OldPhil

Yes, Ted's dogs were lovely Norfolk Lurcher style animals,. .they definitely had the film star looks, as did many other's that were around at the time. Ted was very coursing orientated,.. he had little use for a Moucher's type of animal My own thinking was a bit different,. .I demanded that my Smithfield 'look-a-likes' acted and behaved, in the manner of their original Herding ancestor....for,. if they were not tractable and easily schooled,.. then for me,.. the entire project would have been a waste of fecking time.... I freely admit,.. I failed abysmally on several occasions, and some

Yes, dear friend ,..I was possibly being a bit pedantic,..in as much as,. very few antique books (if any) especially on the subject of Poaching,.. have been penned by actual Poachers,...and,.. it stands out a country mile

Hmm,...The problem I have found with the early reference books, is that the information offered, is frequently nothing more than hearsay, and is often woefully inaccurate... Whilst I am no scholar and have received scant formal education,..(which makes me a tad on the thicko side)..I was raised on a sheep and cattle farm,.. and saw many types of herding dogs. Very few were pure bred,. .indeed, amongst the bare -skinned Border Collie/Welsh Collie litters, there was often a Bearded collie throwback kinda critter.. These occasional hairy ones, made me think that the Border and Beardie , ar

Interesting to hear a bit of 'Smithfield banter'....

We cross various 'types' to improve upon the 'Type',.. Nearly all F1 Hybrids are the start, and rarely the end product,...it takes time, to produce the genuine article. I did tell the dreaming scholar this fact,. but,... it went straight over his silly fecking head

That is a real useful hybrid,.. and if you are lucky,.. you can get the best of both worlds..

True words Joe,...and it is a hackneyed phrase to simply say that, "we had the best of it",.. but, feck it,...it's 100% true.. An old pal mentioned this very thing to me only yesterday,.. and he asked, "What went wrong" ? For me, it don't take much thinking about,...and as a lifelong Hunting man, I can only say,...."We just got too fecking civilised".... Anyway,.. all the best to all genuine lads,...have a good Xmas,.. and pray for a prosperous and healthy New Year....

Dave and me, were pals,...and occasional business partners... Back in the day,...I was dealt a bit of a blow,... Dave helped me out, and probably saved the day. He loved having the craic, and was always amused by my silly tales and crazy anecdotes,...we had some good old times... I believe his legacy and writings about the terrier world, will live on.... RIP Dave Harcombe..

Go with your heart...I always do....

I believe that everything on the subject of what lurcher a man should keep, has already been said.... We all keep the style of hunting dog that best suits our needs...

So beautiful... What exciting adventures await ,.....I'm so envious.....

Yeah, a poor specimen,...something definitely not right...

He knows....

Quite Amazing....

I grew up around Sheepdogs and Cattle curs, and we did have collie saturated lurcher dogs,...but, nobody I ever knew,.. had an actual Greyhound There was one about somewhere,. obviously,.. but our lurchers were mostly bred 'like to like',.. and they worked well enough.... The Greyhound element has always seemed the obvious choice when producing a lurcher, and back in the day, these superlative running dogs were in abundance and could be relied upon to produce a reasonably level end product...and even more so for those wishing to sell litters, on a commercial basis.... However,.. th