“Should make good rabbit dogs”

[fred90 3,267]

8 minutes ago, SheepChaser said:

I get that to an extent, but come on, what kind of special genetics do you need to hunt rabbits out of a bush? Or having a good nose. My point is I would expect ANY decent dog to be able to do it, ie a dog that could hunt out and kill a fox should be perfectly capable of doing it with a rabbit.......... 

Does “should make good rabbits dogs” mean that’s all they are good for, or is there some special talent I’m missing ? 

well my take on it is yes good little rabbit dogs, ie don't expect to be coursing hares, killing foxes pulling down deer with them. this is hypothetically speaking as we on hunting life would not condone anything illegal with our mutts. so yes bred for one thing. 

[bird 9,969]

41 minutes ago, SheepChaser said:

Me and my mate were pissing ourselves the other night going through all of the nudge nudge wink wink sayings Lurcher folk use that mean f**k all. 

well have you ever thought, that what  you wright on public hunting forum , got to  or  supposed    keep with in boundary  of the law = catching rabbits . So regards filling the freezer , they not going to say knocking over fallow  and roe, and few hares for the freezer , or what the bred for , we all know a lurcher catch a rabbit ,  if they got  bullx , or coursing type , we all know what they bred for , so if sell ing them type pups  , or person working that type x ,  it doing what it bred for  , if somebody said that , i go along with it no prob , carnt see the confusion  in the statement .!    so back to your post ( should make good rabbit dogs)  he bred a lurcher to do  that quarry simple as that .!!

[trigger2 3,146]

3 hours ago, SheepChaser said:

I see the above said all of the time about various Lurchers or pups.

Now I don’t want to offend anyone (I’m sure I probably will), but what does that actually mean? 
 

There aren’t that many rabbits about these days, and I think pretty much most average Lurchers should be able to do a decent enough job on them lamping, ferreting or bushing.

So is it meant to mean they will excel at that job (how?) or that they won’t be much use for much else? 

I think what is meant by the saying is don’t expect anything more than the humble rabbits from the dogs. They should happily make rabbit catchers. 

[MH1 1,884]

1 hour ago, SheepChaser said:

Me and my mate were pissing ourselves the other night going through all of the nudge nudge wink wink sayings Lurcher folk use that mean f**k all. 

I particularly like the code words - big rabbit, red ones, bambi.

Need the Enigma machine for those lol

[SheepChaser 8,089]

15 minutes ago, trigger2 said:

I think what is meant by the saying is don’t expect anything more than the humble rabbits from the dogs. They should happily make rabbit catchers. 

Thank you for clearing that up.  

[socks 32,253]

1 hour ago, SheepChaser said:

Yer I used to subscribe to this theory ...... but in all honesty I think it’s mostly time served. If you take most Lurchers ferreting enough and from a young age, surely they will pick it up fine. How hard is it really? Mark a Warren, don’t act like a c**t, don’t kill the ferrrets, catch bolsters, gold ones in the net etc. Pretty sure most dogs, especially anything with a bit of collie etc will pick it up just fine. 
 

I think most of the difference between a ferreting dog and a dog that goes ferreting is just how much ferreting  the dog does.

That’s like saying a sheepdog is a sheepdog ... all it’s got to do is listen to 5 basic commands and herd sheep and the more it does the better it gets ... if that was the case there wouldn’t be any point in sheepdog trials as every dog would be top notch .... it just doesn’t work like that ... you can have a decent ferreting dog or sheepdog and work it every day and it will only ever be a decent dog ... you then have dogs that work every day and excel at the job and that’s the difference ........

[Shadow100 1,066]

2 hours ago, bird said:

well have you ever thought, that what  you wright on public hunting forum , got to  or  supposed    keep with in boundary  of the law = catching rabbits . So regards filling the freezer , they not going to say knocking over fallow  and roe, and few hares for the freezer , or what the bred for , we all know a lurcher catch a rabbit ,  if they got  bullx , or coursing type , we all know what they bred for , so if sell ing them type pups  , or person working that type x ,  it doing what it bred for  , if somebody said that , i go along with it no prob , carnt see the confusion  in the statement .!    so back to your post ( should make good rabbit dogs)  he bred a lurcher to do  that quarry simple as that .!!

What he means is, when a man posts a picture of a big hard looking bull cross for example, then someone asks if it’s any good, or does he rate it? The owner then replies “it does what it’s bred for”

This can be misleading, as we all know the dogs bred for teeth, but in reality it gets one small night on the rabbits a fortnight. The owners cryptic reply gives the impression the dog is doing far more than it really is.

This is a common thing on these sites, like pictures of dogs on mountain tops, or in big forestry plantations, accompanied by a comment like “he did his job” or “we had some sport”. When really they were probably just out a walk and the dogs not harmed a hair on a living creatures head.

Another favourite is the headshot of the dog with blood on its face, with no explanation where it came from, gets the imagination going, could’ve been a red stag, or a wild boar..... or it could’ve nailed a sheep or pulled apart a mixi rabbit. 

