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I would like to hear about other's experiences with hounds that had 1/8 to 1/2 sighthound bred into them. I have a buddy that has a dog that is 1/2 Plott and 1/2 hotblood Greyhound. The dog is really good for about a half hour and then falls out. In the eyes of a trailhound man, that's not at all impressive but in the eyes of a sighthound man that's phenomenal endurance considering the speed at which the dog is traveling. The dog cuts in to open hounds from well over 1/4 mile away, gets in the scent tunnel and leaves the trailhounds to catch a coyote and is open all of the way. While I don't think that being open is an advantage to this dog for catching, in the end it's good because the trailhounds can hark to him and help him with the worst coyotes and he doesn't end up blowing up the hunt. What ever happens, it seems to be working and I would like to hear more about what others have experienced. There are some very interesting characteristics about how this dog works that would lend itself well to catching bobcats or anything else for that matter...like small aircraft, snowmobiles and the occational antelope or cheeta

I've hunted with a dozen sighthounds and sighthound crosses at this point and I'm here to say if you haven't gotten to fool see it your really missing out on some very extreme talents and physical abilities. Physically, with the exception of endurance, most sighthounds make tree and trail hounds look like they belong in the Special Olympics. Mentally, they might not be as intelligent as some of the smarter hounds but they are certainly more "awake" to the world in much the same way a fox or coyote is.

Anyhow, I'm still learning here and I'm excited to hear what else you all have seen. I don't have enough gas money to see them all.

Seen many of them in Field trials. Not fun to race against. They do have noses that work sure enough. Very few of them were actually tree minded. They were either trained to bark a couple times or did it naturally, but lightly and very short lived. I never saw one work in the woods, but out west, apparently treeing and staying is pretty important and in "special Olympic" terms, I think when the over-all judgements are tallied, the longdog crosses will be entered in more events (as retarded).

It's obvious to me at this point that the sighthound crosses will not replace a good hound on the tree. I don't know of more than one of them that tree's well. The point of interest comes when you consider that nearly all of the cat hunters out there use three or more dogs. In that case there is the packs ability as a whole to account for and in that case there is some room for a dog that does something better than the hounds even if it can't do something else better.

I'm not posing the idea that sighthound crosses can replace tree/trail hounds in the bobcat hunts, just that they surely can add to a pack's "bag of tricks".

Maybe they could add something, but I would speculate only in specific environments, like some open country.

Mine and my buddy Clyde's dogs are doing it in the woods and swamps of Northeastern WI. It doesn't get a whole lot tighter for cover than that. They've got noses. After a bit of training, they hark to hounds and once there they leave the hounds in the dust. Most of the time I hunt by myself and they don't need a trailhound. I'm not talking 6+ hour old tracks but I'm also talking about full sighthounds. I have two stags that hit the bush and hammer coyotes. For interest, I also have a little 21.5" whippet that can slam a cotton tail in the bush and that's with his nose most of the way. To be fair, some of the sighthounds I've had won't do any of this, they pull up at the edge of cover and won't go in the bush after game. I sell those as long as all else is good with them. I've only kept the ones that want to hunt in cover.

Also, longdogs are crosses of two sighthound breeds. The crossbred dogs at the field trials and water races are typically greyhound x treehound. I'm not sure what the proper name for those would be. some would say lurchers but lurchers are sighthounds crossed with either pastoral breeds such as border collies or one of the terrier breeds. I know there are people out there that hunt the sighthound x tree/trailhound crosses and I'd like to hear what they have to say about them.

I have a friend that talked me out of a stag x july female and she is running loose at his place and is getting in trouble with the neighbors for killing everything it can see including a surprising ability for catching birds of all kinds.

Ok you sucked me in. Have had some ask me what's going on. Well, kind of a long story. First Carey set the bait by telling me to hunt a Clay dog in the contest. Then I am thinking "maybe, but I am not showing up with a dog I don't know, and doesn't know me." So I start making plans to hunt the dog. Well, we all know you can't just hunt a finished dog by himself, because what's the point? So pretty soon I have thee dogs lined up and I am going to hunt every western state that will let me in.

Well, I will spare you the details, but that all changed. I slammed on the brakes Except the brakes allowed a little drift, and I now have a dog. A pup from two coyote dogs owned by Dan Edwards. I have long been trying to get myself to give up on the travelling bobcat show, and hunt something I have (wild canines) instead of something I don't have where I live (bobcat)

So I have a dog that is 1/2 registered running walker, and 1/8 stag, and 1/8 other stuff.

Pretty rediculous of me really, because of my work hours. But I do feel happier. Too bad for the dog. But nice for me. So I might be able to give a little input someday on this topic.

david wrote:
So I have a dog that is 1/2 registered running walker, and 1/8 stag, and 1/8 other stuff.

