Discussion
Having been adamant I was going to have a Doberman puppy this time round rather than a rescue dog, it now looks like a Lurcher direct from the Rep of Ireland is on the cards.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
I have a lurcher (Greyhound cross border collie).
I expected a dog that looked like a collie, with the personality of a greyhound, but perhaps a bit smarter.
What I got was a dog with all the obsession and endurance of a collie, with the physique and looks of a greyhound!
(I love him to bits though)
The tendencies can go either way.
I would be very hesitant about getting a lurcher from Ireland - they can be used (and abused) as hunting dogs. Plus, it's not as if lurchers are difficult to find
A sighthound cross wolfhound (which is a sighthound) isn't a lurcher - a sighthound cross is a longdog.
A lurcher is a sighthound cross non-sighthound.
Sighthounds aren't known for their agility skills, this would need to be something from the other breed - e.g. Rupert would be fantastic, if he could just handle keeping a lid on it while watching other dogs doing it!
Haven't heard of a gundog lurcher though...
I expected a dog that looked like a collie, with the personality of a greyhound, but perhaps a bit smarter.
What I got was a dog with all the obsession and endurance of a collie, with the physique and looks of a greyhound!
(I love him to bits though)
The tendencies can go either way.
I would be very hesitant about getting a lurcher from Ireland - they can be used (and abused) as hunting dogs. Plus, it's not as if lurchers are difficult to find
A sighthound cross wolfhound (which is a sighthound) isn't a lurcher - a sighthound cross is a longdog.
A lurcher is a sighthound cross non-sighthound.
Sighthounds aren't known for their agility skills, this would need to be something from the other breed - e.g. Rupert would be fantastic, if he could just handle keeping a lid on it while watching other dogs doing it!
Haven't heard of a gundog lurcher though...
Jakg said:
I have a lurcher (Greyhound cross border collie).
I expected a dog that looked like a collie, with the personality of a greyhound, but perhaps a bit smarter.
What I got was a dog with all the obsession and endurance of a collie, with the physique and looks of a greyhound!
(I love him to bits though)
The tendencies can go either way.
I would be very hesitant about getting a lurcher from Ireland - they can be used (and abused) as hunting dogs. Plus, it's not as if lurchers are difficult to find
A sighthound cross wolfhound (which is a sighthound) isn't a lurcher - a sighthound cross is a longdog.
A lurcher is a sighthound cross non-sighthound.
Sighthounds aren't known for their agility skills, this would need to be something from the other breed - e.g. Rupert would be fantastic, if he could just handle keeping a lid on it while watching other dogs doing it!
Haven't heard of a gundog lurcher though...
Excellent post!I expected a dog that looked like a collie, with the personality of a greyhound, but perhaps a bit smarter.
What I got was a dog with all the obsession and endurance of a collie, with the physique and looks of a greyhound!
(I love him to bits though)
The tendencies can go either way.
I would be very hesitant about getting a lurcher from Ireland - they can be used (and abused) as hunting dogs. Plus, it's not as if lurchers are difficult to find
A sighthound cross wolfhound (which is a sighthound) isn't a lurcher - a sighthound cross is a longdog.
A lurcher is a sighthound cross non-sighthound.
Sighthounds aren't known for their agility skills, this would need to be something from the other breed - e.g. Rupert would be fantastic, if he could just handle keeping a lid on it while watching other dogs doing it!
Haven't heard of a gundog lurcher though...
Im now coming to steal your dog!!!! what an absolute gorgeous mutt.
Longdog -never heard this term. thanks for that.
I know the dogs I have access to via the UK charity are all from Ireland. All are fostered by experienced owners to understand what is going on with them. Most are around 12-15 months.
Acquaintance of mine took me on a shoot with a guy who was using a Lurcher I am now guessing had spaniel or labrador parent somewhere
kurt535 said:
Having been adamant I was going to have a Doberman puppy this time round rather than a rescue dog, it now looks like a Lurcher direct from the Rep of Ireland is on the cards.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you wanted a Dobermann puppy rather than a rescue dog, why not try and match both criteria and get a young dog or pup from one of the Dobermann Rescue charities? The Dobermann charity I'm associated with have new dogs coming in pretty much on a daily basis. I'm currently fostering a 6 month old brown and tan female and isn't unusual to see pups coming in.What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
We have one, part Whippet and part Saluki -Collie cross, So effectively a Whippet-Lurcher cross.
We got her as a puppy and when young she displayed all the hall marks of a Whippet; chewed everything. 5 TV remotes and 3 phones have been gone through in 18 months. Then just like that it stopped. We only went down the puppy route as previous attempts to adopt did work due to our staffy-cross rescue dog not taking to them. Now she is older, she wil have a 20 minute bust and then sleep for hours. She also has quite the aloofness Saluki's are known for, she won't come charging over when I get home from work, two half-hearted wags of the tail is it.
