What Cross?

[mrs.pudding]

Have a bedlington x whippet bitch. She's absolutely lovely (well I think so anyway!) and would like to breed from her - really for our own pleasure. We thought of a small black poodle as mate but any other suggestions would be gratefully received. Want to keep the off-spring small, good-tempered and game for anything. Would also like to keep the whippet shape without going back to a whippet.

[woofgang]

Its a lovely idea and the poodle sounds like a good suggestion, one caveat...are you prepared to keep ALL of the puppies if no-one else takes one???

[mrs.pudding]

well, no ...... But we would have one, my daughter wants one and one or two people I know are quite keen!!! Now we have to find the poodle!

[RogerK]

Bedlington x Whippet - my favourite type of lurcher and oh so versatile for working. I've know them to course, flush and retrieve as well as win agility contests. Personally I don't think you can better that cross so putting her to anything else simply isn't necessary. That said, you obviously like the lurcher / long-dog shape so your best bet could be to put her to another whippet based lurcher. (The different combinations are endless). Alternatively you could put her to a something like a short haired fox terrier, that should give you a slightly more stocky dog or an Italian greyhound, that should give you a smaller thinner dog. Trouble is, once you start crossing crosses you never quite know what you'll end up with!

[woofgang]

and what if those quite keen people back out or the dog has 10 puppies? It does happen. a friend of mine bred her lab and ended up with six dogs. fortunately she has a large house and grounds and wasn't worried.

[RogerK]

With the crosses I suggested you should be able to find good working homes for them with relative ease. An advert in Horse and Hound, Countryman's Weekly, or even your local paper should do the trick.

[mrs.pudding]

PLEASE don't worry! We're not going to cast out any poor, unwanted puppy into the snow! And the chances of her having 9 or 10 pups for a first litter (and at her size) are pretty minimal. We don;t plan on working any off-spring particularly hard - the b/w cross and our other lurcher go rabbitting and also have a lovely time when my husband goes rough shooting. There is a distinct shortage of fox terriers and whippets round here and we just thought that a poodle would keep the shape reasonably well and (treated right) they are game for anything. Also, THEY DON'T MOULT. Our labrador casts all year round and the kitchen looks like the Arizona Desert with tumbleweed blowing around! But a nice fox terrier - well that would be a treat. Saw a minature pinscher the other day that appealed too - sadly it was lacking two spherical objects.

[RogerK]

Oh, don't talk to me about moulting - my so-called gundog (a Springer X Gordon Setter, I know, I should have known better but my wife fell in love with him) seems to shed enough hair to knit a jumper every week! As for working - he runs in and doesn't do 'dead things', chuck a carrot into the field from the stable and he'll retrieve it to hand like a good-un. Perhaps he's a veggie ;-) Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[mrs.pudding]

perhaps we could start up a nice little cottage industry knitting dog hair cardigans - a tasteful mixture of blond lab with speckled setter/spaniel. You could do the collecting and spinning; we'll employ knitters and direct operations!