Just discovered Lure Coursing last weekend, story and a question.
Last Saturday I took Duke, my Lab, to compete in a DockDog event. This event was part of a much larger dog festival that had all sorts of events going on. We also took along my mixed spaniel Freckles.
In between the diving events we were walking around the festival and came upon a lure course that they were running as a fund raiser for canine cancer. We stood by to watch and as soon as that lure flew by Freckles almost pulled me off my feet. For six years now I have been searching for an activity for Freckles including agility, fly ball, and even herding. Nothing held his interest much until he saw that lure.
I paid the $7 donation fee to let him try and I have never seen him so intent and excited. I had trouble waiting in line for our turn because every time that lure went by Freckles wanted it.
Finally we got our turn and I had to hold his collar with two hands. On GO he took off and careened around the course at full speed. For this fun event they had a hoop to jump through and three short hurdles to negotiate and nothing slowed Freckles down. He finished his run in a bit over 20 seconds and when I told the operator that was his first ever attempt he said Freckles was a natural and could do much better with experience.
I bought another ticket and off he went completing his second run in a tad over 16 seconds. For comparison, the best times of the day were running between 13 - 14 seconds. Also note that Freckles is a rescue so were not sure of his age but I have had him for over six years so he is probably at least seven as he was not a puppy when I got him.
I believe I have finally found his event however since he is not a pure bred dog will he be allowed to compete?
Hopefully we can find some training courses or "open" events so he can participate.
Here's a photo of Freckles
But the whippets and JRTs that I know that lived with cats before, are still living with them.
