New To Working Lurchers.

[Nicole Wild 0]

I have a 15 week old bull/saluki/grey lurcher. Obviously I am not thinking of working her yet but I'd like to get some info and do some research before I intend to work her. I currently have a labrador who is being trained as a gun dog, so I am familiar with training a work dog and understand the importance of basic commands.

 

 

What I'm a bit confused about is:

 

A.) Where can you hunt? Do you need special permission from the land owner, so for example on an estate. Or can you let them do their thing in public woods?

 

B.) What age would you take them out to begin working, would you take them by themselves or see if you could take pup to join in with someones established working lurchers?

 

I am only interested in wabbits, as I'd like to join a few friends who have ferrets at a later date.

 

 

 

Pup is currently walked off lead everywhere, bar near roads when she's on the lead, her recall is good (but I know pups this age their recall is generally quite good until they get that boost of confidence when they learn actually running around like a lunatic is a lot of fun). She sits, and offlead she walks to heel, behind or just in front of me. I have just started taking her to work with me at the weekends, I work at an eventing livery yard - she isn't keen on the horses they scare her a bit but when people walk in and out she goes up to them and if they stroke her she shows her belly, urinating on the floor with her tongue poking out. IS this something typical of lurchers (I have read salukis can be a bit timid)?

 

 

Thank you, any advice greatly appreciated.

[Bosun11 537]

Welcome to the site, first and best bit of advice.... lose the harness...!

[lurcherman 887 13,416]

If she pissing herself she needs a good walloping with a belt/drain rod ... And yes loose the harness it will make her yap and jack atb

 

 

Edited to add mushroom has a great book on battering techniques

Edited November 18, 2014 by kev1987

[desertbred 5,490]

harnesses are alright on women or hen pecked husbands work them where you want to just don't get caught

[Poacherspocket 189]

Hmmm seen as though your female i can garuntee you will get a million offers to go out with the pup. My girlfriend posted something once and attention was hilarious. Good luck with the pup by the way

[skycat 6,174]

Very submissive pup. She is showing that she is tiny, and no threat in the face of huge, two and four legged potential threats. Ignore her when she goes belly up and tell everyone else to do the same. Don't let loads of people fuss over her with silly high pitched voices which will only make her more submissive than she is. Get her more confident by using food treats every time you call her to you: let her jump up at your legs, don't tell her off for doing this, you can sort out the manners later. Everything you do at this age should be about filling her with confidence so she doesn't feel the need to go upside-down on the ground and piss herself.

 

A horse yard is a stressful, noisy place for a pup to be at this age: how about confining her in a pen so she can see what is going on, but so she feels more protected, and hence, more confident. She is likely to get trodden on by all and sundry if she is loose anyway. She is probably feeling it is all a bit much for her at the moment, so by putting a barrier between her and the big bad world she will feel more relaxed , as well as being safer.

 

And yes, lose the harness: won't do her any good and could get snagged up in something as well as potentially restricting/altering her natural movement.

[shaaark 11,286]

Very submissive pup. She is showing that she is tiny, and no threat in the face of huge, two and four legged potential threats. Ignore her when she goes belly up and tell everyone else to do the same. Don't let loads of people fuss over her with silly high pitched voices which will only make her more submissive than she is. Get her more confident by using food treats every time you call her to you: let her jump up at your legs, don't tell her off for doing this, you can sort out the manners later. Everything you do at this age should be about filling her with confidence so she doesn't feel the need to go upside-down on the ground and piss herself.

 

A horse yard is a stressful, noisy place for a pup to be at this age: how about confining her in a pen so she can see what is going on, but so she feels more protected, and hence, more confident. She is likely to get trodden on by all and sundry if she is loose anyway. She is probably feeling it is all a bit much for her at the moment, so by putting a barrier between her and the big bad world she will feel more relaxed , as well as being safer.

 

And yes, lose the harness: won't do her any good and could get snagged up in something as well as potentially restricting/altering her natural movement.

Nicole Wild, take note of the above post

[blackmaggie 3,377]

Hmmm seen as though your female i can garuntee you will get a million offers to go out with the pup. My girlfriend posted something once and attention was hilarious. Good luck with the pup by the way

 

Hmmm seen as though your female i can garuntee you will get a million offers to go out with the pup. My girlfriend posted something once and attention was hilarious. Good luck with the pup by the way

i remember her pp only joking pp jonny boy i think it was and a few others had the same mate even buttercup got offers

[krawnden 1,036]

I would say that if you plan to use the pup for ferreting you should break it to ferrets now rather than wait till its older. It's a piece of cake when they're pups but if you leave it till it's ready to start work it might see it as something to be killed. In the heat of the action you can get rabbits bolting and being quickly followed out by ferrets and the lurcher must be 100% steady with the ferret or it could easily go badly wrong.

[Nicole Wild 0]

Will lose the harness soon :-) Much more constructive reply I really appreciate it.

 

Normally in the morning when we are turning all the horses out and whatnot she is in the car, and only comes out when I am mucking out - there is only me there and one other woman, all horses are normally in the field so it's generally quite quiet so she has a sleep in the corner of the stables.

 

I shall see if I can find anyone who has ferrets.

[Bosun11 537]

Second bit of advice Nicole, sift through ten ton of banter and shite but the answers are always there.....

[Poacherspocket 189]

I wish id heard the bit of advise dont fuss a pup if its been submissive. My bull x has always been like that and i always fussed her to try make her more confident and possibly made her worse in doing so.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Poacherspocket

[Stud dog 632]

keep training an let the pup be a pup don't push it an get a ferret let the pup see it everyday eventually the pup will not even look at it best of luck an keep us posted.

[skycat 6,174]

I wish id heard the bit of advise dont fuss a pup if its been submissive. My bull x has always been like that and i always fussed her to try make her more confident and possibly made her worse in doing so.

The thing to remember is that if you reward a behaviour, any behaviour, with some kind of attention, the dog gets what it wants, whether or not that is what you want. Acceptance into the pack is the craving behind the belly-up pose: look at me, no threat, please let me be part of your pack. Always stroke under a submissive dog's chin, not on top of its head: a hand down on the head shows dominance, just like the paw which is laid across another dog's shoulders, but it can in some circumstances also indicate a request to play: hard to read all the different messages behind an action sometimes. Though a dominant dog will never roll belly up in front of another one.

There's nothing wrong with a very submissive dog if it does what you want in the field. How a dog behaves towards you doesn't mean that it won't smash game in the field. If a man knows what's good for him in his job he'll be deferential and respectful towards his employer, but may be a complete b*****d towards others. Dogs are the same in that respect. I'd sooner have a nicely respectful and controllable dog than a lunatic that knows no bounds.