"Jad" the Whippet Experiment pt. 1

Maybe even more than us, dogs are creatures of habit. Establishing and maintaining good routines can greatly improve your relationship with your dog. This simple fact has recently slapped yours truly upside the head.

Since last Wednesday, Horsetooth Whippets (also known as my house & life) has had a visitor. "Jad" is an 8 month old whippet puppy who had a rough start in life. Possibly starting out in a puppymill (very sketchy details about his beginnings), Jad then went to live in Boulder, CO with a lady who owned and bred German shepherds. She cut this 8 week old pup loose with them until the weather began to grow cold last autumn. Only then did it occur to her that whippets are indoor dogs!

So, on to Craigslist.org went the puppy - A puppy with questionable breeding, who'd spent his formative, imprint period outside with a pack of shepherds, but little or no time imprinting to being a house dog.

That's where Chris & Michelle, Jad's current owners, come in. They saw his listing on CL, and understanding whippets to be pretty good apartment dogs, adopted him. He was about 4 months old at the time.

Enter the dog trainer (me).

Chris & Michelle wisely chose to get Jad into training immediately. What none of us bargained for was this pup's unusually high energy, vocal skills, and downright doggedness (excuse the pun) for getting his own way. Not only was he one of the toughest whippet pups I've ever worked with, he was one of the toughest pups, period!

However, with lots of work & perserverence on Chris & Michelle's parts, Jad whizzed his way through level one obedience training. And yet...

And yet, Jad was still hyperactive a lot of the time at home. So much so that I was considering trying medication for this little guy - something I rarely consider in a dog so young. But before going to the med shelf, we decided to try one last thing. Why not have Jad come & live with my pack of 8 whippets (and don't forget the collie and the schipperke) for a week or so to give him a model of what whippets do.

Those of you who train with me are familiar with what whippets do. They sleep. They rest. They chill. A LOT.

So, it's been one week. How is Jad doing? Stay tuned for part 2 to find out....

Jennifer Hime is the owner of Front Range K9 Academy & Horsetooth Whippets. She can be contacted at http://www.k9counselor.com/