SIR -1 am amazed that staff of Battersea Dogs' Home should have been surprised at the escapalogical feats of Red the lurcher, believing that "these dogs are not renowned for their intelligence" (report, Oct 5).

The whole point of lurchers is to cross a bright working dog, such as a border collie, with a less clever sight-hound, for example a greyhound, thus trading a few mph for improved intelligence and scenting ability in the progeny. The aim is to produce a natural hunter with great speed and cunning.

One of my lurchers once dislodged this hemispherical cover from a porting half-stilton, nibbled a layer of crust from the entire circumference, then nudged the cover back on to hide the deed. We discovered it only when putting the cheese on the table at the end of a dinner party, when the dog simultaneously flung himself at my feet for mercy. Fortunately, both cheese and guests had soaked up enough port by then for our enjoyment to be unaffected

There is a dark side. Lurcher breeding can be hit-and-miss: all but the brightest in a litter are often dumped or rescue centres and it may be that these are the majority the Battersea staff see.
lan Hamilton Fazey
Liverpool

SIR - When it comes to finding and stealing food, lurchers are highly intelligent. We had one of these creatures, half deerhound, half greyhound, rescued from a kennel where he had spent a long time.

He was a lovely dog, but a cunning food thief: he would open a kitchen cupboard, steal whatever was edible, and shut the cupboard door after his deed, leaving no trace but an empty shelf. If you had biscuits on a plate, he would, gently and slowly to avoid any attention, stretch out and pull a biscuit off the plate the moment you looked away. But only one, which normally meant you didn't notice what had happened. I am sure he realised that if he scoffed the lot — which he could easily have done — it would have been immediately noticed

When it comes to finding food, a lurcher's brain is as sharp as any other dog's.

Tore Fauske Gloucester