Kai Juno goes Lure Coursing
Inspired by Lindsay, Sandra and their team of shibas, I took Reilly and Juno to a lure coursing 'fun run' to see how they liked it.
SInce I was new to this, lots of things left an impression on me, so I'll describe:
Everyone there was friendly- it was sponsored by a Bouvier de Flandres club, so it was heavy on the herding dogs, but Id say of about 25 dogs, half were actual herding breeds. I saw many Bouvs, a briard puppy, a malinois, 2 chinooks, 2 black russian terriers (one of whom ran great!), 3 basenjis (2 were puppies and did not run), a whippet mix that ran awesome, and several small terriers, a saluki, and a few more mixes. Most of the bouvs seemed interested but not sure what to do when the lure got going and after a short chase, balked before the first turn, looking to their handler for direction or just wandering off the field.
Many dogs held on for a few turns but around the third turn gave up. Reilly gave up after the 2nd turn- I knew she;d give chase, but I didn't know for how long. Reilly is a larger dog, and old (9 yo) for her size, as well as a cancer survivor, so it doesnt surprise me that she is probably just too late to get into the sport. She has also had nine years of live-rabbit hunting behind her and she knows when she's got a chance, and what's left in her tank. I think she was in for it till she realized this was a long chase after plastic bags and her effort would not be rewarded with a squeal! and warm juicy crunchings and munchings.
As a 'raw' sport- there's no training involved, its just whatever the dog naturally comes with for enthusiasm and sticktoitivness- I think it favors the independent dog a great deal- if you gotta ask your momma, its too late! I was talking with a trainer about a nosework class she is beginning soon, and she described how some dogs who excel at things like obedience take a while to 'get' nosework because they look to the handler for information, "We dont realize how much our dogs depend on us to tell them what to do." Which reminded me of when I took Sage to agility classes (forever ago) and the trainer asked me if I did a lot of obedience work with him, to which I said yes- he's a reactive dog so we train a lot of attention under distraction. The trainer pointed out that Sage looked to me 'too much' for agility, and since it was much more important to me that he learn to rely on me and look to me rather than act on his own (rather rash..) decisions in moments of high emotion, we rented the ring and played with the agility features for a while and then faded it altogether.
I wonder if certain types of work/sport are best suited to certain personalities of dogs when they are young and not yet 'overtrained' (not the perfect word, but its the best I can come up with just now) and their independence and raw drive are a huge asset and much praiseable (rather than wrestling with their drives, work with them- finding ways to get to YES! so to speak) and as they settle some with age and training, to gradually shape and bring those assets under control and direction by increasing the amount of handler-directed work/sport. An awareness thing for owners, I guess.
Anyway, next up: Juno was a coursing fiend! I ran Rei first because she seemed more composed, but while Rei was having a go, Juno was whining, keening, and popping up on her hind legs- my friend CJ was holding her leash and had to take her behind a truck so she couldn't see the lure and could settle. (the paddock master told us the dogs would get too excited if we let them watch, and...he was right)
So you take your dog near the pulley line and hold their collar. The lure guy pulses the pulley to buck the three plastic bags a little to tempt the dog, who of course lunges and you hold her back a sec and say something encouraging in her ear- reaaaaaaaady?- and when the 'bunnies' go, you release the dog! Boom! Off she goes! Juno ran like hell and became very streamlined- her ears went back flat, her stride reached out, she got really low and just blasted along, her tail streaming behind her and balancing her on her turns- it was a thing of beauty to watch! She was one of the most intense dogs out there today. As she came in for the final approach, the lure guy told me to let her 'get' the bag and she tried to take its head off.
Thus adrenalyzed, she did not come when called, but needed to 'walk it off' and calm down, like a sprinter after a race. In retrospect I think if the lure guy had brought her in closer before killing the lure, or if I had known to be up there for the intercept a little higher Id have gotten her collar right away. So we had a little stroll around the paddock where she found someone's squeaky toy. I think another thing I might do next time is to have a fur tug ready.
I retired Reilly for the day, but bought Juno a second run in the next round. This time they ran the lure in the other direction, and again she did great! running right ON, and punctuating her chase with a kill-shake at the end.
She had a lot of fun, and after she ran she met some new people and dogs and was wonderful- the parting words of many people that meet her go like this "Well, good bye, thank you for letting us meet her- It's "K-A-I-K-what? K-E-N, right?" and "Ive never seen one of those before!" One old lady showed me all the pins she earned with her smooth fox terrier, recited the case for tail docking in terirers and told me her stories of earthdog trials and being a dog-event person was really excited to meet a new breed.
I think I will pursue more coursing with Juno. I am going to keep my ears and eyes out for AKC Coursing Ability Tests within reasonable driving distance and see if I can title her. I have never shown or titled a dog before, but she'd have to complete three full-length runs to title the first level, and that seems a reasonable goal to shoot for. With successive coursing runs completed there are further titles at 10, 25 etc. but I should not get ahead of myself. I live pretty remotely so it may not be easy to find more coursing.
Right now Juno is working on her CGC award/title/? and will have her test in two weeks, so first things first. Thank you, Lindsay and Farrah for inspiring us to try lure coursing! It was a blast!!
SInce I was new to this, lots of things left an impression on me, so I'll describe:
Everyone there was friendly- it was sponsored by a Bouvier de Flandres club, so it was heavy on the herding dogs, but Id say of about 25 dogs, half were actual herding breeds. I saw many Bouvs, a briard puppy, a malinois, 2 chinooks, 2 black russian terriers (one of whom ran great!), 3 basenjis (2 were puppies and did not run), a whippet mix that ran awesome, and several small terriers, a saluki, and a few more mixes. Most of the bouvs seemed interested but not sure what to do when the lure got going and after a short chase, balked before the first turn, looking to their handler for direction or just wandering off the field.
