Message #125297

[aladatrot]

Stamina - yeah, not so much there. We have hunted foxy horseback all day long (clocked 30 plus miles on the garmin), but she is really only good for a few hours. That said, the dog comes to life at a bark no matter how tired she is. It's all in how you use the dog. I mainly use the greyhound as a lead in. I keep her back in case the cur dogs are getting smoked (she goes to a bark) or in case we get on a spare hog going to a bay and need her to run it down. She gets off the mule, does her thing, and gets loaded back up to rest. I can use her all day long like this.

I guess you could use a pit/dane cross but I never have. I have a friend who is a dane breeder. She had to import danes from australia because she swears up and down that american danes are plagued with too many health problems (hips and elbows). We have spoken at great length about her dogs, and she is of the opinion that the stamina is an issue either way you go. Plus, I don't envy her feed bill. That's not to say danes shouldn't be used - they have a lot to bring to the table. I based my opinions on what my contact had to say about her dogs. There is also the fact that I am dreadfully biased towards greyhounds in case you haven't noticed.

The long and short of it is that greyhounds do not have good stamina. Again, hybrid vigor would likely fix some of that problem in either cross.

I am also the first to admit that my purebred greyhound is a novelty. I enjoy her even though some folks wouldn't feed her. I don't think a greyhound is the ticket to catching every hog, but I sure believe that mine has come in handy for my purposes. There are good and bad attributes to every breed, but in my opinion the crosses sometimes offer a better package than the prurebred.
Cheers
M