AR AKC Lure Coursing March 20/21

[lisastewart]

Is anyone planning to course in Lowell, AR in March? I will have two FC there. Weather was great last weekend in McKinney TX, hoping for more of the same.

[Andrew]

We will be at the ASFA trial in Cartersville, GA, and for once, hoping nobody else shows up for open. I can't course Lola with dogs other than Callie, Zip & Riley anymore, and she just needs that 1 stinking point! Plus, if she earns her FCh on Saturday, she can build points for FCh on Sunday. Yay!
Have fun in AR! fingers crossed you'll have more nice weather

[Nemo]

Sigh, I need to figure out when I'm going to start coursing Zoni. Although I can't imagine traveling for both coursing and showing right now. I think I'd go insane! :rolleyes:

[Andrew]

Are you kidding? Who needs sleep or money? Start acting really crazy at work until they fire you, get on unemployment, eat only rice and beans while feeding your dog the best food you can find, and travel every weekend to new and exciting places to meet other crazy dog people just like yourself.

[lvoss]

You just end up picking some weekends as show weekends and some weekends as coursing weekends. Around here, coursing usually trumps showing even though the days are longer unless it is a really good shot at a major. All my dogs love coursing, and I am only showing a couple so not everyone gets to have fun showing unless it is a specialty.

[lisastewart]

You should bring Zoni to the Wisconsin trial in August to try a fun run. I have showing scheduled in the summer months when its too hot to have trials. Coursing will always be our priority as there are not as many opportunities.

[Nemo]

@lisastewart:

You should bring Zoni to the Wisconsin trial in August to try a fun run. I have showing scheduled in the summer months when its too hot to have trials. Coursing will always be our priority as there are not as many opportunities.

Yeah, I'll probably do that. I'll have to look up the dates when I get home. It looks like the BCOSW trial is going to be in October this year, so that is another opportunity too that is close to home. If she isn't in season when National rolls around, I'm hoping get her JC while we're there so that will be another nice opportunity for practice. She definitely has the coursing bug from what I have seen so far, just hope she plays nice on the field when the time comes.

[lisastewart]

Racine has one the first weekend in Oct that we will do as well. MI has a number of both AKC and ASFA coming up. The more practices you can go to the better.

[Nemo]

@lisastewart:

Racine has one the first weekend in Oct that we will do as well. MI has a number of both AKC and ASFA coming up. The more practices you can go to the better.

I haven't talked to Sue (Zoni's breeder) yet with regards to how she is starting Lady out (Zoni's sibling), but I'm curious how others start their dogs out on coursing. Just have them run practice runs for several trials then get them qualified to run? Or do you enter them in singles for a few trials at first?

[Andrew]

@Nemo:

I haven't talked to Sue (Zoni's breeder) yet with regards to how she is starting Lady out (Zoni's sibling), but I'm curious how others start their dogs out on coursing. Just have them run practice runs for several trials then get them qualified to run? Or do you enter them in singles for a few trials at first?

Lure coursing is very much an instinctual thing. Its mostly they have it or they don't. Not really any training to be done.
The problem is, most basenjis have a limited number of good clean runs before they start cheating (anticipating the lure, so they get points off for follow). So if you practice too much, you may be allowing them to learn to cheat more quickly. Once they start cheating, you can work with retraining their follow at practices, but I've found "Always keep them wanting more" to be a good rule of thumb.
With both Lola & Callie, they got it the first time they saw the lure. I let them watch other dogs running & then released them for their own run. Lola got it instantly & took off. She was only 6 months so I only let her run to the first turn, and I let her to practices whenever we went to a trial until she was a year. For Cal's first run, she needed me to run with her the first 3 or 4 steps of the way before she got the idea & left me in the dust.
You definitely want to run her by herself a couple times to make sure she "gets" the object of the game (to chase the bag & only the bag). Then practice her with another dog she gets along with (so they don't end up fighting if they get distracted by one another) to make sure she is still focused on the bag. I personally never entered mine in singles, and Callie only had 3 runs (1 leg of her JC & 2 practice runs with Lola) on her when I ran her against Lola for her ASFA cert the morning of an ASFA trial. I entered her that day & she took BOB against Lola & 2 others.
Lure coursing is the easiest, and most exciting IMO, dog event you can participate in.

[lvoss]

I start mine young. Since I course all my dogs, my puppies start going to lure trials as babies. I bring them out to see the sights and hear the sounds of a trial. At first, I just let them watch and listen. Most of mine get pretty excited about it even when they are only 12 weeks old or so. The lure operators around here are very good at teasing puppies with the lure which is what I do. The first couple of times they tend be a little conflicted about whether they should run away from it or give in to instinct and chase it but it usually doesn't take long for the "chase it" to win out. Since mine are so young when they start they usually do just short straight runs in practice for the first few months. Then I add a turn and then slowly build up to a full course.

What I have found to be the real key to getting a dog started is really taking the time to make sure the dog is really focused on that lure before trying them with another dog. So many of the young dogs here that get dismissed or DQ'd, all started competition after only a handful of practices and most of them start their interfering with very playful behaviors but that can quickly turn to aggression when it is not reciporicated by the experienced coursers.

[lisastewart]

Get a lunge whip at your local farm store and add either a plastic bag or piece of fur to the end and let your baby chase it around in the back yard. I let Xander and Trog chase the whip from the day we got them, slowly at first then with the other basenjis, then with the whippets. By the time Xander tried his first practice run at a trial, he was ready and used to running with others and not the least bit distracted. We did not actually course Xander till he was 16 months as we were busy getting his bench title first, he is so much happier chasing the bunny or doing rally vs his show days.

http://khursdogbed.com/index.html

[Nemo]

I have a lunge whip, which we've played with ever since I got her. She loves it. I tried her at it on a small course back in July at our club picnic (here's the video, I've posted it before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gl6NAGvjow) and she took off like a crazy girl. That was her second time doing it that day. A few months before that she was a little unsure of what to do. So, it sounds like to practice her a number of times to get her highly focused on the lure. I'm guessing Sue might be going to Racine in August, but if you're there too Lisa, I'd appreciate any input on her "focus" if she gets to do some practice runs.

Clay