The Snap Dog – The History of the Whippet

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146 – May, 2021

By Lee Connor

For elegant lines, clean habits and graceful movement, few dogs can rival the Whippet. And it is for these very reasons that his popularity (both as a show dog and a valued companion) have continued to increase in recent years.

Deductions can be made from a wide variety of sources as to the origins of this exquisite breed but there is no certainty about any of them.

One thing is clear however, Whippets, or dogs of varying sizes (but looking exactly like the modern breed) have been known for hundreds of years. The name “Whippet” (or “Whappet/Whippert”) first appeared in print as early as 1610. John Taylor, in his “A dogge of Warre, or the Travels of a Drunkard” published in 1628, also mentions “The little curre Whippet or house dog”.

“Whappet” was a very old English term that was used to describe any small dog that “wapps” (yaps).

The breed was known by a second, far less salubrious name – the “Snap Dog”.

This rather descriptive epithet probably came about due to the Whippet’s instinct for the rapid killing of rats and rabbits with quick-snapping jaws, however others claim that the name actually stemmed from its habit, when racing with its fellows, of turning and snapping at the nearest of them.

Most of the early canine writers claim that the Whippet is a Greyhound-cross and that a combination of English White/Manchester Terriers & Italian Greyhound were used to create it.

Edward C. Ash certainly subscribed to this theory writing (in 1927):

Click here to read the complete article
146 – May, 2021

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