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Willow, Megan and Hamish aged around 4 weeks.
Their mother Purdie was a deerhound x Great Dane and their father a Border Collie. Purdie's owners had intended to mate her with a Deerhound, but... the farm Collie nearby snuck down one night with a box under his arm and done the dirty deed first!!
We got the pups around 7 weeks old and they grew and grew and grew!! At one time they were putting on a kilo in weight per week!! We named them Hamish and Willow, Hamish was named after Peter's brother James who stayed with for a while. (Hamish being Gaelic for James, who is also a scruffy looking bugger! ). Willow took a while longer to name but eventually Willow came to be as she looked like she would turn out to be thin and willowy! Now (19.04.01) they are nearly eight months old and Hamish stands around 28.5 inches to shoulder height and Willow a few inches shorter. They love tearing around the field at the back of the house and spend most of the time chasing each other and rough and tumble games. This is building up muscle on both of them. Willow continues to be a lot faster than her brother and lot brighter too! ( well she is female!!) They show a lot of interest in the rabbits which overrun this area, but we have a lot of livestock round about and I am concentrating on training them well first. The pups mother and sister pictured on this site were shot a couple of months ago as they had escaped from their run and killed some sheep nearby. I am not going to take any chances with these two. Their run is secured with a string of electrified wire around the top of the fence and they do not even try to get out now, which brings peace of mind. I have heard a lot of people say that as Deerhounds are so loyal and loving that they would never have any other kind of dog after owning one. Hamish has I think, inherited more of the Deerhound genes from his mother and is definately a loyal, faithful and 'couthy' man! Willow has a bit more of the Border Collie in her I reckon, and is brighter, faster and wilful!
Lurchers
Unknown to us at the time we got the dogs, they fall into the category or type of dog known as Lurchers. This is by virtue of the fact that they are as a result of a cross between a sighthound ( greyhound, saluki, deerhound etc) a dog that locates prey by sight and is capable of great speeds to chase and bring it down, and another from a list of recognised breeds of working dogs eg, terriers, collies, shepherd dogs etc. Apparently sighthounds were only allowed to be owned by the noblity, and were highly prized for their superior hunting and guarding skills. Lurchers were seemingly originally introduced by travelling peoples from crosses as noted above, by breeding from sighthounds, bringing in specific desired traits from the working breeds to suit their purposes for silent hunting dogs.
These images are adapted from those contained in medieval Monastic works such as the Book of Kells, based on the hunting dogs of those times especially Irish Wolfhounds, Scottish Deerhounds and Greyhounds, showing that they have been around for a considerable time and most likely for many previous centuries.
We can offer Bed and Breakfast facilities for any one wishing to come to this area, and are ideally placed for exploring and visiting the wealth of antiquities and sites of archaeological and historical interest here. As can be seen from the pictures on these pages, the scenery here is stunning and there is loads of space to walk with your pets!! Visit our B&B page for more info.
LINKS 
Some interesting lurcher, sighthound and longdog links -
www.geocities.com/rogerslurchers/html/
home.swipnet.se/starcastle/star/rare/lurch/lurcher.html
www.users.daelnet.co.uk/lurchers/
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