Lab x

[FUJI 17,199]

I was just looking for a bit of info on the use of Labrador blood in a lurcher..i have seen one 1st cross although this was 35 years ago lol,he was a cracking dog or atleast to us young lads back then he was,real fast with plenty of drive and very biddable too,if i'm correct i think Dodger's dog Topper has Labrador in his make-up somewhere along the lines too? I've seen him at graft and he was a very good dog,very obedient,worked fantastic,stamina aplenty...infact of the few i have known or heard of i haven't heard a single bad word for them?...why do you think they ain't as popular as perhaps they should be?..good coats,very obedient,natural retrievers,strong in bone,stamina,good nose? ...plenty in their favour imo? ATB Andy.

Edited May 3, 2012 by poacherspocket22

[freelance 448]

I think a straight half cross should easily be on par with a good first cross cur grey, providing the lab side was out of decent stuff and not the big fat overweight picking up labs you sometimes see. A keeper friend of mine has a tidy black bitch, nice and lean. That would be the better stamp as long as it had the right blood. I remember an article years ago, cant remember if it was in shooting news or edrd. It was called Thistle by M Huxley, about a brindle half lab grey cross bitch, which by all accounts of the article was a winner. My own personal view would be the half cross put a cross a decent lurcher, so still retaining the lab blood but would be out of two tried and tested runners that are doing the job. I cant see why lab blood is not more popular, as a decent steady lab is a joy to watch at work Atb

[Guest Moscow]

Andy Ive always wondered if it could be in the mix of your dogs?

[FUJI 17,199]

I was saying the same to Tomo on the phone earlier today Freelance about a 1/2 x or even a 3/4 bred Grey/Lab put back into some decent lurcher breeding..i'm quite intrigued by them in truth..i'm sure Tomo was saying Jeff Burrell was breeding 1st x's many many moons ago so there's every likelihood that the Tumbler's that he's associated with may very well be carrying Lab blood? Moscow,you could very well be correct but it's not something i could say with any definitive proof? ATB Andy.

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

This is a query that comes up on a perennial basis,..and is definitely worthy of debate....

[freelance 448]

I don't know why more of the gundog breeds are not more popular to be honest. I have never seen a lab blooded lurcher, although i did witness a GWP first cross ( a straight GWP over a lurcher ) up Scotland many moons ago and to be honest it was not the best, but that could of been down to the owner as much as the breed. Atb

[freelance 448]

I think a straight half cross should easily be on par with a good first cross cur grey, providing the lab side was out of decent stuff and not the big fat overweight picking up labs you sometimes see. A keeper friend of mine has a tidy black bitch, nice and lean. That would be the better stamp as long as it had the right blood.

I remember an article years ago, cant remember if it was in shooting news or edrd. It was called Thistle by M Huxley, about a brindle half lab grey cross bitch, which by all accounts of the article was a winner.

My own personal view would be the half cross put a cross a decent lurcher, so still retaining the lab blood but would be out of two tried and tested runners that are doing the job. I cant see why lab blood is not more popular, as a decent steady lab is a joy to watch at work Atb

 

This is a query that comes up on a perennial basis,..and is definitely worthy of debate....

 

I have hunted with the half cross, and a three quarter bred variety of this hybrid, and I can say that both, showed me good sport...

 

Personaly,..I think that the retrieving based breeds, lack the primitive instinct, that the BEST of the Herders add to the mix..

 

Lovely, easily trained dogs though...

 

All the best, Chalkwarren..

 

Martyn Huxley's,.. 'Thistle'....

 

Thats the one chaulky, cheers Still cant remember what it was in LOL, think i remember the dog got stolen in the article ? Atb

[border lad 1,047]

HELLO, I had a 3/4 grey 1/4 Lab, he was jet black, 26" high, and length to go that dog had it all, back in about 75, he took 7 seven

Hares, in broad daylight, in just around an hour, the only dog I saw take that amount in daylight, on that estate you know well,

great nose, mouth, and strike like a Cobra, all single handed, Father and son of a well known travelling family, was with me that day, absolute sound in every way, we used to do the water in those days, and he would swim with the cord across to the far bank, of the SHACKLE NET, the Lads nicked named him TURBO SAM, for his speed and ability, to pick up the Hare, rabbit, or Roe, I never ran him on Foxes, only edible, and a dab hand with the pheasants, in those days the place was full of pheasant,I lined a couple of bitches with him but Nothing like himself, yes he was a Proper dog,, Stewarts of Auckenleck, bred that dog, I was the lucky lad that reared him and ran him many many great memories,

[FUJI 17,199]

It's a nice stamp of animal is that Chalkie...i certainly think they could serve a purpose in this game and to a decent standard at that..ATB Andy.

