About me

A little information on our dogs, how we work them and the methods we use to keep them in working condition

We are very fortunate in that local farmers let us on there land to control the rabbit population enabling us to work our dogs on a regular basis. In return we offer this service free of charge. We use 2 main methods of rabbit control using our dogs. The first method is ferreting, our dogs are used alongside the ferrets to mark occupied warrens and work alongside the ferrets and nets. We train our whippets to hold the rabbits in the long nets or purse nets until we get to them, they are not trained to kill the rabbits just to hold them until we arrive. We also just bolt the rabbits to the dogs in warrens that are difficult to net or on open warrens.

The second method we use is controlling the rabbits using the lamp under the hours of darkness. This method is one of my favourites, with the aid of a high powered lamp you shine in the open fields spotting the feeding rabbits, you then approach the rabbits with the dog on a slip lead, as soon as the dog has seen the rabbit you slip the dog keeping the rabbit in the beam at all times. The use of the spot light gives the dog a slight advantage compared to daytime rabbits. You obviously get much closer to the rabbits giving the dog a sporting chance. Although the rabbits still take some catching and the dog needs to be fit agile to catch large numbers.

FEEDING OUR WHIPPETS

We believe you only get out what you put in, you can't feed a poor quality diet and expect a dog to work well day after day. Thats why we only feed our dogs the best possible diet available, we do alter our feeding regeme according to the dogs workload and the time of year etc.

We feed chudleys greyhound racer to our whippets alongside the best quality raw lamb and or tripe and raw chicken wings, we also use several supplements and oils to keep them in tip top working condition. We don't feed the same quantity every day, we feed the quantity they need accordingly to there workload and the time of year to keep them in condition.

The following is a rough guide to what we would feed Vixen during the winter months when she would be working 2-3 days as well as 1-2 nights out lamping (per week).

1 x chicken wings a day (usually around 6am) 2-3 hours before actually work
1/2lb -1lb of lamb and 1-1 1/2 cups of Chudleys greyhound racer
1 teaspoon of seaweed powder
1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil (3 times a week)
1 teaspoon of wheatgerm oil (3 times a week)
1/4 measuring spoon of GO4 on a daily basis (northern nutritions Glucosamine sulphate) Click here for more info

We have fed other greyhound complete diets to our dogs in the past, but they did not work or look as well. Thats why we now only feed and recommend Chudleys greyhound racer