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I want a lurcher in Canada


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Hi every one I just want to introduce myself, Im in Alberta Canada. Ive been watching your forum for a little while now. Im not sure if a foreigner's welcome here, but it seems there is few in the alberta hunting forums that can offer me advice on coursing hare (the hunters on the local forum use pointer dogs). Id like to course the snowshoe hares. Im thinking a border collie whippet? My needs are thus: Short hair so my wife will let it in the house. its too cold here for anything besides a husky to live out doors all year (at least thats what the city bylaws say :thumbdown: ). I live in calgary and my yard isnt very big so Id like a medium sized dog. Is this breeding going to be able to catch hares? any precautions on running a short haired dog in freezing tempratures is appreciated as well. also Ive never trained a running dog; my last dog was a pitbull x st. bernard that was really difficult to stockbreak, am I getting in over my head?

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hi ,its nice to see foreigners on this site,i dont think your hares are as fast as the brown hare we have over here so you should be alright, but i would go for a collie greyhound ,u get a bit bigger dog around the 23in 24in mark and will have just as much fun out of it , heated kennels or a husky cross ?, as long as your dog is fed right and looked after well and a good rub down after a days work it should be ok , all the best in your hunting.

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Hi every one I just want to introduce myself, Im in Alberta Canada. Ive been watching your forum for a little while now. Im not sure if a foreigner's welcome here, but it seems there is few in the alberta hunting forums that can offer me advice on coursing hare (the hunters on the local forum use pointer dogs). Id like to course the snowshoe hares. Im thinking a border collie whippet? My needs are thus: Short hair so my wife will let it in the house. its too cold here for anything besides a husky to live out doors all year (at least thats what the city bylaws say :thumbdown: ). I live in calgary and my yard isnt very big so Id like a medium sized dog. Is this breeding going to be able to catch hares? any precautions on running a short haired dog in freezing tempratures is appreciated as well. also Ive never trained a running dog; my last dog was a pitbull x st. bernard that was really difficult to stockbreak, am I getting in over my head?

hi mate i have two mates who are living in lethbridge they would give you tips on what dog to go for, they know the local land,what quarry is there .they have been out with me alot with my dogs. it depends what you want to hunt but a whippet,is good for small game hare s rabbits ,but be wary of the coyotes ,a much bigger dog is needed.his name is TRAPPA hes on this site but if you want to call him pm me i will give you his number all the best BB ps you can t run a dog on frozen ground it will bust up there feet

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Hi there: just my thoughts on the type of running dog you need. Personally I wouldn't go for a smooth coat: a Whippety type would really suffer in the cold over your way. And besides, smooth coat doesn't mean less hair in the house: just shorter hairs everywhere LOL.

 

For hares anywhere I'd suggest something with a bit of Saluki in the breeding (for stamina, good feet, hunting drive and instinct). Bit fields need more Saluki, small fields need less stamina, more speed.

I'd always go for a lurcher to lurcher bred animal, bred from good workers for generations. I've got nothing at all against any cross, but if your'e specifically after hares then I'd get something bred from generations of hare dogs: makes sense to me!

 

Plus, Saluki types usually have good big feet which I would have thought pretty useful in the snow.

 

Hope this helps.

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Ian, I wasn't meaning a pure Saluki, or even a predominantly Salukified hare dog. But there are lurchers over here with a good rough coat AND Saluki in their breeding for toughness, stamina and that certain hare sense that comes from breeding good hare dog to good hare dog.

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If you could get a colliexgreyx deerhoundxgreyhound, that could be just right for you. With this x

you should have good feet+ coat, and good pace and stamina ,plus it be strong enough to tackle

anthing that bite's back. This x dogs = 24 26ins+ 50 65lb , bitchs bit smaller. :victory:

 

BIRD

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Hi there: just my thoughts on the type of running dog you need. Personally I wouldn't go for a smooth coat: a Whippety type would really suffer in the cold over your way. And besides, smooth coat doesn't mean less hair in the house: just shorter hairs everywhere LOL.

 

For hares anywhere I'd suggest something with a bit of Saluki in the breeding (for stamina, good feet, hunting drive and instinct). Bit fields need more Saluki, small fields need less stamina, more speed.

I'd always go for a lurcher to lurcher bred animal, bred from good workers for generations. I've got nothing at all against any cross, but if your'e specifically after hares then I'd get something bred from generations of hare dogs: makes sense to me!

 

Plus, Saluki types usually have good big feet which I would have thought pretty useful in the snow.

 

Hope this helps.

abit of saluki is good, but in alberta the temp can drop to -45 the ground is like concrete ,gets very hot in the summer too not suitible for any running dog , it is mainly flat praries big field s ,but their hare canot be compared with ours ,not sure if canadians have alot of choice with lurchers as not many do the small stuff all the best BB :thumbs:

,

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Ian, I wasn't meaning a pure Saluki, or even a predominantly Salukified hare dog. But there are lurchers over here with a good rough coat AND Saluki in their breeding for toughness, stamina and that certain hare sense that comes from breeding good hare dog to good hare dog.