Its a creative way of bullshitting without actually telling lies.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Shadow100

[THE STIFFMEISTER 16,129]

Some lads you don’t need to explain stuff to 

[SheepChaser 8,089]

5 minutes ago, socks said:

That’s like saying a sheepdog is a sheepdog ... all it’s got to do is listen to 5 basic commands and herd sheep and the more it does the better it gets ... if that was the case there wouldn’t be any point in sheepdog trials as every dog would be top notch .... it just doesn’t work like that ... you can have a decent ferreting dog or sheepdog and work it every day and it will only ever be a decent dog ... you then have dogs that work every day and excel at the job and that’s the difference ........

A lot of trialling dogs would fall to bits here doing proper graft. I don’t rate many of them if I’m honest. 
 

But I agree - there is stuff you can’t teach a dog, a certain kind of head, when it comes to proper sheep work. Most folk don’t need it, and you don’t see that many really good all round collies, most are a bit disappointing when you ask them to do next level stuff. But you’d never know because at the end of the day most folk don’t need it so don’t ask their dog to do it.
 

Out of interest - what traits would you say an exceptional ferreting dog has, over just an average ferreting dog? 

Im not being a dick I’m curious. You might have half a point with the ferreting ....... maybe. But I don’t buy it with the lamping and bushing .......

Ps one of the best ferreting dogs I’ve ever seen was a very well bred coursing bitch, and another was a collie.......

[SheepChaser 8,089]

15 minutes ago, Shadow100 said:

What he means is, when a man posts a picture of a big hard looking bull cross for example, then someone asks if it’s any good, or does he rate it? The owner then replies “it does what it’s bred for”

This can be misleading, as we all know the dogs bred for teeth, but in reality it gets one small night on the rabbits a fortnight. The owners cryptic reply gives the impression the dog is doing far more than it really is.

This is a common thing on these sites, like pictures of dogs on mountain tops, or in big forestry plantations, accompanied by a comment like “he did his job” or “we had some sport”. When really they were probably just out a walk and the dogs not harmed a hair on a living creatures head.

Its a creative way of bullshitting without actually telling lies, clever really. 

100% what I mean  

[low plains drifter 10,689]

1 hour ago, MH1 said:

I particularly like the code words - big rabbit, red ones, bambi.

Need the Enigma machine for those lol

Lop eared giant is a bit of a mouthful though

[Loton Moocher 1,254]

15 minutes ago, SheepChaser said:

A lot of trialling dogs would fall to bits here doing proper graft. I don’t rate many of them if I’m honest. 
 

But I agree - there is stuff you can’t teach a dog, a certain kind of head, when it comes to proper sheep work. Most folk don’t need it, and you don’t see that many really good all round collies, most are a bit disappointing when you ask them to do next level stuff. But you’d never know because at the end of the day most folk don’t need it so don’t ask their dog to do it.
 

Out of interest - what traits would you say an exceptional ferreting dog has, over just an average ferreting dog? 

Im not being a dick I’m curious. You might have half a point with the ferreting ....... maybe. But I don’t buy it with the lamping and bushing .......

Ps one of the best ferreting dogs I’ve ever seen was a very well bred coursing bitch, and another was a collie.......

You dunna need a knocker box with a good ferreting dog and there always be a bunny at home when it tells you ? As for the breed it can be any as long as it can do these things helps if got a turn of speed tho and aint scared crash through a. Briar patch ? And they aint born it comes with time ?

[SheepChaser 8,089]

11 minutes ago, Loton Moocher said:

You dunna need a knocker box with a good ferreting dog and there always be a bunny at home when it tells you ? As for the breed it can be any as long as it can do these things helps if got a turn of speed tho and aint scared crash through a. Briar patch ? And they aint born it comes with time ?

Apart from the knocker box thing, which I’ve known dogs to do (although how deep they can tell I do wonder), I’d say the rest isn’t overly specialist. And I’m not sure telling you where a kill is is a genetic trait? 

[Shadow100 1,066]

59 minutes ago, socks said:

That’s like saying a sheepdog is a sheepdog ... all it’s got to do is listen to 5 basic commands and herd sheep and the more it does the better it gets ... if that was the case there wouldn’t be any point in sheepdog trials as every dog would be top notch .... it just doesn’t work like that ... you can have a decent ferreting dog or sheepdog and work it every day and it will only ever be a decent dog ... you then have dogs that work every day and excel at the job and that’s the difference ........

A running dog won’t work every day, every dog needs rest days, same with the owner as well there’s nobody that works their dog every single day through the season, people have days off when they do other things or just rest up. I suppose If someone classes chasing a few rabbits on their morning walk as working then that’s applicable but a dog won’t seriously graft every day it would be f****d before too long. 

[socks 32,253]

41 minutes ago, Shadow100 said:

A running dog won’t work every day, every dog needs rest days, same with the owner as well there’s nobody that works their dog every single day through the season, people have days off when they do other things or just rest up. I suppose If someone classes chasing a few rabbits on their morning walk as working then that’s applicable but a dog won’t seriously graft every day it would be f****d before too long. 

Really. I’ve got two dogs here that will argue that point ... they work EVERY DAY and the odd evening thrown in ... that’s why I say there’s a difference ...