The canine variety, not the two wheeled!

We’ve been looking around at rescue centres, not at lurchers though as Mrs Feet wanted something smaller. Then we saw a lovely Lurcher and we walked him around for half an hour. This was primarily to see what Mrs Feet thought of a slightly bigger dog, but, well, we are both completely smitten by him. A lovely dog, very calm and placid. We know that he may be a bit subdued due to his current situation, but we think he could be the dog for us. Seeing as we hadn’t considered Lurchers before this morning, we are now looking into their traits, etc. this is where you lot come in. Have any of you re-homed one, what was the experience like and any tips?

Thanks

Never had one, but I know a few. They are splendid hounds. Just don’t let them see anything furry in the woods…

I would!

Just don’t let them see anything furry in the woods…

That’s one of the interesting things with this particular dog. He’s completely disinterested in little furry things. A cat wandered over and sat whilst we were walking him and he looked, showed a slight interest and nothing more. When the cat got up, he backed away a couple of paces. Obviously that’s not necessarily a sign of things to come, but we’re asking him to be ‘cat tested’ as we have a cat already

We had a collie from a rescue and expected her to be a little trying as people told us all kinds of stories about them being neurotic and wilful. As it turns out she’s unlike most collies except for a little nervous with noises. I’d imagine your lurcher (cos you’ve already decided really haven’t you?) will be unlike any other (cos thats just how dogs are). What rescue centre is it at and have you got any pics?

Should be ok as long as the furry things don’t run away. If he’s really good you’ll never want for venison again. (Muntjac have sharp bits (tusks) at the front which can cause injury).
Can be a tad food driven, which makes training easier.

Sorry, not going to post pics and I don’t want to tempt fate with any other info!

We have a couple of hurdles to overcome. 1) he gets on with our cat and vice versa, 2) our kids (particularly our cat loving 16 year old) get on with him.

Hopefully it will be fine, then there will be pics a plenty

EDIT

cos you’ve already decided really haven’t you?

erm, yeah!

A friend has a rescue Lurcher. The most chilled out dog you’ll ever see. It has been a great sucess.
They also have a rescue Old English Sheepdog. He is just plain bonkers,mostly because his original owner didn’t give him any training or exercise and it has been hard work training him at 2 years old.

The Lurcher is top dog

My mate has a lurcher and he’s a great dog. So long as he gets to run twice a day he’ll lounge about the rest of the time and is no trouble. He’s lovely with people, a bit rough (but not nasty) with other dogs, and the angel of death to small furry things. Whether the dog is good with the cat might depend on if he classes the cat as small enough to be prey or a bit too big. My mates dog chases cats but ignores all sheep including lambs.

Mate has a lurcher from a dogs home. He’s 6 yrs old and had been at the home for a year, as no one showed any interest in him. That was like you,he spotted him and he and his family fell in love with him. He’s as thick as tar, very laid back, easy to look after. He is stuck in his old unknown ways to train and seems to be racist, as the darker the dog on a walk, the more he barks. Mate muzzles him on walks and doesn’t dare let him off the lead, sadly, as he will be off, especially if anything furry comes into view. Mate is really made up with him.

Lurcher, not interested in furry things, that’s why he’s there.
I would.
If you don’t want to catch furry things, obviously…..

You’ll never be able to leave food unattended again; lurchers are renowned thieves. Generally daft as brushes, but as the ‘breed’ encompasses such a broad variety of DNA sources, all sorts of personalities are possible. They are basically sprint hunter killers though, so are of the ‘five minutes balls out speed, 23hrs 55mins lounging, lunching or lolloping’ mindset. I love them; scruffier the better!

My parents have rehomed 2 over the years. One had been through several homes, hated cats and used to suffer from separation anxiety but was a loving, soft as you like dog. The other was abandoned by some travellers and before that kept in a pen where food was just thrown in. As such, he steals anything vaguely edible left out and has even broken into the breadbin and eaten a whole loaf. However he’s still young so is gradually getting better and again is as soft as you like. He is mental when off the lead though and my parents have taken to muzzling him as its easier than prizing squirrels, rabbits etc from his jaws. Their third lurcher they raised from a puppy, better behaved but no more loving and still mad as a box of frogs when he decides to tuck his tail and go for it. Also, as above, they all loved chasing the odd dear

We have ours since a pup. She’s very placcid and laid back most of time. Gets very bouncy when visitors come round but soon settles again. Outbon walks she will chase anything that runs away. She hates cats. Take her to the woods and she just sprints off she returns every min or so to check on us and goes again. Great with kids, plays well with other dogs as long as it involves her being chased if she chases the other dog she can be a bit rough with it. Scared of almost everything that doesnt run away from her.

My sister has 2 rescued lurchers and they are both lovely. She also has 2 cats and they’re alive still too. The younger one does have a habit of zipping off after stuff in the woods but the same could be said of any number of dogs, ours included.

I would definitely say yes to rehoming a lurcher. When I met my missus, she had a rehomed lurcher. At that point, I really wasn’t into dogs, but her lurcher completely changed that, in a very short space of time. Obviously, it can depend on what they are a mix of, but ours had an amazing temperament. She was with us about six years and I think I heard her bark about 3 times in that whole period. As long as she got a couple of decent walks a day, she was content to lie in her bed (or on the sofa, if we let her!) and sleep all day.
It sounds like your main issue will be the cat. Lurchers are sight hounds. If something is small and fluffy and runs, they will chase it and it’s pretty much impossible to change that. We have another rescue sight hound now (not a lurcher) and we initially thought she was going to be fine with cats, as she pretty much ignored them to start with. But now, she’ll go for anything fluffy. Squirrels in particular, send her into a frenzy!
Anyway, can’t miss an opportunity to post a picture of our sadly departed lurcher, Ginny, studying the start list of the mens elite time trial and the cycling world championships, a couple of years ago!

