What can we expect from a German Shepherd lurcher?

[lecce]

We adopted a rescue lurcher a few weeks ago having recently had our beloved deerhound/greyhound pts. The foster carers told us they thought the pup may have some Saluki but other than than that were unsure about the mix.

Since we have had her, a few people, including the vet, have asked whether she is part GS. Having googled it, she looks exactly like a GS lurcher. Her feet are really broad, where our previous dog, huge as he was, had thin pointy feet. Her nose is also broader and her ears are huge and stand up.

This has come as a bit of a shock to me as I didn't even know that a GS cross was a 'usual' type of lurcher. She is beautiful and we are all enjoying her, but I imagine she will be quite different from our previous dog even as she matures - or not? I would love to hear what we can expect from this type of dog - out of interest - we certainly have no regrets .

Ddog2 is a GS x whippet, she was a rescue puppy with known parentage and looks like a small, slim GS but has folded back ears that are huge when they stand up!

Ddog2 seems to have more of the GS traits, she is by far the cleverest dog we've owned, very easy to train and needs plenty of mental stimulation. She is a family pet and is great with the kids but is definitely a one woman dog, she makes me feel like I could flick my fingers and she'd follow me to the ends of the earth.

With the sighthound crossed with a shepherd naturally there is a huge prey drive and although Ddog2 is good with our cats I wouldn't trust her with any other potential prey animal outside of the house. It was easy to focus this prey drive onto a ball-which she loves, I think fly ball would have been her thing if there was a club near me (she is super fast).

I have read that GS are bred into lurchers for similar reasons to collies-to enhance stamina, make them more 'biddable' and introduce more intelligence so, rather than just chase prey they can anticipate its next move etc.

I hope that your pup brings as much love and fun into your family as Ddog2 has to ours, we love her to bits

I have a pure German Shepherd, and a friend of mine has a GSDXLurcher. I don't know much about lurcher types, but I can say that I can see a lot of the best GSD traits in my friend's dog.

Those are the loyalty, calmness, loving nature, big brown eyes that are so good at sulking... what I'm saying is don't be worried about the GSD in your dog, it will add to her personality and make her even more loveable (in my opinion, but I'm biased towards GSDs!)