I agree w/Lisa that most hounds have a strong instinct to go after scent trails. I suggest that you do some research on characteristics of Kelpies and other herders, fox- and grey- and other hounds -- especially what these dogs were bred to do. That should let you know how they might be expected to behave and why. For a number of years I worked with a sporting breed rescue group, and the no. 1 reason we encountered that people wanted to give up their dogs to the rescue system was that they hadn't understood and could not handle the intensity and certain characteristic behaviors and instincts of the breed. Forearmed is forewarned! Read up, Google websites for the breed clubs and rescue groups for the breeds and/or crosses that interest you, and feel free to take your questions there as well as to the dog refuge contacts you're working with. Rescue/refuge workers do try very hard to match up the right families and environments to the dogs they are trying to place. Good luck and have fun with your dog search.

As to cycling with dogs, some of our fellow sporting breed fanciers swear by the Springer - http://www.springerusa.com/ - for "roading" (really off-roading) their dogs. We've not tried it, as we exercise ours in a different way and are mostly distance road cyclists.