Utah Whippet Rescue

Whippet Information

Basic Care

Training

Buying a Puppy

Breeding Puppies

Local Events

Lure Coursing

Whippet Racing

Conformation

Obedience & Rally

Agility & Flyball

Contact

Breeder Referrals

Local Clubs & Shopping

Should I breed my Whippet?
You must be familiar with genetic history of your whippet before you decide to breed. Your Whippet must be superb in both conformation and genetic health. the dog must have good points that would contribute to the next generation of whippet pups. These contributions are usually translated by titles in Conformation, Lure Coursing, Racing, or Agility. The function of a whippet should also be considered. A whippet should be able to perform its original purpose as a sprinter and hunter. Faults that would inhibit these qualities should not be passed down to future generations.

Do Not Breed Your PET!
There are so many dogs in the U.S. that need homes. The dog shelters are filled to capacity and millions of healthy adoptable pet are euthanized a year because of shelter overcrowding. Do not add to the dog population by breeding a PET whippet. This is a PET! Just because it has registration papers, or he/she is "pretty" does not mean it should have puppies. Breeding puppies for children to see the birth is not a good reason to breed a dog. It is also false information that dogs needs to have at least 1 litter of puppies before they are spayed or neutered. Spaying and neutering a dog at the appropriate age will decrease the chance of cancer.

If you bought your whippet from a backyard breeder or pet store, DO NOT BREED YOUR WHIPPET! Puppymills and back yard breeders never do their homework. The generally breed for money and do not care about the long term health of their dogs. They will breed dogs with cosmetic and genetic faults that will pass down to puppies. If you breed a dog from these people, you are then passing down the same health problems and causing issues in future generations.

Health should be a big factor in your decision. Heart problems, genetic eye defects, overbites, cancer, deafness, un-descended testicles and myostatin mutations can be avoided in future puppy litters if we choose to only breed healthy Whippets.

Temperament should be considered when breeding your whippet. An aggressive bitch could harm a dog or cause a fight. An over protective or temperamental mother could harm the pups while trying to guard or move them. She could also become neglectful if the puppies are too stressful for her. Researchers have found that temperament can be passed on to the offspring. While studying silver foxes, researchers bred both human aggressive and human friendly foxes. They gave pups from the aggressive mother fox to the human friendly mother fox to raise. The fox pups grew up with aggressive behavior towards humans like the biological parent.

A responsible breeder must be able to accept back any dog from their breeding if the home doesn't work out. It doesn't matter how old the dog is when they try to return it. Don't push this responsibility to anyone but yourself. It was your choice to have the litter so it needs to be you who takes care of all the lives you help create. The shelters would be less full if every breeder took responsibility for their puppies and dogs that they bred!

Your last responsibility before they go to a new home is to have them dewormed, vaccinated, and examined by a veterinarian. Dew claws also have to removed when the puppies are around 3 days old. You want to make sure that you have budgeted a sufficient amount for this purpose. Needless to say, if you decide to breed puppies, you have no opportunity to recoup this expense.

Breeding can also be physically hard on a dog. Complications can arise and some dogs need C-sections or immediate vet care while delivering. These are very expensive procedures. Mothers and new born pups can develop complication and pass away during the delivering process if something goes wrong. It can be very hard on children if their PET or puppies die in the delivery process.

All Whippet Breeders Need to Test For:
The CERF (Canine Eye Registration Foundation) Exam is a once a year test that examines a dogs eyes for inherited eye disease.

The BAER (Brain stem Auditory Evoked Response) Test is a once per lifetime test to definitively determine if your dog can hear from both ears.

Cardiac Clearance Exams: This heart test checks for genetic anomalies, injuries and other ailments that affect Whippets in particular.

If your planning on breeding a race bred whippet you need to test for:
DNA test for the Myostatin gene (double muscle gene): This is a disorder found in some race or performance whippets. This is a secreted TGF beta protein family member that inhibits muscle differentiation and growth. Myostatin is produced primarily in skeletal muscle cells, circulates in the blood and acts on muscle tissue, by binding a cell-bound receptor called the activin.