Rescue Whippets are Wonderful! (former Rescue Sparky)

About Whippet Rescue

The NCWFA handles Whippet Rescue for Northern California (usually encompassing the area from the Oregon border to Monterey). We foster, evaluate and find great forever homes for whippets in need. We get whippets from shelters and other rescue groups, as strays, or released to us by the owner. Our mission is to place these whippets in good permanent homes. We work in concert with several other rescue organizations operating in California, including WRAP (American Whippet Club's rescue arm) and several other independent whippet rescues.

If you wish to adopt a Whippet and you live in Northern California, please fill out an application form. After receiving your application, you will receive a welcome message and then we will place you on our waiting list and will contact you if a possible match comes into our program. Please note that a home check is required in order to adopt a whippet from NCWFA Rescue.

Whippets are lucky in that they are a breed whose caretakers are for the most part very responsible and concerned for their well-being. There are usually only a handful (10 or so) of whippets in rescue in the whole country at any given time, and usually only 5-10 whippets are placed through the NCWFA in a year. There may often be a wait of up to several months for a whippet to come into the NCWFA Rescue System, and often a wait of many months for the "perfect" dog matching your criteria to arrive. Things can change in a minute in Rescue and you never know when your perfect companion may arrive! However, you may wish to consider broadening your adoption requirements to include older (over 6 years of age) whippets, in order to find a companion in a more timely fashion. Older whippets are vital and perky and in our breed lives of up to 16 years are not uncommon, so a senior whippet has a lot of life left in them!

All Rescue Whippets are spayed or neutered, and will be up to date on shots. They will be evaluated for temperament and house/crate training. Most whippets seem to like other dogs. They are not always good with cats. Some rescue whippets may have other issues, but most are very sweet, lovable, trainable dogs that just need some time to become that wonderful dog that anyone would dream of owning.

All Whippets from Rescue are required to be 'house dogs'. NO yard-only dogs. Whippets must have access to some part of the house, or they may jump fences. A dog door and a securely fenced yard are recommended. Apartments may be acceptable depending on the owner, their landlord, and the rescue whippet in question.

We strongly recommend the purchase of a crate. This is the easiest way to house-train a new dog. This does not mean that they should be left in a crate for all day, day after day.

There is an adoption contract. The adoption fee is $350. This fee helps to defray our expenses for each rescue, including spaying/neutering, vaccination, and other medical and basic needs. The rescue Whippet may never be sold or given away. We will take it back at any time if the adopter cannot keep it and in fact, this is a stipulation of our adoption contract.

If you must give up your whippet and you would like them to enter our program, please contact the Rescue Team at (ncwfarescue@sbcglobal.net) and we will promptly get back to you.

A NOTE ON WHIPPET MIXES: NCWFA Whippet Rescue's mission is to rescue and rehome purebred whippets. The vast majority of our potential adopters are only interested in adopting purebred whippets, with the looks and traits that are predictible to our breed. We are also limited in both our financial resources and available foster homes. Due to these factors, we generally will not be able to take a whippet mix into our system. However, we are happy to assist you in finding resources for rehoming a mix, including posting them on our website, posting their info to various whippet lists and boards on the Internet, and facilitating contact with rescue organizations in your area who place mixes or assist in thier placement.

Northern California Rescue Contact

• For information on Whippets, questions about how rescue works, to receive a rescue application, for information on giving up a whippet to Rescue, or in regards to a dog you are already in the process of adopting, please contact Guin Borstel, Kellee Livingston, Delia Zarges & Donna Wilhoyte of the NCWFA Rescue Team at(ncwfaescue@sbcglobal.net) We have been having problems off and on with our ncwfa.com e-mail addresses, so please use the sbcglobal.net address for any correspondence to assure it gets to us in a timely fashion. Thank you.

Other Whippet Rescue Contacts

• WRAP (Whippet Rescue and Placement) is the National Whippet Rescue organization.
• List of Whippet Rescue contacts in the U.S. There are WRAP representatives located all over the US, including Central and Southern California. Some of the representatives would consider adopting a dog out of their general area to the right home.
• There are also other independent whippet rescues operating mostly in Southern California who occasionally have dogs to place. Mary & Pat at All Breed rescue in Yucaipa are the rescue arm of the SCWA & their website (which also features other sighthounds and some really neat mixes too) is All-Breed Rescue. The Greater San Diego Whippet Association also does good work for whippets & their webpage is here