Lurcher Heinz 57 Or Thoroughbred

Hi From when I was a little girl was fascinated with this breed,as they seemed so adaptable,I used to see them at Appleby Horse Fair,and they used to do a form of Hare Coursing,the speed,I have always wanted one,but I think the breed has changed in its mix,at one time you knew that they would be a primarily Sight Hound with terrier or collie.Anyway my late father bought me my first Afghan,which I duly raced.
Though I am fascinated by the origin of all breeds,Lurcher is one that seems to have been lost in the mist of time.So on Easter Monday went too Hay on Wye,cookery book, and anything about breedsof dogs is my one weakness,I got a companions guide to dogs 1860, and this is what it says about the Lurcher.
"They were bred by the Gypsies,originally,used for poaching rabbit and hares and other small creatures.Pure breeds were forbidden to anyone,who didnt belong to the nobility and the penalties were severe,the challenge was to retain the hunting skills whilst breeding in sufficient variation that they didnt look like a threat"
From what I could glean,they are shown in loads of paintings going back before 1860, so if this is true,they are quite an ancient breed,maybe one day like the Jack Russell,they could become recognised as a pedigree, I do hope so,crystalgirl

I'm not sure that they will ever be recognised as a breed in their own right, there are far too many variations.
But I LOVE 'em!!!

btw a Lurcher is a Greyhound X a working dog and a Sighthound X other is a Long dog as I understand it.

I've always thought of them as more of a type than a breed and I thought their make up was a matter of opinion as I've know people who said on a collie cross whippet would be a lurcher, and other who said there had to be terrier in there or greyhound...another who said they were only true lurcher is they were broken coated. TBH I hope they area never a recognised breed and stay more of a type.

Hi What I meant was if the mix changes I think its a lovely mix as it is with Sight Hound collie/terrier,Oh something else I found in the book,its in a type of olde english."Lurcher means thief in old romany.crystalgirl

I see. I have a bull lurcher and have a,ready been told he's not a lurcher just a mongrel. Lol. I'm not bothered as I think of them more as a type. I also had another lurcher owner say down her nose 'oh no, not one of THOSE dogs that can run fast too'

We only had Remus with us at the time. I just said 'yes, and my other dog is one of THOSE dogs' and walked off.

Hi Crystalgirl , I have a lovely lurcher and yes Lur in romany means thief and given the chance they are counter surfers ! Tom never takes the whole thing though , he will take some off the plate, and never if you are watching !

He is 3/4 grey and 1/4 GSD which for me is a good lurcher mix , he is very bright and has the speed and agility of a greyhound.

I think they will always stay as a 'type' due to the possible variations in the cross but they seem to be a recognised type more so than some other crosses mainly due to the work many of them do , mainly in hunting and coursing.

Tom makes a lovely pet and is quick to learn tricks, he is also a handful and need careful managing due to his chase instinct but wouldnt change him for the world !

My lovely Tom

I agree that they will always be a type rather than a breed, because by definition there are so many variations.

A lurcher is a sighthound crossed with a non sighthound (often collie, terrier or bull breed) and a longdog is a cross of two different sighthounds (e.g. Greyhound x whippet, greyhound x saluki).

I'd also class them as a 'type' dog, there are so many different variations around!

Mind you anything with Greyhound in the mix is a winner! I think we are going to look at a Lurcher for our next dog, there are so many in rescue at the moment as well.

Hi They are couch potatoes,but a noble dog,you will have to work harder to get their undying love,but when you do,it is pretty special.Keep me posted crystalgirl

Hi Tom is so beautiful,I always had to work hard to get my first Afghan to notice me,they have a far away look in their eyes,as if they are somewhere else,but my 2nd he was my soul mate, In this book they mentioned a Gazelle Hound,cannot find,but they didnt have a saluki,so wonder if that is what they call a Gazelle,very few dogs in this book mainly Irish Wolfhound and a small spaniel crystalgirl

Greyhounds crave human attention a lot more than Afghan hounds, i've met a few Afghans and they really have to know you and respect you before they even take you on!

