57 Fun Facts About Whippet

In the 19th century the Whippet earned which nickname?

The poor man's racehorse: working families in England's industrial north could never keep a thoroughbred, but they could keep a fast dog and bet on its sprints.

The Whippet is believed to have the fastest what of any dog?

Idle-to-running acceleration: being lighter than a Greyhound, a Whippet hits its stride sooner and can lead one over the first few yards. The bigger dog still wins on top speed.

Which best describes the typical Whippet temperament?

Gentle and calm, a Whippet spends most of the day resting and saves its energy for short, explosive sprints.

Whippets are notorious for bolting after cats and squirrels because of which strong instinct?

Prey drive is the urge to chase whatever runs. The Whippet was developed to run down small game, so owners are told to keep a firm grip on the lead anywhere that isn't securely fenced.

The Whippet's short, smooth coat is easy to manage partly because it lacks what?

An undercoat is the woolly second layer many breeds carry, and the Whippet has none. With so little insulation it feels the cold quickly, which is why so many are seen in sweaters.

Whippets often wear jackets outdoors in winter because their thin coat is paired with very low what?

Body fat is what holds a dog's heat in, and a Whippet carries very little. The breed copes badly with cold, wet weather, so sweaters and even pyjamas are common kit.

Breed standards in Britain and America call for a Whippet's small, fine ears to be which shape?

Rose ears are thrown back and folded along the neck when the dog is at rest. An ear that stands fully erect is a serious fault in the American show ring.

For which sci-fi sequel did film-makers try out a Whippet in a creature costume before settling on a puppet?

Alien 3 has a monster that runs on all fours, so the crew dressed a Whippet in an alien suit. The result looked comical instead of frightening, and the idea was dropped.

The name 'Whippet' is thought to come from an obsolete verb meaning what?

To move briskly is the sense dictionaries favour, from 'whip', though none is certain. Before it named a dog, 'whippet' was a 16th-century word for a lively young woman.

The Victorian Whippet's swift jaws earned it which nickname?

Snap-dog is said to describe how smartly the dogs snapped up what they chased. Before racing took over, owners gambled on catching contests staged in enclosed arenas.

Which everyday dog habit are Whippets known for rarely indulging in?

Barking is rare in Whippets, which were bred as silent hunters. At home they tend to pipe up only when they are bored or unhappy, and some owners say theirs never barks at all.

Oudry's 1725 painting of Misse and Turlu shows two whippet-like dogs owned by which king?

Louis XV had Oudry paint several more of his dogs, among them Mignonne and Sylvie. The portraits still hang together in the Château de Fontainebleau.

The rougher-coated 19th-century northern Whippet type came from crossbreeding with which breed?

Bedlington Terrier crosses ran both ways: the lamb-like terrier's own arched, racy outline is widely taken as a sign of Whippet blood in its pedigree.

The Whippet was developed in Victorian England to chase which animal for sport inside an enclosed arena?

Rabbits were turned loose in the enclosure and owners bet on whose dog would catch one first. The contests later gave way to straight racing, which asked for nothing but speed.

Which eye colour gets a Whippet disqualified from the American show ring?

Blue eyes, or even a fleck of blue in one eye, put a Whippet out of the ring under both American breed standards, which ask for large, dark eyes.

Who brought the first Whippets from England to the United States?

Mill operators from England took their racing dogs with them to New England. America's kennel club then recognised the breed in 1888, before Britain's own had got round to it.

Vets warn that the Whippet is prone to which behaviour problem?

Separation anxiety is common enough that one vets' charity suggests taking on a Whippet only if someone will be home with it all day. A lonely one may start to wreck the house.

American show judges are told to overlook which signs of a Whippet's working life?

Old scars 'the result of work or accident' are excused in both American standards. A Whippet's thin coat gives so little protection that a hard run through rough ground often leaves its mark.

In 1964 a Whippet first won Best in Show at which dog show?

Westminster crowned the dog his owner called Ricky. He came back the next year, won the Hound Group again, and lost the top prize to a Scottish Terrier.

Whippet show judges penalise a high-stepping front action named after which breed of carriage horse?

Hackney action is a showy, high lift of the front legs. A Whippet is built for speed, so the standards want its forelegs thrown forward low over the ground in a long, easy stride.

In the British stereotype of the Northern working man, a whippet goes with which kind of headgear?

