recipe for the best collie grey lurcher?

[CarraghsGem 92]

i have been breeding and perfecting my own bloodline of working sheepdogs for several generations,

i have been considering the pro's and cons of breeding my own collie greyhound (or whippet) first x,

if i did decide to take a chance on this pairing (and ive over 2years to think this over before i decide) what pairing would work best?

collie bitch x greyhound or whippet dog

OR

greyhound or whippet bitch x collie dog?

 

i only have my own collie bitch here (due to begin training for nursery trials in april) as her dam died at the young age of 4yrs due to a vet fuckup

i have access to her litter brothers who are also coming up to standard as well and also a full brother to my own bitches dam

 

all advice taken on board.

[morton 5,368]

Working hill Border collie dog over coursing Greyhound bitch would be my ideal collie/grey.

[Maximus Ferret 2,063]

Working hill Border collie dog over coursing Greyhound bitch would be my ideal collie/grey.

I'm not too sure where you'd find an English coursing greyhound these days and IMHO an Irish coursing hound isn't as suitable for this job. I'd suggest an ex racing greyhound that has remained free of foot injuries or one that has been hunted and lamped and remained sound.

The working hill collie seems a good choice. Working beardies are good too but if you have borders that can work hard and long and that are level headed they should be as good as any.

I don't believe it matters which one is the sire or dam.

[Bosun11 537]

If it was me mate i'd always breed from a greyhound and keep the size up then if you decided later on further matings and preffered the size smaller use a whippet. I'd recon it would be a bit more difficult bringing up the size than bringing it down.

 

As has been said, i'd look to the best blood possible for your greyhound, either one thats been worked or coursing blood.

 

For which way round... A long time ago I worked with an old boy who bred and ran dogs with Nuttall of Clithero, Deerhound crosses,the hare dogs of their day & mentioned in Plummers early books.

He always said that the greyhound 'must' be be the stud to breed the better lurchers, he said this was always the case and in the old days all good lurchers were bred that way and cursed Plummer for always advocating using 'any' greyhound bitch!!

Now I really don't have any evidence to back up his words, nor have I heard anyone else stress the importance in this but, old Jimmy was a clever old git and like the legendery Smithfield, i'd betcha some old lurcher tales may be right on the money.

[paulsmithy83 567]

Working hill Border collie dog over coursing Greyhound bitch would be my ideal collie/grey.

i'd agree, only thing i would add is i'd make sure they had at least 5 seasons behind them and excelling in there field that they work and on the grey side at least a stud or bitch thats proven to throw good working pups but preferre that on both sides, my best f1 type dog (saluki x) was off a 9 yr old sire and a 6.5 yr old dam that had prievious litters and there offspring matched the quality of parents so on the second and last litter bred off them i had a pup, best dog ive owned so far. sorry for the essay

[shepp 2,285]

The line mine is from is usually the result to begin with from a grey stud over a collie bitch, i have been told that it keeps the size down, to me that is a positive because i don't really want a dog over 23".

[bunnys 1,228]

seen first crosses bred the way bosun mentioned ,and these were grey to collie .more pleasing to the eye throwing more to the grey but of course still with the attributes of the collie ,like was said it was far easier to get a stud of the local kennelman it was not viable to keep apure grey where the collie bitch carried on with her role when finished nursing the welps, and yes the bitches of thes e matings came in about 22 23 strong but not coarse .all the best bunnys.

[CarraghsGem 92]

my collies are a small type; 50% hill collie 50% trial bred border collie. very very tough, nearly too intelligent, excellent feet, good heads, double coated, prick ears, in black + white, and tricolour only.

[shepp 2,285]

my collies are a small type; 50% hill collie 50% trial bred border collie. very very tough, nearly too intelligent, excellent feet, good heads, double coated, prick ears, in black + white, and tricolour only.

 

They sound ideal

[Maximus Ferret 2,063]

my collies are a small type; 50% hill collie 50% trial bred border collie. very very tough, nearly too intelligent, excellent feet, good heads, double coated, prick ears, in black + white, and tricolour only.

They sound good for the job. Part of my objection to using Irish coursing blood is that they're bred very tall. If the lurcher pup grows tall with a heavy body it's feet come under a lot of pressure on sharp turns. They'd probably be OK with your strain of collie.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Maximus Ferret

[bird 10,013]

a full coursing hound... to a first cross collie x....

 

 

yep and a bit of saluki in the mix

[sounder 9]

good thread

around here all the old ways was to breed the collie dog to a irish coursing bitch not the other way around,and would mainly be runt of the litter or just one that was not be good enough to be coursed or fast enough, never a track bitch there to light bone he said, and these greyhound would of being worked rabbit hare even fox we breed this way over the years,

atb sounder

[whin 463]

having bred a few litters over the years collie type and saluk type and coli saluk type ,get a sound greyhound bitch or a big whippet grew dog one that works , i would vouch for the whippet grew dog as you no when your bitch comes into season a dog about 25 with a bit bottle ,pups will be fine ,or go to d sleights nobbys lad he produces good types hees a full greyhound , or if you can get a good greyhound stud dog over there, but must be one that wants to run and catch ,al the greyhounds ive had i worked them some were good and some were real hard i would look for a real pacy bitch not to big 25 26 but sound wrists feet something that has run well without injury ,ive got 5 generaitions of colie type here all from lurcher to lurcher with the odd greyhound put in to keep size up ,good dogs in any mans standard , do not go for a mad hyper collie go for a sound dog that switches of that ive learned cause lurcher work isnt trailing collies etc

[Country Joe 1,411]

My area has always been strong on Collie X Greys, you don't need Ex coursing stock,

All the dogs I have seen were bred from ex Trackers, and most have worked well.

There are also loads of big long legged hill collies up here who work every day, I personally would rather use these than trial Dogs.

Edited January 17, 2011 by Country Joe