Expectations

[BORDERSCOT 3,816]

I agree with you Boyo, as you get older you Mellow,for instance IF i HAD A sALUKI X when I was young man, I would have messed him up, lack of Patience,

I have always had a dog to Hunt off the road, and carry back to the van or hand, also numbers dont mean anything for me now, I would rather see my dog work well, a couple of rabbits were possible and probably a bit larger, Patience is a virtue, and its impossible to put an old head on young shoulders, they are all looking for INSTANCE COFFEE,

 

How true is that....... A medical impossibility even....

 

However, some of the most nonsense/bullshit/fantasy filled heads I know belong to older guys....

 

You can do something with an impatient youngster....you can do feck all with havering, bullshitting, fantasy spouting oldies....'cept shoot them.....burn 'em and chuck 'em in the coup.......

[jcm 2,327]

I'm only 20 and have had lurchers for a little under 6 year but hunted with ferrets far longer, [BANNED TEXT] I go out with ferrets I'm after numbers I want to be divig about pulling rabbits from nets but with my lurcher aslong as he gives 100% I'm happy, for instance me and a friend were out other night caught a good bag of rabbits both me and my pal we smiling away and chuffed how both dogs ran and caught.

Ended with 19 rabbits and could have doubled that easy but I chose to end the night and go home and leave them for another day to work our dogs we had a good night with some great runs and that was enough for me

[boyo 1,398]

 

question her more for the older members I have asked a few mates this question and most have agreed with me . as I have got older I have come to accept less out of my dogs compared to when I was younger and probally a lot keener. nowadays I can put up with things that years ago I never would have accepted in my dogs. some well known dog people have said the same thing .be good to see what other olde rexperienced dog folk think about these thoughts .

 

 

Good question Boyo..

 

We are all different,.we are all individuals,.. and same as the Lurcher, we must never be standardised, catigorised,... or encouraged to all think the same..

 

This is what makes us lurchermen...

 

I used to kill a lot of game,...I was mad for it,...so much so,.that lurchers really were my life,...and in truth, I've fecked up a large part of it,.due to my fanatical pursuit of game,...and some might say,.in search of some kind of idiotic, pseudo fame or notoriety... .

 

But,.not any more,....nowadays it is,..onlytheconey,...

 

My demands are small, and so are my catches,...I need to have quality, not quantity,...I want good, genuine, honest dogs, and the same from my human hunting partners...I have no time for posers,.theorists or competitive boasters,...been there done that,.and I was possibly one of the fecking worst

 

So,.in answer to your question,....yes, I accept far less from a lurcher, than back in the 1980s...and I am a far happier person because of it.

 

Best wishes to all mangy crossbreds,...Phil..

 

 

phil been there got the t shirt exactly how i used to be packed a real well paid job in when i was younger and had a young family at the time just so i could get out even more with the dogs numbers were all that counted in them days . nowadays its the quality of runs and the craic of a day out with mates that is more important . .ps still cant have a shite dog mind lol.

Edited October 6, 2013 by boyo

[Stigodadump 64]

I find now that I am older I have plenty of time to keep my dogs in top condition and also plenty of time to get 'em out working. So I would say my expectations are higher because I put so much into them. Having said that I have learned a lot over the years and now have the patience to work with a dog properly and smooth out any niggles.

[beast 1,884]

i certainly dont train mine to the standard i did when i was a lad, although i enjoy teaching a puppy, i have learned which things a dog really needs to know and work on those, rather than, say, walking robotically to heel or a sitting-presentation when retrieving.

 

as a youngster i would drive my dogs hard, hard hard, not so much because i wanted to catch huge numbers but because i truly believed that a dog is nothing unless it has really been tested in the fire of work, beaten over the anvil almost to breaking point. this wasnt about proving a point to anybody as i very rarely worked dogs with other folk, just the pleasure of seeing a dog go and go and go again.

 

nowadays, i still value a good worker as much as i always did but i dont feel the need to drive them, or myself, as hard

[skycat 6,173]

Agree with Phil and boyo, still look for a decent standard in a dog but I've definitely mellowed.

