In the list on the main page, I have omitted several sighthound breeds. There are many other sighthound breeds, such as
Irish Wolfhound the Afghan Hound,and the Borzoi, to name a few, there are plenty more.
Lurchers are, for the most part, still a working dog. Even pet lurchers and rescue lurchers are more likely to be the offspring
of working parents than they are to be 'accidentally' bred.
A working dog is bred to fulfill a specific role, and in the case of the lurcher, that role is fairly varied.
Lurchers are bred to hunt a number of quarry;
Around Britain Lurchers are required to hunt over different kinds of terrain as well, some running on stubble fields and smooth flat
grassland, others running on the more rugged moorlands. Each 'lurcherman/woman' should choose a lurcher for the quarry he wishes to take and
with the environment the dog will be working in mind.
For these reasons, a useful working lurcher should be bred from similarly useful working parents. Its not just a matter of breeding any old greyhound
to the collie round the corner, although thats not to say that that might not produce a good dog, its just unlikely.
Any responsible person wishing to breed a litter of lurchers should pick parents with a proven ability to work, and that means you have to rule out any of
the breeds who are no longer used for their original purpose. This is why, although technically a cross such as a Borzoi/Old English Sheepdog is a lurcher,
the likelyhood of you seeing one is next to nil.
As another example, a Pointer/Greyhound crossbreeding might not technically be a lurcher, but if both parents, and offspring have the working ability, then its fair
to refer to the dog as a lurcher.
There are several crosses that you will come across most frequently these days, and (haha) when im better at HTML I will do an image library of these. Lurcher types
vary across the country though, so what is common here (Lancashire) may well not be common in Surrey.
My own lurcher is a Bedlington/Whippet x Greyhound/Whippet/Collie. He is bred to take rabbits, and stands at 21 inches high.
This cross is pretty common in the North of England, and is a great dog for rats and rabbits, but probably won't stand up to a fox well, nor does he have the stamina for
coursing hare. A lurcher with Bedlington in it is usually a pretty smart dog, with a very determined nature.
The Bull Terrier x Greyhound (most usually 3/4 Greyhound and 1/4 Bull) is a much more game dog, incredibly muscular and with an impressive bite, usually bred for taking foxes.
Bull crosses are probably not the smartest of lurchers, and can be hard to train. They excel at fox work,and possibly deer, but for anything smaller, unless you want it seriously
mangled, they arent so good.
The Saluki cross (depending on if there is any collie blood in there) is another hard to train lurcher, but has an amazing turn of speed. This cross is predominantly used for Hare.
Deerhound crosses, if they are bred using the smaller examples of each breed can make a useful all round dog, with a more easy going nature than its mini lookalike, the Bedlington x.
There are a number of myths surrounding lurchers and the folk that keep them, I'd like to dispel a few of them here.
LURCHERS ARE VICIOUS