Your dog's missing a 1/4.

It is not the dog missing 1/4.

She is 1/4 stag. The other 2/3 is secret.

Have you talked to or read much of Dutch Salmon?

Dan McDonough wrote:I would like to hear about other's experiences with hounds that had 1/8 to 1/2 sighthound bred into them.

So I spose I should put this in the coyote section or coon section, but since you asked here... This is interesting stuff. I really do not know that the sight hound blood is going to add anything in the bobcat realm, but I do hope to at least see her on a couple cat tracks some day. She is faster down the road than dogs I am used to. I have seen her sight chase jack rabbits. The speed is addicting. I can see why people love coursing with sight hounds. And she got into a nest of coons in the daytime, so I really learned a lot about her then.

Her very first track was amazing to watch. Thick swamp grass, she was having trouble pushing through it. She swings wide into the field. Checks back in to the grass: "track is still here" swings wide and checks: "track is still here". Swings wide and checks: "track is not here!" Swings back to her last check point and runs the actual track up to the coon. All this takes less than a minute. Lol. Man I love day time hunting!

The second coon I had seen it leaving the area staight across a stubble field. I am glad I saw it because when she hit his trail, I would have thought it was a deer race if I had not seen the coon. As near as I could tell she was not swinging on this track but taking it right up the middle. Again, she caught up to it in seconds, not minutes, and it was a bad day for that coon.

She had two opportunities to locate up trees and did not even come close to doing it. If she ever trees, I am afraid it will be learned, and in no way instinctive.

I have not been around dogs as gracfully gifted athletically. It is really fun to watch. Again: maybe even a little addicting. I never imagined myself ever having interest in a sight hound, but you know how speed is: if a little of it is fun, more of it might be funner. Would like to see one actually catch one of those Jack rabbits.

I have had to teach her not to load up over the tailgate. She sees no sense at all in opening the thing up. She clears it easily, from standing flat footed.

Her focus seems less than the hounds I have had. Sometimes it is almost like watching myself when she forgets what we are doing.

I have never seen a dog more homesick than her. A couple times I thought she was dead, because she laid unresponsive. After a few weeks though, she has become very bonded to me. I guess a broken heart just means that she has one.

She is easier to keep than most hounds I have owned. She eats very little for her size. Her habits are toward cleanliness. She learned not to bark in two days of training. I think I corrected her four times, never used electricity. Have not heard one peep out of her since.

When the snow flies, I will put her on fox and see how she does. We have a handful of cats in this state, they say, but they are a couple hours from me. I am sure if she does well on fox there will be days when I am feeling dumb enough to drive 2 hours on the outside chance of getting her on a cat.

Right now, I am teaching her to hunt pheasants haha. I am trying this motto " hunt what you have, and not what you don't have". I have pheasants! She likes it, does pretty well at it although she is obviously not bird dog bred. I can't think of a time when she has failed to show me at least one pheasant. And I know it is there before it flushes. I thought the shotgun blast might be an issue for her, as she is on the sensitive side, but she got past that quite easily with a little re-assurance the first couple times.

I am very thankful to Dan Edwards for letting me have her. I don't have the best life for a dog right now, but she sure has made that life a little more fun. More fun to look forward to also.
Thank you Dan, and thanks to your kids too. She was lucky to have them, and she sure did miss them.

Thanks to all my friends who have tried to think of ways to get me back in dogs. I have constantly refused extremely kind offers. It is kind if a mystery really that I ended up with Dans "Cheetah". I have already regreted it at times because I want to do the dog better. But I am trying to just relax and enjoy her as best as my situation allows.

David, I'm sure you will be a much happier man now that you have a hunting dog again. I went almost a year one time without hound hunting with 5 hounds in the kennel. I told my wife I'm not using them , I'm going to get rid of them. But then I layed in bed several nights not able to go to sleep at just the thought of not owning a hound. If I didn't have a horse and a pack of hounds, who would I be. I did get rid of the horses but not the hounds, they just in some way maybe just to myself define who I am. I know that God wants us to love our fellow man and I do but I seem happiest when I am in the company of a hunting dog of any kind. I think you are much the same.

Thank you Scrubrunner. You and I have some important things in common. I hope to see you again some day.
I plan to explore her gifts and abilities on what I have available. Some day that might inclide bobcats. Time will tell.
And you are right, it feels pretty good to have a dog again.

I found an old pic, three of the the five lurchers are hound crosses (the other 2 are collie/greyhounds) all great (fox) hunting dogs. Originally bred from a collie/hound called Pedwar (welsh for four) an awesome fox hunting beast, the lurchers in the pic are his daughter and granddaughter. They're marking a fox to ground (old mine-cave type place)