Jessie’s Page
Jess was a medium sized lurcher - a cross between greyhound, border collie and bearded collie. She was medium sized, incredibly athletic with fierce, razor sharp intelligence. She had a stunning, sunny temperament with all cats, kids, people and most livestock but she was a danger to sheep because of her strong collie breed lines. A totally awesome, fun, lively and lovely girl.
Size: Jess was a medium sized lurcher, standing about 24 inches to the shoulder (60cm).
Weight: 21-23 kilos, depending on whether it was summer or winter. She used to put on fat for the winter and lose it for rabbit season! Jess was a good solid build but still racy and very fast.
Colour: Blue (steel blue grey) smooth coated
Town or Country: Definitely a country girl at heart with a love of running far and wide
Low Allergy:
Best Suited for: Me! I loved Jess madly - because she reminded me so much of me.
Group: Hound - indirectly - as lurchers are normally bred from one or more sighthounds
Originally From: English Midlands, bred by David Hancock from a greyhound/collie cross called Wendel and a greyhound called Lady. Jess was born on 20th December 1992 and died on 30th December 2006, aged 14 years.
Original Purpose: Jess was bred for hunting. We believe she was used as a working dog until she was too old to work any more. She was taken to a vets aged 7 1/2 years old to be put to sleep. The vet refused and got her into Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue, which is where I met her.
Exercise: High!!!! Jess loved to run. Often in the park she would simply disappear. More than 2 hours a day every day, and she loved long hikes of 8-12 miles, even right up to her death.
Living Space: Medium - she curled up small and occupied a single cushion on the sofa
Coat: Short and smooth, velvety, soft and glossy
Grooming: Minimal, except after rolling in fox poo, which she did a lot. So there were frequent bathings with bicarbonate of soda to take the smell out.
Children: High. Jess loved children and would tolerate all fuss, teasing and playing without ever snapping
Sociability with strangers: High. She loved meeting new people and coukld be taken anywhere.
Sociability with animals or other dogs: High with dogs, high with cats and high with larger livestock such as horses and cows. Not suitable for the guinea pigs so they had to be rehomed.
Trainability: Very high - when she wanted! jess was highly intelligent but could be strong willed and extremely selectively deaf. At other times she was the best behaved dog around.
Noise Level: Medium - the collie in her made her bark when she played and gave chase. It was a lovely sound.
Known Health Issues: Problems with her back legs set in at about 10 years old.
Lifespan: 14 years
Special Needs: A fire to bake herself in front of and a bed outside to sunbathe on.
More About Jess
Jess was truly an amazing girl. A stunning temperament, incredibly athletic, highly intelligent and always fun. So much life and so much love. I cannot understand why anyone would ever have wanted to put this lovely girl to sleep.
This is Jess in upper Eskdale in the Lake District.
Jess came to me through Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue. She had been handed in by a vet who took her from the person who asked for her to be put to sleep. We believe that she had been used as a working lurcher, and was taken in when she got too old to catch rabbits.
My then husband and I had adopted Missy, a small fawn greyhound girl, from the rescue a month earlier. Once Missy had settled we decided to get her a friend – something that would ‘teach her to be a dog’. So we called up Pip at EGLR and she said “you know I think we have just the thing, a lurcher who just came in yesterday that seems perfect for you”.
So off we went to meet Jess. When we got there actually there were two lurchers to see which were possibly suited to us, a boy with three legs and Jess. The boy with three legs wouldn’t have worked for our long distance hikes, so in came Jess.
Initially I wasn’t sure what to make of her. She wasn’t as ‘greyhoundy’ as I’d imagined. She was more stocky and barrel chested. But she was well mannered, affectionate and after greeting us and Missy, simply lay on my husband’s feet, pressed her neck against his leg and looked adoringly at him in a ‘laser beam’ kind of way. She was basically choosing us and saying ‘take me home, please’.
So home we came. Pip offered to let us take Jess home on trial. Well home she came and she was perfect from day one. Well mannered on the lead, good to recall, great with the cats, housetrained, and started to bring Missy out of her shell.
Within days we knew she was a fixture and called Pip to give her the good news. Missy went from strength to strength under Jess’s leadership. She learned all about rabbits, and that people were nice. She learned to be less nervous and more outgoing. Even though they were chalk and cheese, Jess and Missy were bonded and loved each other dearly.
Jess was our long distance dog. She excelled at walking in the hills and could leap stone walls and stiles with ease. We took her and Missy all over the Peak District and The Lake District. Then when I got divorced, she and JJ came with me to Essex. Here she had more happy times walking the estuary sides and the MOD range during the week, and the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire at the weekends (where Robin was).
Jess’s death hit me hard. Her back legs became increasingly unstable, but she was still active. And then everything collapsed. Just 10 days after her 14th birthday, her legs stopped working. I came downstairs to find her collapsed on the floor unable to move. I tried to stand her up but she didn’t know where her back legs were at all. She looked at me pleadingly and I knew we had reached the end.
I lifted her into the car gently and took her on her final journey to the vets. The vet tested her nerves and confirmed the worst – no sensation, no possible recovery, and no chance of her controlling her bowels. For a dog which had always been an athlete I could not imagine anything worse. The problem was that my Jess was still there with all her intelligence and love. But she knew it was the end too.
I have her ashes on the shelves in my living room. I intended to scatter them on Haverigg Beach but could not part with her in the end. Rest in Peace Jess my love. We miss you so much.
RIP Jess
Born 20/12/1992, died 30/12/2006
Follow the links!
My present
Blue Vinnie Kylah Arwen Ma’aloo
My past
Vanna Missy JJ Jess Holly Jamal
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