SkySoaringMagpie

I've been thinking about this some more and they could start by imposing the rule that no animal dead or alive is to be used on a lure, drag, flirt pole or as a training aid of any kind. All drags, lures etc can only have synthetic components.

Take the dead bunnies off the tracks on trial days.

Exactly. Because obviously notices like this a) don't work and b) show that something iffy is going on for the notice to go up in the first place. This was taken at Tooradin.

We don't "share" our dogs, if that makes sense. In our pack some dogs belong to OH and some belong to me. So the person to whom the dog belongs has the final say.

Yes, sometimes we get the shits with each other, but I think there is a basic mutual respect as far as each other's dog knowledge is concerned.

A lot of show people have commented that we are lucky that we both have the bug - I think this is true, it would be very hard if your partner wasn't a dog person but wanted a say.

And of course, if the dog wins something it is "our" dog, but if it vomits on the floor at 2am it's "YOUR dog". LOL! :laugh:

Very disappointing about the breed restriction. The Great Dane was bred as an independent working hunting dog, we will just have to enjoy it as a fun activity. This is a photo of a past Dane when she was mature Lure Coursing, she was fit and healthy and enjoyed it.

Hunting is not coursing tho'. Danes were used to hunt a variety of species, and only one that I can think of is a coursed species as well (deer).

Is Lure coursing not the act of chasing prey and catching it on speed and sight i.e. what a sightound does? I may have the completely wrong end of the stick...

Please correct me if I am wrong but as I understand it, the Great Dane was a pack hunting dog bred to chase down and kill wild boar using scent and finally sight. Given the habitat of wild boar (forest) the use of scent as the primary hunting sense by dogs for boar hunting is unsurprising. Certainly the head shape of the Dane facilitates the use of scent for hunting. Noting the ferocious reputation and armoury of a wild boar, the size and courage of the Great Dane was formidable. There is definitely an argument that Danes belong in the Hound group (plenty of online discussion of that) but I've never seen a suggestion before that they should be categorised as a sighthound.

By contrast traditional coursing breeds were bred to hunt by sight alone, released onto prey once it was sighted by the hunter and taking that prey on open ground. I think this is quite different to pack hunting by scent. Certainly the shape of a sighthound is unique in the dog world with most sighthounds developed for speeds unparalleled by other breeds.

I think its commendable that a sport taken to the ANKC by largely sighthound people has provided space for all breeds to participate via Coursing Ability Titles. That inclusiveness is unique among the "function" sports. My sincere hope is that this may grow a new appreciation and ownership group for the sighthounds as people get bitten by the coursing bug and look to those dogs breeds developed specifically for this kind of chase. :)

Put your paws up! One of my home bred babies on her puppy run.

It will be interesting to see how clubs work this, I know our club is mostly non-sighthounds, so they may do official runs under the ANKC rules but also retain a fun run element to it? I have no idea at the moment, but I do know a lot of people really enjoy lure coursing as a fun day out with their dogs and friends whatever breed they have.

I can answer this for NSW, but not for Perth. In NSW the Afghan Club will continue to run fun days. So people who just want to have fun and not compete can still go to their fun days which are all breeds fun days.

People who want to compete for titles tho', will be able to branch off into trialling through the arrangements we are setting up. Those arrangements will ultimately include a club which won't be sighthound only, and I am hoping people of all breeds will stick their hands up to help. :)

Very disappointing about the breed restriction. The Great Dane was bred as an independent working hunting dog, we will just have to enjoy it as a fun activity. This is a photo of a past Dane when she was mature Lure Coursing, she was fit and healthy and enjoyed it.

Hunting is not coursing tho'. Danes were used to hunt a variety of species, and only one that I can think of is a coursed species as well (deer).

all you other Iggies better start training 'cause Neko's got a head start on you. :laugh:

Baby can RUN!! by kirislin, on Flickr

Awesome shot! Go Neko go!!

I wonder if IGs will be recognised as sighthounds in this case. They are in other countries but here they're classed as toys.

Yes IGs are recognised as sighthounds for lure coursing. The list is: Afghan Hound, Azawakh, Borzoi, Greyhound, Ibizan Hound, Irish Wolfhound, Pharaoh Hound, Saluki, Scottish Deerhound, Sloughi, Whippet, and Italian Greyhound + Basenji and RRs.

]Yep, I understand the risks of injury in any dog, but more so, an unfit dog (I successfully raced whippets for years and was a professional greyhound lure driver) but I have wondered about the course design at some events. Whether the person setting it up really knows what they're doing. I couldn't say I'd recognise a good design from a bad one. I'm not criticising the lure coursing being recognised as a sport, in fact I'm pretty thrilled about it. That's unfortunate the ASFA doesn't want to share their course info. You'd think in the interests of dog safety and the promotion of the sport they'd be happy to.