Had to I suppose for I'd describe my passion for hunting when younger to be obsessive and my dogs to be near robotic.

To be fair it's not just my attitude and expectations of my dogs I'm more mellowed with but hunting in general, I always considered myself sporting and fair regarding any quarry I hunted, but now, and this might seem a strange admission on a hunting site, but I don't feel the same desire to actually hunt like I used to. What was it a man once said, I used to study the grizzly in order to hunt him, I now hunt him in order to study him.

Brilliant: in recent years I've found myself getting just as excited at taking a photo of some wildlife as I do at actually killing it. I suppose it is still hunting in one respect: sneaking up on something, seeing how close you can get. The kill becomes less and less important as you get older, though I still want my dogs to try their utmost to succeed. I feel more of a spectator sometimes: enjoying watching them hunt is just as satisfying as the catch and kill, which is why I said I expect more of my dogs: the poor buggers have to do it all themselves these days whilst I observe

[Slabcatcher 7]

Will be interesting for me to find out. I had my first lurcher in 1983 but for the last 10 years I've had terriers. I've now got a lovely whippet cross pup 12 weeks old. I've already spent more time and patience on him than any other dog I've had but I reckon as long as he puts it in then I'll be a happy old hunter. When I was young I wanted every run or every shot to be a kill but it won't be like that now for me I don't think but only time will tell. As long as he's honest then that'll do for me

 

Slab

[iworkwhippets 12,595]

Havent a clue, i simply refuse to grow old

[THLpatrick 555]

At the moment im 20 and still in the learning stages in reality, ill push my dog when i can but i don't expect wonders.

 

 

As much as we would like a better worker, im sure some dogs would prefer a better trainer. Maybe in time ill get to a standard that id like to keep and atm im happy with what ive got.

 

what im saying is you can't expect wonders if you don't push yourself with the dog.

 

Here of people giving up on a dog at 12months, expecting to much when if you've waited abit longer maybe you'd of got the return you where looking for with abit more hard work and effort..

 

im also in the awkward stage of i dont no my standards as ive not fully set them, my bitch died at 2, so i couldn't see what i had gotten and the dog ive taken on is 3, so untill ive got my own puppy and made my own mistakes and raised it i dont know what to expect..but as i said with my current dog im happy with how we do

[Astanley 11,568]

I don't ask much from my mutts , the only non negotiable asset I insist on , is they must be honest and try , I,v had half decent , ordinary and what some would consider culls , and I,v enjoyed every single outing with every single one of them ,As I,v got older the list of faults I,ll forgive has got longer with the dogs and shorter with the people I go out with ..

[paulus 26]

I Just enjoy the countryside and isolation from society nowadays. no axe to grind, no point to prove, no ego to massage the joys of age

[birddog 1,354]

don't think its rose tinted glasses but i didn't realise how good some of my mutts were when i was younger, we were fearless then......... going where we wanted when we wanted................ even selling venison back to the landowner .................if a dog started to slow with age or work or show a flaw they were history we were maybe too results driven then................wouldn't it be good to have the legs, wind and heart of 35 or 40yrs ago with the wisdom of age ?............my mutts now are better bred, schooled and fed and although the need to have them of a certain standard has dropped the desire and pride in getting them there has increased

[rough dog 333]

I`m 48 next week and I still think I can carry 25 rabbits in an echo bag knee deep in ploughed fields with my LR 9 and battery acid burning through my joking barbour and warming my leg up !!

 

 

I`m worn out just reading that back ha ha !!

[DEERMAN 1,020]

I`m 48 next week and I still think I can carry 25 rabbits in an echo bag knee deep in ploughed fields with my LR 9 and battery acid burning through my joking barbour and warming my leg up !!

 

 

I`m worn out just reading that back ha ha !!

cant you ??????????? you need to man up then

[rough dog 333]

ha ha ha I can really I`m fit as f ck ha ha