I’ve been around sight hounds and running dogs for over 25yrs mainly for working purposes.
I grew up in a small mining village in North Nottinghamshire where whippet and lurchers were common place, many being owned by miners for racing and for filling the pot when they lost there weekly wage to the bookmakers. I like the nature of a whippet very forgiving and affectionate in the house and a real hunting companion out in the field.

I keep my whippets for working and for companions, they are excellent ferreting dogs and also very good at catching rabbits on the lamp. Jess my original bitch caught in excess of 500 rabbits during her working career. I like the strong type of whippet, a whippet that's capable of doing a days work out in the field and a dog with determination. Since the hunting ban we are only allowed to hunt rabbits and rats legally in the uk, So a whippet is the natural choice of dog to work this quarry on the type of land i work my dogs on.

I sadly lost Jess in May 2009 she suffered a stroke and just never recovered. Jess was the first whippet i owned and is responsible for my passion for the working whippet. Jess's temprement and character was second to none. She always gave 100% in the field and was a pleasure to own.

Whippets are becoming increasingly popular in the working field, what a whippet lacks in size it more than makes up for with determination and the desire to please.

Whippet racing is also popular with many opens being held throughout the summer months. However our dogs are not race bred and if your looking for a dog to race, we would advise you to look for a pup with a racing pedigree. You could also visit a whippet racing club for information about future litters etc.

Whippet Showing , Our dogs are bred as close to the kennel club standard as possible and it is our opinion that even though our dogs are bred to work they wouldn't look out of place in the show ring competing at any level.

We built this website to promote the KC registered whippet as a more than capable working dog in it's own right.

We only breed when we want a pup ourselves

We believe in only keeping the amount of dogs that we can work on a regular basis. We can never understand kennels having a high number of dogs. To keep a single whippet working fit is not easy, during the season we are ferreting at least 2 days a week as well as lamping. During the summer months we roadwalk our dogs 3-4 miles a day and allow them 1/2 hours free running to keep them in as near working condition as possible.

During Vixens first season working she was out at least twice a week ferreting and at least once a week lamping. One week when a friend visited from Newcastle Vixen was out lamping 5 night out of 7. Running alongside his lurcher bitch run for run she didn't disgrace herself. We were very proud in the way she performed during her first season, especially with her retrieving skills, she retrieves rabbits live to hand almost unmarked.(there's sometimes a little bruising around the ribs caused by her initial strike, she's never killed a rabbit so far).

Vixen has also become a valuable member of the ferreting team, the only time we didn't take her out in her first season is when we were ferreting next to a main road, where bolting rabbits have bolted across the road on several occasions in the past.

Vixen is the best marking dog we have ever owned.(marking is when a dog identifies a rabbit warren is occupied by smelling the rabbit holes and signalling by either holding up a paw, tilting it's head or holding it's tail upright). She has never false marked so far in her career. We were out over 30 times last season. We never praise a dog for marking a burrow as this can encourage false marking.

Vixen works with long nets,purse nets and we also just bolt the rabbits for her. I have trained Vixen to hold rabbits in the nets, some people don't do this, however I sometimes ferret alone and if a rabbit bolts on the other side of the hedge or 50 yds away in the long net, she can get to the rabbit much quicker than I can, she just holds them without causing any damage to the rabbit, enabling us to sell the rabbits for human consumption. In our opinion the reason why some whippets are hard mouthed is when they have been entered far too early. It's not unknown for people to enter whippets as early as 6 months of age, far too early in our opinion a whippet shouldn't be entered until it's at least 10 months of age and then only if it's steady and showing signs of maturity. You will never ruin a dog if it's entered late but hundreds of lurcher's and whippets are ruined by entering them to work far to early, hence all the adverts for dogs 10-18months in the country magazines and on forums, claiming them as unspoiled. From experience no one sells a good dog in the papers or on forums, if the reason for parting with the dog is a genuine one if the dog is showing promise as is often stated then why haven't the friends of the advertisers snapped the dogs up before there advertised??

We are pleased to announce that we have bought a new whippet pup to join our team

We have worked Vixen extremely hard throughout the season and we don't consider it fair for her to do all the work. Mojito will be out ferreting in september 2010 alongside Vixen.

Mojito is a black bitch that is nicely bred for the working field, it will be down to us to train her to the standard we expect of our dogs, a task we will enjoy to the full.

Mojito having a well earned rest after the 200 mile journey from her previous home

If you would like some advice on whippets or would just like a chat about whippets please feel free to contact us

We registered the 'Mallyfield' kennel name in 2006.

My Tribute to Tilly

She will never be forgotten.

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