Hi Sophie,
David Hancock lives in Sutton Coalfield (or used to), and has written at least one book - QUESTION OF LURCHERS. Many of of Brian Plummer's books also mention him.
Among other things he 'specialises' in a greyhound cross old working type bearded collie, a strain which he seems to have got breeding 'true'. These are very pretty dogs indeed, with many beautiful merles. They also have the breeding to work.
I have never visited Mr Hancock's place or owned one of his dogs, so anything else I can tell you is hearsay, and I'd rather you wrote to me privately if you want more information.
On lurchers generally, they come in all shapes and sizes - from almost deerhound sized longdogs to tiny whippet crosses. Have alook at Gary Hosker's site at
http://www.lurcher.com/ for some descriptions and pictures.
The first thing to decide is why you want a lurcher. For work? In that case what you need to think about what prey you are going to hunt, and over what sort of terrain. For show? There are classes for large and smooth lurchers in rough size groupings, so anything goes, but large rough coated dogs are always popular. As a companion? Think about size, and what appeals to you personally.
Be careful of ads in papers like Countryman's. People knows what sells, and tend to make up 'pedigrees'. As often as not that deerhound x saluki x greyhound x collie is nothing of the sort - he will be what Plummer calls a 'bitsa' lurcher - bitsa this, bitsa that, bitsa the other ... So if you *do* want, say, a saluki x greyhound, make sure that you see the saluki - and his registration papers!
Finally, although I'm a lurcher fan, there is a negative side to getting a lurcher pup. There *are* lurchermen who could put pedigree breeders to shame when it comes to their care of the dogs and knowledge, but there are also a lot of cowboys. You may end up paying as much for a lurcher pup as you would for a purebred, only to find that you have an ill-reared pup with a falsfied 'pedigree' that will grow into something quite unpredictable.
So if the lean running dog type appeals to you, ask yourself if there is not a pedigree dog that might fit the bill. There are cowboy breeders in pedigree dogs too, but you still stand a better chance of getting a carefully bred, healthy, well reared pup from a genuine breeder who will always be there to help and advise.
Or the other option is to look for a rescue lurcer, and sadly you will not have to look too far, because there are always vast numbers of these dogs looking for homes.
Good luck, Sharon
By guest ![[gb]](/images/flags/gb.png "United Kingdom")
Date 06.02.02 20:59 UTC
I know David and visited his house/kennels if you would like to email me privately I will be pleased to help you.