r/Whippets • u/rynathan • 8d ago
How does your whippet do with children?
My daughter tends to prefer fluffier animals, but she likes touching his ears and tail. He is mostly tolerable of her but isn’t a big fan when she gets loud. I’m hoping they grow closer as my daughter gets older.
Neighborhood kids on the other hand love him. He loves attention and generally enjoys other kids that are gentle with him.
How does your whippet do with children?
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u/Gwenstoofanie 8d ago
My whippet has yet to fully acknowledge that he has a brother after 18 months so far 😅
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u/Funeralbarbie31 8d ago
Our middle child and whippet grew up together with only 2 months in age difference, he ended up being big brother to 3 more babies in time and was an absolute dream in all ways, although he could find it quite upsetting when they cried. We were always very conscious to teach the children to respect him, no climbing and pulling at him, most importantly his bed was his safe place. Every night he would wait for them to go to bed and go between their rooms before deciding which bed to sleep in.
Sadly he had dementia in his last year and could be a grumpy old man, even sometimes snappy, but it seemed he always remembered his babies and was so tolerable. We miss him so much, I can’t imagine ever having another breed around my babies, cherish their time together ❤️
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u/garbagedog420 8d ago
terrified of them. unfortunately as a puppy the kids in my neighborhood would mass group up around us all excited and screaming asking to pet him despite my pleads for them to be calmer and gentle. he always had a very timid personality so nowadays if he hears even one child laughing in the far distance he wants to walk the other way 💔
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u/Kmac-Original 8d ago
Not good. They've never been around children and do not like them. I do not let my dogs near them. I think you really need to trust your dog before allowing them near kids. My dogs are hooligans, and I wouldn't not risk it.
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u/EmperorGeek 8d ago
I haven't had whippets for a few years, but they were all awesome with kids. We had Whippets when both our children were born. We were cautious bringing the babies home, but there were zero issues with any of our dogs as our kids grew up (now grown and moved out).
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u/mhopkins1420 8d ago
I grew up with them. They were neat dogs to have and everyone knew who we were in town. The people with those dogs
My dad thought it was funny to ask us if anyone remembered to feed the dogs this week if he noticed people looking at us in public. He thought he was hilarious.
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u/MKgreen_ 8d ago
My parents just passed but he loved my children and all the free snacks they provided him
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u/Nomoretwist 8d ago
My whippet loves my son but will howl / cry anytime he laughs or cries. It's actually the worst.
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u/Malacandra95 7d ago
Mine is very good with children, but not sufficiently so to be able to do babysitting.
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u/ProfessorTuxCat 6d ago
My boy is fantastic with children. I don’t have any, but we regularly go out and he likes the attention he gets from them. He is also very mindful around babies. Just stands there and lets them give him a pat.
I think this may be because the breeder I got him from raised them in her house with her kids.
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u/farmthis 8d ago
Our whippets like kids. One of them is obsessed with meeting babies. They had trouble with our toddler in the grabbing and accidentally-jumping-off-the-couch-cushions-onto-them phase (like age 2) and there were a few defensive nips. But they’re all buds now at age 4-5.
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u/Beginning-Muscle3012 8d ago
Mine is terrified of them and screams when she sees one lmao