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My whippets, even in their puppy years, never cared much for chewing my collection of shoes, assaulting antique furniture pieces or devouring electric wires. What they simply seem unable to resist is viciously ripping apart innocent cushions and pillows. Mind you, it never happens when they are in human company. If a family member is present anywhere in the house, my dogs can be trusted with the most expensive brocade cushions but, left alone for a couple of hours, my hound dogs feel the ancestral hunting call and will mercilessly kill any piece of soft furniture unable to defend itself, including their own beloved beds. Our occasional distraction already claimed too many innocent lives of pillows whose white interiors we found decorating the yard or kitchen after a prolonged absence. The obvious solution to this problem is to confine the dogs in a cushion free area of the house or garden and provide them with interesting toys for entertainment. Nevertheless it would seem cruel to let a whippet with such a low body fat rate and high comfort craving attitude, completely deprived of any soft bedding. We reached a compromise by stuffing their crates with shredded newspaper that is totally uninteresting as prey but provides insulation and convenience for all the parties involved. If I foresee a long absence, to prevent my whippets from providing themselves with clever and potentially destructive solutions to boredom, I fill a couple of plastic water bottle with dry food pellets. These preventive measures and cheap toys keep my whippet busy while we can be confident we won’t come back to a house decorated in typical whippet dog style.
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