You’ll never be able to leave food unattended again; lurchers are renowned thieves

Not all lurchers are the same, my folks one leaves his dinner and finishes it when he wants to and has never taken any food that wasn’t his, the previous 2 Labradors however ate anything and everything.
They sleep a lot and need only short walks/runs.

I agree with that, about the food. Totally depends on the dog. When we had our lurcher, we’d put food in her bowl in the mornning and she’d just munch little bits throughout the day. She was previously a stray though and did have a nasty habit of picking up anything even vaguely resembling food, when we were out walking. She did hit the jackpot once, when she nudged a polystyrene fast food container, it popped open and was full of just kebab meat and nothing else! That was all gone before I even knew what had happened!

Thanks all. In summary so far, like so many things, it depends on the individual.

Things have moved on a bit and we are going to have a trial next weekend to see if everyone gets along.

If things work out, there will be info and pics. Won’t be releasing any info beforehand as apparently there are issues with some of the travelling fraternity grabbing Lurchers from homing centres. 🙁

The cat will be the main issue so be careful till you are sure. Ours wont bat an eyelid when on the lead but will chase if off.

we’ve had a few rescue lurchers/long dogs over the years. Everyone is different and have different issues depending on their previous owners and how they’ve been treated. Our current saluki-x has been a pain in the bum but we love him. He has no recall, can’t be trusted with anything fury, this goes for sheep, horses, rabbits, etc. He was an ex-lamping dog and even after 11yrs his hunt instinct is way too strong, so letting him off the lead is a no no. He’s aloof and doesn’t do affection really. But he’s got a nice home and he’s well cared for. Would have another in a heart beat and he’s fine with our cat.

So, he’ll chase everything except your cat?!!

he’s been trained not to chase our moggy. Other cats are fair game.

Another Lurcher owner here. Had ours for 11 years now, and she’s just had her 16th birthday, which now makes her around 112 in dog years.

We re-homed her from a pretty scruffy pound, and when she came home to live with us, she was starving and scarred with thin fur and bones poking through. As such, she hunted anything in sight, cats, squirrels, rabbit, deer (muntjac and roe) and if she caught it, it was game over. Therefore, we took precaution on letting her off, and made sure she stayed within sight, otherwise, she might take a fancy to going wandering.

Never, ever bothered with livestock and was great with people, never once bothered with kids.

As she got older, she calmed down a lot, and went into the typical, ’10 minutes sprint twice a day and then sleeeeeeep’ mode of the average Lurcher. She now only stirs from the sofa to the sound of food. Yes, she will eat anything, anytime, anywhere. Beware leaving food out.

The typical Lurcher pose. I have been known to sit on the floor, whilst the dog has the sofa .

Lurchers are a top dog ‘breed’.
But they are natural thieves (whole roasts off the kitchen side, food out of your hand) and natural hunters of all things small and fluffy.
Had a few over the years and got to say you will never find a more loyal or loving companion.
Depends on the heinz mix obviously, but as others have said a couple of runs a day and they are sorted.
That said, if trained young enough they are great training ride companions.
Our lad, refuses to be overtaken 🙂

Tomorrow’s the day. Think we are all set, fingers crossed it all works out for all of us and the dog!

I hope you realize we expect pictures

Yes, get that camera charging now.

And move all food to at least 1.5m from the ground.

If it all works out, there will be pics a plenty

Anxious photo waiting game……..has started………

patience people!

interim update
He’s a chewer. He’s eaten a seatbelt and eaten through a dog lead, which led to ESCAPE!!!
we now have a dog crate

but he was good and we got him back with minimum fuss.

The cat wandered up to see him, the cat hissed, the dog barked, the cat ran back indoors

he’s had a good sniff round the garden and seems to like me. He seems to like me/my leg a lot 😯

He’s now laying down, good as gold, but some marketing crap through the letter box has just spooked him ‘cos he’s in the hall for the moment.

Pictures later

Just treat him like royalty, he’ll soon settle down. And a muzzle is a lot more convenient than a crate for transportation.

Pictures later

***Taps fingers impatiently***

He’s a chewer. He’s eaten a seatbelt and eaten through a dog lead, which led to ESCAPE!!!
we now have a dog crate

Oh dear. Mmmm, agree with the muzzle suggestion above as well, at least until he settles down a bit.

http://www.greyhoundmegastore.com/all-breeds/muzzles.html

I’m sure it’s probably just stress from being in a new spot. He’ll calm down soon after he realises where his new food bowl and bed is.

Update

Been for a walk in the drizzle. He behaved impeccably.

An over excited puppy leapt up around him. No reaction
we saw lots of other dogs, just a look in the general direction
We saw rabbits. No reaction
We saw cats. A look and nothing more
We saw birds. No reaction

Here’s a few crappy phone pics taken in the drizzle

Of course, he could be a bit ‘simple’!

The cat’s not sure at the moment, so we need to see how that goes before final decisions are made, but so far he’s an absolute gent on the lead

Nice. He’s a bull cross.

Think there probably is some Bull in there, but suspect it’s diluted somewhat.

He’s finally flaked out, must be exhausted.

He’s tried to hump me three times now. That could be anxiety, or could be an issue.
He knows his basic commands, which was a nice surprise. The cat is still with us, but a bit wary, so still need to watch that.

You can see it in the head, nothing to worry about though he just might not be as much of a scaredy cat as my collie cross! How tall is he?

His face isnt scarred up like you see some bull crosses which is good.

neutered?

very handsome looking dog.

Apparently its walk time!