lurchers working african bush

[judge2010 196]

]

Height: 24- 30+ inches

Weight: 50- 130 lbs

 

Breeding

Not a true breed, but rather a general term for the sighthound crosses used in rural south africa. Boer being afrikaans for "farmer", boergreyhound translating to "farmer's greyhound".

Like most people serious about working dogs, to south african farmers the concept of "breeds" has always been an irrelevant one. It would be impossible to account for every breed that has been crossed into the different lines of boergreyhound, but known breeds in most lines are - english greyhound (both hot blooded aka track greyhounds, and cold blooded aka hunting greyhounds), and scotch deerhound (these two breeds are the main foundation), irish wolfhound, africanis, ridgeback, english bullterrier, boerboel, bullmastiff, airedale and irish terrier.

Despite this, most boergreyhounds resemble almost pure greyhounds, maybe just larger, but are vastly different in countless areas.

Far better stamina, far more intelligent, much harder feet and tougher skin, better scenting ability, harder biters, more agile, better pain tolerance, better heat and cold tolerance, more heart and courage, etc. The list goes on and on.

 

Varieties.

There are 3 main varieties of boergreyhound- the classic greyhound type, the deerhound type and the maritsane, and then countless mixes of everything in between each.

 

Greyhound type

Generally when one talks about "boergreyhounds" without stipulating a type, they'll be referring to the standard greyhound type. As the name would suggest they very much resemble normal greyhounds, but as mentioned are very much superior in many categories. Definitely the most versatile of the types, a good specimen should be able to hunt just about anything, but they will use their own techniques for harder more dangerous prey animals. For example grabbing warthogs by the tail rather than by the head like a maritsane.

They are however best suited for the smaller faster antelopes, hares, jackals and foxes.

 

Deerhound type

Of all the varieties the deerhound type comes closest to being pure. It is very much largely scottish deerhound. This is because the scottish deerhound was pretty close to perfect as is for hunting large antelope. This is indeed the deerhound varieties area of specialisation. They are the most consistent at hunting medium to large antelopes with great stamina like the impala and gemsbok.

 

The maritsane

The maritsane is the largest of the boergrey varieties and is the most specialised for large and dangerous game. Being quite like a wolfhound in form and function, and undoubtedly featuring a good deal of wolfhound blood, as well as deerhound, mastiff (both boerboel and bullmastiff) and bull terrier (with of course a lot of boergrey as well).

When hunting warthogs, bushpig, eland, aardwolves and brown hyenas the maritsane is the dog of choice.

Here you can see a maritsane with other boergreys for a size comparison.

 

It is also common to get crosses of each with other dogs

Boerboel x boergrey for example being common for warthogs, bush pigs and cattle. One can be seen in the background of this photo-

Boergrey x airedale is also common, the airedale increasing the scenting ability.

 

Prey

These dogs are said to be used on "everything except for the big 5". They are used to capture live animals for transport, to catch animals for food and to kill problem animals.

Some of their main targets are - jackal, gemsbok, impala, kudu, spring hare, bush hares, aardwolf, brown hyena, warthog, baboons and porcupines.

Each requiring a uniquely different technique and the good dogs are those who learn how to appropriately deal with the different animals. A good baboon dog being the rarest of all, as baboons are quite adept at tearing dogs apart and inclined to do so, interestingly with their hands and feet more so than their formidable mouths.

However, dogs that can kill baboons one on one do exist.

 

These dogs and crosses involving them are also sometimes used to work cattle, and some (particularly those of the maritsane strain) can catch and hold large unruly bulls.

 

Some notes- the impala and ostrich were caught alive to be transported to another area.

The man in the last photos with the warthog and maritsane/greyhound x is over 7 feet tall.

 

Information and photos from a regular on many australian hunting sites known as "africa" aka Dave. A former south african farmer who recently moved to australia. He is in the process of trying to import semen from these dog lines into australia to cross with the australian staghounds, roo dogs and pig dogs to hunt deer, foxes, hare, boars, etc.

[dave1979 77]

they look like very strong dogs!!! love the ostrich pic!!!

[patterdale666 1,620]

theyre good dogs and good pics mate

[megpsycho 8]

look strong dogs mate cant beat a bit of bush

[johnny boy68 11,725]

interesting stuff there fella

[judge2010 196]

lived in s.a for a few years the wildlife was amazing,I remember when a bull terrier had a run in with a honey badger that was killing the chickens.

[TOMO 24,876]

great read that mate, get some more pics and info up.... i have been to RSA as well, 20 year ago, but didnt hunt,, did have family out there, love to see pics of the difrent hares you have there, and how they run....... i think ive seen spring hares though , are they the ones that look like mini kangaroos. ???

[judge2010 196]

great read that mate, get some more pics and info up.... i have been to RSA as well, 20 year ago, but didnt hunt,, did have family out there, love to see pics of the difrent hares you have there, and how they run....... i think ive seen spring hares though , are they the ones that look like mini kangaroos. ???

will ask him to send me some more pics when i next speak to him mate.

[richie198 28]

great read mate very interesting lovely pics and dogs wouldnt

mind getting pups from them.

its really great to see the different hunting/game all around the

world sometimes we forget were not the only ones who hunt our dogs

[villebones 4]

Great topic mate, nice too read and good pictures too

[KittleRox 2,147]

very interesting,particularly like the idea of greyhound type with more brains,etc,

[staffs riffraff 1,068]

great read mate very interesting lovely pics and dogs wouldnt

mind getting pups from them.

its really great to see the different hunting/game all around the

world sometimes we forget were not the only ones who hunt our dogs

 

 

 

 

i like hearing about the different quarry and the dogs from other countrys they have a lot more variety an most a lot more dangerous will get to do it one day

[Bosun11 537]

Great stuff, enjoyed reading that. Looks like the 'dark continent' has got some very useful and fine hounds.

 

And what an spectrum of quarry to use them on, fantastic! Though one on one with a baboon, that'd have yer heart in yer mouth if it was your dog...!!!

[Guest bezza]

That read really made my day mate. Absolutely fascinating.

[jackson2kaii8 5]

oh boys ur man is massive