If you have any questions please email

josephine.williams@ntlworld

I will forward your questions to Lurcher expert
Jeff and the answers will be published on this page.

See also the second letter Superior Siberian Lurcher cross published after this first letter.

In answer to your questions "Why would anyone add Husky blood and does anyone work them?" The man who did this outcross, probably has done more Lurcher work than all the so-called "Famous" names that appear in "The Comic" put together. Indeed he is the only man I know of, who was sent to a psychiatrist for being obsessed with working his dogs. Fortunately, the psychiatrist's grandfather used to slip the Waterloo cup, so he understood there was nothing wrong! And told him to carry on.

Anyway, one story goes that he was walking his Tumbler bitch in the New Forest, when he met a veterinary surgeon with a magnificent very tall male Siberian Husky on a lead. He naturally enquired why the vet restricted the dog with a lead instead of allowing it to gambol with the Tumbler. The vet replied that every time he let it off it pulled down the local " Wild-life" and the warders had threatened to prosecute if he did it again.

Being an obsessive hunter, who would cross in a cheetah if only they had the same number of chromosomes as a dog, he was interested in whether this natural hunting ability could be harnessed into his working lurchers. Since the vet was not averse to using his dog at stud it was duly mated to the Tumbler bitch on her next season.

The first cross offspring were well worked by him and his mate who is a professional pest controller. They were so good that it was considered that one more cross to pure running blood would satisfy his very high standard of expectations. Over time two such crosses were made, firstly to a greyhound, whippet, saluki and also to a whippet, greyhound. I myself had a bitch called "Mini" from the first trip, which I used as an outcross back to our old bloodlines eventually, and believe me I do not breed in anything which is going to risk detracting from the superior working abilities, and can personally vouch for "Mini's" working capability. Also, the descendents I bred on from her. The man I then let have "Mini" also used her as a gun dog for pigeon shooting, besides her normal lurcher work. Indeed, he thought so much of her, as a worker, that he brought her back and used a dog that I had bred on from her, called "Bran", over her to get a pup, with the same qualities, for the future.

There is a letter, by the pest controller, reproduced below which vouches for the working ability of the second trip, to the whippet, greyhound.

This was in answer to a typical vitriolic attack on using Husky blood penned by the recently deceased "Comic-book writer", who's writing about lurchers was prolific in inverse proportion to his knowledge about them. Indeed, in February of 2000 he rang me up asking for information about "Smithfields" and "Norfolks". I asked him his reason for wanting to know. He said he was doing research in order to write about them, to which I replied, "But, David, you have already written numerous books about lurchers, wouldn't it have been a good idea to do the research first?"

Now, about Huskies, well firstly I would like to mention a really good friend of mine, who owns his own pack of Minkhounds and also had a team of Siberian Huskies trained for sled work and pulling wheeled rigs. He also had his Huskies trained up to a good standard of obedience, disproving the untrainability slur of the "Comic-book" writer. Which also puts into perspective the "Comic's" claims of being the world's greatest dog trainer.

My, Master of Minkhounds friend was once attending a rig racing meeting in a forest and had his team staked out on chains, when some jealous unsporting rival tried to sabotage his chances by letting one of his Huskies loose. The cry went up "Loose dog! You'll be trying to catch that for weeks in this forest". He whistled once and his loose dog returned straight to him and sat in front like a gun dog!

This misconception that Huskies are uncontrollable, held by most owners in this country, emanates from the U.S.A. where they are considered solely draught animals and their strong herding and hunting instincts are viewed as a liability. Anyone familiar with the culture of the nomadic Siberian tribes, who created the breed, would know that versatility is essential and the dogs are herders of reindeer and hunting dogs equal with their draught function.

The following is quoted from Hubbard's book, "Working Dogs of the World" (1947). . "Of the Asiatic breeds of sled dogs two are of particular importance, the Chuchi and the Ostiak. -------------The Chuchi takes its name after a tribe living in the Yakutsk Republic in north-eastern Siberia; both the people and the dog are found mostly in the basin of the Kolyma River north of the Stanovoi Mountain. ----------The breed has remarkable versatility and works efficiently as a HERDER OF LIVESTOCK, as a sled dog and HUNTER OF GAME, and as a guard of property. --------Indeed, it was for the express purpose of using it for RACE WORK that the Chuchi was imported into Alaska AND ITS SUCCESS IN THIS FIELD IS CONSPICUOUS--------The Ostiak is another Asiatic breed of sled dog, one almost equally versatile as the Chuchi. --------and is employed widely in HERDING DOMESTIC REINDEER, HUNTING SABLE, ELK, AND WILD REINDEER with HUNTERS armed with the famous Ostiak birch-pine bows and arrows, and guarding the rude hutments of the natives QUITE AS MUCH AS IN HAULING THE SLED. -----------Its build is rather LIGHT, yet of adequate bone and substance and ENTIRELY FREE FROM COURSNESS. -----------The height for this breed is usually about 23 inches, and weight about 50 pounds -------- (The capitalization and italics are mine not Hubbard's). . .

Also, they are physically totally different to the heavy short haul Malamutes, being preferred for light fast long distance travel and racing, not weight pulling contests. To lump all Huskies together is as meaningless as confusing the American Standard bred trotting horse with the Shire just because they are both harness breeds.