I can say for sure that when we first started doing it privately we had close to NFI! Fortunately no harm was done, but now we've done it a lot more and have done a lot more research I can tell a good one from a bad one and some of the stuff we used to do makes me cringe a bit. All I can say is that people should ask questions, someone who knows what they are doing won't find it difficult to give specific answers about specific concerns. I hope you'll get involved in lure driving, it is a real skill too and if you've already done it for greyhounds you'll be one step ahead :)

something I've wondered about with lure coursing is the way the turns are set up. Do the course setters try to mimic how a hare or rabbit really jinks or do they just put corners in to suit the field and if so is there more or less likelihood of a dog being injured by the way the course is designed as compared to if they were chasing live game? I also worry about the line and pulleys at the corners. Do dogs injure themselves much on them. I've only ever tried on whippet on lure coursing and she was so good she took the driver by surprise and caught the lure several times. That was my (now departed) Penny who was a very successful racing whippet and naturally very agile.

Lure coursing is not risk free, but there are ways to set up turns and courses to minimise the risk of injury in a fit, well conditioned hound. Very sharp corners should not be used because not even hares and rabbits jink the way some courses are set up. Corners are not put in just to suit the field, the track is laid with a view to minimising injury and maximising performance - so, for example, there is usually a combination of long stretches and shorter stretches with turns to test the five things lure coursing judges are looking for: Agility, Endurance, Speed, Enthusiasm & Follow. When setting the track allowance also has to be made for the terrain and the weather conditions. We are using the guidelines for course design published by the American Sighthound Field Association, unfortunately this document isn't publicly available because ASFA keeps a tight hold on its copyright but I think there are other articles online which talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of course design.

One thing I will mention is that injury risk is heightened if the dogs are unfit and/or overweight just as it is in sports like agility. This is a really taxing sport, and no matter how good the course design, if the dog is not fit and strong, the likelihood of injury will go up.

Sorry, forgot to address the pulley/line injury risk aspect. While I have seen dogs kick the line off a pulley I have never seen a serious injury, tho' doubtless they may have occurred at some point. There are a lot of people watching the runs, including the lure operator and the hunt master and the judge. The minute there is a problem the line is stopped. But as I mention above, lure coursing is not risk free, nor is any other dog sport risk free.

Yes I saw this today too, very exciting indeed :) Unfortunately non Sighthounds apart from Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Basenjis can't compete for Lure Coursing Titles, but they can obtain Coursing Ability titles.

I cannot trial my Salukis in a range of ANKC recognised breed specific disciplines (herding, RAFT, earth dog etc). I think this is completely appropriate. My Salukis were not bred for any of those disciplines, and those disciplines would not add anything to my breeding program, especially to my assessments about whether my Salukis were fit for function.

Lure coursing is not just chasing a bag on a string. It was designed by sighthound people for sighthounds, for their physical characteristics and their breed specific aptitudes. In most countries the only breeds who can compete are sighthounds. I think some respect should be shown to the sighthound people who worked hard for recognition, because they were prepared to include an all breeds stream, understanding that other breeds had an interest. They could easily have just put up a proposal that was sighthound only.

Someone advised me that it would be unwise to do lure coursing with an Obedience dog (I participate in Obedience and Rally with my guys), as it could stuff up their Obedience work completely.

Does anyone here have any thoughts or advice on this?

I have no experience of lure coursing outside of the little "fun run" we did today, and I would hate to ruin my guys for the Obedience ring.

Actually, I think the reverse can be the issue. Lure coursing was designed by sighthound people who wished to test their dogs' field ability without live prey. For a sighthound, the willingness to work independently at a distance from its owner is critical to being successful. We have found that dogs who have already been obedience trained to rely on their handler for cues, particularly those breeds bred to work closely with humans, can find it tricky to transition to lure coursing. For example, I have witnessed a mutli performance titled RR get onto the field and once the lure started running, he turned back to his owner for guidance. This dog is no dummy, but he is so close to his human, and so used to working with her in more structured contexts that he found just belting after the plastic bunny a step too far. With some short runs, and some careful management he eventually realised he could "go" and it was OK.

Also *wave*. If you are in NSW, I am your rep for lure coursing on the NSW Sporting Committee. You can join the FB group for NSW here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/880871155286150/

I will send the link to this thread to the Chair of the ANKC lure coursing committee, I know help is needed in all states except possibly QLD to get things moving. There will no trials in individual states unless people are prepared to pitch in to get it going.

Phone DogsNSW as the breeder is in Sydney, and ask their advice.

I started off saying that, while I love Tibbies, I don't love the breed that they often get confused with... Pekes. But as soon as I started typing I KNEW... sneak in here one night & pop in a Peke among the Tibbies, and by morning I'd love it to pieces. I confess when a DOLer once posted a pic of her little tribe of Pekes... I kept that pic! I'm a failure at this topic. My first sentence is a lie:) :)

Yes, I am a Saluki nut but life would be weird without an Afghan in the house. They are dudes, even if they are the second best dog in the world ;-)

Probably if you broadened the grouping out to sighthounds I'd say that I'm not a huge fan of the mediterranean sighthounds but but that's only in a "would I live with one" sense. Answer being, no.

Agree with Sandra, especially if you need a decent diagnosis. The other vet I always recommend is Helen Purdham at Hall.

