Greyhounds/lurchers

[markdog 18]

I have had track greyhounds for a number of years and still keep a couple but only ever personally kennelled the one lurcher. Greyhounds and lurchers are both obviously bred with performance in mind 1st and looks 2nd, but why is it some greyhounds never make the track but are bred from purely on quality of bloodlines (and produce top offspring) but it is frowned upon in the lurcher world if you dont breed top worker to worker?

Surely the old established bloodlines would produce no matter what? Ive heard some greyhound breeders say certain bitches would produce winners if crossed with a labrador.

Your thoughts please?

[swanseajack 228]

I have had track greyhounds for a number of years and still keep a couple but only ever personally kennelled the one lurcher. Greyhounds and lurchers are both obviously bred with performance in mind 1st and looks 2nd, but why is it some greyhounds never make the track but are bred from purely on quality of bloodlines (and produce top offspring) but it is frowned upon in the lurcher world if you dont breed top worker to worker?

Surely the old established bloodlines would produce no matter what? Ive heard some greyhound breeders say certain bitches would produce winners if crossed with a labrador.

Your thoughts please?

That's why we all own top class greyhounds...

 

if it was as easy as that we would... have all your greyhound pups turned out good, or have one or two stood out above the rest ??? and some failed dismally ??

[Guest smashygadge]

well i dont no if im on right topic here but many years ago

royalty baned the working class from owning greyhound as to stop poaching of royal game .or game across the country as a whole .hence why the greyhound went into crosses and became the lurcher the mix breed .i own a lurcher bitch and she has class when working the feild and personnally their is alot of stamina in them dogs also staying power i am chuffed with how mine has taken to her new life from track to field .

[markdog 18]

think you misunderstood or i didnt make myself clear. I know not all greyhounds turn out brillant but say you hae a top class dog that wins good quality opens quite often a bitch of the same breeding who only made it as a moderate grader will be bred from purely because she has good bloodlines. Was trying to ask if this happens in the lurcher world? say you had a topclass coursing dog from a long line of topclass animals but its sister never really made the grade would you still breed because she has a quality bloodline. I dont think you would?

[threbb 0]

I have had track greyhounds for a number of years and still keep a couple but only ever personally kennelled the one lurcher. Greyhounds and lurchers are both obviously bred with performance in mind 1st and looks 2nd, but why is it some greyhounds never make the track but are bred from purely on quality of bloodlines (and produce top offspring) but it is frowned upon in the lurcher world if you dont breed top worker to worker?

Surely the old established bloodlines would produce no matter what? Ive heard some greyhound breeders say certain bitches would produce winners if crossed with a labrador.

Your thoughts please?

Its simple there are no established lines of lurchers that are recorded.The average lurcher lads knowledge of breeding compared to a greyhound breeder or say a breeder of hounds is virtually nil. Most people now also seem to frown upon line or inbreeding so how will they ever establish a line.There is no confidence in blood because there is no knowledge of it.Once pups are sold they are forgotten in many cases but even when reports are given on offspring negative info is not appreciated or taken notice of.Its a pity people didnt study breeding more.I think aswell you need official competition to encourage it like racing or coursing.

[damashaman 1]

Greyhounds are way too fragile to do lurcher work. They do what they do best which is run up to 800-1200 meters a week to a fortnight flat out once, and then get mollycoddled untill the next event. Thats how it has been for time. They have pss poor feet, damage their lungs easy, can damage their bones/joints even kidneys and heart and lungs, fine tuned animals evolved to do one thing very very well, sprint on sand.

 

Breeding other things in gives them more hardyness, better scenting powers, just a bit tougher for run after run in mixed country. Better staminer also.

 

Greyhounds are thin skinned and have poor pain tolerance too. Highly strung like an F1 engine, not designed to last very long, thats why so many are useless after 3.They are by no means the physically most perfect dog on the plannet because of the mentioned above. Unlike the common misconception.

 

A dog with good pre-potency that has consistantly produced good track dogs in the past. This dog does not have to be necesarily a great dog himself, yet can produce way better. That is the type to use, dog or bitch. Contact Dave Sleight. IMHO

Edited July 12, 2008 by damashaman

[johnk 0]

MOST OF THE GREYHOUNDS LURCHER MEN BRED OFF OF WERE DOGS THAT GOT BARRED FOR FIGHTING,THE LURCHER MEN LIKED THAT BIT OF FIRE IN THEM,THEY TRY HARDER ON LIVE QUARRY MORE THAN THE LURE.

[Simoman 110]

MOST OF THE GREYHOUNDS LURCHER MEN BRED OFF OF WERE DOGS THAT GOT BARRED FOR FIGHTING,THE LURCHER MEN LIKED THAT BIT OF FIRE IN THEM,THEY TRY HARDER ON LIVE QUARRY MORE THAN THE LURE.

