Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Pleased to meet you
Simon Whitehead welcomes a brace of lurcher puppies to his household, as well as a visiting foxhound. Now for the training…
Throughout early summer, I was unable to pass my office wall chart without my eye being drawn to the big red circle marked ‘Day 65’ – Tawny, my lurcher’s due date. Normally I spend the summer months distracted at country shows but as you are all aware 2020 isn’t a normal year. Tawny was due to whelp at Easter and was looking fed up and uncomfortable. Not fat as such, just easier to see as she stood in the entrance to her kennel. The antithesis of her usual svelte waistline.
Afforded the time to maximise her health during pregnancy, she had plenty of quality food and a purposebuilt kennel in an old stable, and a whelping box fitted with the best vet bed, her chandelier being a heat lamp. While I sat, looking at Tawny I found myself reciting Juliana Berners poem from 1486, “A head like a Snake, And necked like a Drake, Footed like a Cat, Tailed liked a Rat, Sided like a
Team, Chined like a Beam.” Although originally written about a greyhound, in my opinion it fits the bill for the right conformation of a lurcher.
I was on tenterhooks, just like an expectant father. All I wanted was for nature to take its course and to have Tawny whelp. Mentally I thought I was prepared for everything, but Tawny is Tawny. Life would not be the same if she did not chuck me a curveball from time to time.
Two by two, Tawny produced her litter of pups. Six pups later we had a large gap before number seven arrived. Budget, as we named her, was the last, making it four bitches and three dogs. Being noticeably smaller than her siblings, this made me anxious. Her slight physicality allowed her brothers and sisters to simply bully her off Tawny’s teats as the scramble for milk began, but I cannot praise Tawny enough as a mother. The pups were kept meticulously clean, as was the whelping box, but Budget just wasn’t
“I was on tenterhooks, like an expectant father. All I wanted was for nature to take its course and have Tawny whelp”
putting on any weight nor appearing to get a look in at the bar.
A lot of people would have just let her get on with it a lot longer than we did, but when we weighed them the next morning, Budget had lost weight. I wasn’t prepared to take that gamble, so the decision was made to supplement her milk, especially as the first 48 hours are vital in getting
normally buy a pup in, I have never had this golden opportunity before.
Once weaned, I set about showing these two youngsters what their life would be like. My cerebral approach to rabbiting and training was helped by the fact that for the first time in my life I have free access to plenty of land full of sheep, pigs, horses and cattle, as well as our chickens and cats – and the ferrets. I had no excuses when it came to outlining the importance of obedience and being steady to stock.
As if life with two driven lurcher puppies isn’t hectic enough, a few weeks ago we gained another member of the household. Gov’nor, an aesthetically pleasing foxhound puppy from the College Valley & North Northumberland Hunt, arrived. His destiny is to hunt with local pack The Bilsdale. The glaring difference between the physicality,
about pack politics, whereas Dotty, Budget and I will just be forging our relationship in the field and starting to become a team.
Taking the lead
Lead training is always fun with lurchers and these two were no exception. Dotty was a natural whilst Budget spun around like a barracuda on a hook. Unfazed by this, I just played on her natural jealously of her sister. Every time she demonstrated this behaviour, I simply dropped
“Lead training is always fun with lurchers. Dotty was a natural while Budget spun around like a barracuda on a hook”
the lead and walked off with Dotty. Within seconds, Budget was beside me with her angelic demeanour, which doesn’t fool me for one second.
Although what I perceive as well-bred and driven, this brace are sensitive souls. I must think carefully before implementing my training, especially retrieving. Any raised or forceful body language or an aggressive tone to my voice will just have the opposite effect and will be met with a stubbornness that only a lurcher owner knows.
The slight click of a finger must be heard above all ambient noise, in the same breath as a quietly spoken recall, sit or stay command as I am training two canine athletes for the paths set in front of them, but in a silent world.
As with all of my dogs, obedience, especially the stop command, is vital. Getting a lurcher to stop in full flight is very hard to achieve and often impossible. The ability to be able to call them off, or at least turn around and head back, could save their lives as we work near roads, amongst dangerous, hard and sharp surfaces and machinery, not to mention livestock and wild animals.
Am I trying to achieve the impossible? I do not necessarily think so. They have the brains; all I need to do is give them my best attention and then hope for the best.
As we embark on a fantastic journey together, I am in no doubt that I will be visiting some of my gundog training friends over the coming months and years to achieve my belief that each dog one gets should be better than the last one.