salukis

[Meerihunter 7]

You've totally nailed it with that post Skycat!

 

Thats why I keep them.

[pennine lad 0]

i personaly like to see a dog puting the hare under presure as soon as it gets to um its only my opinion but a good saluki x should be able to catch hares anywere big land or small. but as i say its only MY opinion alb.

[mighty celt 996]

Good Salukis and Saluki lurchers are superb in every way, and whilst they do have the stamina to go the distance on a strong fen hare, the best are also capable of picking up in a short time and adapting their running/hunting style to the terrian and prey they are running.

 

I think that a lot of the dogs (certainly not all of them) you see on the DVDs have been turned into plodders by over running: seen it myself: some owners run and run and run their dogs when they should have left the field. The dog, through experience and sometimes fatigue learns that it doesn't have to run flat out to catch a hare as the hare is unlikely to go to ground: some of these dogs really come unstuck when run on heavily coursed ground where the hares are likely to pipe up in a drain or fox earth. So then you get the marathon runs where neither the hare nor the dog is running as fast as it could: a hare will only run as fast as it has to to escape.

 

Plus I think that a lot of the so called fen dogs were never given the opportunity to do anything other than be run off the end of a slip: not condemning them as no good at anything else at all, just that their owners didn't do anything else with them.

 

My Saluki lurchers have all been ferreting, mouching and even lamping: some have done everything any lurcher could do and do it well: so much depends on what sort of upbringing and education you give a dog and my present Saluki lurcher is one of the few in my pack who can disappear into cover on his own, no terriers, and hunt up, catch and bring back a rabbit, and that is from woodland, thick brambles, reeds etc where a fast dog wouldn't catch a thing:

 

What I really like about the Saluki types is the fact that they are thinking ALL THE TIME they are running, unlike some crazy speed merchants who kill themselves early on in their lives. The good Saluki type has one of the highest prey drives I've seen, but it is tempered with common sense and self preservation: a rare combination IMO.

 

Now if you can live with their desire to be self employed, their relentless hunting drive and their need to be working every day of the week then I'd say they just have to be some of the most amazing animals on earth.

skykat that was well put togethere and so true