 

I've never bred a lurcher litter but I'm assuming most don't want to breed from fighters? Dog aggression and "fire" (I assume you are meaning guts?) are two very different traits. Why would a fighter put more effort into live quarry than a lure? Its about canine aggression and not prey drive........

[socks 32,253]

damashman there are plenty of greyhounds doing it out in the field and they certainly aint no soft type of dog that can damege joints tendons etc easily .... run once a week and then mollycoddled !!! you have obviously never keped and conditioned a track dog have you ??? i bet my track dogs do more in a week than your lurchers do in a month ... they have to work hard to produce the goods on the track .... as for contacting dave sleight WHY ??? has he ever produced a top class track dog that he has reared and conditioned himself ??? or does he just by in a mediocre dog stick it on his allotment and pull it out of its run only when it needs to cover a bitch ........

 

as to the original question .... the answer is simply this ... a grayhound is a pure breed and the bloodlines can be traced back generations in an undiluted form and will breed true to type ... a lurcher is a composite mix of other breeds and one of the other breeds could produce a bad trait that will manifest itself in one of the litters ... the litter could throw to far to one of the other breeds used to make up the lurcher and you could end up with a heavy type of dog with a rough coat rather than the slimline racing machine with the tight coat you wanted ...........

[Cupid Stunt 18]

I've never bred a lurcher litter but I'm assuming most don't want to breed from fighters? Dog aggression and "fire" (I assume you are meaning guts?) are two very different traits. Why would a fighter put more effort into live quarry than a lure? Its about canine aggression and not prey drive........

 

A dog that is labelled as a 'fighter' on the track doesn't have its mind 100% on catching the mechanical hare. Not all but a very high percentage are totally different when run on live hares & will pass another dog without a problem.

[markdog 18]

thanks threbb you seem to be the only one getting the original question. As you said the average lurcher is bred then the offspring moved on and forgotten about, but what about the coursing dogs seems to be more knowledge of the dogs bloodline, some of the coursing threads on here talk of coursing strains?

[skycat 6,174]

It is a shame that more attention isn't paid to good lines of lurchers, all round sort of dogs as opposed to coursing specialist: people that breed them can usually reel off generations back of ancestors, so why not 'ordinary' pot filling lurchers.

There are a few lines of good working lurchers about the country, but a lot of people seem to be more interested in this or that cross, (feeling the need to know exactly what breeds are in their dog for some reason).

 

I know a few people who have had the same lines for years: you don't hear much about them as they are usually the sort of people who keep themselves to themselves and distribute pups amongs their close friends: these are the people who can tell you the breeding and working abilities of their dogs going back many generations. You'll seldom see their dogs advertised and quite a few will cull out hard to avoid advertising or saturating the market with yet more lurchers.

[socks 32,253]

It is a shame that more attention isn't paid to good lines of lurchers, all round sort of dogs as opposed to coursing specialist: people that breed them can usually reel off generations back of ancestors, so why not 'ordinary' pot filling lurchers.

There are a few lines of good working lurchers about the country, but a lot of people seem to be more interested in this or that cross, (feeling the need to know exactly what breeds are in their dog for some reason).

 

I know a few people who have had the same lines for years: you don't hear much about them as they are usually the sort of people who keep themselves to themselves and distribute pups amongs their close friends: these are the people who can tell you the breeding and working abilities of their dogs going back many generations. You'll seldom see their dogs advertised and quite a few will cull out hard to avoid advertising or saturating the market with yet more lurchers.

 

sopt on and thats the whole reason that i got tegan ... she is my starting base for my new line ... she is a first cross and both her parents linage can be traced back ... she has turned out far better than i could have hoped for which makes the prospect of a good line more appealing .........

[Guest smashygadge]

It is a shame that more attention isn't paid to good lines of lurchers, all round sort of dogs as opposed to coursing specialist: people that breed them can usually reel off generations back of ancestors, so why not 'ordinary' pot filling lurchers.

There are a few lines of good working lurchers about the country, but a lot of people seem to be more interested in this or that cross, (feeling the need to know exactly what breeds are in their dog for some reason).

 

I know a few people who have had the same lines for years: you don't hear much about them as they are usually the sort of people who keep themselves to themselves and distribute pups amongs their close friends: these are the people who can tell you the breeding and working abilities of their dogs going back many generations. You'll seldom see their dogs advertised and quite a few will cull out hard to avoid advertising or saturating the market with yet more lurchers.

 

 

i have to agree that breeders of the good dogs are kept for their selfs or freinds .

i was given my dog from a freind who never made a penny from his litter of pups.

which shocked me in some way as to his intentions but as said they were for personal

use and kept very close .and i feel lucky to own the dog i have now.

[damashaman 1]

Rubbish socks, Can you explain to the board then what the point of breeding lurchers is?

 

Greyhounds fail where lurchers succeed. You obviously have not had much to do with lurchers.