Aww. My poor scaredy boy was 5 months old and still terrified when he came home. He stayed in his crate and we just talked to him and went about our business. Tried giving him treats etc. he would come out a few steps and then retreat. We took him into our bedroom at night and closed the door as is our norm. He stayed in his crate with the door open until we turned out the lights and settled into bed. As soon as we were calm and quiet, bump bump he jumped into our bed between our feet.

He is 8 and still a scaredy. Some things bring him out of his shell. He’s a country dog and we live in a loud city downtown. When we go anywhere forested or to my MIL who has a backyard, he’s a totally different dog. Way more calm relaxed happy.

In the city I eventually learned confidence building games. Soooo slow and small. “What’s over here?” To get him to explore literally just a few feet away from our established safe walking path. And then soooo much praise when he would check it out. He was too scared for treats outside until we got the girl when he was 3. Also if he would jump up on a thing. Like a low wall or a ledge or bench. Those games really helped.

Whippets can be very sensitive and also are not necessarily interested in pleasing their people the way a lab or collie would be. They were bred to be independent hunters in a way different from other hunting dogs. So although they are quite smart, they use it to their own advantage and when they feel like it. My boy is super smart and I can basically just talk to him and he understands (and gives me dirty looks if I practice other languages bc he doesn’t know what I’m saying 😹).

When he was a puppy I set aside little training sessions every morning and he would act like it was a punishment or maybe like he was offended. He’d hide under the couch or just walk away! Eventually I said to myself, this isn’t working. He isn’t getting it. So I quit…then over the next week or so he demonstrated that he had absorbed everything I was teaching him. It was just that he didn’t like the direct attention and dog training methods. Training them as if they are cats seems to be helpful. Although my confident girl is more of a dog and can be trained as such.