Let's Talk Lure Coursing!

[Guest mcsheltie]

How many out there lure course with their Greys? We started last year and had a blast. Since then we have gotten a couple of our adopters involved. And a racing owner we met this fall is going to join us this spring with his two retirees.

 

What was so cool was the response of the other breed owners when our dogs run. Jaws drop to the ground watching coursing done the way it was meant to be.

 

My husband is really into it. Strategizing on how to get titles and make majors. I am just as happy to pay $5 and watch my girls do a fun run afterwords I just love to see them run.

 

I'd like to get a conversation going on everything lure coursing! Hope there are others out there that do or would like start.

[Guest simile]

Love lure coursing! But not nearly as much as my dogs do . Chloe is insane at the coursing events, and can't wait to run. She got her JC last summer and she'll compete more this coming summer. She'll start conditioning in a month or so to be ready for the first run during Memorial Day weekend. I can't course with Tip, though. He's got bad feet and dislocates toes too easily, but man, he's loved it every time I've taken him.

[Guest mcsheltie]

We've had two shy-spook dogs come out of their shell coursing. One walked around with her head almost on the ground. I had been thinking about taking her to the vet to see if her back & neck were okay. Breeze saw the lure and up came her head and she hasn't walked like that since. Here is a picture of her that day. It isn't very good, the sun was shining into the camera and mess it up. But it is special to me cause that moment her personality came alive.

 

 

Lily is a spook who will eat up a course! It has given her a lot of confidence.

[Guest Mooogies]

I have a very shy dog, spooks easily so I'm going to look into this in the area I live in. Question.......does lure coursing always take place in a fenced area? I was just looking at some clips on youtube and saw one close to a highway and it made me nervous watching it.

[Guest BorzoiMom]

I took Dutch coursing one day in December to see if he would like it. He was on it like flys on poop! I'm getting his ILP number from AKC so we can compete. A Borzoi person I met there has a dog to run with him to qualify and go through the steps to get him competing. I keep watching the coursing club for the next event (supposed to be Feb) but it hasn't been posted yet. All I have for conditioning is the dog park so I need shorter courses to start (this one was 620 yards with 8 turns). He also has tender pads, got slightly burned on his 2 practice runs. I can't wait for the next one!!

 

The Greyhounds there were amazing, the dirt kicked up for the first three strides like drag racers! My dog won't move like that, but he will try.

 

I helped out with the competing Borzoi and her friend with Whippets and they showed me a line burn and some pad burns too. This location is fenced, but I understand not all of them are. Dutch had good recall here.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

Chelsa got her JC last year and we will be doing a few events this year; she absolutely LOVES to course. I have managed to keep her in pretty good shape thru the winter but we will start getting her in tip top condition early in Spring. She is not a spring chicken anymore and this will be her last season. She also does LGRA.

[Guest burgerandfrey]

I would love to get our hounds into it, but I don't think we have any lure coursing clubs nearby. Did you start your own coursing? How did you go about finding the space and setting it up? I know there are some coursing clubs down in the Seattle area, so we might consider that every now and then (it would be a 1 to 2 hour drive for us depending on where in the Seattle area it takes place).

 

Our current greys are pretty young and healthy. Zeke is 5 and Lola is almost 3. We keep them pretty active by going for long walks and hikes. We also take them to run when we can, but fenced in places that allow dogs around here are few and small. Coursing would really let them go all out, but I'm not sure it would be something we would be able to drive them to very often.

