Longdog strains

[HALTY LAD 92]

Britain once had a great many longdog strains. There were at one point 6 types of greyhound including rough haired 'scotch' types. As well as the deerhound and wolfhound types.

 

It is interesting to know that these dogs were of a calibre to take any game on the land, and purpose bred for the job. Obviously the strains were of differing sizes, so were better suited to taking different quarry. Back then, crossing these dogs with other breeds such as herding dogs was not done often, probably because it simply wasnt needed.

 

I can only guess that their decline was brought about by the strangling laws regarding the ownership of longdogs, which in the past meant the death penalty. Therefore the cross bred longdogs became favourable as they could be argued that they were not a longdog breed.

 

In modern times the longdog types have veered away from their working roots, greyhounds were selected for pure speed over short distances, and the attributes of stamina and general toughness became irrelevant.

 

The hare coursing enthusiasts, looked abroad for the injection of stamina and toughness that our own greyhound strains had lost, and this was given mainly by the saluki, from the deserts of the middle east. Could more longdog strains/lines appear in time to cater for other quarry types or are people settled with the cross bred greyhound?

 

However, although Britains once great longdogs fell into a state of bad repair in their home country, many were taken across to the USA with the first settlers,and are still bred best to the best, and are working well on a variety of game. They still keep their name of 'greyhounds' in many areas, and many lines hold the same stamp of the British strains of old. So at least all was not lost.

 

Any further input to this thread would be fantastic regarding modern strains/types (lines) of Longdog that are bred for work in any part of the world. Does anyone have any pictures of the old British longdogs?

 

Good Hunting all

[stroller 341]

Interesting topic what time period did this occur? and did any writers chronicle the breeding?

[Ideation 8,216]

That's spot on mate. Just look at the stag hounds run by Dan etc and it says all. . . .

[SEAN3513 7]

excellent topic

[George82 1]

a few old ones

[Guest Buttermilk]

..really excellent topic, very interesting....

[HALTY LAD 92]

That's spot on mate. Just look at the stag hounds run by Dan etc and it says all. . . .

Dan?

 

Thanks for the replies, I remember a couple of years ago I was up all night trawling through the web looking at random things regarding lurchers/running dogs and somehow stumbled upon a site (well, I say site, it was more like a long page!) packed with info and pictures of some of the earliest recorded longdogs of Britain, and up to modern times... I wish I could find it again. But im certain there will be people on this site that will be fountains of knowledge on this subject!

 

All this got me thinking, that if the British had never had those laws inforced, then maybe they would still be prefered above the cross-breds??