Lurcher

This lurcher is a cross between a
greyhound and a terrier.

This lurcher is a cross between a collie
 a deerhound and a greyhound (like mollie)

This lurcher is a cross between Saluki and a
Bearded collie and a Greyhound

Here is a post with photos of all different kinds of lurchers.

Sitting and down

Mollie is really good at sitting and lying down now.

All we have to do is a hand signal and she does it.

Mollie the lurcher

Mollie the Lurcher.

Food Thief

Looking for more food

In the last week mollie has stolen half a pizza a corn on the cob 1 burger and some scraps from the bin.

And about 5 bowls of cat food.

Admirers

Mollie has lots of admirers.  At least once every time we go out in public someone will come up to us to compliment mollie.  After getting mollie we have a lot more friends.

Hectic week

 On the couch

At the river

We went to the river for a swim.  We wanted mollie to come in to.  So we took her down to the waters edge.  She stuck her head in and gulped down the water.  But refused to go any deeper into the freezing water.  Mollie is a softy.  When we got she just curled up next to us on the hot rocks.

Letting her off the lead at the beach

Today we let mollie off the lead for the first time at the beach.

She loved it.

The first thing she did was jump up and down and run round us.

  She came back every time we called except when someone was eating a ham sandwich.

  But we got her back in the end.

She was sprinting round us in circles and splashing us all.

  Though she didn't like the water very much.

Mollie with her new friend

Enjoying the water

Chasing me

Chasing her friend

Chasing me

Tired

Running again

Running

Chasing me

Chasing me

Flinching

I threw a stick for her but she didn't fetch it and flinched as though i was going to hit her.

Running full pelt

Jumping

I have been training mollie to jump on command and she is doing very well.

I made a jump out of two seats and a broom.

You will need:

• A jump ( long stick and two things to prop it up)
• A lead (to start with)
• Flat area with no distractions
• Treats for your dog

1. Set up your jump.  For mollie who is good at jumping naturally and is 23.5 inches tall we started with the jump at 30 cm above the ground
2. Put a treat in one hand and hold your dog on a leash in the other.
3. Get space for a run up and run and jump over the jump.  Your dog should follow.
4. If they do it right praise straight away and give them the treat
5. After they have mastered this say the command jump just before they jump.
6. Then raise it higher.  (If they dont jump it when you have raised the bar, lower it and finish on success.)

Training Mollie

We thought the first 2 things to train mollie were:

1. Come when called
2. Sit

Mollie is half greyhound and apparently greyhounds are meant to be the morons of the dog world so we were not sure how quickly she would pick up on things.

But luckily she is part collie.

It took about 5 minute for her to learn to come.  Even though this may be because she is still very clingy and is getting over her abandonment issues.  She now comes when called.

How to teach them to Come:

1. Ask a friend to hold your dog and not let go till you say come.
2. Excite the dog and wave around a treat.
3. Go back 3 metres and loudly say come.
4. Your dog should come.
5. Praise your dog and reward her.
6. Do it again but stand further back.

Teaching mollie to sit was harder.

The way to teach her to sit in books :

1. Make sure your dog is calm before starting.
2. Get a treat and put it level with her nose.
3. Let her lick the treat.
4. Move the treat in an ark over the dogs back keeping the treat next to her nose.
5. It will be more comfortable for your dogs bottom go down so it usually will
6. Praise

The way we ended up training her to sit:

Calm before starting

1. Make sure your dog is calm before starting.
2. Show her the treat.
3. Let her lick the treat.
4. Slightly push her bottom while saying sit.
5. Praise.

Treat and Praise

The reason Lurchers and Greyhounds dont learn to sit so easily the first way is because they are extremely good at backing up.

Vet Check up

After having Mollie for 2 days we thought it best to give her a vet check up.  In the vets  mollie was very good, though some cats got a bit frightened.  When we went in she was the same.
The vet was nice and mollie liked him as soon as he gave her a treat and we got started right away.  First he asked some question then checked her eyes, body and ears.

When he gave her her vaccinations she bit the vet and whimpered.

Mollies Previous life

Before we were given mollie she had a different life.

***

Mollies mother was a collie ,greyhound x

and her father was a greyhound ,Deerhound x

There was three in the litter and the family who bred them could only keep 1 .

This is a Greyhound

This is a Deerhound

     
This is a collie

Mollie

It wasn't really a dog hotel. It was owned by a farmer.

Each dog had a little area each and didn't get much exercise and were fed scraps of meat.

After a year the farmer decided to shoot the dogs.

Some nice men heard about this and offered to find them homes.

The week before they picked up the dogs the farmer went away on holiday leaving the dogs in their crates.

With the hard life mollies had she is probably the sweetest dog i know.

Finding Mollie

Before we considered getting Mollie we either going to get a greyhound or a whippet.

We searched breeders and dog shelters all over the country.

Recently we visited a friend and on the drive back we stopped at a house with a lurcher for sale. I wasn't sure what the dog would be like since i had never seen a lurcher before.

We drove up to the dogs house, opened the little gate and were greeted by a friendly man and a beautiful dog.

I fell in love with her at once.

Mollies sister poppy

There had been another man looking at her just before us and unfortunately he has first pick so the man agreed to text us with his answer.

We asked if we could have a think about it (Already knowing our answer (Yes!).)and went to a cafe to have tea and cake.

The man texted back to say the other guy took her (I was very annoyed.).

Relief flooded into me when he texted saying she had a sister (the dog had a sister) and that we could view her today.

We drove to Mollies house.

When i saw mollie she was even more gorgeous than poppy (the one we just viewed). Our hearts melted and we got Mollie that day.

Mollie was amazing in the car journey she didn't bark or whine just went to sleep or looked at us with her big brown eyes.

Mollie settled in at home

At home she was perfect.