Lurcher as a household pet

[TeaNoSugar]

Anyone with relevant experience or expertise?

We'e been thinking about adopting a dog for some time, but there are some things we've had to consider to make sure we make the right choice:

1. We have 2 middle aged (7 and 9 years old) cats, which are fairly laid-back, but one gets quite nervous at times. This is my main concern to be honest. A lurcher with a high prey drive would not be be able to live with the cats.
2. The dog will get plenty of exercise if it is happy to run, as I generally do 30-40 miles a week, and get out at least 4 times a week. I have no issue with getting out for a walk twice a day with plenty of running miles at weekends.
3. I don't want a dog with insane energy levels or neurotic tendencies (border collie, springer, beagle etc.) but also it needs to be up for trotting along and a decent amount of exercise (so no stumpy-legged or heavy-set dog).
4. It'll be a rescue dog. I've nothing against pedigree dogs, but no great desire to buy from a breeder really, not when there are so many "homeless" dogs about.

We've thought about various types of dog, but it seems most terriers won't really get on with the cats, and most of the dogs at rescue centres are fairly stocky, heavy-set SBT crosses or variations of that type of dog (which I love, but I've known a few and they don't seem to like too much exercise).

Anyway, what about a lurcher? Theres a lovely 5-month old medium sized lurcher at a rescue centre not too far away which I'd like to go and see. From what I know of them (two guys at work have lurchers) they're fairly laid back dogs, are happy to walk and run but also happy to take it easy and sleep a fair bit. I can't figure out about the suitability with the cats though. Would a youngish lurcher be better, particularly one that hasn't been a working dog? Or is it all down to instinct?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[TeaNoSugar]

Thank you very much for the replies - food for thought... I'm going to speak to the rescue centre tomorrow or Tuesday, see if they think she would be suitable to live with a cat. From the photo of her on the website she looks like she has some border collie (head shape and colouring) but her fur is shortish, "wire-haired almost, predominantly white with black patches. I'll update when I find out more info, but thanks very much in the meantime.

[TeaNoSugar]

Well, my wife and I went to see the lurcher at the rescue centre on Sunday. A lovely dog she was, she seemed to have a very pleasant personality, and wasn't quite as big as I thought either (led to believe she is a deerhound cross but wasn't as big as I'd imagine that to mean, although she's only 5 months old).

She's not been cat tested yet, but the lady at the rescue centre said you can never tell how they'll react to a cat, and so they use a particularly feisty cat at the rescue centre to test the dogs out - just in case.
Unfortunately this particular dog had already been seen and reserved by someone else before we arrived.

Also, although our house has a decent sized garden, being a terraced house it's impossible to completely enclose it (a must-have for the rescue centre) because the "courtyard" part of the garden (nearest the house) is communal between the 4 houses, with a 4ft dry-stone wall around the outside of the 4 gardens. I've suggested to the lady at the rescue centre that I'll send her a few photos of the garden and see what she thinks, as I don't want her to send any of the staff on a wasted trip if the garden is unsuitable. A shame really, because I think we could give a dog a nice comfy, loving home, with plenty of affection and lots of exercise. Having said that, I do understand the requirements the rescue centre have as they don't want the dogs escaping and getting run over or anything like that. I'll have to think again about what I can do with the garden.