What the best way

[Daveo 61]

what is the best way to breed good lurchers?

Iv seen it written that a good lurcher is an end product i.e a cross between a collie and a greyhound and when you want or need another lurcher, you breed another collie with a greyhound.

But then Iv also spoken to someone who's opinion I value, who said first crosses produce too much litter wastage and lurcher to lurcher is the way to go.

What do you think?

[Chid 6,542]

everyones opinion will differ , all depends on what they like personally i run 2 lurcher x lurchers but would have a first x anyday , cause at the end of the day if it does its job thats all that matters

[Trigger 26]

what is the best way to breed good lurchers?

Iv seen it written that a good lurcher is an end product i.e a cross between a collie and a greyhound and when you want or need another lurcher, you breed another collie with a greyhound.

But then Iv also spoken to someone who's opinion I value, who said first crosses produce too much litter wastage and lurcher to lurcher is the way to go.

What do you think?

i like first crosses, but lurcher to lurcher can produce good dogs. theres no garantees when breeding ive seen to mongrels tied together in the street before now and they have produced good pups, ive also seen good dogs crossed together and the litter hasn't been all that good. imo there is alot of litter wastage in first crosses because most people use the greyhound for the dam. i think the litter seems to turn out better if they use the greyhound as the sire.

[poacher3161 1,766]

Lurcher to lurcher out of good honest dogs for me.Thats my opinion baised on hunting and keeping lurchers for a while and having had 4 lurchers bred out of greyhound bitches in the past even though they were decent dogs they did not tick all the boxes like some of the lurcher to lurcher bred dogs i have owned and seen in the last 35 years or more.atb dell

[Daveo 61]

Interesting stuff anymore takers?

[chartpolski 23,911]

I presently have one of each; a Lurcher to Lurcher cross, and a 1st cross Longdog, so I don't really have a preference. One thing though, you normaly have more of an idea how big, how it will look, etc, with a 1st cross. But nothing wrong with Lurcher x Lurcher !

 

Cheers.

[whin 463]

i would say good lurcher to lurcher , worked for me and the odd greyhound when they start losing pace then back to the lurcher again, more to the piont not the breeding any fecher can breed adog its if they are worth breeding of i see the amount of pups getting bred and i think how much graft ive done to get decent dogs ,me pewrsonaly i wish lurchers were a rarer type of animal and less messers get them,there so much wastage nowadays non tested dogs dogs bred for chaseing dummies showing , werredoes the lurcher or should i say the real traditional lurcher come to a hault

[labsnlurchers 39]

I have 1st crosses and lurcher to lurcher crosses. They are all good at what they do but the theory behind a lurcher to lurcher cross is to get a pup with more desirable qualities.

 

For example if a greyhound bitch has 1 quality and a collie dog has 1 quality then the pups may have 2 qualities.

 

The pup is then mated with another collie greyhound then those pups may have 4 qualities from 4 different bloodlines.

 

Obviously its not that simple and it depends entirely on the spilt of the genes, the dominant/recessive aspects etc. but that is the basics of it.

Edited May 13, 2010 by labsnlurchers

[turbotyke 62]

i also think lurcher to lurcher bread is the best imo

[Daveo 61]

I have 1st crosses and lurcher to lurcher crosses. They are all good at what they do but the theory behind a lurcher to lurcher cross is to get a pup with more desirable qualities.

 

For example if a greyhound bitch has 1 quality and a collie dog has 1 quality then the pups may have 2 qualities.

 

The pup is then mated with another collie greyhound then those pups may have 4 qualities from 4 different bloodlines.

 

Obviously its not that simple and it depends entirely on the spilt of the genes, the dominant/recessive aspects etc. but that is the basics of it.

 

But does breeding lurcher to lurcher not increase the chances of undesirable qualities as well?

With a first cross you know what your getting, for example you want the speed from the greyhound and the coat, brains, stamina and general ruggedness from the collie (wether you get them the right way round is a chance in its self)

But imagine this

You breed a beddy/whippet X collie /grey sire with a saluki/grey x bull greyhound bitch.

How can you possibly guess what the outcome will be?

