Are Lurchers good family dogs?

looby75

I made the mistake of going with a friend to a local dog shelter this afternoon, her dog died recently and she wants to rehome a new one.

I fell in love with a beautiful chocolate brown 2 yr old lurcher dog while I was there

Thing is I don't really know anything about the breed, how much exercise they need, if they are good round kids, easy to train, how much they eat, that kind of thing.

I can't get his big brown eyes out of my mind now :o:o:o:o

Shiny.Side.Up

I have a collie lurcher cross, and her temperment is totally bomb proof. I couldn't have asked for a better dog.

Lurchers are normally crossed with collies to make a lurcher breeding (I believe their sight hound collie crosses for the majority) so they'll need a lot of exercise but collies are generally friendly dogs so I guess this will reflect in the lurcher.

Hintza

Lurchers are hunting/chasing dogs. If your friend is not very experieced around dogs I would not take the chance and would look elsewhere.

Shiny.Side.Up

Sorry, I didn't really answer your questions. I'll answer them based on Bella, who is collie/lurcher cross.

Exercise - Bella has 2 40 minute walks a day, as well as a shorter walk in the early morning when we get up and just before we go to bed. She seems happy with this, isn't overwight or bored.
Good with kids - Bella is unflappable. We regularly look after a 14 month old and 28 month old, so she is pulled, poked, prodded, jabbed, etc etc and she takes it all with an amazing amount of tolerance. I also play wrestle with her regularly and she is placid and happy to play.
Training - Training with Bella is generally good. She has good road sense (although often needs reminding) and has mastered all basic commands. However, her training is sporadic as my parents don't do a lot of road walking.
Bella has a mix of dry biscuits in the morning (which she eats about half a cup of) and a full tim of canned dog food in the evening, which she generally eats all of. This is under the eating suggestion for her size but she would just leave food otherwise!

looby75

Hintza wrote: »

Lurchers are hunting/chasing dogs. If your friend is not very experieced around dogs I would not take the chance and would look elsewhere.

it's me who fell in love with the lurcher, not my friend. Thanks for your advice

elsien

Does the rescue centre have any info on his background, or assessed him with other dogs?

looby75

elsien wrote: »

Does the rescue centre have any info on his background, or assessed him with other dogs?

they don't have any info on his background as he was dumped after the Appleby horse fair at the begining of the month :mad: but they said he's great around other dogs, and very friendly round humans. Apparently he's a bit timid until he gets to know you, but once he's decided he likes you you have a second shadow lol When he was brought in he was fit and well fed, which they say is unusual for dumped animals but no one has come forward for him so he's just gone up for rehoming.

If I can't take him I'm pretty sure someone will give him a home soon, if he affected me like that, when I wasn't even looking for a dog, I'm sure someone who is looking will snap him up soon.

foreign_correspondent

Shiny.Side.Up wrote: »

I have a collie lurcher cross, and her temperment is totally bomb proof. I couldn't have asked for a better dog.

Lurchers are normally crossed with collies to make a lurcher breeding (I believe their sight hound collie crosses for the majority) so they'll need a lot of exercise but collies are generally friendly dogs so I guess this will reflect in the lurcher.

With a cross you can get a lot of variation - My mum has a lurcher collie cross - she is stunningly beautiful, but not a dog for the feint hearted!!

She is not what you would call bombproof or placid, indeed she is quite skittish and exciteable. She is ball obsessed, and very hard to call back from a ball -she has ruined a couple of kids footballs in the park as a result. She has a lot of energy and steals/hides/chews things when she is bored... and loves it if you chase her for it! She is not much interested in food or treats, but loves to play and run.

She runs like the wind (she really is incredibly fast), cannot be trusted around small animals, has a high prey drive and is fast enough to catch squirrels quite often... so must be kept away from cats.

She is quite protective of my mum and has a good sense of when people are up to no good... for example the other day we went out in the evening, and there was a bloke hiding in some bushes...(god knows what he was up to!)... she went mad... but we walked past loads of other people the same evening and she never gave them a second look.

She is a smashing dog and a lot of fun, but she has taken a lot of training and energy and is certainly not the easiest of dogs. I would say she has the excitability and energy of a collie, (but without the biddable nature), with the speed and prey drive of a sighthound!

There are lots of lovely retired greyhounds in rescue with known history and excellent temprements if you fancy a pointy dog!

KellyWelly

We've always kept lurchers and all of our dogs have been wonderful, great temperament, good with children, gentle and calm - except one, who was skittish and I think had psychological problems, my dad finally had to give her to a friend because she was such hard work and didn't mix well with our other dogs. I keep sight hounds now myself and they are lovely family pets. Quiet, calm and tidy in the house but fun to walk because they love to run and chase. There is a huge amount of variation in lurchers and I've never had a collie cross myself. Mostly we've had greyhound and saluki hybrids.

looby75

thanks for your experiences, a lot to think about and look in to. The kennel operates a fostering system (experienced dog owners take them into their homes for a couple of weeks to assess them) and he hasn't been through that yet so maybe I should wait a while.

I feel a quite hard hearted saying that, but I would hate to take him on to find I couldn't cope with him and have to have to hand him back

tealady

looby75 wrote: »

maybe I should wait a while.

I feel a quite hard hearted saying that, but I would hate to take him on to find I couldn't cope with him and have to have to hand him back

That is best for the dog and you, poor pooch must have had a few upheavals already, what he needs now is a "forever" home and by waiting you will find if you are right for him. You could always register an interest in him with the shelter.