Flat cap and whippet became shorthand for Yorkshire and the industrial North. The cliché has outlived the habit: whippet racing is now far more common in the stereotype than in life.

A Whippet or Greyhound crossed with a collie or terrier gives which type of dog, long linked with poachers?

Lurcher breeders wanted a running dog's speed with a working dog's brains. A rough coat also disguised the greyhound blood while the law kept hunting dogs for the landed.

Compared with the British breed standard, the American one allows a male Whippet to be noticeably what?

Taller by up to two inches: the American ideal for males runs to 22 inches, the Kennel Club's stops at 20. A dog more than half an inch over the American limit is disqualified.

In 2019 The Kennel Club stopped accepting registrations for Whippets of which colour?

Merle, a mottled pattern, does not occur naturally in Whippets, the club ruled, and the gene behind it can impair hearing and sight. Imported dogs were barred as well.

How does the American Kennel Club's breed standard treat coat colour when Whippets are judged?

It is considered immaterial: the standard's whole ruling on colour is two words. Early breeders cared only how fast a dog could run, so the breed never settled on a livery.

What top speed can a Whippet reach?

About 35 mph is a Whippet's flat-out sprint. In the rag races of 1900, that was enough for the best dogs to cover the standard 200-yard course in under thirteen seconds.

Which gait lets the Whippet reach its top speed?

Double suspension gallop lifts all four feet off the ground twice in every stride, once stretched out and once tucked under. It buys speed at the cost of stamina, so the dog is a sprinter.

Whippets and their racing relatives are intolerant of which class of anaesthetic drug?

Barbiturates such as thiopental linger because a Whippet's liver is slow to break them down, so recovery can drag on dangerously. Vets reach for other anaesthetics instead.

Blood tests show that Whippets, like other racing hounds, naturally carry an unusually high level of which cells?

Red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles, a useful surplus for a sprinter. Vets need to know it, because on a standard chart a healthy Whippet's blood count can look abnormal.

A Kennel Club survey found that which cause of death claims more Whippets than cancer, second only to old age?

Cardiac issues accounted for about one death in seven, against one in ten for cancer. The usual culprit is mitral valve disease, a leaky heart valve that tends to develop with age.

The mutation behind unusually muscular Whippets, identified in 2007, affects which gene?

Myostatin is the gene that tells muscle when to stop growing, so a broken copy means extra bulk. Faults in the same gene give some Belgian beef cattle their double muscling.

Whippets born with two copies of the muscle-growth mutation are hugely muscled dogs known by what nickname?

Bully Whippets look alarming, with muscle bulging on their legs and necks. Yet owners report no health troubles beyond a tendency to muscle cramps.

Whippets carrying a single copy of the muscle mutation were found significantly over-represented where?

In the top racing classes, carriers turned up far more often than among the slowest dogs. One copy of the mutation makes a Whippet more muscular, and the extra muscle tells over a sprint.

In 2015 Chinese scientists used CRISPR gene editing to copy the Whippet's muscle-building mutation in which breed?

Beagles named Hercules and Tiangou became the first dogs edited with CRISPR. The team said the aim was to model human illnesses such as Parkinson's disease, not to build designer pets.

In early Whippet 'ragging' races, what did owners wave at the far end of the track?

Towels or scraps of cloth did the job. From puppyhood each dog was taught to leap at a shaken rag and hang on, so on race day it flew straight for the one its owner held.

What happened to Alex Stein right after his uninvited 1974 Frisbee show with Ashley Whippet?

He was arrested for trespassing and fined $250. By then the television cameras had made Ashley a star, and the stunt is credited with launching Frisbee catching as a dog sport.

How do breed standards say a Whippet should carry its long tail when it is on the move?

Low, not above its back, and with only a slight upward curve: British and American standards agree. One American standard adds a length test: drawn through between the hind legs, the tail should reach the hip bone.

The British Whippet Racing Association, formed in 1967, standardised races for which dogs?

Non-purebred Whippets got their own rulebook first. A year later the Whippet Club set up a body of its own, which still runs races for pedigree dogs alone.

Whippet racing was hugely popular with which workers of Lancashire and Yorkshire?

Coal miners, the colliers of the two counties, ran their races as handicaps: every dog went on the scales, and its weight set how much of a start it got.

