Letting my Whippet off-leash one day?

What a cute pup!!![]
 
As a greyhound owner and one who volunteers with a local greyhound rescue...I have to say I personally would not risk it. I know of too many people who had no problems with their greyhounds off leash for years...and then one day they were gone in the blink of an eye only to turn up miles away dead or injured or never to be seen again. Maybe it would be different with a whippet but all the whippet owners I personally know keep theirs on leash too.
 
I live in a condo too and take mine to local enclosed ball fields to run.  Maybe this would be an option for you?? Also, is there another dog park around that is enclosed?
 
I am just super paranoid about this type of thing so these are just my opinions!
 
Good luck!

I hear what you're saying.  Obviously if I let Leroi off leash and one day he ran away I would never forgive myself.  It's just that I see tons of whippets prancing around happily, never more than 20 feet from their owners.  I suspect it's because their owners tend to have pockets full of treats and perhaps this is something I should consider trying.  Maybe I'm better off starting with fenced parks and working my way up towards un-fenced areas, if I ever feel that it would be ok. 
Ironically, the greyhounds I see sloping around the parks are always leashed by their owners.  It's just sad to see thousands of dogs tearing around playing with each other, only to run into one that's walking on-leash all depressed! 

If you are unable to actively train your dog to come when called, regularily, he will never learn it and you can't expect that he will respond by returning to you. That kind of response is only learned through repetition and reward.
 
But not having a yard doesn't mean you can't teach recall. Start in an open park on a 30' lead (found at pet stores). Teach the recall while the dog is on the lead. You can then incorporate distractions (still on 30' lead), like calling him away from toys, or practicing while other dogs are nearby.
 
I also would not let a sighthound off leash anywhere unfenced. Like JJ's mom, in a pinch I run around with Scout in a fenced ball diamond. I use the park garbage cans to block the dugout entrances. I only do this at less popular park hours so no one gets their you-know-whats in a knot about it! []

I have scent hounds and sometimes I have to get creative. There's an old run-down batting cage near me in a park that I use sometimes to play fetch and allow them some play time. We do have a yard but it's very small and our neighbors are very close to us and sometimes when the dogs play they're a little, uh, vocal. So I prefer the park.
 
The only place I let them off-leash that is not totally 100% fenced is one part of our local dog-park. And the only reason I do it there is that it is really far from any roads, and if there's other dogs there my dogs tend to be more interested in playing with the other dogs than exploring. However, if I go there and there are no other dogs, I walk a little bit farther to the area that's fully fenced. Just alone in there without other dogs to distract them and entince them to stick around and I might have a problem.
 
Both dogs have pretty good recall but I still don't trust them 100%. It's the price I pay for choosing to own hounds rather than a more handler-focused, less prey-driven dog.

I taught Rory in a old school that is no longer in use. Look for places in your area that may provide good trainer grounds. However it is one thing for your dog to come when called when its just the two of you in a gated area, its a whole differnet story when they have tons of other dogs around and you have a open area.
I think that you chose a great breed and you could do it justice best by investigating a little more for its training....which I obviously realize that is what you are trying to do, he he. I'd also suggest talking to other dog owners to see where they go

Out of all the sighthounds, I think whippets are the most trainable.  And I do know some whippet owners who let thier whippers off lead, however there are different lines of whippets and some are more trainable than others.  Also the higher the prey drive in your individual dog, the harder it is to have a 100% recall.  Personally, I wouldn't take my hound off lead in a park setting.  I have a basenji with a long list of titles including his MX/MXJ in agility.  He also got his RN title with two first places and one second (his highest score was 99 out of 100), but I would NEVER take him off lead in an unfenced park setting (except the odd agility trial, but that's different and I do scope the area out for small prey animals before I run him).  He has an incredible prey drive and would be gone in a second if he started to chase a rabbit.  My next basenji, I'll get the Really Reliable Recall dvd (try dogwise.com) and follow her instructions, but if I attempt the recall in an unfenced park remains to be seen.  I think it really boils down to, if you're dog didn't recall when you really needed him to and he was hit and killed by a car, could you live with what you did.   

I have a Pharaoh Hound, two actually.  One of which has been at an off leash unfenced park.  ONCE.  Never again.  He didn't run off for an hour, in fact he ran "out of bounds" only twice.  Both times it was because he was following his pack.  I was a nervous wreck.  The first time he went out of bounds I went looking for him.  I was 1/2 a mile away when I got a call from one of my friends:  "Ed your dog is back here with us, so stop looking for him, oh and bring my dog back when you come..."

