Whippet Dog of the Day: Duke

by Suzanne Field
(Victoria, Australia)

Our beautiful whippet dog Duke is a wonderful addition to our household.

We have recently noticed a wild rabbit in our property and our whippet Duke can sense when it is around. A couple of times he has seen it during the day and he was to take off after it but luckly he was on the lead at the time.

The other night he was dozing by the fire and we were watching TV, when he suddenly shot up and started acting excited by smelling all over the floor and going to the backdoor and whining.

We were wondering what on earth was going on as he has never acted like this.

We let him out the back door in the cold night and he put his nose down and started smelling around the house, then went to the door that leads under the house and wanted to get under it although he had never shown any interest in it before.

Duke then went to the back of the garage where the rabbit could escape through the fence.

The rabbit must had ran under the house and we could only conclude that he sensed that it had been there.

We don't know how our whippet knew it, by smell or whether he heard it through the floor, even though the noise of the TV was on.

So don't underestimate a whippet's hunting ability!