It's spring and that mean time for lure coursing! For anyone who follows my blog you know lure coursing is D'light favorite thing is the whole word. He loves it so much that last year we bought him his own portable lure - here are some blog posts with his lure:
I would have never guessed how much D'light would love to chase a lure but, man does D'light bring all his terrier to luring and it's fun to watch him being so engaged and excited.
This lure weekend was down in Roy, Washington - sponsored by Evergreen Basenji Club and it was a beautiful location at the Roy Polo field. Lure coursing is actually a dog event within AKC - what we are doing are called CAT's which stands for Course Ability Testing. You have to register with AKC (D'light's AKC name is My Heart's D'light) and the dog can win titles by completing each course. But, for us, this is all about D'light losing his mind while having fun. Any titles he wins are just what he gets for having fun!
There are two course lengths - 300 and 600 yards. Dogs under 12" run 300 yards and the dogs over 12" run 600 yards. Lucky D'light is just a hair over 12" so he gets to run the long course which he is thrilled about.
The course was so big I could only capture part of it in a picture.
A continuous lure is used during the events and you can see the set up below.
Lure coursing events are nothing like Nose Work events and lure coursing surely isn't for everyone or every dog.
At most Nose Work events dogs are not allowed out of cars unless they are preping to start their search. If dogs are out preping there's a certain distance that must be maintained between dogs. This set up in Nose Work is wonderful for dogs like Catty who are reactive to other dogs and environmentally sensitive. It's a reason I love the sport of nose work so much.
At this lure event, dogs could be out among other dogs and the dogs can watch the other dogs luring. This gets you a bunch of dogs barking and screaming to get at the lure. Luckily 99% of the competitors at this event were dog savvy and if their dog was reactive or way over threshold they had their dogs stay out of sight from the lure. For a non reactive dog like D'light this is an amazing experience. As you will soon see, he was amped up even before he was able to chase the lure. D'light did have some car quiet time (he didn't appreciate that) but, I opted to have him out a good amount of time since it's rare that he becomes so animated and forgets all about the worry he carries day to day.
So while for a lot of dogs this would be too much, for D'light this is a massive confidence boost and such a positive experience that we try to sign up for as many CAT's as possible.
So while for a lot of dogs this would be too much, for D'light this is a massive confidence boost and such a positive experience that we try to sign up for as many CAT's as possible.
We arrive to check in...
and he knows something amazing is going to happen!
"OMG do you see what I see?!!"
He's so excited and the lure hasn't moved.
He just knows what he's going to get to do by seeing the lure set up!
He just knows what he's going to get to do by seeing the lure set up!
"Come on mom , lets go get it!"
If you have dogs in the room this is your warning that if you watch any of the below video's you will hear D'light barking and making lots of noise to get at the lure so, you've been warned.
No quiet, shy boy in this video - "I have to get at that lure!"
His mouth is fully open and this isn't because he's tired or thirsty. This is D'light's "I'm so excited I can hardly stand it" face.
Barking at lure to let it know he's coming for it!
We sit on the grass and watch the different dogs chase the lure. D'light can hardly stand the waiting!
Oh the anticipation!
You can see the lure moving and of course you can hear D'light as he also watches the lure
Happy, happy day!
It's about time for D'light to be on deck. Do you think he's ready to lure?!
Stay tuned for part two of D'light's big weekend
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