View source for Lurcher

{{Short description|British dog cross-breed}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2021}}
{{about|the dog type|various ships|HMS Lurcher{{!}}HMS ''Lurcher''}}
{{Infobox Dogbreed 
|name= Lurcher
|image= File:Lurcher on Mountain.jpg
|image_caption= 
|altname= Poacher's dog 
|nickname= 
|country=[[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]]
| coat = Any
| colour = Any
| litter_size = variable
| life_span = 
|note=
|}}
[[File:Taplin, The Sportsman's Cabinet, Lurcher (facing page 103) (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=engraving of a rough-haired dog of sighthound type|Lurcher, illustration from ''The Sportsman's Cabinet'' by William Taplin, 1803; engraved from a painting by [[Philip Reinagle]]]]
A '''lurcher''' is a [[Dog crossbreed|crossbred dog]] resulting from [[dog reproduction|mating]] a [[greyhound]] or other [[sighthound]] with a dog of another [[Dog type|type]] such as a [[herding dog]] or a [[terrier]]. The lurcher is not a "breed," but is a generic descriptor of a group of varying dogs.  It was for hundreds of years strongly associated with [[poaching]]; in modern times, it is kept as a [[hunting dog]] or [[companion dog]].

== History ==
''Lurcher'' is an old English term for a [[crossbreeding|crossbred]] dog; specifically, the result of [[dog reproduction|mating]] a [[sighthound]] with a dog of another [[dog type|type]], typically a working breed. The term was first used with this meaning in 1668; it is considered to be derived from the verb ''lurch'', apparently a variant form of ''lurk'', meaning ''lurk'' or ''steal''.{{sfn|Russell|2018|page=29}}<ref>lurcher, n.4. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (subscription required).</ref><ref>lurch, v.1. Oxford English Dictionary, online edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (subscription required).</ref>  The tendency to "wrench" and "cut" rather than "course" was considered to be unfair and a violation of "The Law of the  Leash."<ref name="Burgeland">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rL4UAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Laws+of+the+Leash%22&pg=PA193 |page=193 |title=The sportsman's cyclopaedia : comprising a complete elucidation of the science and practice of hunting, shooting, coursing, racing, fishing, hawking, cockfighting, and other sports and pastimes of Great Britain, interspersed with entertaining and illustrative anecdotes [LeatherBound] |last1=Johnson |first1=Thomas Burgeland |orig-date=1848 |year=2023}}</ref>

In England from 1389, the right to keep a dog of any kind used in hunting<ref>As stated in an act of Parliament: "None shall hunt but they which have sufficient living" in the [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] and English of the time: ''null leverer, ne lerce, nautre chien pur chacer'',[https://archive.org/details/statutesatlargef01grea/page/388/mode/2up?q=none+shall+hunt+...+lerce]
translated as "no greyhound, hound nor other dog to hunt"</ref> was limited by law to those ''qualified'' by possessing lands, holdings, or income worth more than ten pounds per annum; in other words, [[Royal family|royalty]], [[nobility]], the [[gentry]], and the [[wealth]]y.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryof_kelh_1779_00/page/n145/mode/2up?q=lerce | title=A dictionary of the Norman or Old French language : Collected from such Acts of Parliament, Parliament rolls, journals, Acts of state, records, law books, antient historians, and manuscripts as related to this nation | year=1779 }}</ref>
This law, though repeatedly modified, remained in force until 1831.{{sfn|Russell|2018|page=29}} As a result, hunters and poachers bred sighthounds with breeds that could  disguise their sighthound bloodline, often under thick rough coats, whilst adding other abilities including intelligence, stamina or turning speed. The dog chosen for this could be an available farm dog, often a collie or terrier. 

