Source: the American Whippet Club: www.americanwhippetclub.net/about-whippets/history-whippet
By: Bo Bengtson
AWC Historian & Archivist
Please note: This article is largely derived from “The Whippet – An Authoritative Look at the Breed’s Past, Present and Future,”by Bo Bengtson, published by Kennel Club Classics, 2010.
There have been dogs that looked exactly like Whippets for many hundreds, even thousands, of years. Small, smooth-coated, Greyhound-type dogs are pictured with great frequency from antiquity up through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in both paintings and sculpture. However, they were not generally called Whippets until in the mid-1800s, when the modern concept of “pure breeds” was established. The first dog show was held in 1859, and with the foundation of the Kennel Club in England in 1873 and the American Kennel Club in 1884, the dog sport as we know it today began to take form.
The early Whippet-like dogs had been used for hunting hares in the open field, a terrain where a dog’s speed and ability to catch its prey were the primary considerations, as opposed to tracking or following a scent. Consequently, these dogs and the larger breeds that are used for open field hunting (coursing) by speed and sight are called Sighthounds: the group consists of Greyhounds, Salukis, Borzoi, Scottish Deerhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, and several other breeds. (The much smaller and more fine-boned Italian Greyhound was developed primarily as a decorative pet.) The gracefulness and aesthetic appeal of the coursing hounds were no doubt additional reasons these dogs are so often depicted in aristocratic settings. However, until the beginning of dog shows and recorded pedigrees there was no clear separation between the breeds, and crosses between e.g. Italian Greyhounds and Whippets are known to have occurred well into the 1900’s.
The common notion that the Whippet is a relatively new creation is due to the fact that, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the small Whippet-like dogs in Great Britain came into the hands of people who could not afford to keep greyhounds. The Whippet became known as “the poor man’s greyhound” and was frequently used for poaching and rabbit coursing to fill the pot. Later the Whippet’s instinct to follow a fluttering rabbit-skin was used as the basis for flat-out “rag racing,” the forerunner of today's mechanized track racing and lure coursing. The racing Whippets of England’s north counties became so popular that this “new” breed suddenly began to attract nationwide attention.
Early Whippets were sometimes crossed with terriers, which were supposed to give the breed more toughness and fighting spirit. This also provided the rough coats sometimes seen in Whippets well into the twentieth century. Wire-haired Whippets have always been regarded as crossbreds in Britain, but they were occasionally shown in America as late as the 1920s, but are now extinct in registered stock. The FCI, which governs canine affairs on the European continent, officially listed wire-haired Whippets as a separate breed until the late 1960s. In recent decades, American breeders have produced several strains of longhaired mid-sized sighthounds, variably called Silken Windhounds, Windsprites or International Longhaired Whippets, by crossing Whippets with coated breeds such as Shetland Sheepdogs and Borzoi. These dogs have so far not become recognized by either the AKC or the FCI, however, and a purebred Whippet is always smooth-coated.
By: Bo Bengtson
AWC Historian & Archivist
Please note: This article is largely derived from “The Whippet – An Authoritative Look at the Breed’s Past, Present and Future,”by Bo Bengtson, published by Kennel Club Classics, 2010.
There have been dogs that looked exactly like Whippets for many hundreds, even thousands, of years. Small, smooth-coated, Greyhound-type dogs are pictured with great frequency from antiquity up through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in both paintings and sculpture. However, they were not generally called Whippets until in the mid-1800s, when the modern concept of “pure breeds” was established. The first dog show was held in 1859, and with the foundation of the Kennel Club in England in 1873 and the American Kennel Club in 1884, the dog sport as we know it today began to take form.
The early Whippet-like dogs had been used for hunting hares in the open field, a terrain where a dog’s speed and ability to catch its prey were the primary considerations, as opposed to tracking or following a scent. Consequently, these dogs and the larger breeds that are used for open field hunting (coursing) by speed and sight are called Sighthounds: the group consists of Greyhounds, Salukis, Borzoi, Scottish Deerhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, and several other breeds. (The much smaller and more fine-boned Italian Greyhound was developed primarily as a decorative pet.) The gracefulness and aesthetic appeal of the coursing hounds were no doubt additional reasons these dogs are so often depicted in aristocratic settings. However, until the beginning of dog shows and recorded pedigrees there was no clear separation between the breeds, and crosses between e.g. Italian Greyhounds and Whippets are known to have occurred well into the 1900’s.
The common notion that the Whippet is a relatively new creation is due to the fact that, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the small Whippet-like dogs in Great Britain came into the hands of people who could not afford to keep greyhounds. The Whippet became known as “the poor man’s greyhound” and was frequently used for poaching and rabbit coursing to fill the pot. Later the Whippet’s instinct to follow a fluttering rabbit-skin was used as the basis for flat-out “rag racing,” the forerunner of today's mechanized track racing and lure coursing. The racing Whippets of England’s north counties became so popular that this “new” breed suddenly began to attract nationwide attention.
Early Whippets were sometimes crossed with terriers, which were supposed to give the breed more toughness and fighting spirit. This also provided the rough coats sometimes seen in Whippets well into the twentieth century. Wire-haired Whippets have always been regarded as crossbreds in Britain, but they were occasionally shown in America as late as the 1920s, but are now extinct in registered stock. The FCI, which governs canine affairs on the European continent, officially listed wire-haired Whippets as a separate breed until the late 1960s. In recent decades, American breeders have produced several strains of longhaired mid-sized sighthounds, variably called Silken Windhounds, Windsprites or International Longhaired Whippets, by crossing Whippets with coated breeds such as Shetland Sheepdogs and Borzoi. These dogs have so far not become recognized by either the AKC or the FCI, however, and a purebred Whippet is always smooth-coated.