[FUJI 17,199]

HELLO, I had a 3/4 grey 1/4 Lab, he was jet black, 26" high, and length to go that dog had it all, back in about 75, he took 7 seven

Hares, in broad daylight, in just around an hour, the only dog I saw take that amount in daylight, on that estate you know well,

great nose, mouth, and strike like a Cobra, all single handed, Father and son of a well known travelling family, was with me that day, absolute sound in every way, we used to do the water in those days, and he would swim with the cord across to the far bank, of the SHACKLE NET, the Lads nicked named him TURBO SAM, for his speed and ability, to pick up the Hare, rabbit, or Roe, I never ran him on Foxes, only edible, and a dab hand with the pheasants, in those days the place was full of pheasant,I lined a couple of bitches with him but Nothing like himself, yes he was a Proper dog,, Stewarts of Auckenleck, bred that dog, I was the lucky lad that reared him and ran him many many great memories,

 

Sounds like he was a machine Border Lad? Once again only good reports of them? Has any more of this type ever crossed your path BL over the years since then? If so how did they fare? Do you think there would be a high litter wastage from a litter of 1st x's or no more than the norm of any liiter? ATB Andy.

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

It's a nice stamp of animal is that Chalkie...i certainly think they could serve a purpose in this game and to a decent standard at that..ATB Andy.

 

Too right....in fact,..due to recent events....

My mindset has changed,...and now, I am officially a Hedge Crawler x Moucher,...a wee rabbit here, and a wee rabbit there...

 

Mutts R us...will do me nicely,...I don't need anything lethal,..I know my place....

 

All the best,,..Chalkwarren...

[FUJI 17,199]

I get your drift Chalkie ..... :laugh:

[freelance 448]

Going off the labs for a min, anybody witnessed any other gundog crosses work ? I have seen a few springer crosses for sale in the classifieds over the years. atb

[moonlighter 1,163]

Most of the best labs I've seen, and it's only my opinion, have been bitchs. They are offen leaner and more suitable to the lurcher game, but you try getting a shooter to let your unruly flea bitten mut, line his pride and joy....as apposed to giving him a few quid for his clody, head strong over size lab to line your lean mean killing machine. Catch my drift.

[border lad 1,047]

That dog was the only one I came across, as I said his pups was nothing special fast but short of stamina, a lined him to another bitch, but nothing to talk of,

he was so intelligent, you had to see him work, to appreciate, how good he was, again I have a decent dog at this moment, NOT a world beater, but you could not measure the difference, between them, night and day is the nearest I could put it to you, and again I am sure it was down to proper working parents, to start with it was a game Keeper who had the pure Lab bitch, tireless worker, biddable to all commands, hand, voice, and whistle, and he purposely, bred his working bitch, to a champion coursing greyhound, almost all estates had coursing stock in those days, and the fellow, managed to get a bitch pup from that breeding, and later he mated his first x

bitch, back to a champion coursing greyhound again, and I was lucky to get a dog Pup from that litter I wanted a Bitch, but all was gone, I first heard of this cross, back in 1969, when I was doing Shap M6 motorway, another Lad who I knew said to me you will Laugh at me about this but get a Labxgrey, 3/4 bred they make very good dogs, he went onto say his Father had one, and it was the best that he had owned, ((( thats what he was telling me, the dog I was talking about when He reached the age of about 7 he started to put weight on, he was turning more to the Lab side, for lamping the first x would do well, bred of the right stuff endless stamina, and fantastic mouths, so easy to train and most of all biddable under your command, ((((( I have a photo in my mind of that dog christmas time at brydekirk those steep fields running up from the river, coming back over a 6ft stone wall with a 7lb Hare in his mouth, after witnessing a fantastic course,,