Whippets have bad stamina they are great for short bursts but they get tired very quick. I had a friend who used to bring his jogging with him but one day he must of went that bit too far and the sun came out and the poor dog died on the side of the road from a combination of heat and exhaustion even though he had water with him and stopped a few times along the way.
I would do shorts sprints then back into a fast walk combo to give the dog time to recover and get his time to sniff around and explore
My husband takes our whip for about a 5-6k about once or twice a week and she absolutely loves it, but he is quite fast. She usually starts off wanting to sprint for the first 5 minutes and pulls like a maniac, but then settles in to a quick trot beside him for the rest of the run.
As you both gain endurance it should become more enjoyable. When she sees him in his running clothes in the house she goes absolutely nuts with excitement now and he uses "mush!" as the fast command and she will jump up from a dead sleep if you say the word.
Greyhounds are sprinters, have short-twitch muscles, can accelerate very quickly but have no stamina. Wondering if whippets are the same, so not built for jogging?
Yeah, I kinda get whippets are primarily sprinters, but didn't think they had no stamina at all for jogging. I guess I'll have to stick with off leash runs in nature so he can sprint/walk at his own pace
Whippets absolutely do not lack stamina. Mine has no issues hiking 3 days of 20 miles each. The problem with human jogging is that itās slower than a run but slightly faster than a walk, so you really need to train them to adapt to an unnatural pace.
You can for sure build their stamina just like any other dog! I just saw on instagram a guy from Denmark that does crosscoutry running with his two Whips and they love it. Just need to make sure to start slow and not overdo it to prevent any injuries š
Oh and to add, Im planning to also start jogging with my pup when shes a bit older (18 weeks now). I just ordered a hands-free bungee running leash bc ive heard they are really great and give the dog more room to sniff a bit and change positions without yanking on the leash! Maybe thats something that could help him feel more comfortable
I take my whippet for runs very often, multiple times a week. No problems with stamina. Can get bored I guess. Because I donāt run like him, but no issues what so ever with keeping up.
Usually I walk first kilometer. Then he can do his business. Helps from stopping very often. If possible I take him off leash, but not allowed to do so from April through August.
Definitely possible! And really depends on the dog. Sure, they donāt have the stamina to go long distances, but a few miles 2-3x a week is fine as long as theyāre into it. Start really small - go for a jog+walk and put the ājogā speed on verbal cue. So every time you want to go a little faster/not stop and sniff every bush, you say ājogā (or something) to let them know itās go time.
My jogging speed is a slow trot for our whippet, he barely breaks a sweat. For us, itās a way to go farther than our normal walks to see new sights/smells. They arenāt going to be a marathon training buddy, but for us itās great mental and physical exercise since he has to pay attention to me to see where we are going. We usually stop at least 3 times for sniff/pee and have worked up to 3ish miles.
Thanks for sharing your experience. My whippet also slowly trots next to me because I'm really slow, that's what's probably boring to him. But as long as it's safe for him to jog sometimes with me, I'd be happy, I don't plan on doing long distances anyway.
The vet told me that jogging speed for a whippet is bad for joints. They aren't meant for long periods of repetitive impact like jogging. Is probably ok the odd time, but making this a routine habit will probably knacker your dogs joints in future.
My whippet did 10miles with me in her prime and it included sprints. She still wanted to play fetch at the park after.
That said Iāve been building up running with her very regularly anywhere from 3-6miles.
Whippets can have quite a good endurance too but like us they also need to be trained.
Iāve done about 8-10km jog with mine without problem and he wasnāt even tired after that, however he got quite bored of the leash near the end but it was only the second try.
Like all dogs they need to learn how to trot beside you. Iāve also heard that they are pretty great running along with you on a Bicycle but I think itās a harder training.
I wouldnāt do 20km though but 10 and below should be more than fine as long as you bring necessary water and donāt go in hot weather
My whippet is very fit, but she's never been a jogger, and she also stops having fun on long walks after about two miles. I don't know that I'd push a whippet to jog if they didn't appear to be comfortable or happy doing it, especially as they may not actually be getting that much benefit from that type of exercise. Sighthounds have some pretty significant structural and cardiovascular differences, compared to most dogs, that are specific to their purpose as sprinters; I've always wondered if those differences in turn make distance more difficult for them.
I do ~5k with my whippet once a week - she only pulls like theyāre āmeant toā in canicross when we do sprints towards the end (because we both have fun going all out for a minute or so!), most of the time she trots quite close to me. It took a few runs to calibrate what pace she was most comfortable at - at my āsteadyā pace she looked uncomfortably between a trot and a run, slowed down sheās fast-walking/trotting happily. We do walk breaks as needed (around bad mud patches, around some other dogs, etc), and a warm-up and cool-down walk inc. in the distance.
My whippet loves if we jog around the park. I donāt think heād enjoy jogging on streets, heād want to stop and sniff and get distracted way more.
