My Life with Lurchers

Product Information

But in these times what exactly is a lurcher? If you look around at a lurcher show, it is soon apparent that the event would be better labelled "any variety, sporting dog", for the height, weight, coat and colour is essentially anything but uniform. For a lurcher must be a cross-bred dog, fast enough to catch a hare, crafty enough not to get caught doing so, silent at all times and able to endure the cold and the wet. Old-timers would say it really must be a working sheepdog cross Greyhound to be a true lurcher, but Deerhound, Whippet, Saluki, Bedlington terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier blood have all been used down the years to instil gameness, a more protective coat, stronger feet or greater stamina. A good lurcher is made, not bred. It is down to the quality of the trainer/owner/handler how well a lurcher turns out. A GOOD DOG MAN will make something of a pretty poor pup. A POOR DOG MAN can ruin the best of blood. But whatever their size it is possible to judge these admirable dogs more effectively. If we are going to judge them, let's do it properly. A hound which hunts using its speed must have the anatomy to do so. Immense keenness for work will always come first but the physique to exploit that mental asset comes close second. A lurcher must have a long strong muzzle with powerful jaws and a level bite. How else can it catch and retrieve its quarry? The nose should be good-sized with well-opened nostrils, for, despite some old-fashioned theories, sighthounds hunt using scent as well as sight. I believe he has turned his owness to the agility and pet market now. Cos of course there arnt enough lurchers that make excellent pets waiting for homes in rescue as it is are there :- "

The craze for long heads in show terriers, exemplified most clearly in the smooth Fox Terrier, is rooted in the misguided belief that length gives power. You also hear the expression: " plenty of heart room", which is strange when the heart doesn't actually change size when the dog is exerting itself. Plenty of lung room is desirable, especially in terriers which run with the hounds. But it is rib-space which gives a dog lung room, not depth of chest. I have heard terrier show judges fault a very muscular terrier, used to hard exercise, for being 'loaded at the shoulders' when the fortunate dog had developed muscle which projected on the outside of its shoulders. Any individual accepting a judging appointment should question their own capability and 'eye for a dog' before proceeding. There were some smart little terriers at the VWH show but do terrier shows have any value? Is the judging at terrier shows really producing the true winner, actually rewarding the best dog present? Terriers can achieve a reputation above the ground as well as below it; but is it fairly earned? The bigger types of dog, especially those with a close coat, are probably easier to judge, both for a sound construction and for movement, than a small terrier, especially one with a profuse coat. It disappointing to stand ring-side at a working terrier show, especially when a so-called 'hunt terrier-man' is judging, and see all manner of faults being rewarded by his placements. Of course, a one-eyed, heavily-scarred, three-legged terrier may be the best working terrier in the county, but a KC-show is all about appearance not reputation. I have actually seen a terrier win a first prize whilst suffering from a luxating patella; but that was at Crufts! INSTINCT. Collies have the herding instinct in their genes. Even a town bred collie, if taken into the countryside from 6 weeks and reared as a farm dog will grow up like a farm dog. The instinct is deep in the psyche, all it needs to bring it to the surface is ENVIRONMENT. Environment and training.buster d terrier cross he has been with me for aslong as 8 years he was found on a kennel with no water or food the owner was not intrested. No, you don't. You need good base lines, but breeding lurcher to lurcher, however good they work, is a lottery. It always has been and always willbe UNLESS you know the exact lines of each - but that is more selective breeding than just worker to worker. Whilst they spoke about the many working dogs that they produce they do also have significant numbers of buyers who are after a pet (me included). It would be good to see appropriate recognition for the boar-lurchers or hunting mastiffs, whether described as docgas, bandogges, seizers, holding dogs, pinning dogs, perro de presas, filas, bullenbeissers or leibhunde. They should at least be respected for their past bravery and bred to the design of their ancestors. A big game hunting breed like the Mastiff of England seems prized nowadays solely for its weight and size. The Englische Dogge ( 'dogge' then meant mastiff) was once famous throughout central Europe as a hunting mastiff par excellence. It is a fact that, in the boar-hunting field in central Europe in the period 1500 to 1800, many more catch-dogs were killed than the boars being hunted. In those days there was a saying in what is now Germany that if you wanted ‘ boars' heads you had to sacrifice dogs' heads’.