Many dogs held on for a few turns but around the third turn gave up. Reilly gave up after the 2nd turn- I knew she;d give chase, but I didn't know for how long. Reilly is a larger dog, and old (9 yo) for her size, as well as a cancer survivor, so it doesnt surprise me that she is probably just too late to get into the sport. She has also had nine years of live-rabbit hunting behind her and she knows when she's got a chance, and what's left in her tank. I think she was in for it till she realized this was a long chase after plastic bags and her effort would not be rewarded with a squeal! and warm juicy crunchings and munchings.
As a 'raw' sport- there's no training involved, its just whatever the dog naturally comes with for enthusiasm and sticktoitivness- I think it favors the independent dog a great deal- if you gotta ask your momma, its too late! I was talking with a trainer about a nosework class she is beginning soon, and she described how some dogs who excel at things like obedience take a while to 'get' nosework because they look to the handler for information, "We dont realize how much our dogs depend on us to tell them what to do." Which reminded me of when I took Sage to agility classes (forever ago) and the trainer asked me if I did a lot of obedience work with him, to which I said yes- he's a reactive dog so we train a lot of attention under distraction. The trainer pointed out that Sage looked to me 'too much' for agility, and since it was much more important to me that he learn to rely on me and look to me rather than act on his own (rather rash..) decisions in moments of high emotion, we rented the ring and played with the agility features for a while and then faded it altogether.
I wonder if certain types of work/sport are best suited to certain personalities of dogs when they are young and not yet 'overtrained' (not the perfect word, but its the best I can come up with just now) and their independence and raw drive are a huge asset and much praiseable (rather than wrestling with their drives, work with them- finding ways to get to YES! so to speak) and as they settle some with age and training, to gradually shape and bring those assets under control and direction by increasing the amount of handler-directed work/sport. An awareness thing for owners, I guess.
Anyway, next up: Juno was a coursing fiend! I ran Rei first because she seemed more composed, but while Rei was having a go, Juno was whining, keening, and popping up on her hind legs- my friend CJ was holding her leash and had to take her behind a truck so she couldn't see the lure and could settle. (the paddock master told us the dogs would get too excited if we let them watch, and...he was right)
So you take your dog near the pulley line and hold their collar. The lure guy pulses the pulley to buck the three plastic bags a little to tempt the dog, who of course lunges and you hold her back a sec and say something encouraging in her ear- reaaaaaaaady?- and when the 'bunnies' go, you release the dog! Boom! Off she goes! Juno ran like hell and became very streamlined- her ears went back flat, her stride reached out, she got really low and just blasted along, her tail streaming behind her and balancing her on her turns- it was a thing of beauty to watch! She was one of the most intense dogs out there today. As she came in for the final approach, the lure guy told me to let her 'get' the bag and she tried to take its head off.
Thus adrenalyzed, she did not come when called, but needed to 'walk it off' and calm down, like a sprinter after a race. In retrospect I think if the lure guy had brought her in closer before killing the lure, or if I had known to be up there for the intercept a little higher Id have gotten her collar right away. So we had a little stroll around the paddock where she found someone's squeaky toy. I think another thing I might do next time is to have a fur tug ready.
I retired Reilly for the day, but bought Juno a second run in the next round. This time they ran the lure in the other direction, and again she did great! running right ON, and punctuating her chase with a kill-shake at the end.
She had a lot of fun, and after she ran she met some new people and dogs and was wonderful- the parting words of many people that meet her go like this "Well, good bye, thank you for letting us meet her- It's "K-A-I-K-what? K-E-N, right?" and "Ive never seen one of those before!" One old lady showed me all the pins she earned with her smooth fox terrier, recited the case for tail docking in terirers and told me her stories of earthdog trials and being a dog-event person was really excited to meet a new breed.
I think I will pursue more coursing with Juno. I am going to keep my ears and eyes out for AKC Coursing Ability Tests within reasonable driving distance and see if I can title her. I have never shown or titled a dog before, but she'd have to complete three full-length runs to title the first level, and that seems a reasonable goal to shoot for. With successive coursing runs completed there are further titles at 10, 25 etc. but I should not get ahead of myself. I live pretty remotely so it may not be easy to find more coursing.
Right now Juno is working on her CGC award/title/? and will have her test in two weeks, so first things first. Thank you, Lindsay and Farrah for inspiring us to try lure coursing! It was a blast!!
Comments
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*this is reminiscent of when I used to play hockey and we'd go to tournaments. I find it funny to think of taking Juno basically to a tournament with the "sunday game" being the title match.
And more importantly, that's awesome! Get out there and have some fun! :-)
I am located in NJ with my shiba who has gone to a few CAT practices. I would sign up as well for the actual test and would love to meet Juno! I know it's a ways away, but if you have any details, please let me know!
here's a photo the hosting club (Bouvier Owners of New England) took of Juno
I know of Spuddy/Irene from Joe and Beth. But have not met Spuddy yet! I actually meant to go to the meetup they had a while back at Beth's but could not make it.
That's an awesome photo! I should post my video from his first course (I need to create a thread with his nose work/CAT run).
Glad to see Juno loves it! It would be really cool if she was the first Kai with a CA title
Id like to see your videos, so get that thread going!
I'll have to create a thread later, but right now I have his thread on the shiba side (if you want, you can check it out there)