Nowadays, when lurchers have become fashionable, any sighhound cross is sold as a lurcher. I seriously doubt that Heyer thought about lurchers in that way.
However, in my youth (and that is 50 years ago), lurchers were travellers' dogs, and associated with poachers poaching. They were bred for brains and trainability, hence the collie/sheepdog incross - and that is where the rough coat comes from. Another reason - Irish Wolfhounds were very rare dogs until recently, and they are still reasonably uncommon. This is not true of greyhounds, whippets or working sheepdogs, the animals usually used. I did a lot of reading about British country practices in those days, as well as watching Jack Hargreaves, who knew all there was to know about such things.
Incidentally, Robin McKinley, who has longdogs, gets very, very cross indeed if they are referred to as lurchers.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2009-05-18 03:58 pm (UTC)However, in my youth (and that is 50 years ago), lurchers were travellers' dogs, and associated with poachers poaching. They were bred for brains and trainability, hence the collie/sheepdog incross - and that is where the rough coat comes from. Another reason - Irish Wolfhounds were very rare dogs until recently, and they are still reasonably uncommon. This is not true of greyhounds, whippets or working sheepdogs, the animals usually used. I did a lot of reading about British country practices in those days, as well as watching Jack Hargreaves, who knew all there was to know about such things.
Incidentally, Robin McKinley, who has longdogs, gets very, very cross indeed if they are referred to as lurchers.