A good dog or a great one, how do you judge it?

[logman 0]

Firstly id like to underline the fact that im not claiming to have a world class dog in this post, im only using her as an example of my question.

Sophie, a 4 year old bitch of mine is a Belgian/greyhound half cross, not a very racey looking sort of animal, and definately not a show winner! However she is a reliable working dog at night, collecting some reasonable hauls of rabbits on the lamp. She is also a good dog to use during bushing/ general mooching with terriers etc and marks reliably. This morning whilst excersing the dogs she marked a small hole and after she had pulled a small stone from the entrance removed and then retreived to me a halfgrown rabbit. This sort of thing is not uncommon for her to do.

She is also a very loyal animal and is a usefull gaurd, i think inpart due to her Shepard blood.

Now, to me, and in comparison to other dogs i have kept/seen she is a great dog. Although she has never secured any legendary hauls of rabbits as an all round dog she fits me perfectly. To me the definition of a great dog is this,.... If this dog had to hunt inorder to feed me, would i starve? Sophie is one of these animals.

 

So what makes a good dog great? Is it massive hauls of quarry, or is there more to it?

Id be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

[midnight walker 8]

in my opinion one that does what you ask of it anything else is a bonus

[Guest Frank]

in my opinion one that does what you ask of it anything else is a bonus

[skycat 6,173]

Interesting question: IMO a good dog becomes a great dog when it consistently performs at a level that leaves you saying to yourself:"How the hell did it do that?!" Making those 'impossible' catches that other dogs would have missed, finding where other dogs have gone by or given up, and never chucking in the towel when the chips (of whatever sort) are down. So you can apply this list of things to any sort of dog, lurcher, terrier or whatever working dog.

A great dog is IMO the one you compare all your other dogs to, and the one you remember after it has gone to the great hunting ground in the sky and your'e watching your other dogs at work. Its the one you use as a measuring stick of competance at its job, and the one that lived every day as a tiger in the field, but lay like a mouse in your home.

[squirreltail 15]

Interesting question: IMO a good dog becomes a great dog when it consistently performs at a level that leaves you saying to yourself:"How the hell did it do that?!" Making those 'impossible' catches that other dogs would have missed, finding where other dogs have gone by or given up, and never chucking in the towel when the chips (of whatever sort) are down. So you can apply this list of things to any sort of dog, lurcher, terrier or whatever working dog.

A great dog is IMO the one you compare all your other dogs to, and the one you remember after it has gone to the great hunting ground in the sky and your'e watching your other dogs at work. Its the one you use as a measuring stick of competance at its job, and the one that lived every day as a tiger in the field, but lay like a mouse in your home.

 

Thats great mate that last paragraph how well you put that.you should have been a poet .my thoughts entirely but you put it better.

[jigsaw 11,865]

Adding to this post I'd like to ask another question,Would you be happy with a dog that turned out to be an average to good hunting companion or dissapointed it didnt turn out to be that exceptional game taker you would like to have.I have a 6 month old lurcher pup and I'm hoping to turn him into a handy dog.I'm not expecting a world beater,but if he came that way no complaints.All one can do is give him basic training and hope his breeding supplies everything else.If he is a good ferreting dog and a decent tryer on the lamp,plus an enjoyable dog to have around you then I'm happy.

[socks 32,253]

read a mouchers tale and let phil lloyd describe to you how his bitch mercedes was a great dog ... its not all about how much game the dog catches is it also about the dog itself .........

[Guest foxtrack]

Firstly id like to underline the fact that im not claiming to have a world class dog in this post, im only using her as an example of my question.

Sophie, a 4 year old bitch of mine is a Belgian/greyhound half cross, not a very racey looking sort of animal, and definately not a show winner! However she is a reliable working dog at night, collecting some reasonable hauls of rabbits on the lamp. She is also a good dog to use during bushing/ general mooching with terriers etc and marks reliably. This morning whilst excersing the dogs she marked a small hole and after she had pulled a small stone from the entrance removed and then retreived to me a halfgrown rabbit. This sort of thing is not uncommon for her to do.

She is also a very loyal animal and is a usefull gaurd, i think inpart due to her Shepard blood.

Now, to me, and in comparison to other dogs i have kept/seen she is a great dog. Although she has never secured any legendary hauls of rabbits as an all round dog she fits me perfectly. To me the definition of a great dog is this,.... If this dog had to hunt inorder to feed me, would i starve? Sophie is one of these animals.

 

So what makes a good dog great? Is it massive hauls of quarry, or is there more to it?

Id be interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

100 easy rabits up north or 20 hard ones down south

it doesent matter mate keep to your selfe

and one day you go out with some big noise

you may find that your dog his a lot better than his

[luke 2]

Adding to this post I'd like to ask another question,Would you be happy with a dog that turned out to be an average to good hunting companion or dissapointed it didnt turn out to be that exceptional game taker you would like to have.I have a 6 month old lurcher pup and I'm hoping to turn him into a handy dog.I'm not expecting a world beater,but if he came that way no complaints.All one can do is give him basic training and hope his breeding supplies everything else.If he is a good ferreting dog and a decent tryer on the lamp,plus an enjoyable dog to have around you then I'm happy.

sky cat got it spot on you can onlyexpect to get one great dog in a

life time so if you can turn out a good dog consistantly with proper thought

to the breeding thats all you can ask for

[whin 463]

had a few good dogs and a few really good dogs ones that can feed a village or keep me in pocket money , to me a great dog is one that catches roe fox rabbit hare , got one at moment whose done it in style and feched her leg ,but she can stilll do it but not in the same amount , bred a few good ones , the ban has curtailed a lot of the day light hunting, all my best ones have been bred rigth and home bred with guys like minded all the best

[doxhope 2]

Everybody has their opinion of what represents a great, good or bad dog. In my life time I could judge on one hand what I deem as a great dog, I have seen lots of good dogs, and lots of bad dogs, as far as all round work is involved. The definition of great outstandingly talented and much admired and respected So I will still stick to less than five great dogs that Ive seen on.

If you have a dog, and your happy with it, just enjoy it in the short time you and it are going to be together.

[Ray Mears 272]

i would make he most of it mate if it fits you perfecley then who cares what other people say :thumbs-up:

[Guest waldorf]

read a mouchers tale and let phil lloyd describe to you how his bitch mercedes was a great dog ... its not all about how much game the dog catches is it also about the dog itself .........

 

i saw mercedes run many many years ago,we had 16 rabbits,on a bit of ground called farlington marshes,she was a good bitch,

[Irish Lurcher 1,013]

Not to sure what a great dog is. This is my first lurcher and I must say that I find her to be excellent at all she does. Her obedience is second to none, he retrieving to hand is class, and all rabbits are retrieved alive.

 

Her first Hare was caught off lamp, she tracked it in total darkness and retrieved alive to hand, I suppose we all think we have great dogs; I can only go on my own bitch’s performance, so taking all of this into account, to me she is a great dog, I think!!!

 

Hope this makes sense.

 

John.

[Guest grubygrafter]

.a great dog to me is a dog that will make a good dog look average.