Looking For Lurcher Pup To Be Assistance Dog

[toobendy 2]

I have an 8 year old bedlington x whippet. She is a good little assistance dog despite her not being intended for such work. I had hoped to work her on rabbits but became disabled when she was just a pup so I decided to attempt to teach her to do some tasks to help me. I now live in Middlesbrough as I needed to move to accessible housing which is sadly lacking in the countryside but poppy has adapted well & coped no problem with all the strange people in Middlesbrough, seriously she often gets random people coming up to her & barking in her face, small children running around right behind her, suddenly hugging her, pulling her tail & ears, pulling clumps of her hair out, this seems to be normal behaviour for city people!

Anyway she's getting older now & has actually just had 2 weeks short on lead walks only as she was slightly lame on a back leg & had been for several weeks. I suspected arthritis starting but vet thought just a muscle strain probably from her exercising the squirrels at the park. unfortunately she is still limping so back to vets tomorrow & will have to get her booked in for x rays. if it is arthritis or something that won't heal by itself & can't easily be fixed she will have to retire, hopefully she'll be able to gradually retire as she does love her job.

This means though that I need to be looking at getting a pup even if her leg does heal to be honest because it takes a couple of years to get a dog trained up not just for tasks at home but so they can pass the public access test so they are allowed to go everywhere with me

I am thinking another bedlington x whippet or maybe a lab x but would consider others. I need something that won't be fazed by anything, won't need a huge amount of exercise as it won't get a walk every day in winter (i do try to get out at least every other day) because my pain levels are worse when its cold & fairly easy to train as it will have a lot to learn

 

my previous experiences with lurchers: when i were a kid we had a lab x doberman x greyhound that could do pretty much anything. she didn't have a lot of speed about her but she had the brains to be able to catch far more rabbits than another much faster lurcher I got a few years later. my dad trained her as a gundog, he cold take her out on the shoot & a rabbit could run right past her but she wouldn't chase it. following night we could take her out lamping & she'd catch several rabbits & ignore any livestock. next day we might be helping my grandad, he had sheep & this dog would round up the sheep, she even rounded up highland cattle on a few occassions! she was a fantastic dog, its a shame we didn't start doing lurcher obedience with her until she was 6 years old, my dad got her qualified for national lurcher & racing club championships in open obedience 2 years running & I had her qualified for juniors 2 years running too. She came runner up first year with me & I think 3rd second year when I also had a 13 month old lurcher come 2nd. In open obedience she came I think 4th or 5th first year then was in top 4 next year & went on to win the field trials. Me & my dad had both done training with her & my 13 month old I'd done all the training myself

 

I had been a few years without a lurcher when I got Poppy my bedlington x whippet. I hoped to bag a few rabbits with her but it turns out the doctors had been wrong to tell me the increasing pain I'd been experiencing for years was just growing pains & could safely be ignored. I found out I'd damaged my joints a lot by doing what the doctors told me to ignoring the pain & getting more exercise. I seriously considered rehoming my lurcher when I needed a wheelchair. Thankfully I didn't & instead set about figuring out how to train her to help me. The things she does & my next dog will need to do are: alerting me when my heart is about to go crazy (i'm likely to pass out then which wouldn't be good if I were crossing a road) opening doors, fetching the post, helping open the post, picking up things I drop, pulling off gloves, slippers, socks & trousers, emptying the washing machine & dryer, pulling bedding off. The biggest problem I have with Poppy is her retrieving, sometimes she'll do it but sometimes & its usually when I'm in a shop, someones just been asking me what she does then I notice I've dropped something so ask Poppy to pick it up & what does she do whilst theirs someone watching? she looks at me lik she has no idea what I want her to do! So a pup thats a natural retriever would be helpful to avoid this problem although I think with Poppy its more my own fault for not spending enough time on training a good retrieve, as she's not a natural retriever it would take more time but I should be able to teach her if I stopped prioritising other training

 

So if you've made it to the end & are thinking you have some pups or may be breeding some that might be suitable please let me know. Even if Poppys leg heals up fine I will be looking at getting a pup within the next year

 

[blackmaggie 3,375]

sounds like you need a woman mate but for what your asking maybe a lab x grey or collie /grey is there not some charity or organisation that helps train a muti tasking dog like the one you require

