He is lovely and sweet, full of energy and always up to something - I am sure I have read on here about them being laid back and lazy Lazy he is not and he is always surfing the kitchen sides when I am not in their to see what he can eat - this is a picture of him watching my son eating his breakfast very very keenly............


I reckon he would be good for obedience or agility but not having much experienced of lurchers and what I have read thought it would be something they would hate - but not him he would love it or maybe he could get a job as a food taster




and looking sweet

Yes, lurchers are supposed to be laid back and lazy... but it depends very much on their breed make-up. The more collie or saluki they have in them, the more lively and active they are! My two lurchers (saluki cross and mainly saluki) have not read the books either and are very active (though not hyper luckily).

Vera

I've got one of them too.....he's just decided he likes soap?? and we have had to put any bars up higher ....he does counter surf although that might be due to his older stiffer brother teasching him , Quite handy having a new younger Norty brother .
Last nights new game was jump over the sofa ......then copied by Ben (rather larger...OES ) so I am deffo considering the agility ....just need to find a pensioners one so I can keep up...

Sam is not hyper either but he keeps up with my collie and labxnewfie on the walks and runs his little socks off, he is chilled now but will perk up again after lunch for more Probably some of it with him is he has been in kennels and messed around the last month, he has been through it and once he starts feeling secure I am sure he will only get better, I love dogs like this but not everyone does and I just thought when people were looking for a lurcher they were looking for a laid back lazy sort of dog who will enjoy his run and thats thats he needs more really, long runs and stuff to do very collie like... and also only still a baby

Molly used to jump up all fours on the work tops, a couple of days after having her I was hanging washing on the line came in to find her all fours on my dining table drinking my cup of tea! I dont think she had ever lived in a house though, he is lurchers are lots of fun!

I don't know who told you that they wouldn't enjoy agility, my lot would love it (Otis at ten still jumps stiles, Matilda at 12 will crawl through a 12 inch gap if it leads to a field with bunnies, Minstrel and Theo spent hours yesterday chasing each other round and over straw bales in the field) The point is that you can't get them to do something they don't want to do, I think that's why people think they are lazy and don't want to do anything - they'll happily sleep if there's nothing better to do...Theo has a low boredom threshold and will only do something two or three times to prove he can do it, never more, then he's off to do something more exciting Min would like agility best if there was a type of pursuit agility, where you got to chase your mates around the course at the same time Otis would like fly ball if the ball was replaced with food

...and all sighthounds are notorious countersurfers

Dylan is doing agility too and loves it - and is pretty good at it too, if I may say so myself. It'll be Flash's turn next year too, who loves agility too!


That's why clicker training works so well with them, they then think it was their idea all along...

The more collie they have in them, the easier it is to get their co-operation... the more saluki they have in them, the more naughty they are... If you have a saluki x collie, then you have a lurcher that co-operates occasionally to give you a sense of security.... and then buggers off ...

Vera

No one told me just had this idea they were lazy thats the good thing about fostering you learn all about these difference breeds etc - your home sounds fab and Sam said can you squeeze him in please

A lot depends also on how long he's been in rescue..and whether he was a street dog before or not. When we first got our rescue lurcher, we had to carry plates of food over our heads as he'd leap for them, didn't dare leave anything on the worktops etc. Once he realised that he was going to be fed regularly, he stopped doing it. I still wouldn't trust him with a chicken left within reach though!

Not sure what dog you could trust with a chicken within reach I could not even trust my husband with that

ive had many lurchers over the years and fin is the first one who isnt a counter surfer! leave it at nose level and he'll have it but its wayyyy too much effort to jump up and steal

Neither of my lurchers have ever stolen anything off the worktop - they have never even tried ! my english setter is a superb counter surfer tho, she can reach stuff all the way at the back

Lurchers are not known for their agility or obedience but there are plenty of exceptions, my Bonnie loves agility and started aged 11ish.

Bonnie's 3rd agility class

Food motivated is a bonus

They say greyhounds are content with two half hour walks - my lurcher Holly would be content with two 3 hour walks

Lottie my grandparents lurcher has 2 1 hour walks a day. And will do anything for food..........and I mean ANYTHING

Well little boy has settled in so well here he really is but my goodness never known a dog like it and we have fostered a few. A few days ago he had a whole loaf of bread, he has also got a whole bag of caster sugar out of the cupboard and spread it all over the floor and him and bart were having the time of their life licking it all up. I am learning fast when I brought all the shopping home the other day I had to put him outside as I think the temptation would have been too much and when I looked up their he was peering through the kitchen window as he is so tall looking

So we have a very clear and tidy kitchen at this moment in time, but he is such darling temperament that makes up for it such a sweet little puppy and so well behaved apart from the food thing

He will continue to test you though. Just when you thought you could breath a sigh of relief, he will find a different thing to thieve.

The last lurchery girl we had here cost me £80 for a new bin - for the laundry room where she ahd to get through a cat flap and a closed door. And Meg the greyhound has worked out that she can steal from the back of my desk at work if she stands on my chair

My Lurcher Suki will have anything off the side. She has had loaves of bread, defrosting meat. We did a buffet once and forgot to put her out. We came down to find that she had had the chicken wings and the meat platter and was just starting on the bread!!! We were only gone for about 10 minutes.
Glad to hear that he is settling Gilly, he is such a sweetie.

Wonder why they are like it, its like any given opportunity, I think probably he is worse because he found abandoned in a house so was starving apart from that he is perfect... and it makes me clear up

My lurcher Max (greyhound/lab cross) has a particular liking for cat food. Many a time he gets their food bowl off the kitchen windowsill (where I have to feed the cats). When my kids have finished their tea I have to tell them to put their plates out of reach in the kitchen as you will usually hear the cutlery fall to the floor where Max is trying to steal any leftovers from them. You will go into the kitchen and he will give you the 'it wasn't me!' look. And I have come in many a time and the contents of the bin is scattered all over my downstairs with the empty catfood pouches all chewed up. I have since brought a lockable bin which has helped.

Being food orientated does help with training though as he will do anything for food! He's so funny, when we are out on walks and he's feeling peckish his pointy nose sneaks into my pocket to steal a treat. The cheek of it

I think it is probably a combination of nature and nurture - 'lur' is apparently the Romany word for thief and many of them, because of poor starts in life, tend to live up to that - before Otis settled here and realised that he would always have two good meals a day, he would break into any bin, countersurf ruthlessly, open cupboards and the fridge, couldn't pass a skip without jumping in and tried to rip open every bin bag we walked by on collection day It dawned on me just how bad he was when he appeared gleefully out of the undergrowth on a walk with an old bread bag...which someone had used as a poo bag, but he must have thought it still had the original contents!

Kali (oldie lurcher) LOVES food & even though she is now almost blind is by far the best theif out of my lot

She has this weekend also found out that 6 year old kids are a food store & also an easy target

I lllurve lurchers and love hearing all about them. I used to get to foster quite a lot, but recently we don't seem to get anywhere near as many through our rescue as we used to. They were always my favourite foster type. Your pup looks a love Gilly - and Princess Cs lot are just fabulous and have the best life ever (lucky lot) !.

I must admit they are one of the easier breeds to foster - was just looking at him all stretched out and long on his bean bag he really is so

Bread bag story sounds funny I can imagine him doing that