Whippet
What a whippet costs to keep in the UK, why they are one of the cheaper breeds to insure, and the few things that genuinely need watching.
What a Whippet costs to own
One of the cheapest breeds in the UK to insure and to keep. Genuinely low cost.
Insurance
Consistently at the low end. Whippets are a healthy, long-lived breed with few inherited problems, and there is no expensive structural feature for insurers to price around.
What insurers are pricing for
These are risks the breed is predisposed to, not things your dog will get.
- Anaesthetic sensitivity
- Shared with other sighthounds, due to low body fat. Not a cost so much as something any vet treating the breed will already account for.
- Thin skin
- Tears easily on brambles and fencing. Stitches now and again rather than anything serious.
- Heart conditions
- Some lines carry mitral valve disease. Worth asking a breeder about.
- Cold
- Very little coat and almost no body fat. A winter coat is a need rather than an accessory.
Grooming
Effectively none. Short single coat, minimal shedding, no professional grooming cost at all.
Size, food and kit
Medium and light, around 10 to 16kg. Food costs are modest and dosing sits in the lower bands.
The one people underestimate
Recall, which is a safety cost rather than a money one. A whippet after a squirrel is doing thirty miles an hour before you have finished the word. Secure fields and long lines are the usual answer.
Getting a real number
We deliberately do not print premiums here. What you pay depends on your postcode, your dog’s age, the cover level and the month you ask, so any figure on a page like this is wrong for most people and out of date within a year. Get quotes from a few providers instead, and compare what the policies actually cover rather than the headline price.
"A whippet is a sofa cushion with a sprint function."
— Anonymous
What a whippet is like to live with
One of the easiest dogs in Britain to live with, and consistently underrated. Whippets are quiet, clean, undemanding indoors and genuinely affectionate. They sleep an enormous amount. The stereotype of a whippet curled up under a blanket for most of the day is largely accurate.
The exception is the twenty minutes a day when they want to run flat out, which they do at a speed that is startling the first time you see it.
Origin and purpose
Bred in the north of England in the nineteenth century, largely by working men, for racing and for catching rabbits. A greyhound scaled down to something a family could feed. The result is a sighthound with a very high prey drive and a very low maintenance requirement.
Exercise and training
Less than people expect. Two decent walks with a chance to sprint safely will do it. They are sprinters rather than distance dogs, and a whippet will happily do a mile and then sleep for eight hours.
The training question is recall, and it is a real one. A whippet that sees a squirrel is doing thirty-odd miles an hour before the thought has finished forming, and no amount of treats competes with that in the moment. Many owners use secure fields and long lines rather than fight it.
They are sensitive dogs. Harsh handling shuts them down rather than correcting them.
Grooming
Almost none. A short single coat, minimal shedding, an occasional wipe over. There is no professional grooming cost with this breed.
The flip side is that they have very little coat and very little body fat, so they feel the cold badly. A coat in winter is a genuine need rather than a fashion.
Health
Generally a healthy, long-lived breed with fewer inherited problems than most, which shows in insurance pricing.
The things worth knowing are physical rather than genetic: thin skin that tears easily on brambles and fences, and a sensitivity to anaesthesia shared with other sighthounds, which any vet treating the breed will already know about. Some lines carry a heart condition worth asking a breeder about.
Their build also means they run cold and bruise easily, so a whippet skidding about on a hard floor is more likely to injure itself than a stockier dog would be.