 

Sean

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I did a LGRA race with my girl Olive this last year (LGRA-Large Gazehound Racing Association). It is straight line lure pull, 150 yards. It was unfenced, but I tested Olive first by having her stand by the starting box, the first time that lure pulled away, I nearly had her leash ripped out of my hand she lunged so hard. What I did then was to have someone "slip" her (hand release), while I waited at the finish line. As soon as the lure stopped, I stood and called my girl. She never even looked around, as soon as the lure stopped, she looked for me to come to. I would love to take my boy Bart also, but he shattered his hock, so I wouldnt want him running that hard. I am going to talk to the property owner this year about putting up a fence around the run area and try to get some of my group to go. It is WONDERFUL for the hounds. They love it and it is great to see them run. One thing that anyone interested must realize, your hound has to be in shape, meaning close to their race weight, not "filled out". If your hound is 10lbs over its race weight, I would be very cautious about taking your hound to anything like this or lure coursing as you are putting your hound at an increased chance of injury.

 

Chad

[Guest wdlndgreasil]

I have done all of the above with my dogs - lure coursing, LGRA and NOTRA [amateur oval racing] plus OFC. It's great fun. You really need to learn why your dog was retired though before going - if he broke a hock - then I don't recommend it! Some dogs - those who failed at racing, you will find excel at amateur racing, coursing, etc. Think of it like a child, some kids are good at sports & some aren't. Same with the dogs - after all, the only thing between an A and a D dog is tenths of a second Some dogs love the competition and will always be bad at whatever sport you involve them in - but if it's all for fun, who cares!

 

Make sure no matter what you chose, make sure you condition your dog properly. Find a mentor - someone who's familiar with the sport and can help you get started. Be reminded that it's just as competitive kid sports - there are super snarky, competitive people - and keep in mind it's for FUN and for the DOGS.

 

Most events are in unfenced and semi-rural areas. You need to seriously work on recall for your dogs being off-leash. This CAN be done. Should every greyhound be trained to be off-leash - NO - but you have to be able to do it to compete with your dogs to a reasonable degree. Go to some events before hand and talk to people first. I still remember how scary it was the first time I took my dogs tags off and let him run around!!! Now I can't imagine not doing it.

 

You can always email me privately if you want to discuss more...

[Guest KennelMom]

I really love lure coursing, though I haven't been able to get out as much this year as I'd hoped. And I've pretty much missed everything this fall since the Greyhound Specialty. This has been an exhausting year and my dogs just aren't really in proper conditioning right now...the gh specialty was a stretch. I've got a couple dogs that I want to get certified since Echo is winding down her career. I only do ASFA at the moment...I'd prefer not to do any AKC but I'll have to ILP our oops puppy, so I may as well course her in ASFA and AKC. I did just order some LGRA jackets, so I think I might get into that a bit in the next year. Not quite as intensive on the hounds...

 

I started out chasing titles, but quickly realized enjoying the day was much more fun. Of course, you don't travel to the really big events if you don't care about competition. I love to see my dogs run against other dogs...and running against new hounds tells me how I'm doing with their training and their natural ability.

 

Though, lure coursing is lure coursing (white plastic bags on a laid out course) and coursing is coursing (dog v. jack)...dogs can excel at one but not the other. I'd LOVE to go to a real live coursing event, though I'm not sure I'd have the guts to actually run my own dogs...at least not until I've experienced it in person to see how it all happens.

 

I have a very shy dog, spooks easily so I'm going to look into this in the area I live in. Question.......does lure coursing always take place in a fenced area? I was just looking at some clips on youtube and saw one close to a highway and it made me nervous watching it.

 

I've only run dogs on one field that's fully fenced and it's a property owned by lure coursing people...most fields are just too large to have anything more than field fencing, if that. Recall is definitely something you work on off the field...

 

I would love to get our hounds into it, but I don't think we have any lure coursing clubs nearby. Did you start your own coursing? How did you go about finding the space and setting it up? I know there are some coursing clubs down in the Seattle area, so we might consider that every now and then (it would be a 1 to 2 hour drive for us depending on where in the Seattle area it takes place).

 

Most folks have to do some traveling...if you want to participate in the sport, it's pretty much a given. I travel mostly to the Atlanta area...anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours away, depending on the field. The longest treks I've made were to the ASFA International Invitationals in Minnesota and this year in Oklahoma...about 18 hours each way! But totally worth it Echo has won Best of Breed on Sunday at both I.I.s she ran in.

