Anyone want a 100% purebred collie (that thinks he's a lurcher)??

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A hare popped up 5m from us on our walk this morning and all my hard work on recall training went straight out of the window. Little swine thinks he is a lurcher and took off in hot pursuit. Pretty impressive to see the little sod at full stretch, he's an absolute bullet when the adrenaline takes over, and was giving the hare a run for its money (or it was using as little energy as possible to stay ahead). Also an excellent illustration of why he stays on his long line most of the time. I have not got this impulse control thing cracked at all!
 
I have one like that. First collie I have had that hasn't had brilliant recall. If she is working, sheep or agility, or just herding my other dog with a ball she is great, otherwise long line is the only way.
 
I think, to be fair, that the hare would have been too much temptation for most dogs. :-) I hope he came back eventually. My lurcher used to slip back in behind you and pretend she had never actually buggered off over the horizon at all, but that my eyes had let me down.
 
Yep, mine chased a hare all over a grassed area at motorway services, just beside the lorry park. Took me several days to recover my heart rate.
When a hare rises and both it and the dog are off before you have a chance to get a word in edgeways, I'd challenge most people to be able to get dogs that have any sort of prey/chase drive, back instantly.

(Trumpet fanfare: Bring on the bores!)
 
We dont have Hares but we do get a lot of deer who are the bane of my life, i can see them out of my windows they are literally just over the garden hedge. Its not many weeks go by without one jumping out of the hedge in front of me and thats it my Dobes are off, they are only gone a few minutes but that is long enough. I cant keep them on long-lines indefinitely so they are muzzled just in case a deer was to fall in front of them. Apart from that their recall is good but the deer are a flaming nuisance.

They do have their uses though, every year before we cut our fields for hay I put a long-line on one of mine and work the fields searching for fawns, when we find one we mark with a fencing post, those little fawns will not move and its very upsetting if one gets caught by the mower.
 
Yes you’re absolutely right, it’s a huge temptation for any dog so I’m not beating myself up too much. I think I would have fallen over with shock if he hadn’t gone after it to be honest! Thank goodness it turned right instead of left at the field boundary or he would have headed to the road instead of off into the fields. I did feel like the infamous ‘Fenton’ owner, bellowing completely ineffectually at the top of my lungs as he disappeared into the distance. Doggy four wheel drive in pursuit of hare beats human in welly boots sloughing through the mud at a lumbering jog hands down.

To his credit though, once the hare was lost he did come straight back, eyes wide and full of adrenaline, tongue lolling, saying ‘did you see how fast I went?! I almost had him!...wait, what, why the lead? Spoilsport!’. I gave him plenty of admiration for his hare coursing skills, and a bit of chicken kept for special occasions like passing horses whilst out walking (all the time wanting to strangle the little monkey), so hopefully that was an ok trade for going back on his longline. I figured he did at least come back afterall, he could have gone feral for the day!
 
CorvusCorax said:
Yep, mine chased a hare all over a grassed area at motorway services, just beside the lorry park. Took me several days to recover my heart rate.
When a hare rises and both it and the dog are off before you have a chance to get a word in edgeways, I'd challenge most people to be able to get dogs that have any sort of prey/chase drive, back instantly.

(Trumpet fanfare: Bring on the bores!)
Click to expand...

I’m not sure my heart would have survived that one. Not least because he would probably trade the hare for a car and head off down the motorway!
 
CorvusCorax said:
Yep, mine chased a hare all over a grassed area at motorway services, just beside the lorry park. Took me several days to recover my heart rate.
When a hare rises and both it and the dog are off before you have a chance to get a word in edgeways, I'd challenge most people to be able to get dogs that have any sort of prey/chase drive, back instantly.

(Trumpet fanfare: Bring on the bores!)
Click to expand...

Well that won't be me, CC.

I was going to say mine put up a hare but actually I think he deliberately started attention seeking as they hadn't seen him up to that point. 3 of my 8 took off in pursuit (2 lurchers with a GSD hot on their heels), as he zigzagged across a huge field. Recall would have been futile. One of the lurchers was dumped by the travellers so had probably "worked" for her keep.

No, they didn't catch him. I just thanked my lucky stars when the dogs turned back at the hedge.
 
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My old collie was smacked in the face as a puppy by a pheasant that she had inadvertently stumbled across out on a walk. From that point onward if ever anything flew or ran out in front of her she would ‘give chase’ after whatever it was at a gentle lope for all of about 20 feet before turning and looking at me as if to shrug and say ‘I gave it my best but it got away from me’. Then go back to trotting along. Her token effort and easy defeat always made me smile.
 
the longest my lurcher had ever been off hunting was when a hare popped up and ran across the path in front of us. i had no chance of recalling as it was so sudden. both dogs went but my collie cross came back after about 5 mins as she couldnt keep up. my lurcher was missing for 3 HOURS !!!!! i was frantic, my neighbours all came out to help as it was evening, we were all at different points round the fields and she eventually was found walking back towards my car, she was absolutely shattered but so was I , it was just starting to get dark and i had planned to spend the night waiting in the car as she always came back in the end.....luckily i didnt need to....i could have strangled her but had to tell her she was good through gritted teeth...
 
Ah the good old days when I only had 3 dogs... 2 greyhounds and a lurcher... they put up a hare on my friends Scottish cattle farm, I didn’t bother calling them but watched in admiration! 3 massive fields later the hare went over a dry stone wall, through a hawthorn hedge and under an electric fence where Islay greyhound broke a toe and was finally forced to give up (Amy and little Flick had long since been beaten).

Islay was a tough little hunter, probably the worst I’ve had apart from Millie!
 
Levrier said:
watched in admiration!
Click to expand...

Well done. You have just said what I was not brave enough to say (I was massively relieved when they did not go out of sight though ;)).

We should not be surprised or ashamed when dogs follow their instincts and do what they were bred to do.

My elderly JRT tore the house apart hunting for a rat one of the cats had brought in. He cornered it in one of the bedrooms and despite, the rat biting his face, he was triumphant when he despatched it to ratty heaven. I hope you are ready for this with George, terriers don't give up :D
 
Oh no, that means I have a tenacious terrier as well as a lurcher who would literally keep going until she dropped! Those two are NEVER getting together ?

I must admit I’d be worried about George with rats simply because they are nasty little creatures which carry a lot of disease, I’d be too scared he’d get hurt!
 
Luna caught a hare a couple of weeks ago, she was on the long line. I don’t know if they freeze like rabbits can, but seconds before, a rabbit ran almost over my foot which neither she or Bo saw. The next thing, I heard squealing, and she’d got the hare. She did kill it in seconds.

Bo will take off after things in the forest, but doesn’t chase them far and will come straight back. We can’t take any credit for his off lead training, but he’s a good boy for recall.
 
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