Sloughi

Chart Polski

Never had any water at all in my Toledo

Another vote for never having had water issues in our Toledo - it's an old one, don't know if things have changed in the last 10 years.

Thanks for that tidbit about the snakes.

I am looking for a lifestyle block and have been looking at areas around Bungendore/Wamboin/Sutton etc..

I might change that and head towards Murrumbateman way.

We do get snakes - browns and red bellies - and people have lost dogs to them. So it's not zero risk, but I think it's lower risk than those Lake George areas.

Bungendore has shops, fuel, restaurants, cafes, galleries, two pubs & two vets; we are, however, the biggest users of anti-venene in the country - this is brown & tiger snake country!

This is an important point. I'm in the Yass region and where I am is mostly old sheep country converted to 15-40 acre lifestyle blocks. Despite being fairly close to the Yass River we would see about 1 snake a season. Friends in Bywong/Bungendore/Wambon seem to see many more of them, don't know why, some people say it's Lake George + all the bush. It's one reason why I'd be disinclined to move into that area tho', I used to really envy a fellow exhibitor's Bywong property until I realised how many snakes she deals with every season.

So my husband has been posted to Canberra and we will be moving at the end of the year.

We will be looking for a rental and we have 4 dogs and 2 cats so I was wondering if anyone could recommend a suburb that the council is likely to grant me a permit for the dogs? We would also consider semi rural if that would help. Hubby will be mainly working near the airport but we don't me down a bit of a drive if it makes it easier to have the dogs.

I'm so excited and can't wait to leave Darwin!

A lot of dog people who work in Canberra live in surrounding NSW because NSW laws at the moment basically amount to "however many you like as long as they're registered and no-one complains". It really depends on your tolerance for the commute. My OH and I live in Yass and commute, other common commuter locations include Bungendore, Captain's Flat, Queanbeyan, Murrumbateman, Bywong and Wamboin. The advantage with Yass and Queanbeyan is that there is a town with supermarkets, a hospital, post office etc etc. IOW, you don't have to go back into Canberra for the basics.

With Canberra itself, I will leave it to people like Haredown Whippets to comment, but it's not like places in WA and QLD where you have a kennel zone. There is also not a "council" per se but ACT Government, who licences for all of the ACT. You can pick just about any suburb, the killer point for the keeper's licence will be whether your neighbours object.

These things go so fast, literally in minutes. She probably won't be there or the owners tell you you're second in line, there's zero time to work with.

I'm not, repeat not, not not , advising everyone to go grab all the gumtree dogs but with a little/toy desirable entire girl it's sometimes more effective to call immediately and get the owners to commit to giving you the dog: then chase up a decent rescue (if you can't find one at least you tried and the dog will go to the next in line).

Don't always assume the owners have no idea how to rehome but they can be too trusting of strangers. Try to be polite and helpful with decent advice r.e making educated choices.

Some will insist the dog won't go into rescue, they get abusive PM's from welfare nutters about FTGH, dog fight bait, puppy farms etc etc.

I advertised a little old local lady's missing cat. OMG there's some keyboard animal welfare freaks out there. :laugh: It's enough to put anybody off.

Agree with this. I have found with entire dogs it is best to just act fast and quietly (including not posting on DOL) and to stay right away from moralising.

In the meantime why not see if you can find someone relatively local to you who is happy for you to tag along to some shows so you can watch and learn. I would try to aim to watch the whole of group judging for every group and write a shortlist of the breeds you're physically attracted to. Then go home and read up on pros and cons and then visit some more shows with an aim of meeting breeders of your shortlisted breed. If you're not in a hurry you've got the time to do this and hopefully, like me, you will suddenly see YOUR breed . Good luck!

This is really good advice.

With respect to strong breeds, as someone else mentioned sometimes the more relevant factor is how strong an individual exhibitor is in a particular location. You can have a numerically small breed where there is one exhibitor who is particularly strong and it doesn't really matter if there's 1 or 25, you are more than likely not going to get past them as a novice.

Speaking generally tho', I'd agree with HW that if you pick a competitive breed (whether quality, numbers or both), you'll learn faster if you're serious because you'll have to. Only you know if that will suit your personality type.

Re Tenties, they are little dudes but as a relatively recent addition to the register there are still people who have "views" about them including judges. I would only pick a Tenterfield as a first show dog if I were truly passionate about the breed.

Greyhounds rarely get to full speed when playing. I once let Pia have a run with some other dogs and basically she did laps while all the other dogs chased her lol. She would let them all catch up, then she'd switch gears and leave them in her dust. A Greyhound or Whippet at full speed will beat any other breed no question.

Yup. nods head. :D

Unless the distance is about 2 or 3 km. ;-)

But yes, agree otherwise. A non-sighthound outpacing a grey or a whippet at any distance is unlikely unless the grey or whippet has some kind of significant problem.

Vale Ted, from one of your many admirers. xx

All Irish Wolfhound owners know that even if you have a very large male, at Ag Shows there will inevitably be some bloke whose sister-in-law's uncle's neighbour had one that was bigger than that mate. He was up to here! *indicates somewhere around Clydesdale size* And yes, always over 100 kilos (our boy is around 75).