Nicholas Valentine

I'm amazed at some of the basic ignorance about hound breeds displayed on this thread . There is good and bad in all , but I'm generalising about the merits of breeds from personal experience having hunted most of them myself . As I said who here has actually experienced hunting Beagles and Foxhounds together ? Some Beagles are fast beyond belief for their size . They are much quicker than Foxhounds .

I have hunted all breeds of Foxhound , and have been able to form first hand opinions as to the merits of the different breeds . Have hunted Beagles and Bassets too . When you see a single Basset or an Irish Harrier put a whole pack of Foxhounds to shame it tells you a lot about the qualities of the breeds . Harriers in general hunt a fox better than Foxhounds but don't hunt a hare as well as Beagles . There is a lot of " cheating " that goes on in fox hunting that doesn't do the hounds any good , and if the hounds were good there would be no need for malpractice . Has anyone on here see

Simple rule of thumb ; The greater a hounds desire to hunt the more difficult they are to control . Foxhounds lack nose and voice and are easy to manage .

" Foxbolter " You are correct , no one is going to get a long hunt on a rabbit . It's a shame you never came to see my hounds before the ban , as in those days we hunted hare , deer and fox , and a two hour hunt covering ten miles was a regularity . You would have seen a pack running all together and with a great cry that Bassetts are renowned for . I'm now over sixty years old , and if you are a similar age you will know that advancing age does begin to put restrictions on a huntsmans physical abbilities . I have never viewed rabbit hunting as serious hunting , but as with everything , it

" Flyboy " and others , please read carefully . The subject under discussion here was if I was still breeding bull x Lurchers . The answer is I NEVER have bred bull x Lurchers . Simple logic is that any dogs that were supposed to have been bred by me were not . Ginger French used the dog over twenty years ago . The dogs from that mating will have all been dead a long time ago . I can't stop people using my name but they are doing so incorrectly . People on here use their anonymity to say things that they wouldn't say to your face . If anyone wants to come on here making derogatory statements a

Alcapone , that's fine . Ginger French used my dog on a greyhound bitch twenty years ago and that's about all my involvement in Lurcher breeding . As I say I have never bred Lurchers because there is already too many of them out there . Longdog85 , I have no idea what you are talking about and unless you are prepared to put your name to what you have to say it is of no relevance .

I would like to make it clear that I have never bred Bull Lurchers so I can assure you that any dogs of this type you have seen did not come from me . Anyone who says they did are lying . I notice you are all hiding behind anonymity and unless you are prepared to put a name to your remarks you are better off keeping your crap to your self . Nick Valentine .