The Lurchers Of Yesteryear Were They As Good As Made Out In Comparison To Today's Modern Running Dog

[gnipper 6,467]

Surely in the days before lamps there would have been a lot more hunting/pot filling types about rather than out an out speed merchants?

[green lurchers 16,628]

Surely in the days before lamps there would have been a lot more hunting/pot filling types about rather than out an out speed merchants?

properly trained dogs that could catch under the moon would have been far better before lamps made life easy

[bird 9,878]

 

Nostalgia aint what it used to be.

They should never have axed Heartbeat

 

[jeemes 4,483]

Back in the eighties there were loads of big old bull shitters about,and lots and lots of dealers and puppy peddlers. A lot of people had loads of dogs and did nothing but shows. A lot of them today would be torn to shreds on this forum. Imo there are better dogs around today in fewer hands.. Anyone remember the pet section of exchange and mart? reams of dogs for sale with endless claims about there prowess but sadly mostly bullshit.

[LOL 212]

The dogs of old were expected to do a bit of every thing not like a lot of the one trick ponies of today

[border lad 1,047]

In days gone by, there was far more freedom, Hunting with hounds was no problem coursing was no problem, we could get permission to walk the land, with a couple of dogs, the last 20years, it has been a downhill ride, for me now it is at Rock bottom, I definitely, saw better days in the 60s people were much more content, Happier, in there life styles,Music, the Mersey beat, work for those who wanted to work, The Dogs, for me those dogs were good for filling the pot, the good ole collie x deerhound x with coursing greyhound blood,

Biddable, Hunt off the road,and carry back up into the van,((( my dogs in my young days were never at the vets,Hard as nails, maybe it was the way we worked back in those days so we expected our dogs to be able to put a shift in as well,Fast forward to the modern day coursing dog Saluki x oh he can run, and he has a very fast recovery from a hard run,and they can run clever, I saw a young 16 month old dog run a few days back and in my opinion, he is as good as I have seen run for many a long year, You must progress, life is not made for standing still,I was born 1945 I saw the Ration Book,your mother was only allowed to buy certain foods, petrol was on ration,

that was the lucky ones who could afford a car,the swinging 60s introduction of the Birth pill womens lib, today there is some great dogs, going about, and most can do there job, if there in the right hands,

[poxon 5,731]

Interesting replays I take it there is still some decent old lines still going then buy some of the comments

[low plains drifter 10,474]

The dogs of old were expected to do a bit of every thing not like a lot of the one trick ponies of today

The one trick ponies of today what exactly are they ?, i've never known a running dog of any breeding that did'nt show an interest in working a variety of quarry given the opportunity

[LOL 212]

 

The dogs of old were expected to do a bit of every thing not like a lot of the one trick ponies of today

The one trick ponies of today what exactly are they ?, i've never known a running dog of any breeding that did'nt show an interest in working a variety of quarry given the opportunity

yes most running dogs show intrest.But is that enough some excel at coursing some at lamping exc.When we were young there was only space for one running dog.It was expected to take rabbit hare and feather exc And do the job when out with the terriers Today a lot of lurcher lads keep diferent lurchers for different jobs.

[Chaff 3,619]

Interesting replays I take it there is still some decent old lines still going then buy some of the comments

I do have a Burrell dog I can only go on what I have seen.

I am no expert, he came from my mates bitch that was proper marking at 6 weeks and turned out to be a real good worker, so when he bred I had one cost me a oner and works everything to the point it becomes a pain in the arse cus he don't stop working

He now 16 month 25tts and tough as old boots.

[Somewhereyournot 1,117]

Lurcher to me is something that catches all edible quarry in any way, ferreting lamping netting mooching etc.

would like to think most lurchers are capable of catching fairly easily. No point having a lurcher that can't. regards to whether dogs were better years ago Iv no clue as I'm 24, but I'd say that there were just as much shit about back then with the bull shitting and egotistical claims but nowadays you see more of it because of forums and the Internet.

[slip lead 862]

The average lurcher has much improved over the last 50 years, but the handler's unfortunately haven't, for a most it's just a hobby or past time, but there's still a good few that it's a way of life, only difference from today is the dogs not relied on to feed the family with poached game..

[Coursing mad 24 874]

Bollocks, all stock has progressed, horses, pigeons, dogs. They are better and will only get better as long as folk keep racing working them

well said

[fox digger 1,086]

There are a lot of lines from bygone years still knocking about. It's usually the boys that have something to talk about are the ones that don't talk about it The modern age of the Internet has took its toll on the genuine working blood of all breeds because a handy animal can be made out to be a world beater if he is blown up enough on the net and a far greater audience can read about these wonder dogs that otherwise would never have been heard tell of!! The grass is always greener but back then they got there sport and kept mutts to do what they wanted and they done it well or else would have been pts. The ratio of dogs that were decent well rounded dogs would be a lot higher back then than the numbers of workers that exist amoung the endless amount of lurches about these days. I'd imagine at a rough guess if you picked out 10 lurches from a village 40/50 years ago I'd say at least 75% of them could and would do a decent job on most quarry. If I randomly picked 10 from around here now I'd be lucky if two made any sort of impression!!

[two crows 3,342]

some very interesting answers, I personally think every day lurcher's are generally the same however in my youth the men that had them were genuine dog men, I don't remember any idiots having em' not like today games full of jack'ases. ive always had coursing dogs' and dogs back in the seventy's (mine anyway ) were ran to get them fit and were awesome hare killers, I some times wish I could have one back and condition it how it's done now, and see if it would be better or not. but I must say hand on heart the line bred coursing stuff about today would take some beeting in any era. atb two crows.