It's not worth the worry, trust me on this.  And I also live in a condo.  Get a light nylon rope about 50 feet long from your local hardware store.  Work with your dog daily on recall. 

If you are like me, it will only take you once or twice of "losing" your dog before being scared out of your mind and realizing they can't be trusted off lead.  I have a RR which is classified as a sighthound, although I think they are more of a scent-sight combo. 
 
Like Xerxes, I once went to an off leash unfenced park with my dog - part of it was fenced, part of it was not.  Hey, everyone else's dog was staying within the border, why not mine?  My dog went tearing out of the park chasing another dog and disappeared for about 10 minutes.  Of course I didn't learn my lesson and a bit later while at a lake near a deserted, desolate road I got coerced into letting my dog romp around unleashed with my brother's unleashed dog.  Of course, just so happens a pickup truck with a barking dog in the truck bed drives down the road and my dog goes tearing after the pickup truck.  The truck tried to speed up to lose my dog, but being the speed machine that he is he kept after them until the truck decided to turn around and lure him back to me.
 
Moral of story:  I've been training my dog's recall almost every day w/ increasing distractions and distance ever since I got him over a year ago and I still don't trust him, never will!

Unless you can train him to the level that the late Patty Ruzzo trained hers, don't even think about it.  

I know how you feel, we spent a lot of time with our dog training her to come while on her lead, then started letting her off-leash in our fenced in yard.  She was doing great, but lately has decided that SHE wants to say when play time is over and stopped coming when called, so it's back to keeping her on the lead.  But we really want to let her play with our friend's dog this weekend, but his yard isn't fenced in.  Luckily, we've seen by previous interactions she's had with other dogs that she will stick close to the other dog, so since our friend's dog CAN be trusted off-leash, we're hoping this will be a positive learning experience for her.  We are still a bit worried though, we will have to keep a very close eye on her.

Wow, thanks for all the info, everyone.  I must admit I'm surprised at the unanimous feedback that advocates the ol' -leash-at-all-times approach.  Maybe I'll make a point of trying to run into the whippet owners at the dog park and find out what dog school they used, or what recall methods they tried, because they were obviously very successful! 
My whippet is from an all english bloodline - not a US one.  Not sure if that makes any difference.  It's not like he's straight out of 19th C Northern England, but I do understand that they were bred specifically for chasing small game and chasing rabbits would be a natural thing for him...
I just would hate to be the only owner keeping my dog on a leash at a 5 square kilometre dog park, preventing him from playing with pals!  I'd be the mean owner...

You might want to check out Leslie Nelson's Really Reliable Recall DVD. She has experience training sighthounds to come when called.

Well, if you've actually witnessed those whippets demonstrating their awesome recall, by all means talk to those folks about how they did it.

What I've found however, is that I'm just way more uptight about the issue than your average dog owner and my idea of recall reliable enough to be off-leash is different from others that I witness. I've lost (as in, dead) a dog because he had less than stellar recall. That experience, accident though it was (he backed out of his collar near a busy road), really impressed upon me the importance of a good recall and also the necessity of keeping any dog who does not have a rock-solid recall on-leash unless there's a fence or barrier.
 
The park I go to is huge with the (illegal) off-leash and I see dogs there all the time that in my estimation should in no way be off leash. Yet people let them off. And then they call and call and call and call and eveutally the dog comes back, does zoomies around them 8 times and then goes off again. To those folks, that is good enough. But not for me. My dogs won't be off-leash anywhere even remotely unsafe until they can give me 99% reliable recall on the first call. Right now we're at about 75% on the first couple calls. Not good enough.

Recall is a MUST if you want a dog to be off leash, i think it would be even better if he is close to you all the times, i'm not talking about he cant be around you sniffing and stuff like that but at least he wont be 50 feet away from you and you will have to do the recall every 6 seconds

Being a puppy helps a lot because he wants to be next to you all the time, take him out on a leash, since he is a puppy he wont go very far every time you drop the leash to see if he still walks next to you, use a 50 feet leash for training recall but a shorter leash to training him walk next to you, who does not want a dog to be walking next to you all the time without leash and only when you consider it ok let him go farther away?

Recall is for when he is going away more that you would like to but i assume you want him to be next to you without recalling every single moment right?