I'll finish the talk of Lurchers on this forum, thanks Teratyke!

Clunie, our Lurcher (Lurch - hence my screen name!) was the sharpest of them all, I think the Deerhound can be a bit 'thick' sometimes. But the Lurcher was the spit of him, only fawn, he was about 28", to Murphy's 32", it wasn't just his hunting skills, he was the most obedient dog I have ever owned. This was the days when I had to babies, we got him when my daughter was 16 months old, so he grew up around toddlers, and babies crawling over him. We then put him outside in kennels as our house then was tiny and with a new born baby it became too much, but they only slept in their at night, we all were out in the garden during the day, baby snoozing in pram.....
If the children were eating, he would go the farthest end of the garden, the Deerhound will put his head on the table and happily steal their food! Maybe it was the collie in him, but I never needed a lead and he certainly didn't chase after any dog we met on our walks, unlike the Deerhound!
Don't get me wrong, I do love my DH and wouldn't be without him in the world, but he is as stubborn as a mule and it can be challenging when you have had a dog like Lurch in the past. I'd still happily have several more DH's though, so perhaps it is me that is a bit 'thick'!!!

I'm lucky I feel as I have the best of both worlds - a D/H and beddie lurchers. Oh, and a cranky Irish greyhound. Hoping to get a 2nd D/H next year

What is an Irish Greyhound?

A greyhound that has been bred, registered and raced in Ireland. They have a different ear tattoo to english greyhounds. She came to us from Limerick animal welfare last year. She was shipped over on the irish ferry to Fishguard and we collected her at 1.30 in the morning from an arranged collection point. She was a bag of nerves at first and was (and still is) terrified of men and sticks or anything that resembles a stick so it doesn't need a rocket scientist to work out what her life has been like.

Argh, a Greyhound from Ireland! Yes did that journey myself this year, so no wonder she was nervous!
Seriously though, spent time at a greyhound kennels this summer and even though where we were was nice, some of it is barbaric.
When they are pups, they are left out in fields for about 6-9 months, in pairs, with just a small hut, they are fed etc, but there is very little human interaction, no socialization with other dogs or people. They are to some of them racing machines, and when they no longer perform, well, thats another story.
My in laws live in Ireland and have racing greyhound kennels, only a couple still race, about 16 are old pets, but they are loved, some do get re homed and about 6 went out to Italy earlier in the year, followed by the BBC, my in laws also went out to Italy and saw them in their new family pet homes.Our own greyhound died 4 years ago, she was 12, we took her to the vet because we knew she was beginning an illness, loss of weight etc, it turned out she had a tumour and we decided to let her go there and then, rather than prolong it. We raced her, upto about 3, but once she finished her racing, she stayed with us.

Oh the joys of forums where it is so easy to misinterpret comments
Lurch, Xena had a similar puppy upbringing as those greyhound pups you were talking about. She was kept in a paddock with a large Roo dog with only a small tin hut for shelter. It took us a good 4 years to make her a friendly, sociable dog without the timid cowering. She will still squeal when you grab her and you have to be careful when trying to "make" her do something.
She is extremely gun shy and we always have a quivering mess when the neighbours take pot shots at Kangaroos that eat his garden. It is so sad seeing the effects of an abused/neglected dog.