Greyhounds and Whippets

[Guest RookGuy]

Fanciers of both Greyhounds and Whippets point to thousands of years of archeological and pictographical evidence of the antiquity of those breeds. They seem to ahve served man as admirable hunting companions for all that time: a time WAY before kennel clubs and dog shows. Thier conformation seems to ahve changed very very little in all that time indicating that in thier lightly built, thin skinned sleves they were capable and valiant hunters of all kinds of game for millenium.

 

Given that the Lurcher originated as a kind of demi-sighthound to skirt legal issues with common people owning Greyhounds in midevil times do you think that all the effort that goes into crossing this breed to that breed now is really making a better hunting dog than the Whippets and Greyhounds that the Pharoahs, Romans, midevil and renesance Nobillity used quite efectively for the last couple thousand years? The most viscious animal that I can thing of that might be coursed today is the Coyote and I'm willing to be that a couple of 90 pound Greyhounds can capably deal with a 50 pound Coyote.

 

I have never had the chance to see any of these graceful, deadly animals at work. There are thousands uppon thousands of Greyhounds that come onto the market for free or nearly so from racetracks every year. Is taking up space on the couch the ONLY thing that they are good for?

[socks 32,253]

the way of hunting and the type of quarry hunted by sighthounds has changed dramatically since the breed was first used to hunt ..... the main reason for crossing these sight hounds to another dog is to get the best qualities of both dogs .... for egsample the collie cross .... on the collie side you have brains stamina tractibility an animal that has been selectively bred to work and herd to man ... the greyhound or whippet is used for the speed factor muscle tone and the instinct to chase ... so the resulting cross maintains the speed but also has brains to boot .... pure sighthounds are difficult to train for most people and tend to do their own thing .... as for them coursing coyote's .... you would be very hard pushed to find a 90lb track greyhound ...... here is a pick of one of my dogs he is a big dog and weighs in at 71 - 72 lbs .................

 

[king 11,972]

the way of hunting and the type of quarry hunted by sighthounds has changed dramatically since the breed was first used to hunt ..... the main reason for crossing these sight hounds to another dog is to get the best qualities of both dogs .... for egsample the collie cross .... on the collie side you have brains stamina tractibility an animal that has been selectively bred to work and herd to man ... the greyhound or whippet is used for the speed factor muscle tone and the instinct to chase ... so the resulting cross maintains the speed but also has brains to boot .... pure sighthounds are difficult to train for most people and tend to do their own thing .... as for them coursing coyote's .... you would be very hard pushed to find a 90lb track greyhound ...... here is a pick of one of my dogs he is a big dog and weighs in at 71 - 72 lbs .................

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thats 1 fine looking animal socks fair play

[Kye 77]

Theres Staghounds out there that can kill coyote quite regular on there own, and they weigh about 75-85lbs...its not the gameness, they have to stay "sound"...feet, wrists, hockes etc...

I know off three or four dogs, that IF it was legal, would get slipped on a Wolf, and imo, i think they could take one.

Kye,..

[scouse moocher 0]

A wolf??? would that not be just like two dogs scrapping ???

[Guest Nightwalker]

The reality is that until very recently any large fast running dog was called a greyhound and up north the bigger rough coated ones tended to be called deerhounds and its only from the mid nineteenth century onwards that modern pure-breeds emerged and even then we know that many'pedigree' greyhounds still carry the blood of other breed as do many whippets. With the rise of the track, greyhounds have been bred for overwhelming speed over a short distance on soft going (usually sand) on the track and tend to suffer feet problems when run on rougher going.

 

The 'greyhound' prior to the 19th/20th century and the rise of the track and the show club were all kept for coursing and would have been slower but more robust dogs with hugely more stamina than today's track bred greyhounds, so in breeding our cross bred longdogs we are really just recreating the greyhound of old.

 

I have worked whippets and in fact was out with one this afternoon and I see no point at all in breeding small lurchers when whippets will do most jobs better. I have also run ex-track greyhounds on all UK game with good results and taken deer with them in the USA. I love their drive and their blinding speed, I dont love the foot injuries and other injuries they are prone to or their lack of stamina - although in some cases the sheer speed will make up for that.

[Kye 77]

No i wouldnt say a wolf hunt would just be like two dogs fighting!...a coyote ( a decent one) is roughly 38-48lbs...although they do go much larger and much smaller...so you could say its like a Lurcher trying to kill summat around the size of a small Alsation bitch, or maybe a big collie?...

Wolfs are a WHOLE different ball game...some of the Northern types go close to 180lbs...even bigger in some cases...the you have the smaller types like the Mexican type...but its illegal to hunt them with dogs, so i guess we will never find out?...this is only what i have been told though, as my exsperiance with Wolfs is basicly nothing...i should think it would be a good test of any sighthound bred for dispatching other Canine like animals.

Kye,..

[Guest whin]

back in the seventies afew guys treid or by mistake hunted wolves in semi wooded ares the wolves ran the dogs ragged a hundred pound wolf is amean dog that would snap a dog in no time ,the capability of a sight hound takeing awolf unless hunted in apack is nil as most dogs that have the capabiliteis to hunt run them down have neither the power to kill or hold a fully grown timber wolf ,many hound men halve lost good bear lion dogs to wolves, north of minnesota a freind caught a 51 pound coyote a big dog with his hound cross lurcher or greyhound and his blue tick pure hound the time he got there the big coyote was dead 51 pound is a pretty good sized coyote all the best

[Guest scottywong]

51 pound is a pretty good sized coyote all the best

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sure is !! would want that in the woods with ya while your ferreting!! let alone a few wolves about!!i cant see a lurcher even a real big bull x getting a wolf even if it was a few of them in a pack.

 

scotty

[Guest RookGuy]

How did we get to wolves?

What about woods? Can sighthounds negotiate trees and underbrush or are they mostly for fielsds only?

[Kye 77]

Wolfs have been succesfully hunted in MANY countries, including the Americas, with various types of dogs...even the word "Coyote" is a relativly new word...not long ago, they just called them "Praire Wolfs"...some of the old time Coyote hunters out here just call them wolfs, and there dogs are just "Wolf Hounds"...some have a short coat, some have a wire coat...some are big, some are smaller...there is just one thing that a dog must do to earn the title, and thats kill Coyotes..lol.

Im sure that IF it was legal, wolfs would be succesfully taken with the use of sighthounds again...

Kye,..

[Kye 77]

Anyone who kills for Brownie-Points is not a hunter in the first place...

I think most dog lads will hunt most things to test there dogs...thats one of the main reasons i dig my terriers and run my sighthounds.

Just because you hunt an animal does NOT mean you cant respect it at the same time does it?...I have the upmost respect for EVERY animal i have ever hunted...the day i dont, is the day i will stop hunting!..

Kye,..

[roache 0]

If anyone claims to respect animals, and nature they would leave endangered speicies well alone IMO

 

Roache

[ddsr 0]

irish greyhound! biggest strongest fastest hardest and the most gamey of the lot?

[Guest HAWKEYE]

"at first I studied in order to hunt, now I hunt in order to study"

 

No truer word said IMHO