That said she is offectionate and is generally a very well behaved dog, although recall when on walks isn't the best. So I only let her off in areas I know she can't get far. We have a dog walker who comes and takes her out during the day, partly so she socialises with other dogs. Here is a picture I recently posted of her in another thread:
We got her as a puppy and when young she displayed all the hall marks of a Whippet; chewed everything. 5 TV remotes and 3 phones have been gone through in 18 months. Then just like that it stopped. We only went down the puppy route as previous attempts to adopt did work due to our staffy-cross rescue dog not taking to them. Now she is older, she wil have a 20 minute bust and then sleep for hours. She also has quite the aloofness Saluki's are known for, she won't come charging over when I get home from work, two half-hearted wags of the tail is it.
That said she is offectionate and is generally a very well behaved dog, although recall when on walks isn't the best. So I only let her off in areas I know she can't get far. We have a dog walker who comes and takes her out during the day, partly so she socialises with other dogs. Here is a picture I recently posted of her in another thread:
Edited by DMN on Thursday 8th February 15:21
Autopilot said:
kurt535 said:
Having been adamant I was going to have a Doberman puppy this time round rather than a rescue dog, it now looks like a Lurcher direct from the Rep of Ireland is on the cards.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you wanted a Dobermann puppy rather than a rescue dog, why not try and match both criteria and get a young dog or pup from one of the Dobermann Rescue charities? The Dobermann charity I'm associated with have new dogs coming in pretty much on a daily basis. I'm currently fostering a 6 month old brown and tan female and isn't unusual to see pups coming in.What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
We have a Whippet x Poodle. Looks like a scruffy black and white (slightly stockier) whippet.
He is bonkers. Great fun but utterly bonkers, speed of a whippet but with stamina. He is better than we are at agility, can't see any reason he couldn't be a good beater. That being said he needs much more time and effort to train than would a lab or spaniel etc would to meet the same standards. Once a sighthound is in chase mode they can be pretty impossible to reach.
He is bonkers. Great fun but utterly bonkers, speed of a whippet but with stamina. He is better than we are at agility, can't see any reason he couldn't be a good beater. That being said he needs much more time and effort to train than would a lab or spaniel etc would to meet the same standards. Once a sighthound is in chase mode they can be pretty impossible to reach.
kurt535 said:
Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
We have a rescue Lurcher (well, Long Dog) who is 50/50 Greyhound/Saluki going back at least three generations. Ty.
He’s an outstanding family pet, very gentle and calm. A rescue too so we lucked out.
Before we got him I had the thought to enter him in agility but I’ve never got around to it. Not sure he has the turning circle though for it and as a cruel irony he has rubbish eyesight.
Focussing just on the family pet criteria, based on our experience Lurchers are perfect.
Best of luck!
Generally, the score on sight hound crosses ie lurchers & longdogs is :
More sighthound in the mix means more speed, more prey drive (it will chase anything that will run away, and it won’t stop), more laid-back when in ‘off’ mode, less personality, less trainability.
More Collie in the mix means more stamina, more intelligence & trainability, more personality, more prone to ‘hyper’ behaviour, less easy to live with.
More terrier in the mix means more feistiness, more character, possibly more stubbornness, less speed.
Of course, these are generalisations. We once had a 100% sighthound cross who did competitive obedience (!) and had the biggest personality of any dog I have ever met.
Good luck!
More sighthound in the mix means more speed, more prey drive (it will chase anything that will run away, and it won’t stop), more laid-back when in ‘off’ mode, less personality, less trainability.
More Collie in the mix means more stamina, more intelligence & trainability, more personality, more prone to ‘hyper’ behaviour, less easy to live with.
More terrier in the mix means more feistiness, more character, possibly more stubbornness, less speed.
Of course, these are generalisations. We once had a 100% sighthound cross who did competitive obedience (!) and had the biggest personality of any dog I have ever met.
Good luck!
kurt535 said:
Excellent post!
Im now coming to steal your dog!!!! what an absolute gorgeous mutt.
Longdog -never heard this term. thanks for that.
I know the dogs I have access to via the UK charity are all from Ireland. All are fostered by experienced owners to understand what is going on with them. Most are around 12-15 months.
Acquaintance of mine took me on a shoot with a guy who was using a Lurcher I am now guessing had spaniel or labrador parent somewhere
What I was trying to hint at is that a rescue lurcher from Ireland, who has been doing *something* for 12 months is a more challenging proposition than a regular lab puppy. As long as you understand that, then it's great that a dog will be getting a happier life!Im now coming to steal your dog!!!! what an absolute gorgeous mutt.
Longdog -never heard this term. thanks for that.
I know the dogs I have access to via the UK charity are all from Ireland. All are fostered by experienced owners to understand what is going on with them. Most are around 12-15 months.