David had their own pet dogs around the farm. They were all very friendly, healthy and nice, indeed the temperament of their pets was one of the ‘selling points’ for us. No previous book has covered comparable hunting dogs abroad so fully; no other book on lurchers evaluates so deeply the value of the breeds contributing to this hybrid hound. The office is not a selling point (to put it mildly). I am sure David knows where everything is but it looks as though it had its last clear out in the mid 80’s and does not give the impression of a professional efficient business. I have to say that I found their knowledge, approach and management to be much better than I first expected when I entered the office. If you take the first cross C x G and mate them together you can get some nearly pure greyhound, some nearly pure collie and some c x g - I don't know how to draw on a computer, but because you 50% of each on both sides, you can get 100% of one or other.I have heard Kennel Club show judges scoff at the whole business of even attempting to judge such wide variations at a show but then they aspire to judge best in show at Crufts, which could see a Chihuahua alongside a Great Dane. The ideal lurcher judge is a man who has hunted with one himself, a man who visualises the dog before him in the ring in the chase. But I believe that it is possible to judge lurchers more precisely than the all-too-usual highly subjective judgement by eye, without ever spoiling the fun and country atmosphere of these shows. I suspect that some lurchers succeed in the ring in spite of their anatomy; that's not good for breeding plans. It is common to find the less diligent researchers linking the 'tumbler', quaintly described by a number of sixteenth century writers, with the lurcher. Correspondents contributing to country sports magazines on the subject of lurchers often sign themselves 'tumbler'. But the tumbler was the decoy dog, a very different animal altogether. The much-quoted Dr. Caius, for all his learning, knew little about dogs and yet has, over the years become known as some kind of authority. But even he mentioned the 'thevishe dog or stealer, that is the poaching dog'. His lengthy and hyperbolical description of the tumbler is a graphic account of the antics of a decoy dog and valuable for just that. I know of no lurcher which hunts by 'dissembling friendship and pretending favour', as he described the hunting technique of the tumbler. Between 1611 and 1680, gamebooks reveal that around 40,000 wild boar, sows and young boars were killed in Saxony. In 1737, King Augustus II himself killed more than 400 wild boar in the course of a single hunt in Saxony. John George II, killed over 22,000 wild boar in 24 years. In the Bialowieza Forest in 1890, in a fortnight's hunting, 42 bison, thirty-six elk and 138 wild boar were killed. This is the frame in which to picture the Great Dane type as a bison hound, auroch hound, staghound and boarhound. Perhaps because of the wholly arbitrary division of hounds today into scent or sighthounds, multi-purpose hounds which hunted 'at force', using scent and sight to best effect, have been neglected.

I did not realise that not having ear tattoos was an option otherwise I would have asked for my dog not to get tattooed. The pens are spread around a small farm. Half of the farm is a separate car salvage / repair yard, which is slightly intimidating and presents a poor image on first entry. The Buildings are not new and certainly had the 'well used farm' look about them but they seemed reasonably maintained with good power, light, water etc. In his 'Hunting Big Game in Africa with Dogs' of 1924, the American Er M Shelley describes how the catch-dogs were not allowed to run with the trailing hounds but held by natives until they were needed. This was the role of the hunting mastiffs in medieval Europe. This is why I believe the term 'bandogs' referred to leashed catch-dogs and not to chained yard dogs as many writers record. The risks to the dogs in hunting big game are described by Shelley: "Dogs are very fond of hunting them (i.e. warthogs), but it usually proves disastrous for the dog, for these hogs have two long tusks that protrude far out from the lower jaw, and they use them with deadly effect. Dogs can be maimed or killed much more readily by hunting these hogs than by hunting lions." Mostly after that can only say if I took on a 'retired' dog from a known home they did not disappoint in any way at all...as I only took from folks I knew had raised them right. widge my hancok lurcher who is also sat next to me i bought and he is the only dog i have that was not mistreated he has no behavirily (sic) problems he was a 10 week old puppy i brought home he had no confidence issues he will be with me forever.The chest should be deep from the withers to point of elbow but be fairly flat, with the underpart of the brisket fairly broad across. The ribs should be well separated, with good lung room and space between the last rib and the hindquarters to allow a full stride. At full stretch, the impress of a hare's hindfeet is implanted in front of that of the forefeet; the lurcher should have the same capability. There must also be freedom of suspension in the ribcage or thorax in the way it is 'cradled' by the scapulae -- the dog needs to utilise this when hurdling a farmgate or turning at high speed. Reading through this, it is obvious many "lurcher lads" haven't a clue about genetics or how to go about breeding! He is a ‘volume breeder’. On each for the 4 or 5 visits that I made I recon there were approx. 10 litters between 0-8 weeks. David was keen to point out that they are inspected by the local authorities to ensure that they are compliant (whatever that means). From my perspective it would help if he did have such welfare inspection certificates on view.