Which dog sport is a favourite outlet for the Whippet's urge to chase?

Lure coursing sends dogs zig-zagging across a field after a white plastic lure on a line, its sudden turns standing in for a fleeing hare. Nothing is ever caught.

The British tank nicknamed the Whippet, new in 1918, was prized for its speed, which topped out at roughly what?

About 8 mph sounds slow, but the heavy tanks it served beside only had to match infantry at walking pace. At more than twice their speed, it could race through a gap once they had made one.

The WWI Whippet tank was powered by a pair of engines of the kind then fitted to which vehicles?

Buses supplied the pattern for its two engines, one driving each track. Steering meant running one faster than the other, a knack so tricky that an engine could easily stall.

The Whippet tank 'Musical Box' ran loose behind German lines for hours during which battle of August 1918?

Amiens opened on 8 August 1918. Musical Box outran the heavy tanks, routed a gun battery and shot up transport far behind the front for most of the day before artillery knocked it out.

Ashley Whippet, the first famous disc dog, became a sensation in 1974 after being smuggled onto which ballpark's field?

Dodger Stadium was staging a nationally televised game against the Reds when 19-year-old Alex Stein hopped the wall with Ashley. The cameras stayed on the dog's catches, and a Frisbee craze followed.

Ashley Whippet was invited to perform at the White House during which president's term?

Jimmy Carter's daughter Amy had a dog called Grits, and Ashley is said to have shown him how to catch a Frisbee on the White House lawn.

Floating Free, a 1977 short film showing off Ashley Whippet's Frisbee catches, was nominated for which award?

An Oscar nomination came in the live-action short category, an odd home for a documentary. It was shot at the 1977 World Frisbee Championships, where Ashley won his third title.

Ashley Whippet went on to entertain the crowd at which American sporting event?

The Super Bowl booked Ashley to leap for Frisbees in front of the crowd, in 1977 or 1978 depending on the account. The national contest series was later renamed the Ashley Whippet Invitational.

Ashley's Ice Cream, a chain named after Ashley Whippet, opened in 1979 near which Ivy League university?

Yale students are said to have started the Frisbee craze by tossing empty Frisbie Pie Company tins. The shop's founders, keen players themselves, lined its walls with hundreds of discs.

Outside England's north and Midlands, which part of Britain took most keenly to the Victorian Whippet?

Wales took to the Whippet as keenly as the North did. The dogs were cheap to keep, and meetings with cash prizes and plenty of side bets drew big, noisy crowds of working men.

Which part of a Whippet do the British and American breed standards both require to be 'very deep'?

The chest must be very deep, 'with plenty of heart room' as the British standard puts it, reaching almost to the elbow. Behind it the belly tucks up sharply to give the breed its racy outline.

The Whippet's coat is known for which practical advantage?

Minimal shedding means a weekly once-over with a soft brush is about all the grooming a Whippet needs, though it may drop a little more hair in spring and autumn.

The American Kennel Club's long-standing breed profile called Whippets 'dignified' in which setting?

In their owner's living room, the profile said, however 'keen when racing or coursing' they might be outdoors. It added that Whippets make 'excellent house dogs'.

Before racing made its name, a small greyhound-type dog like the Whippet was kept for which household job?

Ratting and other vermin control came first. The Victorians then turned the little dogs' killing speed into a sport to bet on, and racing followed.

Batoni's 1758 portrait of the Earl of Northampton, a whippet-like dog beside him, was painted in which Grand Tour city?

Rome was where Pompeo Batoni made his living painting young British aristocrats on the Grand Tour, and he signed this canvas 'a Roma'. It now hangs in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

What share of Whippets screened by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals have hip dysplasia?

Under 2%, which puts Whippets almost at the foot of the foundation's table of more than 150 breeds. Breeders chose dogs for how they ran, not how they looked, and the joints stayed sound.

Which finding in a fit Whippet's heart is usually harmless, though it can alarm a vet new to the breed?

A soft murmur is common in fit Whippets, as in human athletes. Vets think it is simply the sound of blood leaving a large, powerful heart, and a scan can rule out valve disease.

How did handlers give their dogs a flying start in early Whippet races?

Threw them forward: at the pistol, one hand at the neck and the other at the hindquarters, each handler swung his dog down the track as far as he could. Today the throw is gone, and starting traps give every dog a fair break.