 

 

Yes I know the types you mean skycat, mates have similar... :yes:

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Get in touch with those blokes from Lethbridge for sure. I think I've heard you can get some decent coyote dogs out that way, should do what you want them to do. I might be mistaken but I think there's a few running dogs out there with a bit of saluki in.

 

One reason I wouldn't be too interested in going back home to Canada now ... it's rather hard to find yourself a decent lurcher :D

 

Don't get a whippet cross unless you fancy putting a stick up it's bum to make a Dogsicle out of him :laugh:

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Hey!

I was after snowshoe hare in NH...they are not similar to the hare from here or the UK, they are never far from cover, real woodland hares. I would recommend a relatively small real fast dog that can get to them before they dissapear. A whippet or whippet lurcher would be my choice.

 

Are you in forrested hills? Close to plains?

 

yours,

L

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hunting with dogs is not legal in alberta if you was to try to run a lurcher there you will end up getting your dog shot by the farmers,the only dogs that you can hunt with are lion hounds all others have been banned for about the last 8-9 years every since a coyote hunter went on tv to show everyone how he hunted he did such a bad job that the government ended up by putting a total ban on dogs if you get and want to hunt with a lurcher you will have to travel west to the next province as they have no ban there,if you hunt in alberta and are stopped there are very heavy fines and inprisonment that you will have to look at ,with a big dog there there is no ware for you to hide as the dog will be out in the open there is also a helicopter that is out looking for you if you think you want to lamp at night its not like you are hunting a small terrier

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hunting with dogs is not legal in alberta if you was to try to run a lurcher there you will end up getting your dog shot by the farmers,the only dogs that you can hunt with are lion hounds all others have been banned for about the last 8-9 years every since a coyote hunter went on tv to show everyone how he hunted he did such a bad job that the government ended up by putting a total ban on dogs if you get and want to hunt with a lurcher you will have to travel west to the next province as they have no ban there,if you hunt in alberta and are stopped there are very heavy fines and inprisonment that you will have to look at ,with a big dog there there is no ware for you to hide as the dog will be out in the open there is also a helicopter that is out looking for you if you think you want to lamp at night its not like you are hunting a small terrier
it is ileagal to lamp in alberta mate,i would go for a small dog proberly whippet x terrier,something that does nt look racy and draw too much attention.i did nt know they had banned hunting with dogs there my mates are going out with a lad soon who still dogs coyotes :whistling: i would never break the law tho that would be naughty :whistling:
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unless they have changed the law there again within the last 4 years they still can not hunt coyote with dogs and i would be surprized if they did change it as i know when they brought out the new law i was the only person out there that was trying to fight it ,there was no backing from anybody as the only thing that the people there where interested in was shooting or bow hunting and it was only because of the fact that the shooters would shot the lion after the hounds had treed it and they had people willing to pay for it that they allowed them to still do it , the land there is not like here its very open and you would be very easily seen ,when i was there i was friendly with a lot of farmers as i did a lot of vermin control for them and i can tell you they made it clear to me what they would do to a dog if they saw anyone hunting on there land or there neighbours and that was just to shoot it with no warnings , if your friends are hunting coyote with dogs there i hope they dont get stoped or seen by a farmer ,any way i have told you what i know so thats it from me

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Hi there: just my thoughts on the type of running dog you need. Personally I wouldn't go for a smooth coat: a Whippety type would really suffer in the cold over your way. And besides, smooth coat doesn't mean less hair in the house: just shorter hairs everywhere LOL.

 

Plus, Saluki types usually have good big feet which I would have thought pretty useful in the snow.

 

Hope this helps.

abit of saluki is good, but in alberta the temp can drop to -45 the ground is like concrete ,gets very hot in the summer too not suitible for any running dog , it is mainly flat praries big field s ,but their hare canot be compared with ours ,not sure if canadians have alot of choice with lurchers as not many do the small stuff all the best BB :thumbs:

,

 

I realise that this may not be the same thing, and meaning no disrespect to anyone, but we breed in a lot of whippet and different sight hounds into our racing dogs (sled dogs), and to tell the truth the sled dogs are looking a lot more like sight hounds these days, and these crossbred dogs are very fast and run for hours at a time in the frozen land. And if there is not enough husky in the mix the dogs have feet problems, but if there is a good balance, then the feet are extremely tough. There have been countless times when sled dogs have been used for hunting and they have been known to catch all kinds of animals.

 

A lot of the racing sled dogs have very short coats, because they run so fast they tend to overheat, even in the dead of winter, and we have to watch them closely so that they do not end up with heat stroke or heat exhaustion. When they are not running we put coats on the dogs to keep them warm.

 

I live up North of Alberta, so the laws are different here, but there are those who do hunt with dogs, but they keep a very low profile, and hunt for food, not for sport. There are some incredibly poor people here, that if their dog did not hunt, no one eats.

 

To address the first post - In my humble opinion, a dog (with desire to hunt) from a racing kennel would be the way to go.

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