Best cross you've seen .

[Davydunny 57]

What is the best bushing or flushing dog you've owned or saw.

I've seen a beagle x lab/spaniel work fox ,rabbit and find a wounded roe.

Was very biddable and would hunt any cover all day long .

He tried to line the bitch a few times but never took  .

Shame really as it was a real good bitch .

[OldPhil 5,677]

I once tried a wee Bedlington/Border....

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by OldPhil

[Gypsydog94 4,561]

Best foxing dog I seen was a Bassett. Not a bushing dog really as was pure hound but would find foxes and stick to there line. Would hunt stale drags back to earth in the spring from lambing fields. 

[harryshounds 967]

Best I ever had was a full springer, old type, stocky, very strong, broad head and shoulders. Would burst cover after fur or feather, follow a line, run with hounds, mark fox holes, dig rats, would grab and pull at a dig....hard mouth on sharp toothed game but soft when retrieving feather.

 

[harryshounds 967]

[sambo123 593]

The best bushing dogs I've ever seen in my life were bred by mates dad they were first cross beagle/Russell. He owned a lemon and white bitch beagle he got from a hunt and put a good terrier over it and kept all the bitches as a little pack. They were just like very hard beagles. They didn't give a fu*k about human attention, literally like wild animals. You let them off the leads and they just hunted. They would latch onto anything be it rat, rabbit, hare or fox and if you didn't get it off them quick enough they'd just eat it in seconds. They'd smash through anything to get to something. They were only small things and if they got a fox in cover they'd just pull it to bits. They're all long dead now and they had funny seasons so he never had a litter out of any of them which is a shame because I'm yet to see any dogs like them and probably won't again. 

Sam

[tatsblisters 9,528]

Best bushing dog we used to take out when we were youngsters was a small type labrador/collie it would plough through cover swim any river and pond . My best bushing dog was my first springer spaniel i had she was the runt of the litter and i gave the lad a score for her and brough her up around a mates bushing terriers she would hunt all day . I always remember taking her to London to go out with some mates from down their on the muntjac she had never seen one or been near one before but took to bushing them like a veteran i think big Danny M from London was impressed when she knocked one out of a bramble hedge to be caught by my lurcher.

[tatsblisters 9,528]

1 hour ago, sambo123 said:

The best bushing dogs I've ever seen in my life were bred by mates dad they were first cross beagle/Russell. He owned a lemon and white bitch beagle he got from a hunt and put a good terrier over it and kept all the bitches as a little pack. They were just like very hard beagles. They didn't give a fu*k about human attention, literally like wild animals. You let them off the leads and they just hunted. They would latch onto anything be it rat, rabbit, hare or fox and if you didn't get it off them quick enough they'd just eat it in seconds. They'd smash through anything to get to something. They were only small things and if they got a fox in cover they'd just pull it to bits. They're all long dead now and they had funny seasons so he never had a litter out of any of them which is a shame because I'm yet to see any dogs like them and probably won't again. 

Sam

Is he from Dinnington mate.

[Neal 1,857]

15 hours ago, OldPhil said:

I once tried a wee Bedlington/Border....

My favourite dog that I remember from my youth (I'm taking teens here though, rather than Primary school age) was my dad's border x bedlington.

I may get some of these facts a little bit wrong as it was a long time ago, but I have a feeling he was from an accidental mating rather than purposely bred. He was a gingery colour but with a scruffy, curly blond outer coat and stockier than the one in your photo and probably around 16" at a rough guess. I seem to remember than he was used more for bushing than earth work as he was a little too big but he was often used as a draw dog near the end of a dig.

My favourite story about him was when he was taken to a local shoot when my dad went beating and was initially poo-pooed by everyone with their labs and springers. However, they were so impressed when the "cute, fluffy little doggy" killed a fox that he was given a wage for the day too, invited back and became the shoot's firm favourite.

He was a bit of a scrapper but only when pushed and this, coupled with his fluffy coat (he looked like a scruffy version of one one the many poodle crossbreds you now get in every other household) almost got him another role. My dad was asked by one of the Pompey dog fighting brigade if they could mate Spike to one of their bitches as his appearance made him look unlikely to be the little hard-nut that he was and so would alter their odds when betting. My dad declined the offer. 

I think he tried to breed a replacement for him several times by using different borders and different bedlingtons but none had the same stamp as old Spike.

[sambo123 593]

49 minutes ago, tatsblisters said:

Is he from Dinnington mate.

He is mate and so am I, Going round to his lads in a minute to look at a litter of bushers he's bred.

[tatsblisters 9,528]

1 minute ago, sambo123 said:

He is mate and so am I, Going round to his lads in a minute to look at a litter of bushers he's bred.

I remember he always used to go on about a russel/beagle his mate had year's ago a lad called Frankie Wroe if my memory serves me right saying it was the best bushing dog he had seen i remember him having lakey type terrier's that i don't think he rated saying all they wanted to do was fight.

[sambo123 593]

37 minutes ago, tatsblisters said:

I remember he always used to go on about a russel/beagle his mate had year's ago a lad called Frankie Wroe if my memory serves me right saying it was the best bushing dog he had seen i remember him having lakey type terrier's that i don't think he rated saying all they wanted to do was fight.

Frank Roe was my grandads brother mate and I've heard of that dog he said it was a very good dog there was summat up with it though every now and again it fell over on its side and you had to stand it back up for it to get going again like a wind up toy haha.

And yeah he won't have a lakie he's told me plenty of times that they just want to scrap all the time. He's got mostly beagle/cockers now same as me but they're not a patch on those old beagle russells and he'll tell ya that himself.

Sam

[Gypsydog94 4,561]

2 hours ago, sambo123 said:

Frank Roe was my grandads brother mate and I've heard of that dog he said it was a very good dog there was summat up with it though every now and again it fell over on its side and you had to stand it back up for it to get going again like a wind up toy haha.

And yeah he won't have a lakie he's told me plenty of times that they just want to scrap all the time. He's got mostly beagle/cockers now same as me but they're not a patch on those old beagle russells and he'll tell ya that himself.

Sam

You not fancied trying beagle terrier cross Sam? 

[sambo123 593]

1 hour ago, Gypsydog94 said:

You not fancied trying beagle terrier cross Sam? 

Wasn't any about when I was in the market for a couple of bushers mate but I've got a beagle cocker bitch that I'm gunna put a terrier over next year. Pickin a patt bitch pup up this weekend as well so there's the potential to breed some terrier/hound bushers as well.

Sam

[Gypsydog94 4,561]

27 minutes ago, sambo123 said:

Wasn't any about when I was in the market for a couple of bushers mate but I've got a beagle cocker bitch that I'm gunna put a terrier over next year. Pickin a patt bitch pup up this weekend as well so there's the potential to breed some terrier/hound bushers as well.

Sam

That first cross beagle spaniel?