Whippet (breed of dog)
| Whippet | ||
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| FCI Standard No. 162 | ||
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| Origin : | ||
| Alternative names: |
Little English Greyhound |
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| Withers height: |
Male 47–51 cm. |
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| Weight: |
not fixed |
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| List of domestic dogs | ||
The Whippet is an FCI recognized British breed of dog ( FCI Group 10, Section 3, Standard No. 162 ).
Origin and history
According to tradition by English miners, dogs of this type were used in Great Britain in the 19th century to hunt rabbits . Some smaller country nobility and medium-sized military batches endeavored to achieve serious breeding and the creation of the first breed standard, whose merit was particularly the consolidation of a certain, efficient, yet elegant, appealing type. This first standard was written and protected in 1891 and still exists today with a few rather minor changes.
Whippets were more popular as a hunting dog than the greyhound because their small size made them less prone to injury, cheaper to maintain and, of course, cheaper. At the beginning of the 20th century the whippet was also used in dog races, but the whippet races never turned into professional races like the greyhound .
description
Medium-sized, up to 51 cm tall greyhound optimized for speed and performance . Physically it corresponds to a small greyhound for the layman , but should be clearly different from this in its exterior . The drawn-in tail is often interpreted as fear, but it is a breed-specific characteristic: it is the extension of the spine and, in greyhound breeds, due to the sloping position of the pelvis, it is carried at rest on the ground and never horizontally or raised - except for high-spirited young dogs or when aggressive.
Whippets have a dry constitution, so they have no excess fat and no dewlap or other skin folds. They are sensitive dogs with a strong will. Trembling that occurs is an expression of intense excitement. His hair is fine, short and close fitting in all colors. Small, rose-shaped ears complete the overall picture. According to the original standard, the Whippet is a sporty dog with a lot of muscle power, but which should always be elegant and never appear coarse. Because of its pleasant nature, it is also suitable as a family dog , but its hunting instinct should not be underestimated.
Like most greyhound breeds (especially Greyhound, Magyar Agár , Saluki and Borzoi ), the Whippet is one of the fastest land animals on earth.
use
In addition to greyhound sport, the whippet is primarily a family dog these days.
Essence
The FCI breed standard describes the Whippet as a friendly, affectionate and balanced dog who is an ideal companion. It should be highly adaptable in both a domestic and a sporting environment.
health
The life expectancy of the Whippet is quite high, as is generally the case with small dogs; a 1999 study found a sample of 14 dogs of this breed with a mean age at death of 14.3 ± 3.9 years. In 2010 a study on a larger number of dogs (n = 374) found a mean age of death of 12.8 years.
The Whippet is the only known breed of dog that can produce significantly larger muscle mass due to a mutation in the myostatin gene . Various mutations of this gene also occur in mice, sheep, several breeds of cattle, and humans. Affected whippets are known as bully whippets and do not meet the breed standard because of their wider chest and strong muscles, especially on the neck and legs. Apart from a stronger predisposition to muscle cramps and a significant overbite in about half of the animals, Bully Whippets show no health problems.
A study carried out in 2007 was able to prove that homozygous individuals show the phenotype of the Bully Whippet for the genetic defect . Heterozygous animals also have, on average, greater muscle mass compared to purely healthy dogs. However, they correspond to the breeding goal and often achieve better performance in competition. The classification of the examined dogs in performance classes led to the realization that the mutation occurs most frequently in dogs with good racing results and least often in pure show dogs . A group of 146 whippets, selected regardless of the occurrence of the mutation in the family and including competition dogs as well as other animals, were found to have 2 homozygous carriers of the mutation, 20 heterozygous carriers and 124 purebred healthy dogs.
Bully Whippets already differ significantly from their littermates in the first few weeks of life. A genetic test can be used to determine whether a Whippet is a carrier of the mutation .
literature
- Marianne Bunyan: Whippet. The right dog for you? Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2507-5 .
- Marianne Bunyan: Whippets - one is never enough! Self-published, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-8330-0137-2 .
- Patsy Gilmour: Whippets Today. Ringpress, Letchworth 1994, ISBN 0-948955-59-7 .
- JP Moran-Healy: The Whippet. tfh Kingdom, Waterlooville 2000, ISBN 1-85279-096-2 .
- Susanne Oschinski, Anne Catherine Müller-Hermann: Whippets. S. Oschinski, Höchst-Hummetroth 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-023302-9 .
Web links
- Breed standard No. 162 of the FCI: Whippet (PDF)
- Whippet page of the German Greyhound Breeding and Racing Association 1892
- Whippet Club Germany 1990 e. V.
- Whippet and Greyhound Club of Switzerland
- Whippet Breed Archive
Individual evidence
- ↑ Breed standard No. 162 of the FCI: Whippet (dog breed) (PDF)
- ^ AR Michell: Longevity of British breeds of dog and its relationships with sex, size, cardiovascular variables and disease. In: The Veterinary Record. Vol. 145, No. 22, November 1999, ISSN 0042-4900 , pp. 625-629, PMID 10619607 , doi: 10.1136 / vr.145.22.625 .
- ^ VJ Adams, KM Evans, J. Sampson, JL Wood: Methods and mortality results of a health survey of purebred dogs in the UK. In: The Journal of Small Animal Practice. Vol. 51, No. 10, October 2010, ISSN 1748-5827 , pp. 512-524, PMID 21029096 , doi: 10.1111 / j.1748-5827.2010.00974.x .
- ↑ a b Dana S. Mosher et al .: A mutation in the myostatin gene increases muscle mass and enhances racing performance in heterozygote dogs. In: PLoS Genetics. 3, number 5, 2007, e79, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pgen.0030079 . PMID 17530926 . Online , accessed December 16, 2013.
- ↑ Elaine A. Ostrander : Genetics and the Shape of Dogs. In: American Scientist. Volume 95, Number 5, September-October 2007, pp. 406-413, ISSN 0003-0996 . doi: 10.1511 / 2007.67.3724 .
- ↑ Christina Julia Rabe: Cataloging of phenotypes, genotypes and genetic tests of genetic defects characterized by molecular genetics in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Dissertation, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Munich 2009 Online PDF 2.1 MB, accessed on December 16, 2013.