[toobendy 2]

their are charities that train up dogs then give them to disabled people but theirs several reasons I won't get one from there. firstly you can be on the waiting list for years. Secondly I have a terrier that lives with my mum as she wouldn't have coped very well if she had moved to middlesbrough with me but she visits every week & she will accept a young pup but wouldn't accept an adult dog, she would want to rip its throat out! The terrier is 14 so may be gone by the time I got a dog from a charity but she is a very healthy 14 year old so she could still be around. Also the charities tend to be very controlling, they decide what food your dog eats & would be horrified at me feeding raw, they also insist on spaying or neutering when the dogs still a pup & having done some research I'd then be worried about that causing problems as the dog gets older, their is evidence that doing them too early can increase the chances of some health problems including some types of cancer. Then theirs the issue of when the dog has to retire, they insist the dog be rehomed before they will give you another assistance dog, you end up with a really strong bond to a dog that helps you so much & so having to rehome it because it can't work anymore would be a really difficult thing to do. If I train my own then I can get it spayed when I want to which won't be until its at least 1 year old probably nearer 2 year old, I can feed it what I want to, don't have to vaccinate yearly, can make sure its trained to do what I need it to do & when it retires it will stay with me. Also only chance of a dog learning to alert to my heart problem is by it learning from Poppy, theirs no known scent like their is for diabetes so no one knows how to train an alert to the problem I have with my heart. It could be that even a pup won't learn from poppy but it has far more chance than a dog that comes to me when its 2 years old

[trenchfoot 4,243]

lurcher link have a litter of rescue beddie whips coming in this week. might be right up your street

[toobendy 2]

if I were looking for a pet I would certainly consider a rescue but with a dog that I hope would end up being my assistance dog i need to know the parents are healthy & have good temperaments & I need to know that those first 8 weeks whilst the pup is with the mother it has been looked after properly & has had as much socialisation as possible in that time to make it more likely that the pup will be able to be an assistance dog. Usually if pups are in rescue they have not been looked after well before they ended up there & its quite likely the mother will not have been looked after so they may end up with health or behavioural problems because of the bad start

The statistics I've come across say that with dogs that came as pups from a breeder success rate of training them up as assistance dog is 50% but with a young dog from a rescue its 15 to 20% so I'm much more likely to end up with an assistance dog rather than a pet if I go to a breeder

[Silversnake 1,099]

I obviously can't help you from Australia, but I wish you all the best and I am impressed at the tasks your beddy x whippet can do and the care you give your dogs. I hope it all works out for you.

[toobendy 2]

thanks hopefully I'll find the right pup soon. Poppy is off to the vets tomorrow morning for x rays, she won't be impressed when she doesn't get her breakfast!

[toobendy 2]

news on poppy isn't great. their were no signs of arthritis however whilst she was out for the count they discovered her hip pops in & out of joint quite easily so it seems that is the problem. not sure how long she will be able to continue working for me, just have to see how she does really. vet suggested physio & hydrotherapy may help & a friend has suggested k-laser therapy may help so got to get that lot organised & see how she goes. one things for sure though, that hip will always be a problem from now on, the right treatment may help to strengthen ligaments & muscles so its more stable but even if treatment is very successful at some point it will deteriorate & the extra wear & tear caused by it popping in & out is likely to cause arthritis, its surprising their no sign of arthritis yet. so i don't really know how much longer she will be working, i'm going to have her do less at home because things like pulling the washing out the machine if something gets a bit stuck i can see that she uses her back legs to get some strength behind her to give it a good tug so thats not going to be good for her dodgy leg. for the time being she will continue as my alert dog when i'm out although i should probably think about teaching an alternative alert as at the moment she alerts by putting her front paws on arm rest of powerchair but i don't really want her jumping up like that with that leg so i'll have to try to work out another way for her to alert

so really i could have done with getting a pup 2 years ago, it would be about ready to take over now! it is very likely that i will have to go some time without an assistance dog but hoping that time will be as short as possible.

 

if anyone has any pups, will be breeding some pups in the next year or knows of anyone who may have suitable pups please let me know. it can take a long time to find the right pup when it comes to choosing the best prospect for a future assistance dog so i really need to get started looking

[Flacko 1,732]

There is plenty of lads on here who work beddy x's so ime sure one of them will no to any litters being bred mate. So come on lads help this lad find a pup for the future.

[krawnden 1,036]

If you're dead set on having a lurcher I think you need something bright, biddable and a quick learner. Your best bet would be a half cross (to either a greyhound or whippet) using something like a lab, collie or poodle. Your chances of finding a half cross with a lab are very slim, likewise poodle x greyhound. Collie x greyhound is easy (Hancock), collie x whippet not quite so easy, but they do come up fairly often. But if you particularly like the size and look of a bedlington x whippet, I reckon you should go for miniature poodle x whippet. That way you'll get something that's very similar in size and looks to what you've already got, with the advantage of the poodle brain which will give you something very bright and versatile (plus natural retrieving ability from the poodle).