Our Greys just want to stroked all the time, by anyone! The world worst guard dogs, they'd kiss any burglar to death!

No hope for our house then with a staffie and a lurcher here! May as well hang a sign on the door saying 'come on in and help yourself!'

Hi Life is very strange,when my dad used to race NGRA not flapping,they had to be in kennels.and when Iwas a little girl,athough Iloved dogs,I didnt like going to feed the grays with him,they really scared me,loud barking throwing themself at the cage,all very hyper,and when it was a race day,you wouldnt see me anywhere near them.But things started changing, and dad realised that you couldnt just retire them and hopefully find a home,so he set up a caravan,with hoovers tv washing machines,and then started the long journey to the dogs you all know now, it was like they were a chamelon, able to change into a soppy funny dog,dad had a favourite called Magic Wanda,and she lived at home, but one boxing day,my Auntie set up 2 table loads of buffet,really beautiful,they went out to do their visiting,came back,there was quiche on the tv sausages everywhere,it looked like a bun fight,weeks later I found remnants in the settee,but Wanda didnt run away to hide,she was lying there in the midst paws over her face playing peekaboo crystalgirl

My lurcher, Gertie (lost her last May, she was about 16) was found after some poachers were chased away by Poacher Watch. I can't believe they left her behind deliberately, she was a fantastic dog and they had obviously spend a lot of time training her. Very underweight and mangy though. When we brought her home, she jumped straight up onto the settee, and that was where she spent most of her life, apart from when we took her out - and her speed was amazing, she was so fast it was almost frightening, it looked as if she was going to take off! She was big and looked very much as if she was a deerhound cross. Some friends were so impressed with her gentleness that they got what they thought was a lurcher but was in fact a Longdog (which I was told is a cross between two sighthounds). This dog turned out to be a real handful - whether this is typical of Longdogs or whether they were just unlucky I don't know.

I've noticed that most people from overseas - even really doggy ones - have never heard of lurchers.

Hi They are beautiful,some lurchers have feathers,because they are crossed with a Saluki The only sight hound I had was an Afghan I used to race him,but its funny they always had an any breeds race,once it was poodles they all go around once they hear the rabbit,well these poodles thought Im not running,so two of them gotup on their hind legs nd walked to the finishing line to applause.You should look at the site that carry pictures and look for Afghan racing it is lovely to see crystalgirl

I always look at Afghans and think, my word that looks like a lot of grooming!

Poodles are terrible show offs! I can remember in an obedience test at my training club, with an outside judge, my poodle decided to do the heelwork on her hind legs, doing little twirls for good measure. And the more people laughed, the better she liked it. We didn't pass!

I've always admired Afghans - bearing in mind one bit me when I was little I think that's quite noble and forgiving of me! Very rarely see them around, but a border collie I had, who treated all other dogs with disdain, used to get all giddy and show off in front of the few Afghans she met.

Hi you are right,but the worse thing is if you get them spayed,they get something called monkey whiskas and on their face,you cant clip or it just grows back even worse,just awful.crystalgirl

I had a Lurcher. She had to be pts a month before her 4th birthday two years ago. She was sold to me as a Border Collie, but as she got older i knew something was off. I asked loads of people and they said BC x Whippet maybe Greyhound, some said maybe Staffy.

One day i am going to own another Lurcher, they are great dogs and i do have a soft spot for them.

My friend used to own a lovely, black GSDxGreyhound lurcher.....


.....and each time she went for a wander round the fields, the local paper would report sightings of a mysterious black panther

I watched her stalk a peacock once and she had that small head, prick ears, heavy shoulders, long, thick tail and cat-like movement of the GSD.

I've since wondered how many other 'big cats' are actually GSD-based lurchers!