Thursday, July 23, 2015
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Lure coursing
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| Our Chevy (Cheverton) and Misha (Bodhran Cailing) having the best time at lure coursing meet in Bulls 2015 |
There is a wonderful New Zealand Kennel
Club sport available to all the sighthound breeds including greyhounds – lure
coursing! It is run throughout New Zealand by a Kennel Club affiliated club,
Sighthound Field Coursing Club, and dogs can earn NZKC championships, points
and gain recognition for their running style.
On Mothers’ Day weekend 2015, there was a lure
coursing meet at Bulls, and Nightrave went along with three likely prospects!
Our Chevy (Cheverton) and Cobby (Cawbourne
Snowy), both seasoned racers, and Misha (Bodhran Cailin) with only a few starts
under her belt, went along to give this new kind of chasing a try. It was
wonderful to see a number of other ex-racers attending too - with some of them coming up from Wellington.
The lure course is after a mechanical lure
– not fluffy like the bunny at the track, but instead made of a bunch of plastic
shopping bags. The course is much longer at around 600-700 metres, so most
racers fresh off the track would struggle, plus the course is not straight nor
gently curved – it has several fairly sharp turns to make sure the dogs have
their eye on the plastic bag lure.
Your greyhounds need to be fit and sharp, but not
racing fit – lure coursing is not so fast as racing, obviously as they need to
go 600-700 metres. Despite being sprinters in their racing careers, all three
Nightrave dogs LOVED the long track, kept their eyes on the lure, and managed
the twists and turns with ease. The hour-or-more farm runs they do several
times a week combined with their hour long daily walks was obviously perfect
conditioning for this lure-cursing fun!
Misha, Cobby and Chevy have now all gained
their lure coursing qualification, which means that next time they go to a
meet, they can be judged. What fun!
Unlike racing, lure-coursing dogs run
singly, in pairs or very occasionally in threes (this is entirely their owner’s
choice). It’s not exactly a race, with style playing an important part of the
judging as well as speed. Although many different breeds compete, from
whippets, Borzois, to Afghan Hounds to
even a German shepherd, dogs only run against their own breed. Misha and Chevy
ran together (we weren’t sure Misha would chase without encouragement, but it
turned out she LOVED this new kind of lure) and Cobby ran alone.
The dogs had such a good time. There is
nothing like watching a greyhound do what it loves and what it has been bred to do– run across the fields with
joy in every line. While these dogs love their farm outings, lure coursing was
obviously the most fun they’ve had in ages.
We’ll definitely be going again. If you have a retired dog, or one who
didn’t make it on the track, and you can get its stamina up so it can happily
walk or run around for an hour or more on a daily basis, then consider giving
it a go!