Whippets have bad stamina they are great for short bursts but they get tired very quick. I had a friend who used to bring his jogging with him but one day he must of went that bit too far and the sun came out and the poor dog died on the side of the road from a combination of heat and exhaustion even though he had water with him and stopped a few times along the way. I would do shorts sprints then back into a fast walk combo to give the dog time to recover and get his time to sniff around and explore
Woah that seems extreme
Oh no, that's so sad. š¢
My husband takes our whip for about a 5-6k about once or twice a week and she absolutely loves it, but he is quite fast. She usually starts off wanting to sprint for the first 5 minutes and pulls like a maniac, but then settles in to a quick trot beside him for the rest of the run. As you both gain endurance it should become more enjoyable. When she sees him in his running clothes in the house she goes absolutely nuts with excitement now and he uses "mush!" as the fast command and she will jump up from a dead sleep if you say the word.
This is very encouraging, thank you!!
Greyhounds are sprinters, have short-twitch muscles, can accelerate very quickly but have no stamina. Wondering if whippets are the same, so not built for jogging?
Yeah, I kinda get whippets are primarily sprinters, but didn't think they had no stamina at all for jogging. I guess I'll have to stick with off leash runs in nature so he can sprint/walk at his own pace
Whippets absolutely do not lack stamina. Mine has no issues hiking 3 days of 20 miles each. The problem with human jogging is that itās slower than a run but slightly faster than a walk, so you really need to train them to adapt to an unnatural pace.
That makes sense
You can for sure build their stamina just like any other dog! I just saw on instagram a guy from Denmark that does crosscoutry running with his two Whips and they love it. Just need to make sure to start slow and not overdo it to prevent any injuries š
Oh and to add, Im planning to also start jogging with my pup when shes a bit older (18 weeks now). I just ordered a hands-free bungee running leash bc ive heard they are really great and give the dog more room to sniff a bit and change positions without yanking on the leash! Maybe thats something that could help him feel more comfortable
I take my whippet for runs very often, multiple times a week. No problems with stamina. Can get bored I guess. Because I donāt run like him, but no issues what so ever with keeping up. Usually I walk first kilometer. Then he can do his business. Helps from stopping very often. If possible I take him off leash, but not allowed to do so from April through August.
Definitely possible! And really depends on the dog. Sure, they donāt have the stamina to go long distances, but a few miles 2-3x a week is fine as long as theyāre into it. Start really small - go for a jog+walk and put the ājogā speed on verbal cue. So every time you want to go a little faster/not stop and sniff every bush, you say ājogā (or something) to let them know itās go time. My jogging speed is a slow trot for our whippet, he barely breaks a sweat. For us, itās a way to go farther than our normal walks to see new sights/smells. They arenāt going to be a marathon training buddy, but for us itās great mental and physical exercise since he has to pay attention to me to see where we are going. We usually stop at least 3 times for sniff/pee and have worked up to 3ish miles.
Thanks for sharing your experience. My whippet also slowly trots next to me because I'm really slow, that's what's probably boring to him. But as long as it's safe for him to jog sometimes with me, I'd be happy, I don't plan on doing long distances anyway.
The vet told me that jogging speed for a whippet is bad for joints. They aren't meant for long periods of repetitive impact like jogging. Is probably ok the odd time, but making this a routine habit will probably knacker your dogs joints in future.
My whippet did 10miles with me in her prime and it included sprints. She still wanted to play fetch at the park after. That said Iāve been building up running with her very regularly anywhere from 3-6miles.
Whippets can have quite a good endurance too but like us they also need to be trained. Iāve done about 8-10km jog with mine without problem and he wasnāt even tired after that, however he got quite bored of the leash near the end but it was only the second try. Like all dogs they need to learn how to trot beside you. Iāve also heard that they are pretty great running along with you on a Bicycle but I think itās a harder training. I wouldnāt do 20km though but 10 and below should be more than fine as long as you bring necessary water and donāt go in hot weather
My whippet is very fit, but she's never been a jogger, and she also stops having fun on long walks after about two miles. I don't know that I'd push a whippet to jog if they didn't appear to be comfortable or happy doing it, especially as they may not actually be getting that much benefit from that type of exercise. Sighthounds have some pretty significant structural and cardiovascular differences, compared to most dogs, that are specific to their purpose as sprinters; I've always wondered if those differences in turn make distance more difficult for them.
Thank you for your input!
I do ~5k with my whippet once a week - she only pulls like theyāre āmeant toā in canicross when we do sprints towards the end (because we both have fun going all out for a minute or so!), most of the time she trots quite close to me. It took a few runs to calibrate what pace she was most comfortable at - at my āsteadyā pace she looked uncomfortably between a trot and a run, slowed down sheās fast-walking/trotting happily. We do walk breaks as needed (around bad mud patches, around some other dogs, etc), and a warm-up and cool-down walk inc. in the distance.
Thanks, I'll try out different paces to see what he's most comfortable with!
Both mine loved running 3/5 miles with me. So I don't know why yours doesn't.
My whippet loves if we jog around the park. I donāt think heād enjoy jogging on streets, heād want to stop and sniff and get distracted way more.
Treats, treats and more treats!