Motivation! 3 Ways to Boost Your Whippets Focus

Whippets are distractible! It is completely normal! They are bred to be independent dogs out in the field and alert to novel changes, ready to hunt and chase. Unlike other breeds of dog they are more independent and are not always easy to motivate as a result. Whippets thrive on very short bursts of fun and engaging training! Learn 3 ways to BOOST your Whippets motivation and get the most out of your training sessions!

1. Use Movement as a Reward

Whippets are motivated by CHASE. They have a high prey drive and if they see something fast moving, like a jogger or cyclist, they may just run! We KNOW movement motivates them, so use that in your training! Try throwing your treat for them to chase instead of just giving it calmly and slowly to their mouth. Or even try moving yourself, move away a few steps after marking or praising then give them their treat. You will often find your Whippet becomes quickly more engaged with your training when they see movement is involved!



2. Keep Training Varied

Whippets can get very bored doing the same thing over and over and over again! Rather than training on the same exact thing every session while you are working on it, vary your training sessions day to day to keep the activity fun and motivating. So rather than working on sit 3-4 times a day, try having 3-4 sessions of different games. One session of sit, one session of the touch game, one session of recall and one session of paws up. Variety makes a big difference to their motivation where repetition over and over can create a flat unmotivated dog. Variety makes training fun!



3. Quit LONG before they lose Interest!

This is where people make the biggest mistake! They get carried away enjoying their training session, its all going well and the owner thinks “ just a couple more” and suddenly its 5 minutes later and their Whippet has walked away and got bored. You don’t want your Whippet to learn to opt out of training, as that will make training LESS valuable to them. Instead quit when they are enjoying it. Have an idea on the number of goes you are practising something, or a time frame and STICK to it, don’t go over it! You want to leave them wanting more, not lose interest.

Try keeping these in mind to create a more focused Whippet who wants to train with you!