Acquaintance of mine took me on a shoot with a guy who was using a Lurcher I am now guessing had spaniel or labrador parent somewhere
kurt535 said:
Autopilot said:
kurt535 said:
Having been adamant I was going to have a Doberman puppy this time round rather than a rescue dog, it now looks like a Lurcher direct from the Rep of Ireland is on the cards.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you wanted a Dobermann puppy rather than a rescue dog, why not try and match both criteria and get a young dog or pup from one of the Dobermann Rescue charities? The Dobermann charity I'm associated with have new dogs coming in pretty much on a daily basis. I'm currently fostering a 6 month old brown and tan female and isn't unusual to see pups coming in.What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you're a Facebook user, the DRUE group is worth joining and there's a wealth of information in there. They get all sorts of dogs coming in from all over the place all in varying condition ranging from abuse/neglect, strays or have come in from kill pounds. I had a foster come in from Serbia. She was found by pure chance. She had a broken leg, tail cut off at the very base, had an ear missing and weighed 15kgs and was a real mess. She couldn't go in to kennels so needed fostering. We were both astounded how friendly and affectionate she was especially considering what she's been through and how confusing it must be for her. I think within the first 5 minutes we knew that fostering actually meant adopting!
Autopilot said:
kurt535 said:
Autopilot said:
kurt535 said:
Having been adamant I was going to have a Doberman puppy this time round rather than a rescue dog, it now looks like a Lurcher direct from the Rep of Ireland is on the cards.
What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you wanted a Dobermann puppy rather than a rescue dog, why not try and match both criteria and get a young dog or pup from one of the Dobermann Rescue charities? The Dobermann charity I'm associated with have new dogs coming in pretty much on a daily basis. I'm currently fostering a 6 month old brown and tan female and isn't unusual to see pups coming in.What i would be interested in reading is anyone's experiences with a Lurcher and whether yours was 1st cross or 2nd cross?
Beggars cant be choosers but I like the idea of waiting for a sighthound cross with an Irish Wolfhound. Intended use? family pet and trained for agility competition. If the dog can adapt to gun dog duties even better.
Ty.
If you're a Facebook user, the DRUE group is worth joining and there's a wealth of information in there. They get all sorts of dogs coming in from all over the place all in varying condition ranging from abuse/neglect, strays or have come in from kill pounds. I had a foster come in from Serbia. She was found by pure chance. She had a broken leg, tail cut off at the very base, had an ear missing and weighed 15kgs and was a real mess. She couldn't go in to kennels so needed fostering. We were both astounded how friendly and affectionate she was especially considering what she's been through and how confusing it must be for her. I think within the first 5 minutes we knew that fostering actually meant adopting!
Mums just got her second lurched from the Lurcher rescue society - she was found on the moors apparently but her actions and temperament make her obvious as an ex coursing dog.
She has to be muzzled out in the fields.
She is a cracking dog though, not without ongoing health problems but a lovely dog.
She has to be muzzled out in the fields.
She is a cracking dog though, not without ongoing health problems but a lovely dog.
We had one until a couple of years ago. Bless you Doris!
She was a Whippet/Collie x Greyhound and utterly beautiful in both looks, physique and nature. Smooth black with a white medallion.
They're great with kids (but hate cats!). She would run all day or sleep all day dependent upon what you wanted to do. I'd have another Lurcher in a heartbeat, the ultimate mongrel.
Fast? I had Doris chasing me on Black Rock sands (yes, I know that there is a 5mph speed limit but rules are for the observance of idiots and the guidance of wise men!). I clocked her at 42mph at full chat. Her stride spacings were something in the region of 17 feet IIRC. However, she did have a thing for running with horses. I once 'lost' her on the beach at Conwy chasing/running with 3 or 4 horses at low tide. I had to walk/run to Penmaenmawr to get her back. She was crazy with excitement.
In my opinion one of the most perfect dogs you could wish to have just don't blood them or they'll be rabbiting for ever!
She was a Whippet/Collie x Greyhound and utterly beautiful in both looks, physique and nature. Smooth black with a white medallion.
They're great with kids (but hate cats!). She would run all day or sleep all day dependent upon what you wanted to do. I'd have another Lurcher in a heartbeat, the ultimate mongrel.
Fast? I had Doris chasing me on Black Rock sands (yes, I know that there is a 5mph speed limit but rules are for the observance of idiots and the guidance of wise men!). I clocked her at 42mph at full chat. Her stride spacings were something in the region of 17 feet IIRC. However, she did have a thing for running with horses. I once 'lost' her on the beach at Conwy chasing/running with 3 or 4 horses at low tide. I had to walk/run to Penmaenmawr to get her back. She was crazy with excitement.
In my opinion one of the most perfect dogs you could wish to have just don't blood them or they'll be rabbiting for ever!
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