Your Dog — November 2017

58 Your Dog November 2017 http://www.yourdog.co.uk

TOP TIP!

If you’re interested in

owning a Lurcher, we

recommend reading

Jackie’s book, ‘The House

Lurcher: Care, Rearing, and

Training at Home’. You

can buy a copy at http://www.

amazon.co.uk

FACT FILE

Average price:

£250 – £350 buys a well-bred,

well-reared Lurcher pup. Some litters

are priced in four fi gures, but these

will be working-bred dogs of top

bloodlines, and unsuitable as pets.

Average lifespan:

12 – 14 years, though many

live longer.

Coat type:

Any coat, any colour.

Temperament:

Quiet, aloof, sensitive. Puppies can

be hectic.

Ideal home:

Calm, peaceful, cosy, with lots

of comfortable furniture to

sprawl upon.

Good with other

pets and people:

People need to be polite and not try

to force their attentions. These dogs

are not recommended to keep with

small furries, though most can be

taught to accept poultry and their

own cat. They dislike bouncy,

bad-mannered dogs.

Exercise

requirements:

Ideally two daily walks of an hour

each, which include some free

running. Happy to go any distance if

you’d like to do more.

Trainability:

Will work with you, rather than for

you. Can be trained to a very high

standard, as long as they can see the

point and are adequately rewarded.

Won’t tolerate endless repetition,

loudness, or rough handling.

Ideal activities:

Long country walks, Lurcher shows,

Olympic-grade sleeping.

Can they be left

alone?:

If introduced to the concept

positively and gradually, and are well

exercised beforehand.

“They are very trainable if they

trust you and can see the point of

whatever you want them to do.”

Lurchers adore their

home comforts.

● They are not antagonistic

and would generally rather

run than fi ght, so it’s the

owner’s responsibility to

defl ect rude or boisterous

dogs before a Lurcher bolts,

as they can go a long way

very quickly and possibly run

into danger.

A Lurcher with terrier in

him may stand his ground,

and it’s a foolish dog that

then pushes his luck.

● Unless chasing something

— in which case they would

run through the gates of

Hell — Lurchers are the

most incredible wimps. Loud

screams and trembling may

accompany having trodden

on a piece of grit or a small

nettle, or the very idea that

you might want them to walk

through a puddle.

They may insist they can’t

possibly go out when it is

raining (they can, I promise),

or beseech you with huge

eyes if you want them to

walk somewhere where

they once had a fright.

They often sustain what

I call ‘football injuries’, where

a bit of sympathy and a rub

of the affected area cures

the pain.

However, if badly injured,

they can be so stoical that

a novice owner might not

realise that, this time, it

really is serious. A good rule

of thumb is that the louder

the noise, the more trivial

the injury — but always

check fi rst in case.

56-58 YD Lurchers CS2(SW) CC.indd 58 22/09/2017 13:18