriving and doing some stays.