In the nineteenth century, the word was used to describe some rough-haired regional greyhounds, which were banned from competition by [[coursing]] clubs such as Swaffham and Newmarket, due to the perception that they cut "turns" to kill instead of working the [[hare]] to gain points.{{sfn|Russell|2018|page=88}}

== Description ==
A lurcher is a [[Dog crossbreed|cross]], generally between a sighthound and a working dog breed. Generally, the aim of the cross is to produce a sighthound with more intelligence, a canny animal suitable for poaching rabbits, hares, and game birds. Over time, poachers and hunters discovered that the crossing of certain breeds with sighthounds produced a dog better suited to this purpose, given the lurcher's combination of speed and intelligence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plummer |first=David Brian |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15674881 |title=The Complete Lurcher : a manual |date=1979 |publisher=[[Boydell Press]] |isbn=0-85115-118-3 |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk, Eng. |oclc=15674881}}</ref> In more recent times, the crossing of different sighthound breeds with each other (e.g. A [[greyhound]] with a [[saluki]]) has become more common. These dogs were traditionally called [[Longdog|longdogs]] but these days "lurcher" is applied to them as well.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Lurchers Make Great Pets |url=https://www.gspca.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/GSPCA-Why-Lurchers-Make-Great-Pets-1.pdf |access-date=2024-01-31 |website=Galway SPCA |language=en}}</ref>

== Use ==

Lurchers were traditionally bred in England to assist poachers in hunting rabbits and hares. Around the world they are kept as sporting dogs and [[companion dog|family pet]]s,<ref>{{cite book |last=Drakeford |first=J. |title=The House Lurcher |publisher=Swan Hill Press |location=Shrewsbury |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-904057-34-5}}</ref> or to compete in sports such as [[lure coursing]] and [[dog racing]]. In the United States they may compete in lure coursing events through the AKC and the UKC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lure Coursing |url=https://www.akc.org/sports/coursing/lure-coursing/ |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=American Kennel Club |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lure Coursing {{!}} United Kennel Club (UKC) |url=https://www.ukcdogs.com/lure-coursing |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=www.ukcdogs.com}}</ref> Cross-breeds are not registered and formally recognized by any major kennel club. In North America, the Canadian Kennel Club can deprive individual members of their club rights if they have been proven of crossbreeding any breed as in creating lurchers; in the US lurchers can be registered with the North American Lurcher and Longdog Association.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Lure Coursing, Amateur Whippet & Sighthound Racing - NALLA Overview|url = http://www.sighthoundsafield.org/NALLA-Overview.html|website = Lure Coursing, Amateur Whippet & Sighthound Racing|access-date = 21 December 2015}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite journal |first1=Edmund |last1=Russell |year=2018 |title=Greyhound Nation: A Coevolutionary History of England, 1200–1900 |journal=Studies in Environment and History |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/9781139049269|isbn=978-1-139-04926-9 }} {{subscription required}}.

== Further reading ==
* Arthur W. Coaten (1909). ''British Hunting: A Complete History of the National Sport of Great Britain and Ireland from Earliest Records''. London: [[Sampson Low|Sampson Low, Marston & Co]]
* E. P. Thompson (1975). ''Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act'' London: Allen Lane
* P. B. Munsche (1981). ''Gentlemen and Poachers: The English Game Laws, 1671–1831''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
* Harriet Ritvo (1987).''The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]]
* David Cannadine (1990). ''The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy'' New Haven: [[Yale University Press]]
* Roger B. Manning (1993). ''Hunters and Poachers: A Social and Cultural History of Unlawful Hunting in England, 1485–1640''. Oxford; New York: [[Clarendon Press]]; Oxford University Press.
* Emma Griffin (2007). ''Blood Sport: Hunting in Britain since 1066''. New Haven; London: [[Yale University Press]]
* Barry Lewis (2009). ''Hunting in Britain: From the Ice Age to the Present''. Stroud, Gloucestershire: [[History Press]]

{{Cur hunting dogs}}
{{Domestic dog}}
{{British dogs}}

{{Terriers}}
{{hounds}}

[[Category:Dog types]]
[[Category:Sighthounds]]

[[Category:Dog crossbreeds]]