Sheepdogs on the lamp???

[rob84 112]

years ago when i was livin at home with my folks before i was allowed to keep dogs me and my mates used to lamp a full collie.He caught a few alright but lookin back at it now i realise all we were doin was educating the rabbits .For every one rabbit he caught he could miss 15 .We were only around ten at the time so even gettin the odd rabbit was great

 

when i was a kid i used to stay with a mate who lived on a farm, he had an air rifle and when ever he pissed his parents off they used to take the gun of him for a short while... b*****ds and all we had left were the two jacks. We were keen as mustard back then more so than now, we used to take the two of them lamping, never caught any rabbits came close a few time! lol hhow we tried! haha but what the two would do was hold the bigger stuff! we still talk about the big nasty dog fox we caught years on!

[fresh earth 47]

Boy im out with sometimes has 2 cracking borders he has trained half a dozen and sold them for fair money a cracking hill collie he has huge big dog he took more than rabbit regular with him he works the lamp amazingly and rarely misses a squater he also ferrets with them regular he is out ferreting and lamping prity much daily and says he would never be without a pure collie he also runs a 3/4 kelpie greyhound bitch wouldnt be my choice though

[MOUSE TRAP 19]

i had a collie x lab but looked just like a black collie build height etc.took rabbit regular on lamp and during the day most loyal dog i ever had only lost her last year rip 17 year old still catching bunnies at 12/13 year old took feather and had the odd big ear on lamp only wish i had took a pup of her

[ferreter.al 22]

caught a few with mine over years,nowt special thow but she was a quick little dog but im sure theres someone here who lives on isle of white or something who uses on for lamping bunnys and does ok

[paulsmithy83 567]

So does anyone think a poodle would make a rabbit dog?

cant say iv had any experience with them, heard theyr good as a greyhound x.

 

I have a miniature poodle with high prey drive (14"tts) she's too slow for bunnies but is great at ratting.

My 8 month old is a standard and currently 26"tts, he's still very immature but loves to run and chase shadows twisting and spinning for no reason lol. If i can channel him into bunnies i reckon he'd be a great dog to work with.

let us know how that goes. heard folk slate them. people shouldnt judge a dog by looks.

wasnt the poodle a french working dog but faded out and be come a show lovers dog

[nighteyes 275]

my old man had one years ago that could catch rabbits on the lamp,he was a real leggy one though not great but could pick the odd rabbit up

[Giro 2,648]

They may catch a few.. surely they wont have the pace for long hard runs???

 

My lurcher can catch very good numbers on the lamp and it dose this regular...

 

Last few nights out some of the rabbits have not been easy.. long slips,short grass bottomless dykes..

 

Now I am not say they wont catch any yeah early season easy rabbits but not 30 plus winter rabbits that know the game..

 

If that was the case as most lads run rabbits they would scrap the lurcher and all have collies...

 

The collie is a good ingrediant in a lurcher but would not replace one of mine...

 

There was a post on here once and a lad had 20 odd lamped rabbits with a collie dog... Wonder if at this time of year is it doing 20 plus now??

[ftm 3,357]

just recently lost my collie [17 years old] i bought him from a farmer friend solely as a gaurd dog family pet thing but i had a 1st cross collie grey hound as well and would take both dogs out together during daytime just bushing and that and the collie caught its fair share ov bunnies as well it was a demon on foxes [single handed] and amazed my mates with its courage so much so he sired loads ov pups here in north east i ended up using him for marking sets in his later years and altho i work a cocker spaniel now one day i hope to have another collie ps his brother died two weeks later my mate had him

[Neal 1,874]

Kelpies can be just as variable as collies. I've heard of some which are 24" at the shoulder yet I have a bitch who's only a shade over 17"; she looks like a terrier x whippet but I've seen some kelpies which look more like heelers.

 

It's the same with temperament. Two of mine are very friendly and will mug anybody for a stroke whereas the other won't have anything to do with anybody other than me. Mine are very laid back and spend most of their non-working time asleep but I've heard of some which find it hard to switch off.

 

They all catch rabbits but are a bit outclassed in the open. I've never lamped them so I can't comment on that element in particular.

[Simoman 110]

My first lamping dog was a pure collie, i also used him for ferreting, obviously the catch rates were low as the speed of a lurcher wasn't there but he had a good strike, stamina and was easy to work. I also got one of my shepherds going on the lamp, catch rates were less as he was slower than the collie but he also regulalry took feather......

[jonansuki 21]

a old bloke down road from me says collies were one of the best dogs he had back in the day for rabbit but you should let the dog go first flick the lamp on the dog should follow the beam by the time you hit a rabbit in the light the dogs already there so dosen't have to be that quick and he's not long give up been into since he was a young lad