What Age?

[slipper 116]

What age does everybody start to work their lurchers, also what age does a running dog reach its peak and how many seasons do you expect to get out of a dog?

[Chid 6,493]

12-18 month

4-6 years

10 seasons

Edited March 27, 2015 by chid21

[lurcherman 887 13,086]

Depends

depends

Depends

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Depends what you class as work really? Lamping? I think they let you know when they are ready. Some are still pissing around at 12 months old and clearly need a few more months to settle down. Mooching I think they should be out from day one learning the ropes and starting to pick the odd thing up.

 

My 10 week old pup brought me a duck egg today. Her first thing in the game bag. Lol. My brindle bitch started picking up myxi rabbits around the 6 month mark. I don't think it does them any harm. But some blokes like to hold them back.

[MoChara 1,632]

Agree with chid (for once ) lso depends on breed (size) Likes of deerhound x's will take much longer to mature (growth)

[slipper 116]

This is the thing I would like to take her out for a mooch with my spaniel but if a rabbit gets up I don't want her yapping after it lol but I need to show her cattle, fences, chickens etc just getting used to the countryside really

she is nearly 7 months old, recall jumping retrieving is all good

See how it goes I suppose

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Holding them back from seeing the big wide world will do them more harm than running the odd rabbit in my book but each to their own...

 

[trigger2 3,133]

once my pup has had its first jab at 8 weeks i take them out with me lamping every time i go out and pretty much just let them get on with it.

 

heres my dogs first lamping trip on his own at 5 months and a week old. the weather was decent with strong winds and it was pitch black. i went to one of the spots with the easyiest caught rabbits

 

[terryd 8,385]

One thing I have found and in hind site get the training sorted before you start showing the dog game easier said than done though bloody rabbits every where

[roybo 2,873]

I don't think you can put age on when to start ,some are mentally more mature at 10 months while others still piss about come 16 - 18 months.

I think 3-6 they become what they are going to be although some dogs get cleverer the older they get which helps with the mooching and ferreting.

Some dog are lucky to make double figures ,what with accidents and injuries ,mine had 8 seasons although she didn't do much on her last due to injuries.

Getting 10 seasons out of a committed lurcher is an achievement .