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My first step has been complete for a while now. The line of leoaprds I hunt has been producing good track and locating tree dogs for a while now but it's not a process until you've got a second step making this PART ONE in the process.

The second step of PART ONE is almost like cheating. I'm using good old fashioned lurchers. Its really an easy thing to do as long as you have access to good ingredients. Take a greyhound, or in my case, a staghound and cross it onto a good boarder collie with an even temperament and a predilection for hunting. The cross produces a high percentage of talented, useful and very teachable dogs nearly every time. If some of them tree, I'm going to beat this thing faster than you think!

I can't tell you what the third step is, but here is the next one:

Here they are, 3 dark males, 1 dark female, 2 light males and 1 light female!!





There is something more and I'm going to find it.

Just curious to what traits are you expecting in the finished product. Good looking pups by the way.

Curious, how much nose power you expect? Al

10-4, those pups are all looking really nice and no runt in the litter. If they all survive that will be very nice. There's only two females and I would rather have more females to pick from. I'm expecting pretty decent noses. I've seen similar types run fox for several miles before the jump and in most cases that's plenty to get a cat going. If they do any better than that I will just be extra glad. I've noticed that Streak actually has a decent nose on her. The collies will track very old stuff, particularly if you train them for it and make it one of their obsesions (which isn't hard). The great thing about this cross that they take directions well as they loose very little of the brains from the boarder collie.

What's nice about this is that I was able to get very good examples of each breed in a realtively short time (3 years) normally it takes quite a bit longer to find that kind of quality.

The one thing about this type of dog is that it is not for the people who don't spend a lot of time with their dogs. Not only are they capable of advanced obedience and complex tasks but they don't really live to their full potential unless the same is asked of them. I guess you could say that (asking a lot of them) to some degree with any type of dog but there is a difference, in that department, between the lurchers and the hounds we're all used to. One more thing I'd like to add here is that like with the leopards, I'll be looking for a dog that is tougher (mentally).

What type of treeing ability is expected? Andy

I think it's pretty well known that there are a lot of collies that tree well. I've talked to some folks in Europe and have not been able to find out much on that front. I'm just going to have to wait and see about that. I would think there will be a few that tree well and the rest can be taught. I'll be watching for the naturals. It will come down to how the stag influences the treeing in this cross.

Is the male a american collie or an import collie from the UK ? I personally like the imports generally better myself. Been around only a handful however.

Mostly a hill collie from Scotland and Wales. There's also a tough of bearded collie back a ways but I've seen it coming out in a couple of the dogs in Gem's litter mates. For those not familiar with the "beardies", they are typically to hard for the sheep folks.

Here are some individual pictures of the pups...

Males:










Females:

Dan, just wanted to say I feel the passion you feel for what you are trying to produce and want to wish you luck!

I had a feeling you might go that route. They seem more aggressive and built better than the american bred ones. My friends have had a few from there. It sounds really exciting, I hope it works which I have a feeling it will if trained properly.

That last white male is pretty neat looking. How long are you going to wait before you pick which pup you are going to keep?

Outlaw13- If you would like to put your name on that one your welcome to it. He's a good looking pup but I'm going to lead towards the darker pups and I like females to boot. I'm going to keep a male and a female most likely but I'm for the darker ones. He's all yours. I know it pays to raise a pup from 8 weeks so if you'd like him right away that would be fine.

Thanks Dan, but im all full with pups and dogs right now. Is there a genetic reason you are going to lead towards the darker ones or is that just a personal preference?

Both. It would depend on the use though. If your just looking for a courser, I'd be open to a light eyed dog.