Lure Coursing Age

[brentpetrek]

Hi - We have a 6 mos old female, Layla. I started to look into Lure Coursing in our general geo area and also want to make sure we start it at a healthy safe age (making sure it doesn't result in too much stress for her still developing bones and muscles). Any input/wisdom is appreciated!
Thanks

[tanza]

@brentpetrek - I have coursed my Basenjis for many, many years.... I start them off as young pups doing a straight line, up and back for short distance... I know that many say to wait longer for longer distance, but in the breed for 35+ years I have never had an issue with running a full course for "practice" at 6 to 8 months... NOT in competition... along.. and on a course the is not too long... and it depends on how long the course is and how they did with their first introduction to the coursing.... All of my Basenjis and ones that I have breed have been coursing champions.... you just need to judge how they are taking to the course... and before putting them in competition, you need to run practice and make sure they are focused on the lure and not the other Basenjis.

[DonC]

It's great that you are thinking about this.

You will want to run as a "Junior Courser". This involves a single dog running at a time, avoiding the possibility of a badly behaved dog that bites.This avoids her having a terrible experience and will give you a good idea of whether she would like it and get her thinking that she needs to chase the lure and not the other dog(s). HINT: If she loves to chase paper bags then she'll be a champ!

After two successful runs -- which gets her a JC title -- you can decide whether to continue. If the lure coursing organization is well run it will likely have her run with another Basenji/dog known for good behavior to make sure she doesn't bite. You need to be careful because, unfortunately, there are people who have dogs that bite who insist on running them sans muzzle and plenty of lure course organizations which don't throw them out.

Another alternative is FastCat which just involves a single dog running down a wide chute. Like lure coursing, this doesn't involve much training. Unlike lure coursing there isn't anything subjective in the evaluation -- it's just time -- but they don't get to wear those cute little jackets. LOL It's also a lot shorter distance.

On the age I'd probably wait until she was a little older but it depends on the dog. It's a bit of an "eye"decision. Certainly by a year she'd be fine. When making this evaluation, if you have a large field available, just watch what she does. If she tears around then she'll be fine because that's more or less what lure coursing is.

You will also need to know how you'll get her back. If the area is fenced then no problem. If it's not you'll want to work on the recall first.

[chenke]

Teki’s doing Fast Cat next month for the first time at age 2 1/2. I’d really like to see how Zulu would do because he’s so fast but it’s AKC sponsored and you must be at least one year of age

[DonC]

@chenke said in Lure Coursing Age:

Teki’s doing Fast Cat next month for the first time at age 2 1/2. I’d really like to see how Zulu would do because he’s so fast but it’s AKC sponsored and you must be at least one year of age

That's great. I've never done it but I've watched it and have friends who have. It's simple but you still have to get the dog to drive to you. In some ways the best situation is to be at the other end with a tasty treat and loudly call. This can work well for Basenjis because they want to be "saved" by their human!

Let us know how it works out.

FYI for AKC and I believe USDAA your dog has to be 15-18 months to enter an agility competition (depends on the event). If AKC requires dogs to be 12 months old for Fast Cat I'd expect the requirement to be more for lure coursing since lure coursing will place a lot more stress on the joints than running Fast Cat. A year seems excessive for a Basenji but larger dogs take longer to have the ligaments and tendons attach solidly, so that might account for it.

[Bill T]

Can anyone recommend some basic equipment for this. Hiking in the heat isn’t as effective as early spring hiking and the dog park depends upon playful friends.

[tanza]

@donc - Age to compete for AKC and ASFA lure trials is 12 months of age

[DonC]

@tanza said in Lure Coursing Age:

@donc - Age to compete for AKC and ASFA lure trials is 12 months of age

Thanks. Seems odd to me to have the same minimum age for Fast Cat and Lure Coursing. The latter will put a lot more stress on the dog than the former. Then again, large dogs and small dogs are not the same, so having a good age requirement would be difficult to come up with.