My Life with Lurchers

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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. In the United States, they are conducting such tests, ranging from 'Introduction to Quarry' and 'Junior Earthdog' to 'Senior Earthdog' and 'Master Earthdog'. To date I know of no master earthdog tests being held but just under ten dogs hold the senior earthdog title. In the introduction test, the terrier (or working Dachshund) has two minutes to enter a ten-foot tunnel, negotiate a 90 degree turn and 'work' the quarry for 30 seconds. The American enthusiasts say that "you put a dog down the hole but you get a terrier out of it". In the master earthdog test, acting in a brace, a dog has to follow a 100 foot scent trail to a hole, which is intentionally a false one, investigate the false den without giving tongue, then navigate 30 feet of tunnel, three 90 degree turns, a false exit, a constriction point and an obstacle. The mum’s did not seem stressed. I paid as much attention to them as I did the pups. They were relaxed and friendly.

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. It's always good to know. . . . . that you don't need to breed worker x worker to get good dogs. We can all sleep easy now. . . . .

If the dogs he produces are shit hot.... And make the grade .....there will be litters out of them.....

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. Before a wild boar harms a child in rural Britain, a likely occurrence if a sow is accompanied by piglets, some form of control makes good sense. Shooting wild boar is not easy and a wounded boar is doubly dangerous. Although ignorant do-gooders would never sanction it, boar-hounds, or boar-lurchers, seizing the boar by the ear for immediate despatch by humane-killer is a kinder option. Our distant ancestors knew the value of such seizing dogs; we have unthinkingly pursued the shooting method - and that is not wise - or the most humane. Some dogs in such dangerous work might well get killed - that is the nature of such a form of control. Chapter 3: Sources of Speed: Hunting by speed, development of the sighthounds, deficiencies of show ring hounds, sighthound phenotype rooted in function. Impact of the Greyhound, remarkable pace from anatomical make-up. Gazehounds different from sighthounds; Greyhounds replicated abroad: Galgo, Chart Polski and Magyar Agar, supreme canine athletes. Desert sighthound, the Saluki: great stamina, long-distance sprinter, good feet, difficult to train, widespread use in North Africa and Middle East. The miners' Greyhound: the Whippet, amazing sprinters, tenacity from terrier blood, importance of heart and liver size and lung room, crucial role of sound shoulders; must be conserved as a sporting dog.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. 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. 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. 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. But the best physique is squandered without keenness in the chase and immense determination, an alert eager expression in the eye indicates this and is essential. A judge has to ask himself: will this dog hunt? Can this dog hunt with this anatomy? Better judging, based on a more measured assessment, should lead to the production of better dogs. Fieldsports folk have too much sense to allow such a concept to degenerate into the pretty polly state prevalent in the pedigree dog show rings. Lurcher shows are a bit of fun; the only real test for such a dog is in the chase. But that 'bit of fun' can raise standards too if the judges' criteria are sound. Who wants to win with an unworthy dog?

First of all, does a lurcher have to be so big! Are clandestine gazelle hunts being held, with a need for thirty inch dogs? I regularly see lurchers at shows which must weigh 90-100 lbs. I would have thought that even for pre-ban hare-hunting on Salisbury Plain or around Newmarket, 60-70 lbs was easily big enough. The famous coursing greyhound Master M'Grath, three times winner of the Waterloo Cup, believed by many to have no equal for pace, cleverness and killing power, weighed 52-54 lbs. Wild Mint weighed 45 lbs and Coomassie only 42; both were superbly effective coursing dogs. I hate to think of how much food a brace of these 100 lb monsters eats! I did not realise that not having ear tattoos was an option otherwise I would have asked for my dog not to get tattooed.In these conservation-minded days, tales of derring-do in hunting big game, whether in Africa or Asia, Central Europe or South America, are no longer considered worthy of admiration. And, whilst I welcome our more compassionate contemporary approach towards such hunting, we must be careful not to condemn such past activities by viewing them solely through 21st century eyes. Big game hunters were once regarded as heroes by their contemporaries. They usually endured great hardship, were vulnerable to a wide range of often life-threatening diseases and were equipped with less reliable firearms and ammunition than today. Most shooting of big game nowadays is more safely conducted through the camera than the carbine. i have in my owner ship 4 dogs , let me give you there history . bonny the patterdale terrier i have had her for 5 to 6 years she is sat next to me now and she will be with me till she dies she was a dog i took in becos the owner did not want her any more a idiot

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. 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. All of the dogs seemed healthy and well cared for; very clean conditions, fresh hey / straw, plenty of food and water, lots of space.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 farm-gate or turning at high speed. 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). 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, German Shepherd Dog cross Greyhound 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. Assessing the merits of a terrier may have to be changed if not going to ground is a criterion, i.e. judging the dog on what it is expected to do, rather than what it is banned from doing - as a working role. I believe that it is entirely fair to state that of all the types of dog ruined by the effects of the Kennel Club-approved show rings the Terrier Group has suffered the most. This is sad for a number of reasons: firstly, the Kennel Club was founded by sportsmen, with the Rev John Russell an early member and Fox Terrier judge; secondly, the breeders of those terrier breeds recognised by the KC boast of the sporting ancestry of their dogs -- and then dishonour it, and, thirdly, some quite admirable breeds of terrier have been degraded, even insulted, in this way. Discounting the Airedale, never an earth-dog more a hunting griffon, and farm dogs like the Kerry Blue and Wheaten Terriers, which were allrounders rather than specialist terriers, all show terriers should only be called full champions if they have passed an underground test.