 

I'd never dream of using this as a traditional working lurcher (ie for work in the field), but for the sort of work you want it for I think it would be ideal. And litters do come up more and more these days, thanks to the 'oodle' phenomenon of crossing poodles with every breed under the sun. Join the Whippet Poodle group on Facebook - https://www.(!64.56:886/groups/10150113357980104/ and you'll be able to find loads of info on this cross, see loads of pics and hear of any upcoming litters.

 

All the best with whatever you end up going with...

[chook1 184]

Have a look on greyhound gap, I think there may be two pups left, but they had a litter of 3 beddie x's come in with both parents.

 

http://greyhoundgap.**"£$%^&*(.com/thread/81495/week-rough-coat-pups-female

 

The litter that were coming in to LL are no longer coming in, but they were origanally coming from the breeder.

Edited September 28, 2014 by chook1

[littlefish 549]

What exactly is it that you expect an assistance dog to do?

[Neal 1,784]

From what I've seen of assistance dogs they don't tend to be from any particular breed, just individual dogs which show the right aptitude and gel well with a particular owner...I guess that's why waiting lists are so long.

 

A friend of mine has two kelpie crosses and his wife uses their kelpie x collie as a hearing dog. Once again, it wasn't chosen specifically but just adapted to the role. Is it worth simply getting a pup you like and training it from scratch...sorry if that's a stupid comment but I have no idea what's involved in training them up. Good luck with whatever you choose!

[End pins 8]

What exactly is it that you expect an assistance dog to do?

I had been a few years without a lurcher when I got Poppy my bedlington x whippet. I hoped to bag a few rabbits with her but it turns out the doctors had been wrong to tell me the increasing pain I'd been experiencing for years was just growing pains & could safely be ignored. I found out I'd damaged my joints a lot by doing what the doctors told me to ignoring the pain & getting more exercise. I seriously considered rehoming my lurcher when I needed a wheelchair. Thankfully I didn't & instead set about figuring out how to train her to help me. The things she does & my next dog will need to do are: alerting me when my heart is about to go crazy (i'm likely to pass out then which wouldn't be good if I were crossing a road) opening doors, fetching the post, helping open the post, picking up things I drop, pulling off gloves, slippers, socks & trousers, emptying the washing machine & dryer, pulling bedding off. The biggest problem I have with Poppy is her retrieving, sometimes she'll do it but sometimes & its usually when I'm in a shop, someones just been asking me what she does then I notice I've dropped something so ask Poppy to pick it up & what does she do whilst theirs someone watching? she looks at me lik she has no idea what I want her to do! So a pup thats a natural retriever would be helpful to avoid this problem although I think with Poppy its more my own fault for not spending enough time on training a good retrieve, as she's not a natural retriever it would take more time but I should be able to teach her if I stopped prioritising other training.

 

 

Think that about covers it.

[littlefish 549]

 

What exactly is it that you expect an assistance dog to do?

I had been a few years without a lurcher when I got Poppy my bedlington x whippet. I hoped to bag a few rabbits with her but it turns out the doctors had been wrong to tell me the increasing pain I'd been experiencing for years was just growing pains & could safely be ignored. I found out I'd damaged my joints a lot by doing what the doctors told me to ignoring the pain & getting more exercise. I seriously considered rehoming my lurcher when I needed a wheelchair. Thankfully I didn't & instead set about figuring out how to train her to help me. The things she does & my next dog will need to do are: alerting me when my heart is about to go crazy (i'm likely to pass out then which wouldn't be good if I were crossing a road) opening doors, fetching the post, helping open the post, picking up things I drop, pulling off gloves, slippers, socks & trousers, emptying the washing machine & dryer, pulling bedding off. The biggest problem I have with Poppy is her retrieving, sometimes she'll do it but sometimes & its usually when I'm in a shop, someones just been asking me what she does then I notice I've dropped something so ask Poppy to pick it up & what does she do whilst theirs someone watching? she looks at me lik she has no idea what I want her to do! So a pup thats a natural retriever would be helpful to avoid this problem although I think with Poppy its more my own fault for not spending enough time on training a good retrieve, as she's not a natural retriever it would take more time but I should be able to teach her if I stopped prioritising other training.

 

 

Think that about covers it.

 

Right.....................good luck with that.......