Spanish working greyhound?

[longhound 0]

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Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[longhound 0]

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Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[shepp 2,285]

Nice looking dogs and always good to keep an open mind on the various breeds.

I met a guy from Sicily in a park while walking my collie/grey, he said they use a pure bred rabbiting dog that looks very much like mine.

It surprises me that as a country with a long history of hunting that we have not ended up with good game catching pure bred running dogs. Whippet is a good rabbiting dog but was bred for racing and has it's faults, greyhound is not the best catch dog even on hares and that's it, back to lurchers.

Shepp

[longhound 0]

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Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[Lennard 10]

I have one and it works fine for me. Fast and endurance, pretty obedient too. For daytime rabbits or lapming in difficult terrain it is a bit on the big side.

 

l

[tyson 1]

how big are spaniols , and how long would thery be able to run for say after a hare ? would they be equal to saluki for endurance and speed or less endurance and more speed

[Lennard 10]

I don't know about height...but an average dog is around 25 kilo and bitches are a bit smaller. I would say they are saluki like for stamina but faster for sure...but then I have seen some very fast salukis too. Saluki is a more variable breed than the galgo. The top dogs for competitive jack rabbit coursing in NM and CA are sal-greys and pure galgo. Courses of more than 5 min are no exception there and in Spain.

 

L

Edited January 14, 2008 by Lennard

[tyson 1]

so what about a saluki x galgo ? ever saw one ?

i reckon from what ive heard a good galgo bitch would be good with a top coursing lurcher

id definatley like to try breeding some if i had access to a good bitch one thats probly retired would be ideal

[longhound 0]

h,

Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[longhound 0]

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Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[Lennard 10]

Yeah I work my galgo...both day and night but more night time work.

I have a podenco (cross) as well.

 

If I were you I would not cross podenco with galgo if you want a serious working dog. For sure it will be tough and fast but the pups might have a lot of nose that makes them less suitable as lamp dogs, they might want to use there nose too much. And you will have 8 of them. Podenco style hunting is much different from long dog work...it is more scent hound...kind of superfast beagles in a way. Very impractical if you do not have the space or when hunting with hounds is illegal. But I guess that if you bring on a pup and train it well you can have a useful hound.

 

I would keep galgo espagnol pure or cross it with whippet for my circumstances.

 

L

 

 

[tyson 1]

for a better coat you could cross it with a featherd saluki x , one thats a proven stud dog for hare coursing

two or three of these stud dogs about , would make them better killers and a bit brainier running style

[longhound 0]

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Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound

[Lennard 10]

Depends what you want...if you really like hare dogs like galgo and saluki I would stick cross these and leave terriers away...that said the terrier might add for your situation? For forest and hills where your hares are in cover fast the real hare dogs are less suitable than something speedy and light, like whippet. But that said a big galgo will catch some when it is smart with lamps, they are fast dogs anyway.

 

Do you have "real" hares? I mean do you have the brown hare or a kind of artic hare that lives in the woods like the snowshoe hare?

 

Coursing is legal in most of the US and former soviet states like Ukrain...and in Spain, Portugal, south Ireland, Chile and Argentina. Coursing is illegal in the UK, it is also difficult to get dogs in and they have a dog stealing culture...but it is possible to bring dogs IF you really have to for work...start early to get the vaccination valid blahblah and the veterinary checks of that... Rabbit hunting is legal in the UK though.

 

If you can I would try and go to Russia, would be a very interesting mission.

 

Learn how to hunt...the dog has enough brains and instinct to learn it by itself. Only thing is obedience training, it has to be a kind of routine to get back for the dog because that will lead to more action. Also catching and playing with tennis balls with a lamp at night and I make a lot of effort of finding easy rabbits so the dog gets confidence and does not learn to hunt up and search for more. I let my dog carry the first catch for a mile walking next to me and praising him in heaven.

 

pics from yesterday

 

 

 

 

L

Edited January 15, 2008 by Lennard

[longhound 0]

lepus timidus, is the latin name of the hare in norway.

Edited January 19, 2008 by longhound