Edited January 3, 2010 by KennelMom

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I love lure coursing! I don't really have the freedom to do it these days, at least not often, but it's great fun.

[Sighthounds4me]

A fantastic book to take a look at for coursing is Sighthounds Afield by Denise Como.It descries conditioning, training, feeding, injuries and how to treat them, and various coursing venues (AKC, NOTRA, LGRA, etc). There is also a chapter about retired racers as pets, as well as a section that details each sighthound breed. It's a fascinating read, and a must for beginners in coursing!

 

I have not yet done lure-coursing, but plan to with the new guy. I have, however, taken my hairy dogs' breeders' Whippet to straight-racing events. That can be interesting!

[Guest simile]

I was worried about running my dogs in and unfenced area, too, until after the first time we went. The dogs are usually so focused on the lure, that nothing else is a consideration for them.

 

The first time I ran them was at a fun run in an enclosed area, but the second time was in a big field at a fairgrounds. No fencing, just wide open space bordered by trees and roads. The dogs never even looked away from the course. Third time I ran them was at a bird refuge. I thought for sure that we were going to have dogs running all over the place chasing geese, ducks and cranes . Nope. All that existed for any of them was the lure. Even on the days that Chloe's been less that cooperative about coming to me after the run, she's never run away , she just keeps far enough ahead of me so I can't get her, with her eyes firmly focused on the lure, waiting for it to start again. I've noticed that's the case with other dogs that don't want to be caught - they just want to chase the lure some more, they don't want the fun to end.

 

I'm not saying that a dog won't run off, or that it hasn't happened, but the dogs are usually so focused and intent on what's happening right in front of them that something off in the distance just doesn't register on their radar.

 

Have fun!

[Guest RWM]

If I could find a group of grey owners in my neck of the woods who would be interested in doing this, I'd do it in a heartbeat. At the advice of a friend who courses his Ridgebacks, I took my last grey, Desi, to a coursing event and she was nuts about it. I could barely control her when she first saw the other dogs running the course ... bucking and hopping ... all fired up and ready to run!

 

I would love to put my Daisy in a coursing event. Unlike Snowy, Daisy was not a stellar performer at the track because she supposedly lacked interest, but she loves to run at dog parks, chases down everything on four legs, and is super fast. I think that coursing just might be her calling.

[Guest mcsheltie]

We haven't had a problem catching the dogs either. They are busy tearing up the plastic bags. When we aren't lure coursing Breeze would be gone in a heartbeat if I dropped the leash. She has no recall, not even in the house. She just flips me off. But on the course she is totally focused. One Ridgeback started to wander off last summer, the lure operator just bumped the lure and he was right back.

 

I got Sighthounds Afield for DH for Christmas. I thought I would be able to steal it from him by now. But no luck so far.

 

We do mostly ASFA. I deal enough with AKC at work. But we got them certified in AKC because of the rule change on Jan 1st. I would like to try LGRA this spring. I think we need to travel to the Chicago area for those.

 

Both our girls who never raced have excelled at coursing. They may not have had the speed to race, but in coursing they make up for it in agility. Both have won on long courses, so they have bottom.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Come on down to Chicago. I race at the course that is south of Chicago, there is another meeting in Long Grove I believe, but that is much farther away from me, so I go to the one closer. Olive would LOVE someone to race. Last year the only thing she had to race was a little whippet, albeit the 4th or 6th fastest whippet in LGRA, she still won. =}

[Guest RocketDog]

I have been a spectator at several lure coursing meets, but my dogs have never participated. We do attend the local LGRA sprint practices and I have toyed with entering Rocket into one for fun, but since there are not many greyhound people in our area who are interested in pursuing a LGRA title he really wouldn't have any competition other than Cass, and she isn't sound enough to do more than a practice run every once in a while.

