Collie brains better than speed

[Dranny GLC 112]

What's best is it a 1/2 collie x grayhound with more brains less speed or a 1/4 collie x greyhound less brains more speed.? New to the sit might be a shit question but I'm not sure which to get. Iv seen too lovely pups one of each and I can't make my mined up. I'll be useing it as a all rounder night and day and out with ferrets. There both from Hancock, Iv had a Hancock lurcher before and I really liked her she was the best dog iv had.

[Brian-911 210]

1/4 collie

[Guest born to run1083]

Both have there positives mine will run all day and all night even when not 100% fit she just seems to have natural endurance she's half collie but does lack that last gear in top end but kid you not at night there no quarry that can get away from her in a straight line so how fast do you need ? Now day Is another story she lacks alot of out right pace to do long ears. The more running dog you go for tho I think alot of the time you lose stamina so where you gain in sone areas you lose in others. Hence horses for courses lol

[Guest born to run1083]

Just to add when say running dog I mean grey

[Mickey Finn 2,757]

Mines is roughly 1/4 collie. It's pretty smart, and nothing around me can out run it.

 

Good luck with your pup!

[rob284 1,679]

5/8 grey right in between. lots of brains and more hound than a half cross for that speed.

[rob284 1,679]

but to be honest its just numbers, a 3/8 collie might have more brains than a half cross. its just depends on luck and getting the right mix.

[Rake aboot 4,929]

My half cross is pretty quick enough for rabbiting.

[trigger2 3,100]

i prefer brains to speed, as has already been said in most cases the more speed you get the less stamina you get. i like to know in the back of my mind that you have a dog thats got it in the tank for those one off nights when you turn up to the ground you have chose to lamp and everything is just right the weathers spot on and the quarry is out. personally i like to take advantages of those nights and push my dog and see what he can do.

[Richard Morgan 38]

in the case of brains vs speed i would go brains everytime but in the case of 1/2 v 1/4 i personally wouldnt have a collie/grey x without something else in it such as saluki,deerhound,terrier i dont see where the stamina comes from as a collie is a completely different kind of stamina from a running dog.

[paulus 26]

the collie brings in durability and a mental toughness that greyhounds just dont have

[skycat 6,172]

I guess it all depends on what sort of person you are: if you are a quiet sort who likes to mooch about on your own, being a bit of a pot hunter, letting the dog hunt up, learn its trade, catch through canny experience and brains, be part of the team with you, then a slower dog is the ideal. But if you are the sort who wants to go out, make a show, impress your mates, get a buzz from watching speed, dash and excitement, then the faster dog may suit you better. I'm not implying that fast dogs don't have brains, but the slower, more thoughtful approach is often better appreciated by those who aren't necessarily out to make big bags: but of course, it all depends on what you hunt, where and why.

[chartpolski 20,575]

I don't think it's as clear cut as "brains V speed" !! A dog can have all the brains in the world, but if it doesn't have speed, it aint gonna catch !!! It should, hopefully, have a good balance of speed AND brains, and let's face it, if we are just talking about rabbits, it doesn't need an abundance of either !!

 

Oh, and by the way; I like my dogs to have pleanty of speed, as there is nothing worse than seeing a dog getting straightlined !! And it's nothing to do with "putting on a show" or "impressing my mates" !! LOL !!

 

Cheers.

[johnny boy68 11,725]

Has charti said if it ain't fast enough it ain't catching.

 

You can train most dogs to do what you want with a little work BUT you can't give a dog speed its as fast as it is, a fast "dull" dog will catch more than a slow "clever" one.

 

As for 1/2 or 1/4 well its usually what and where you hunt will be the deciding factor imo.

[skycat 6,172]

I know what you mean Charts: that's the problem with trying to discuss literally anything to do with dogs: the whole working dog thing, the huge variations in dogs, and what we humans want from our dogs, endlessly leads one discussion into another

 

However, I can say that I once had a 1/4 Collie 3/4 Grey which had more brains in one paw than most other dogs I've ever known: she was fast, but not that fast, and she'd use brains over speed if she could. I saw this on many occasions but I particularly remember one field where she put up a hare in around the same spot. It had a good escape route through a hole in a hedge about 100 yards from where she usually found it. On the third day she put up the hare, then loped off to the hole in the hedge, going in completely the opposite direction to the hare, and of course it went round in a big curve, followed its usual escape route, and met the bitch on the other side of the hedge where she was waiting: job done.

 

She did the same with rabbits: I was pest control at the time, and we did a lot of rabbit gassing, but often had to clear the dykes first, putting out rabbit after rabbit, which all went the same way, but had to cross around 50 yards of open ground before hitting a wood. After the first rabbit beat her to the wood, using the dyke all the way until it popped up at the end and went into the wood, she continued to work the dyke with us, but each time a rabbit started its run down the dyke towards the wood, she simply galloped to the end of the dyke and waited for the rabbit to jump up on to the field, where she'd nab it before it started its run to the wood.

 

Would this bitch have been as good if I'd had her now? One thing's for sure, she'd have been better conditioned, better able to take run after run, and in those days I didn't even know about muscle damage etc. For all I know she could have been carrying all sorts of injuries, and possibly even learned to use her brains better due to the fact that she couldn't run at her best. Who knows? It's all supposition now anyway, but I remember that even as a youngster she didn't have great take off speed, surprisingly, for her breeding, so maybe she just learned to work with what she had: the brain.