Hancocks lurchers

[Guest Chancer]

i will read them CHALKY ... but if you keep putting pics up off sky and then i say its a cracking dog ..then you take the pic down ...are you trying to make me look a clown /// or do i do that job well without any help from you all the best snoop

 

if him editing them wasn't enough to contend with they've only gone and given him a delete button

[snoopdog 1,256]

lets hope the old git dosent get trigger happy when hes had a couple off glasses of red ....

[heart of wales 19]

A Hancock thread, I remember a film like this....same thing happens over and over.......and over again........

 

 

 

Nice one Si

[Guest SJM]

if him editing them wasn't enough to contend with they've only gone and given him a delete button

 

[Guest SJM]

how can you claim you know Hancock dogs when you have only owned one, an adult trained by someone else at that and why oh why would you expect a half cross to take Hares. I wouldn't ask a Shire to run the Grand national.

 

Ive only owned one because that one was enough Ive seen plenty which other people have owned though and theres only one that was any good and thats Mackays bitch Why would I expect a first cross to be able to kill a hare? Well, possibly because I have 2 ageing collie crosses here which are the result of many generations of collie/greyhound bred to collie/greyhound and Ive had plenty of hares with them. Ive had 2 out of 3 with the old dog in the wintertime and the bitch is still killing an odd one here and there aged 7. Obviously they are no good for real coursing, only hunting up and catching a hare here and there on the moors, but yes I expect my dogs to be able to do that, if a mongrelised collie cur can do it, then a first cross (usually racier and faster from my experience) should be more than capable of the same feat

[Guest spartancombat]

I will let you know how I get on guys. I will at the end of the day I will take my time and am prepared to travel any distance(I have a 12 hour ferry crossing just to get to mainland uk!Shetland).

Most important for me is just the experience of bein out with the dog on the hills and enjoying myself. If he catches a few rabbits,even better. Just thought I'd ask you guys advice.

[mackay 3,364]

if you are new to lurchers i would keep away from the collie crosses not just hanncocks as most people nowadays dont have the skill or the patience to get the most out of them including myself i prefer a harder less sensitive dog , most lurchers nowadays are more like coursing greyhounds.

 

A very true and valid point, a lurcherman of bygone years probably wouldn't recognise what is now classed as a lurcher the point and fire type of dogs that seem to be in at the moment.

[Nell 1]

Well I was going to keep my mouth shut, but....

 

I once aquired myself a Hancock bred bitch, she was 8 weeks old at the time, I paid £50 for her off a local lad, who had bought 2 but couldn't handle them after a week , a red merle 5/8 grey 3/8 collie.

I bought this bitch knowing full well what sort of reputation these type of dogs were beginning to get, but thought to myself, what the hell. I already had a dog that was doing all I asked of him, so even if the dog didn't make the grade, I wasn't losing anything, but I did want so very much to prove everyone else wrong!!

 

She was a good looking bitch too, some of the old members of the old smoochers site may remember my many posts and pics of her. Chalky I even asked your advise on a thing or two when I had doubts with the dog

 

I put a lot of time into the dog, a hell of a lot of time, back then i was out every other night of the week so the dog came with me, I introduced her the same as I do any of the pups I bring up and at 9 months old she caught her first lamped rabbit. By the time she was 18 months old she was being lamped regular and was in my opinion a very decent one, she was catching 20+ rabbits on a good night consistently. She had also caught the odd hare in the lamp, but this was by far not her main quarry. When she was a little over 2 she caught a nice daytime roe deer, single handed, although totally by accident, we weren't expecting it to bolt. She was a little lucky with this as the deer stumbled a little during the run enableing her to make ground on it, but she still took it and made straight for the neck and it was all over by the time I got to her.

 

Her only downfall, and I mean her only downfall was she lacked the extra bit of bottle she needed to become a decent "all rounder", I of course mean foxes. When introducing her to foxes, in the beginning they were all doubled up with my other dog, the pairing caught many, as she was a very quick bitch and an intelligent lamper, whereas my other dog was all balls but little brains. When I run the pair of them, she would take them no problem and with real aggression. However when I ran her by herself, they all seemed to get away . I kept telling myself that she was trying but deep down I knew she just didn't want to take them by herself. for about 12 months I kept ignoring the signs, I just simply didn't want to beleive it, I had put so much into the dog, I just couldn't bring myself to admit what was going on.

 

I then lost my other dog and after seeing many foxes, which should have been easily caught, simply get away, I made probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make whilst keeping dogs and part company with her , I found her a wonderful home with a pest controller, who was looking for an out and out rabbit dog and didn't mind the lack of bottle when it came to foxes and after a successful trial, he snapped my hand off.

 

I was sad to see her go and I will always, always remember the dog, although it got frustrating towards the end with the foxes I had many memorable nights out with the bitch, she educated me so much to the world of lamping and lurchers in general, which in itself is priceless in my mind, it was an emotional 3 years. Even now she is still doing well with the guy who took her on, although she will be knocking on 7 years old now, she has taken many a rabbit with him, which is all I could hoped for the dog, because rabbits is where she came into her own!!

 

I'm not going to praise or knock Hancock, I don't know enough about him to do so, I don't agree with mass producing dogs for the sake of money, and no I wouldn't take on another, I wouldn't go through all that again!! I just though I'd let you all know (for those of you who didn't already know) my own experiences.

 

YIS

 

Danny

[Guest Frank]

Thanks Danny for that, was very interesting.

I have only ever seen 1 work, that was back in 93, when their was a few that were good about. She was a demon on rabbits, fox ect, but prone to injury. Cost the owner a nice bill at the vets.

She was a beirdie x border collie x greyhound, merle as well.

The mate that had her at the time, was a terrier man mainly and she went out with him on a lot of digs and did very well. Eventually, she started to open up after deer and lamping, so he put her down.

Now, before i get jumped on, i saw this dog work, 3 to 4 times a week back then, as we went out a good bit, i was single you see .

The fella that owned her, was a hardy wee scots man, took no shit and new his tuff, but we parted company in 99, as we started to disagree on too many things.

[Nell 1]

but prone to injury. Cost the owner a nice bill at the vets.

 

I know what you mean, I have heard many tales of Hancock dogs being prone to injury, however the bitch i had only ever knocked one toe in her time with me and she was run on all type of ground.... just lucky I guess?

Edited October 15, 2007 by Nell

[Guest Frank]

You were lucky Nell. My mates dog got some sort of complicated shoulder injury, that only a specialist vet could mend by op, he was skint for a month.

[Bosun11 537]

Maybe it was luck Frank but I would say that with the multitude of dogs (both greyhound and pastoral) that must go through this breeders yard, plenty will/would be quite sound physically, most greyhounds (track and coursing) are of perfect conformation, though feet can be suspect in certain lines and pastoral breeds in the main have very good feet. It's around 30" above these what I would be worried about!!