Incidentally, the following is quoted from Coppinger's book "Dogs":- "Then there is the Iditarod Trail Race in Alaska, an annual commemorative race of ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES. ………. but the winning time (and current record) in 2000 was NINE DAYS, FIFTY-EIGHT MINUTES, AND SIX SECONDS. That means teams average well over 125 MILES PER DAY, FOR JUST OVER NINE DAYS. That is like running FIVE MARATHONS A DAY FOR NINE DAYS! One twenty-four hour rest and two eight-hour rests are mandatory. What other mammal could even imagine this feat? My job here is to describe how a dog can do that." (The italics and capitals are furnished by me not Coppinger)

And, don't forget, they are running over ice and snow, in freezing conditions, pulling a sled with a driver riding on it. So, if hardiness, good feet, stamina and grit mean anything to a working lurcher, where better to acquire them? Added to their herding and hunting instincts leaves only early pace and agility and striking ability required from the other half of the cross. And where could you find these anywhere else to compare with the Tumbler - BINGO! The Tumbler would also improve the trainability, which I have already pointed out is far from absent in the Husky itself, providing you know how to train that is!

In fact the only thing I myself would have done differently was that I would have crossed the Husky to the whippet, greyhound before the Tumbler. This might have produced a first cross that lacked "mouth" but the second cross would have suited me best. However, the way they did it produced the goods, and the proof of the lurcher is surely in the game-pie!

Let us not forget that it is a common error amongst today's lurcher fraternity, raised on a monotonous diet of the "Comic Book Writer's" diatribe in the "Comic"(which censures any other opinion) to focus unduly upon what breed is used in the cross, when it is the individual that is more important than what breed. Also, it is how it is blended, the selection process and most importantly the result that counts. The "Comic Book Writer" would have us all believe that the only cross worthwhile is his and his puppy-farming mates over submissive, attention deficient, hard-eyed border collie crosses. The Husky even crossed just to greyhound has more promise in my opinion, and what these lads did was far superior. The right collie cross is the root of the old-fashioned lurcher, but the right collie is not today's fashionable "Trial" collie.

Furthermore, as soon as the Husky was blended with the Tumbler it was down to 50% and the other 50% in this case was a little bit special. After the result was further crossed to sight-hound it could be only about 25%, but by now the selection of individual could affect the percentage, a fact that the "Comic" never mentioned when ranting on about scientific formulas for lurcher breeding. In fact it is very common amongst dog breeders, who claim to be geneticists, to actually be totally unscientific, they just try to baffle the rest of us with "charlatan" science. In reality, dog breeding is as much an art as a science; and if science is to be applied at all it needs to be scientific! (i.e. accurate).

Below is a copy of a letter, written by one of the characters I mentioned who created this cross, a shortened (edited) version of which appeared in the letters page of The Countryman's Weekly, following a vitriolic attack by "The Comic". I would just like to add that they were running on the flint stone strewn fields of Hampshire and Dorset were most modern mass-produced collie crosses shred their feet in no time, crippling after a few runs. Which may explain why your mate Lloyd preferred the Australian Cattle Dog cross for its hardiness and tougher feet.

No offence intended to Lloyd, because he does work his dogs, but you could ask him what the Dalmatian adds to his lurchers and why anyone would want to cross Dalmatian into lurchers? (After all, the Dalmatian was an ingredient in cattle dogs to encourage them to work with horse riders!). As I said, although I don't think I have ever met Lloyd, I respect what he has done, creating a working strain from the Cattle Dog. I, myself, nearly tried it as a potential outcross about 25 years ago, but the litter of pure-breds I went to see in Daventry contained two deaf pups due to the merle collie, white bullterrier and dalmation that were originally used to create the cattle dog. I know what these dogs are capable of when pitched against the formidable wild boar in the outback! But, due to the deafness problem I blended my own version creating separate out cross strains from the very first Kelpies imported into this country by Kate Bottoms, an exceptional German Wirehaired Pointer. I blended those with a strain created from my lurcher strain, an Ed. Reid bull and a greyhound, which had been created by a poacher who haunted Thetford forest, for obvious reasons! So, I created my own sort of cattle-dog-cross-like blend, but avoiding the various white/merle genes that produced the deafness problem, and replacing the dalmation with the Wirehaired pointer instead. Although, it was a long drawn out process, it gave plenty of opportunity for selecting the working qualities along the way so that by the end of it I had level consistent litters, to outcross to my genuine old-fashioned bloodlines and which would not detract from them in any way. And I had gained the hardiness of the dingo outcross, which the Australians had found necessary to improve on the English collie imports, for both the Kelpie and the Cattle Dogs. .

I was recently lent a copy of your mate Darcy's book, and the lads are obviously doing a bit, but pictures of dead "Bambies" are only likely to attract the wrong sort of attention and you've got to remember my ancestors had these dogs when the mere possession of one was a hanging offence (along with the dog). The "antis" are about to plunge us all back into those "Dark-Ages" and although the web site acknowledges that the dogs would not be what they are today if it weren't for their hunting ancestry, I am a great believer in that poaching is best veiled in the inky darkness of the night and not boasted about the next day. The most I'll ever admit to, is being a retired poacher who did a bit (under-exaggeration) in my youth. The usual response is, do poachers ever actually retire? Which I choose to leave unanswered. Good hunting, and look after your dogs they are only as good as their owner, however well bred they are!

Jeff.

P.S. You might like to ask your mate Harry Millward whether the dog, called Sam, he borrowed for fifteen months was any good!