Lure Coursing - Calling on Lauri ;)

[elisabeth_00117]

Lauri (or whoever else can help),

I am looking into lure coursing as a fun thing to do with my sister's dog Senna.

She is already enrolled (and doing well) in agility (different class than Stark) but my sister would like another activity to do with her.

My sister isn't into obedience even though I think Senna would be amazing! So I suggested lure coursing and she really liked the idea of it.

There is nothing around here that I can find, but was wondering how one gets started and what the equpiment needed is (besides the lure.. lol)?

Help?

[Lauri & The Gang]

Here I am!!

The biggest obstacle in running a lure course is the space. We have 2 acres fenced for our dogs and it JUST fits a decent sized course.

When we run the lure for fundraisers we require space to set up a square course with a minimum of 100 feet on each side. (It's not a true square - I'll explain that later).

We also require it to be fenced. Dogs run OFFleash and if they decide they are not interested in chasing the lure we don't want them to just run off.

If you are mechanically inclined or know someone you can build the motor and pulley yourself. If not you can buy them premade.

You'll need the following equipment:

1 machine - cheapest model starts at $485 (www.injoy-1.com)
Deep cycle batteries to run the machine - they usually start around $100 (not sure how many you'll need, we use an electric motor)

1 Holdown pulley - $46 (Injoy)
7 Corner pulleys (that would make the square) - $37 each (Injoy)

String - about $30
Lures - plastic grocery bags or rabbit furs (I prefer the fur)


This is the basic setup I use for most of my coursing:



The brown box is the machine. The black is the line. The red dots are the corner pulleys and the blue dot is the hold down pulley.

You NEVER EVER make a 90 degree corner!! That is very dangerous for the dog - trying to turn 90 degrees at fast speeds. I use 2 step corners as shown in the picture.

The corner pulley by the machine is the return pulley. The string forms a continuous loop and needs to be fed back around the wheel on the machine. That corner is ok to have at 90 degrees because you will be leading the dog past it (more on that later).

You could also set it up like this:



The line skips out of one of the straight tracks to get to the machine. A little trickier to set up and requires more pulleys.


So you've got the space and the equipment - now you need the know-how to run it!

The key is to keep the lure in the right spot - and that spot is different for each dog. You don't want it too CLOSE to the dog or they will run with their head down and this increases their chances of tripping. But you don't want it too FAR from the dog or they lose interest. The key is to keep it at just the right place to keep them running safely!

You also have to remember that short dog don't see as far ahead of them as tall dogs do.

The lure is in the perfect position for this dog - she can see it and feels she can still get it:



When running multiple dogs at once you always keep the lure ahead of the lead dog - which sometimes means the other dog(s) lose interest. If two dogs are not matched for speed I won't run them together:




I am working on a DVD that talks all about setting up an ALL BREED lure coursing club. Because we had a ton of rain that froze we can't set up a course in our field so I have to wait for better weather to do more filming. Hopefully it will be out soon!!

[elisabeth_00117]

Wow, thanks Lauri!!!

My parents have about 10 acres (more but 10 is what is usable) so we definitely have the room!

I will have my Dad take a look at what is needed and see if he can rig something together. He's Mr. Handy (use to build homes and tinkers around with anything mechanical).

What type of string is used? Is it a wire type string or just a material type string?

[ShatteringGlass]

I would love to do this with Shane, he actually watched some Norfolk Terriers running a course once and he went ballistic! It was a good thing he was only about 4 or 5 months old at the time because if he saw it now, my bum would have grass stains from him dragging me to chase the bag! LOL

I tried finding and all breed club but no luck.