He is a 'volume breeder'. On each for the 4 or 5 visits that I made I recon there were approx. 10 litters between 0-8 weeks. Hounds that hunted boar were often killed in the hunt and boar hunting in Central Europe down the ages was massively conducted. In 802AD Charlemagne hunted wild boar in the Ardennes, aurochs in the Hercynian Forest and later had his trousers and boots torn to pieces by a bison; all three quarry were formidable adversaries and were hunted by the same huge hounds. The sheer scale of hunting is illustrated by these 'bags': in 1656, 44 stags and 250 wild boar were killed on Dresden Heath; in 1730 in Moritzburg, 221 antlered stags and 614 wild boar were killed and in Bebenhausen in 1812, wild boar were pursued by 350 'strong hounds', clad in armour like knights of old. Hunting big game in Western Europe in the Middle Ages was more an obsession than a pastime - so often a demonstration of manliness.The word lurcher does give many dog-show fanciers the impression of a coarsely-bred dog, with no regard to handsomeness, just a mongrel sighthound of questionable merit. But the majority of lurchers that I see at country shows have been skilfully bred by knowledgeable dog-men, men with decades of experience with hunting dogs. They can be superb canine athletes, built for function and devastating in the field. The sheer muscularity of Bull-lurchers (those with plenty of Bull Terrier in the blend), the awesome stature of the Deerhound hybrids and the deceptive power of the Whippet crosses is impressive. Lurcher breeders are seeking performance not appearance yet still manage to breed some strikingly handsome dogs. The huge difference between show breeders and lurcher breeders lies in the priority given to appearance and capability. That is not say, of course, that there are not some highly effective pure-bred coursing Deerhounds, racing Afghans and Whippets, and lure-chasing Salukis. CxG will produce a much stronger, racier pup. If you like, just for the sake of explanation, a Collie bitch x greyhound dog will produce a pup more like a 5/8 greyhound. The mum’s did not seem stressed. I paid as much attention to them as I did the pups. They were relaxed and friendly. This variation in type manifests itself at lurcher shows today, with classes for rough and smooth-haired dogs and those under or over 26 inches at the withers. Some breeders swear by the saluki cross and others by Bedlington blood; some fanciers favour a rough or harsh-haired dog and others the smooth variety. A minority prize the 'Smithfield' blood from the old drovers' dogs and there are often more bizarre crosses such as beardie cross Dobermann and Airedale cross whippet. The concept, as always with a hunting dog, is to find the ideal match between quarry, country and conditions on one hand and speed, determination and hunting instinct on the other. It would be good to see appropriate recognition for the hunting mastiffs, whether described as seizers, holding dogs, pinning dogs, perro de presas, filas, bullenbeissers or leibhunde. They should at least be respected for their past bravery and bred to the design of their ancestors. A big game hunting breed like the Mastiff of England is prized nowadays solely on its bulk. It is possible that in the boar-hunting field in Central Europe in the period 1500 to 1800 more catch-dogs were killed than the boars being hunted. In those days there was a saying in what is now Germany that if you wanted boars' heads you had to sacrifice dogs' heads.