On our routine visit to the vet last Friday, everyone fell in love with Lacy, and told her how sweet and pretty she is. She loved the praise, and had a great time. 🙂 They asked where I found her, and if we knew what she was mixed with, since they see quite a few retired racer greyhounds there, but greyhound mutts seem to be rather rare. I told them we had adopted her from a rescue, and that we know she’s part greyhound, and the other part is a mystery. My suspicion is that her other half may be collie; our vet thinks that is quite likely, too.
Earlier this week, I did a little online searching for collie/greyhound mixes to see if I could find photos. In doing so, I stumbled upon a website selling lurcher pups. I’d never heard of a lurcher, so that led to more online searching.
In short, I learned that lurchers are a crossbreed of a sighthound and a herding dog, and the most common combination is greyhound/collie. I think they are pretty much un-heard-of in the U.S., but these dogs became popular in the U.K. back when Queen Elizabeth 1 made it illegal for commoners to own a greyhound. We’d always wondered how an unspayed greyhound mama dog (obviously not a rescue, since they are all spayed/neutered) had been unsupervised enough to conceive a littler of mutts; now we’re wondering if perhaps Lacy’s litter was bred on purpose as lurchers, and for some reason the owner couldn’t keep the litter. A suppose that will remain a mystery, but we did have a little history lesson in the process! (Love that sneaky schooling!) My search to solve a doggie mystery has created even more questions!
A old quote about the qualities of a lurcher:
“Originally bred from a cross between a Greyhound and the shepherd’s dog giving the required speed and fondness of the chase of the one and superior intelligence of the other.”
I even discovered and joined a lurcher flickr group! Whether she was intentionally bred to be a lurcher, or whether it was purely accidental, she is still a sweet, fast, beautiful, intelligent dog, and we love her! (I’ve created a flickr set just for Lacy!)
I’m a big fan of authentic conversation and always appreciate hearing what you have to say. Thanks for reading.
2 responses to “Lacy the Lurcher”
I recall reading about a lurcher, perhaps just the mention of it, in a book set in England. At the time, I wondered what exactly a lurcher was — I knew it was a canine from the context — but just shrugged and went on reading. Now I know, thanks to you!
.-= Ellen´s last blog ..My Home is Always Messy =-.
How interesting! She is a beautiful dog!