Lurcher Training/working ,Scotland

[heather 0]

Hi

We have a 7month old `Lurcher/terrior` bitch.....

We would love to talk/get help from somebody that runs dogs!....Re. training!

My partner used to trial Spaniels....and has won novice f.t. in Scotland.,"But this type of dog is totally new to him!"

Would it be poss. to p.m. /e.mail me? Re. Training advice!

Thanks for any help

Regards Heather

[poacher2225 2]

get a copy of perdy;s progess dvd thay;s all about training a lurcher you can get one on ebay

[weejohn 3]

i was told by a guy who trains labs and spaniels that he treats lurchers the same when training them.

[Guest SJM]

A well trained lurcher is basically a gundog which runs in so if you want a well trained dog, just use similar basic training to what you would do with a lab or spaniel, except let them carry on and chase once they flush the game. The first lurcher pup I trained I found gundog books contained a lot of useful info, I had previously trained a labrador so I had an idea what to do, but obviously lurchers having sighthound blood in them, can be a bit slower sometimes to pick things up, and you have to be careful not to overdo it and bore them with the retreiving side of things as it doesnt always come naturally the way it does with HPR and retreiving breeds. As has allready been said, Purdeys Progress is a good choice

[heather 0]

Thanks for the replys, I,ll certainly get the dvd.

With the `Run in!`, are lurchers able to be called off?,or dropped to the whistle,the same as a spaniel?

"Or is it a case of when thier off....THIER OFF!"

and if so,how do you get the dog back?and how do you stop it from running across roads?

This `THING!` , of our is only 8 months,but when she sees a bird,a rabbit,a SHEEP.she,s off after it

I feel that teaching her to drop will take a lot of the `GO`,out of her,and probably make her `sticky!`Also do lurchers retrieve to hand?`,or do you have to chase after them?

Thanks for any advice

Heather

[Guest SJM]

You will have to nip the sheep chasing thing in the bud asap, a lurcher needs to be trained not to chase livestock by introducing it to them at an early age.

[skycat 6,174]

Thanks for the replys, I,ll certainly get the dvd.

With the `Run in!`, are lurchers able to be called off?,or dropped to the whistle,the same as a spaniel?

"Or is it a case of when thier off....THIER OFF!"

and if so,how do you get the dog back?and how do you stop it from running across roads?

This `THING!` , of our is only 8 months,but when she sees a bird,a rabbit,a SHEEP.she,s off after it

I feel that teaching her to drop will take a lot of the `GO`,out of her,and probably make her `sticky!`Also do lurchers retrieve to hand?`,or do you have to chase after them?

Thanks for any advice

Heather

 

At 8 months old she should already have been broken to all domestic livestock: the older the dog the harder it is to teach them what they can and cannot chase.

Teaching a dog to drop will not take the 'go' out of a dog at all, and IMO most lurchers are relatively easy to train to retrieve, maybe not so as they actually put the thing into your hand, but at least near to you.

Have you had the dog since a wee pup or is it a recent acquisition with no previous training.? Any lurcher worthy of the name lurcher can be trained to a decent standard, every bit as high as a gundog, and probably a damn sight more easily as in my experience Spaniels are not the easiest dogs to train to a really good standard unless the owner really knows what they are doing.

It is a big mistake to leave a lurcher, especially one containing terrier blood, until it is this old and not put the basics of obedience into it. I'm afraid your work will be far harder now, especially if the dog is already disobeying basic recall commands.

As for the type of dog being 'new' to your partner: a hunting dog is a hunting dog, and can be trained in a very similar way. Most lurchers are a lot more sensitive than most gun dog types, but the terrier blood in your lurcher (you don't say what sort of terrier) may make her mentally tougher, more stubborn.

I wish you all the best with her training, good luck. Get her on a long line and walk her near sheep and when she goes at them jerk her over with a stern shout of "NO!", then recall, praise like mad when she comes to you. Hopefully it won't take her too long to get the message.

[heather 0]

Hi Skycat,

Thanks for the advice,i,ll try the long line idea about the sheep.

We actual got the dog at 3 months old,and she is supposedly a border/lurcher cross?

At close range(within 30 yards), she is,nt too bad, will drop to the whistle,walks to heel, but if she,s at any distance the `ear plugs are switched on!`

I think that you are spot on with the terrier blood making her mentally hard.Although i have trained many gundogs mainly spaniels,i have never had one that wants to disobey and chase sheep before!

Last weeks outing was the first time she had seen sheep,( obvisously an oversight on my behalf),but always a learning proccess!

The final thing that i have never seen in a dog before is "taking a Maddy?" She will suddenly take off` like a bat out of hell`,running just past you ,as if she thinks its a game,she will do this half a dozen times or so,then settle down again! Is this a `Lurcher Thing?`,or do you think that we have just got a `Nutter!`(possibly due to the terrier influence)

 

Heather

[skycat 6,174]

Sounds as though she's winding you up and taking the p*ss! She's probably also at that horrible teenage stage. I cured a lurcher of doing the running past me thing once by lying down in long grass and when she tried to dive past me and take off I fetched her legs from under her: she never did it again! Might have been a bit of a risk in hindsight: she could have broken a leg or worse.

My then 6 month old Saluki bred pup was also doing it, and on deafing me out one evening at dusk ran straight into a barbed wire fence! Lay on the ground screaming for ages but I was so mad at him that I just stood and watched him: couldn't see masses of blood pouring out of him so thought 'stuff you!'. He got to his feet eventually (well, after about 30 seconds! LOL) crawled through the fence very carefully and came to me all sheepish: only a tiny pin prick of blood between his eyes: he must have nigh on pole axed himself and scared himself stupid: ever since then he's really good on the recall, unless he's actually chasing something! Does that make you think?

 

Sometimes the short sharp shock treatment is the way to go in order to earn the dog's respect, and maybe a ewe with a lamb might deliver that shock if you can find a farmer willing to allow you to do that! Not all are happy to risk it.

 

I'm very strict with my dogs and won't tolerate disobedience, but I love them a lot and show them that I do every day: dogs are happier if there are clear rules to follow.

[bullmastiff 615]

Have you got any pics of the dog?

If you were told it was a border/lurcher cross, you might find they meant the Border Collie not the Border Terrier!!! which is a much more common cross for Lurchers!!!

Good Luck with the training!

[heather 0]

Hi Bullmastiff

will take pics. and post tomorrow night,`Think that they meant Border Terrier though!.she has wiry muzzle,and the hairs on her back stand up!

[heather 0]

Hi Ratcher1

I think that what i,m having difficulty in getting my head around is the fact that you don,t seem to be able to stop the dog when in `full flow!` In `Hunting Video Clips`,(hare coursing) you see two dogs chasing a hare ,towards the end of the video ,they are shown running beside a main road,(cars are clearly seen driving past) , the hare runs into the fence and is `nabbed!` However if that hare had managed to get through the fence and across the road ,i,m sure those dogs would have been over that fence in a second.

If any of my spaniels (no matter how well trained!) had been in the same situation,i,d have been in `The Horrers!`

I realize that `Lurcher type dogs`are a totally new ball game to me,but i am very keen to learn,and do the best i can for me,and the dog! I just think that i,ll need to learn a new way of thinking!

[Guest SJM]

Whereabouts in scotland are you heather? Pm me and I will see if I can help you out with training, its easier to show someone tips rather than talk about them, if your not too far away I would be glad to meet up and try and give you some pointers/advice etc on training your dog

[heather 0]

Pic of lurcher/border terrier cross?