Claybrook Farm
Pure Longhaired Whippets
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Longhaired Whippet Characteristics
Longhaired Whippets have the sighthound curvy shape and the sighthound double
extension gallop. Longhaired
Whippets are incredibly decorative in repose or in action.
Hartley
(Please ignore the old sneakers!)
Size
Longhaired
Whippets are not very big, so you can have several of them!
As stated in the Longhaired Whippet standard, the size is the same as for
smooths, with males measuring 19” - 22” and females 18” - 21” at the
withers, with a 1/2” allowance shorter or taller.
Weight is usually between 20 lbs. to 30 lbs.
Personality
Longhaired Whippets have wonderful personalities. They are very sweet and do not seem to have the “hard edge” that many smooth Whippets, especially the females, have. Longhairs are generally not as dog-dominant, either. Therefore, they get along much better with other dogs than the smooths do.
The Longhairs are not so independent and are much more biddable (willing to do your bidding, higher desire to please), as well. They are affectionate, lively, sensitive and loving, while being dignified, as sighthounds (bred to course game) tend to be. Yet they are very much people-loving dogs and want to be with their owners.
Some may make good alert
dogs as they may bark a warning, but even these are not yappy as some breeds of
dogs are. However, they are not
guard dogs. Longhair Whippets are obedient and eager to please, making them
capable of doing obedience and agility work.
(To see a larger version of the picture below, click on it.)
Suzy
Exercise
Longhaired Whippets are
capable of running up to thirty-five miles per hour, so they enjoy outdoor
exercise and can course or race in all kinds of weather due to their protective
coat. But they are not nervous or
highstrung like some dogs. They
enjoy a zoom around the yard, and then come into the house and find a
comfortable place to curl up and sleep.
Coat
Longhaired Whippets have just enough coat to soften and enhance the look, but not so much as to require tedious grooming. The coat is generally soft and silky, but texture may vary slightly depending on color.
There
is very little undercoat, so maintenance (brushing or combing) is extremely
minimal. A quick once every other week
brushing is more than enough. They
do not shed profusely, as some coated breeds, and even the smooths, do.
As can be seen from the pictures, the coat should not hide the lovely
outline. The Longhaired Whippet
takes the weather very well, not needing a jacket to go out in cold weather.
Even the older puppies love to play in the snow.
(To see a larger version of the picture below, click on it.)
Claybrook Greymoor - a blue
Color
Longhaired Whippets come in a rainbow of colors, which is exciting. Parti-colors (white with spots or patches of another color) are the most popular and numerous in both the smooth Whippet and the Longhaired Whippet. However, the Longhairs come in any color including, but not limited to: solids (black, blue, fawn, and red - my personal favorite); parti-colors (all color combinations including: white & brindle, white & blue, white & black, white & red, plus other combinations); and brindles.
The Longhairs also come in a color pattern known as saddle marked, either black saddle or blue saddle. This pattern is known as grizzle in Salukis. Erroneously called "black and tan" or "blue and tan" before, that pattern is designated by a different gene. When the saddle marked dog is a puppy, it has a similar pattern to a Doberman, which explains the confusion. However, as the saddle marked dog ages, the dark saddle recedes and the cream on the legs, underside and face spreads, unlike a Doberman whose marking do not change significantly.. The saddle pattern has basically been lost in American smooth Whippets, but is still seen in smooth Whippets in Europe and Australia.
(To see a larger version of the picture below, click on it.)
Penndel
- A blue saddle marked + a blue masked cream pup, whose blue sabling will disappear with age to leave only a blue mask on a cream color dog.
(She's being set up by an 8 year old - please pardon the overextension and subsequent appearance of falling off at the rear. We all started somewhere!)
Recognition
Longhaired Whippets are not AKC recognized, and probably never will be, which is a blessing for a small gene pool breed like the Longhaired Whippet. As is the case for any type of animal or plant, if the gene pool is very small and becomes totally closed (as happens in a closed registry) it will probably eventually become overwhelmed by health problems caused by the pairing up and subsequent expression of negative recessive genes present in every living being, including dogs. (See Effects of Closed Registries).
They may
be registered by an international breed specific club, the International
Longhaired Whippet Club, (See International
Longhaired Whippet Club) and many
of the open rare breed registries.
Breeding
and Showing
Longhaired Whippets are pure-breeding (purebreed = they breed pure, or “like to like begets like”). They can be shown at various rare breed shows and they can also compete in various other events, like agility, that are sponsored by nonAKC clubs.
Similar
Types
There are a few other types of dogs that have similar characteristics to the Longhaired Whippet. One type is called "Silken Windhound", formerly called "Silken Windsprite". These names were coined by the founder of this type, Francie Stull, a breeder who started with Longhaired Whippets in the early 1980's, but then crossbred Borzoi with them in the late 1980's.
This is how breeds are created, by crossing with other breeds (see Formation of New Breeds), but that does not mean that the original founding breeds change their names to the new breed! This is what some would wish to do, change the name of the Longhaired Whippet to Silken Windhound, but they are different genetically, and if they are closely examined, they have a different appearance, also.
Another new type of small sighthound is the Appalachian Greyhound. It will come in longhair, wirehair, rough coat, and shorthair as well. Several breeders from across the country are currently working on it's formation. See Appalachian Greyhounds Introduced by Claybrook
(To see a larger version of the picture below, click on it.)
Claybrook Abberleigh - smiling
The
Longhaired Whippet, a small, coated sighthound, is a joy to love and a true
delight to the eye and to the heart. Ó
For
more information contact:
Claybrook Farm -- Michelle Henninger -- 5730 Olde Scotland Road, Shippensburg, PA 17257
717-263-0932
Copyright Ó Claybrook Farm
All rights reserved.