[steveS.Yorks 161]

I have 1st crosses and lurcher to lurcher crosses. They are all good at what they do but the theory behind a lurcher to lurcher cross is to get a pup with more desirable qualities.

 

For example if a greyhound bitch has 1 quality and a collie dog has 1 quality then the pups may have 2 qualities.

 

The pup is then mated with another collie greyhound then those pups may have 4 qualities from 4 different bloodlines.

 

Obviously its not that simple and it depends entirely on the spilt of the genes, the dominant/recessive aspects etc. but that is the basics of it.

 

But does breeding lurcher to lurcher not increase the chances of undesirable qualities as well?

With a first cross you know what your getting, for example you want the speed from the greyhound and the coat, brains, stamina and general ruggedness from the collie (wether you get them the right way round is a chance in its self)

But imagine this

You breed a beddy/whippet X collie /grey sire with a saluki/grey x bull greyhound bitch.

How can you possibly guess what the outcome will be?

 

You cant predict it is the short answer,but if both parents are good dogs its a fair bet at least some of the pups will be,personally if i had to pick a pup out of such a litter i would go for the rangier type mixing collie/bed/whippet with bull could produce short heavy dogs.

 

That said i would prefer a pup out of such a litter than a first x collie/grey any day of the week.

[skycat 6,173]

The thing is with lurcher to lurcher, if you know the lines, the parents, grandparents and even better the great grandparents, then you are actually upping your chances of getting a good un, but only if the breeder/s of each generation have been honest and unblinkered in their assessment of each dog. For example, I know that a particular generation of dogs in my line hadn't got the best of feet, so when I bred my last litter I made sure to use a bitch with excellent feet,and as many generations as I could know of with good feet....... and crossed my fingers: so far so good.

[Bosun11 537]

The thing is with lurcher to lurcher, if you know the lines, the parents, grandparents and even better the great grandparents, then you are actually upping your chances of getting a good un, but only if the breeder/s of each generation have been honest and unblinkered in their assessment of each dog. For example, I know that a particular generation of dogs in my line hadn't got the best of feet, so when I bred my last litter I made sure to use a bitch with excellent feet,and as many generations as I could know of with good feet....... and crossed my fingers: so far so good.

 

@ Skycat.

 

I'd always go for lurcher to lurcher,that would be MY preference. Provided you know the linage of the dogs, no matter what is in the crosses your using, like the ones mentioned above, with a fair percentage of sight hound, your chances of producing a 'runner' AND a worker will be high. Looking for the best attributes of the other dogs in the mix can/would be difficult BUT what you should be looking for is 'working ability'.

Though, if you do have a good enough dog to breed from but you are unsure of its background or if maybe its a more speedy dog your after, then using a greyhound or other sighthound will produce 'running dogs'.

I think over the years there has been a lot of 'scare mongering' about 'litter wastage' in lurcher to lurcher crosses but you only have to look to this site to see the huge variances in our lurchers type, from pure sighthound crosses to reverse crosses and none sighthound dogs, all can have their uses. It all depends on what you require from your dog!

Edited May 14, 2010 by Bosun11

[misty4 0]

lurcher to lurcher for me my first bitch was given to me by an older man from the port glasgow area who had been breeding the same lines for over 20 years she only made 24tts but put a lot of first crosses and bigger dogs to shame sometimes if not through speed and stamina then by brains and took bigger stuff for fun she lived till she was 12 years old and was still catching until her dying day she slipped out the door one day and got hit by a car R I P Lady

[woodbine 11]

I always believed,after reading books by Plummer and others ,that the first cross was best rather than lurcher x lurcher, because hybrid vigor in the first cross was lost in the lurcher x lurcher,also in the lurcher x lurcher one never new exactly what was in the mix,so if there was springer spaniel or terrier in there you could end up with a lurcher that was more spaniel or terrier than greyhound and not fast enough to be of use as a working lurcher.I have to say this SOUNDS reasonable enough to me but I personaly have found that it's just not true.The best lurchers that I have had (which is not that many) and which I have seen working (which is quite a few)have all been lurcher x lurcher,good worker x good worker.It may be that it is only the dogs which I have seen work but after seeing quite a few of both working,I would never again keep a first cross.Lurcher x lurcher for me every time.Just my opinion.