PRESENTED BY
THE DOMESDAY BOOK OF DOGS
All about the whiffet.
There was, once, a type of dog in North America known as the whiffet. Many sources describe the dog as yappy, such as Sansom, 1817: “I was much annoyed, however, by the little whiffet dogs that run out upon Passengers from every hovel, barking till they are out of sight.” Descriptions of whiffets usually describe them as being black. New-York daily tribune, 1843, describes a black one performing tricks with a street vendor: “In the centre was a Neapolitan with ‘two dogs’ which he affirmed came from the uttermost parts of the earth, even from America. I thought very likely for one resembled a common bull pup and the other looked like an ordinary black whiffet.”
Plymouth, Indiana received a new local ordinance from the town council, which began: “That every person shall pay a tax of fifty cents for every dog or whiffett (sic), and two dollars for every slut, to be levied and collected as other taxes are collected, provided, however, that if the ownership of any dog, whiffett or slut cannot be ascertained, then in that case, the keeper of such a dog, whiffett or slut shall be liable to pay said tax.” Plymouth Banner, 1853. One can understand the frustration of the Plymouth officials if they were suffering from the same problems as Mill Hall, Clinton County, Pennsylvania: “Now for many years the village of Mill Hall was infested and pestered with dogs. All kinds of dogs, from the growling terrier to the noisy whiffet, could be seen at any time in the town. Dog fights were ‘too numerous to mention’. The owners of the dogs were remonstrated with by the better class of community, but to no purpose. The matter was finally brought before the ‘town council’. An ‘act’ imposing a heavy tax on dogs was soon on the statute-book…” Maitland Mercury, 1864.
“A woman with a gun ain't much count. The best protection a woman in a house alone can have is a little, nasty whiffet of a dog - one o’ them black beasts that yell at everything and won’t make friends with a feller till he has seen him five hundred times. He barks at everything.'' Maryborough Chronicle, 1893, quoting a reformed burglar (Australian newspapers regularly sourced stories from throughout the Anglosphere). The Riverine Herald, 1896, quotes another chap who’s decided to keep to the straight and narrow: “A reformed burglar, who has no further use for the knowledge himself, says there are three things a night thief dreads. One is a baby, the second a little whiffet dog that can sleep with both eyes open, and bark when a needle falls, and the third is a newspaper.” The idea being that broadsheet is noisy to walk on and crying babies and small, yappy dogs cannot be reasoned with and would be in danger of rousing the whole neighbourhood.
The term is almost certainly a derivative of whippet, which was a seventeenth century synonym for cur, or possibly scoundrel: “I shall swing you with a horse-rod, you whippet.” Shirley, 1640. Also “Which is not onely as if a man should flee from a Lyon, and a Beare should meet, but infinitely more than if a man for fear of the biting of a whippet or the stinging of a bee, should willingly offer himself to the mouth of the Lyon, and to the sting of a serpent.” Caryl, 1654.
References
Exposition on Job Vol
V. Joseph Caryl. Printed by M. Simmonds. 1654.
Loves Crueltie. James
Shirley. London. Printed by Tho. Coates, for Andrew Crooke. 1640
Sketches of LowerCanada. Joseph Sansom. Printed for Kirk & Mercein. 1817.
New York Daily
Tribune, April 25th, 1843
Plymouth Banner,
Plymouth, Marshall County, Indiana. June 09, 1853
Maitland Mercury and
Hunter River General Advertiser. (NSW). Sat. 16 Apr 1864
MaryboroughChronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser, Qld. Sat 1 Apr., 1893
The Riverine Herald
(Echuca, Vic. : Moama, NSW). Wed 6 May 1896
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