Re Zoe Williams’s article (I loved the Crufts dog show – apart from Clare Balding and the winner who was 50% cat, 11 March), as a mediocre dog show veteran with a wirehaired vizsla who specialised in becoming a slumped sack of potatoes every time the judge even looked at her, I can live and relive every agonising moment of Crufts for which my dog miraculously once qualified.
Hours of TV coverage, many involving Clare Balding asking inane questions in endless boring sofa chat, with no time at all on the actual breed rings where the real work goes on. It’s as if football matches were constantly interrupted by human-interest stories about the players’ hobbies or good works with orphans, while the goals are happening off screen. Lovely whippet, but everyone knows that the jack russell and the papillon were the real stars.
Susan Hemmings
London
Whippets are “too self-possessed, too standoffish, too independent”? They may give that impression when meeting strangers in public, but if you have ever lived with one, you’ll know their magic. They are the most deeply loving, emotional and loyal little friends. A bonus is their silky soft coat and total lack of doggy odour. Once you’ve shared your life with a whippet (preferably two), there is no other dog for you.
Emma Taylor
Bristol
Contrary to appearances, and possibly as a result of their misleadingly aristocratic profiles, whippets are some of the gentlest, neediest and “lappiest” of dogs. And none the worse for that.
Adam Jacobs
Grantham, Lincolnshire
Zoe Williams needs to have a chat with Emma Beddington if she thinks whippets are cat dogs. Standoffish, independent and self-possessed? No. Shy, gentle and companionable is a better description.
Janet Touhey
Newark, Nottinghamshire
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