 

It is so much fun to watch the dogs run, and their excitement is totally contagious! I was pulled onto my face once during a sprint practice, I was holding both the dogs about 15 yards back from the starting line when the lure went off, and I dropped to my knees to try and lower my center of gravity and they still pulled me down! Make sure to take an extra leash if you're doing LGRA sprints, as it's a one-way run and there needs to be someone releasing and another person to collect the dog at the end of the field.

 

I always run my dogs in their muzzles, mostly because it's really hard to get the lure away from them at the end of the race, and with the muzzles on they can't suck as much of it into their mouths

[Guest mcsheltie]

Come on down to Chicago. I race at the course that is south of Chicago, there is another meeting in Long Grove I believe, but that is much farther away from me, so I go to the one closer. Olive would LOVE someone to race. Last year the only thing she had to race was a little whippet, albeit the 4th or 6th fastest whippet in LGRA, she still won. =}

We will! Or at least Michael will. I may be at a show. We don't mind the drive to either. I spend a lot of time on the road, I'm used to it.

[Guest bordermutts]

My little guy Smush LOVES lure coursing -- unfortunately he can't compete in it because he's not a sighthound (shh, don't tell him - I don't think he knows ) So it's just fun runs for us. So far I know of two local places that do all-breed lure coursing: For Pet's Sake Dog Training in Waukesha county, and Lure Coursing Fanatics in Kenosha county. If anyone knows of any other clubs in the SE Wisconsin area that let non-sighthounds run for fun, please do let me know

 

So far we've only done it a few times, but this year we're hoping to get out more. Smush is absolutely nuts for the lure; I have a lure pole at home, but I can't use it very often because it makes the dogs bark too much.

 

Smush really does love it, though; honestly, I've never seen him as excited about anything except food And I like it because unlike agility or flyball, there are no handling skills required - I can just let him go, then sit back and enjoy the show

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Just ordered "Sighthounds Afield". Cant wait for spring!

[Guest JenZ]

I talked to my adoption group about lure coursing first, and got the go-ahead (I was afraid of breaking the "off leash" clause in my adoption contract, and thought it would be best to ask). They said that in their experience, a greyhound is so focused on the lure that it won't run off during the competition. I'm thinking about maybe trying straight- racing this spring with my 2 y.o. Jack... too afraid of AKC lure coursing... I've heard there are SO many injuries with the turns and twists. Straigt-racing has to be safer, right?

 

Jen

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I dont have any experience with lure coursing, so I cannot comment, but let me tell you about the LGRA, my girl Olive LOVES it. When she is not running, I have to hide her away from the track because if she can see the dogs running, or hear the box opening, she bucks and jumps and spins. She just wants to chase.

 

Chad

[dlgwarner]

My fascination with lure coursing predates my adopting Ringo. ESPN aired an event that I watched with my DH and kids while I was still trying to convince him (not a dog person by birth)to adopt a grey. I would love to learn more about how to get involved as I think my boy would love it. A group of GreyTalkers meets about once a month at a dog resort where we rent a 2 acre fenced field for a 2-hour greys only play date. I've brought a squawker and we've done some fun straight runs and he loves it. It woud be really helpful and welcome for those of you with more experience would post links to useful sites where I, and others, can find out how to participate. I've made note of the book and will order that. Thanks a bunch!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Here is the Greater Chicagoland Whippet Club (LGRA) link page to national events and clubs:

 

http://www.chicagowhippet.org/gcwclinks.cfm

 

If you think they run after a squaker, wait till you see your hound chase a lure. They have a totally different focus. Its absolutely stunning to see them focus on the lure and not see anything else in the world. That and they really run hard, so be sure you know your hounds retirement reason as well as be very honest about your hounds physical shape. If you think your hound needs to "loose a few pounds", then I would strongly recommend getting into shape before you run.

 

Chad

[dostacos]

anyone know if there is any coursing in Southern California