Meg goes to the track!

HopOnTrot said:
I think my little terrier would love that!

The older one once entered the terrier race at a p2p, he shot off with the pack and then turned round and came back to me, he was never had a very strong prey drive!
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I would not be so sure it means a weak prey drive 🙂. My large whippet cross who was lethal with deer and had to be closely watched at all times turned back when entered in a lure race with other hounds when he realised what they were all chasing. I think some experienced dogs probably despise plastic strips bouncing across a field. It was a shame he felt like that though as it would have been a good outlet for him.

On the other hand the terrier was allowed to chase a lure at a charity fair once. The little tyke not only caught it but would not let it go even when the lure handler lifted him off the ground by the scruff of his neck. I had to run up to sort things out.
 
I've booked mine in for this week. I am so excited. Floyd probably won't run, he's slow, clumsy and generally can't be bothered but if he asks to I'll run mine together. Cooper is running whether he likes it or not, and I'm hoping this is something that tires him out that isn't hunting. I ran their fitness right down when Floyd was injured and we are just picking it back up to around the 6/7 mile mark, but Cooper does 3 times what we do and most of it at least 10 to 25mph according to his tracker, he's eating 700gms of raw food a day and still looking lean and fit.

Coop is an out and out hunter, and he's also the smartest dog Ive ever met, so I'm hoping he doesn't decide the lure is for idiots.
 
I'm Dun said:
I've booked mine in for this week. I am so excited. Floyd probably won't run, he's slow, clumsy and generally can't be bothered but if he asks to I'll run mine together. Cooper is running whether he likes it or not, and I'm hoping this is something that tires him out that isn't hunting. I ran their fitness right down when Floyd was injured and we are just picking it back up to around the 6/7 mile mark, but Cooper does 3 times what we do and most of it at least 10 to 25mph according to his tracker, he's eating 700gms of raw food a day and still looking lean and fit.

Coop is an out and out hunter, and he's also the smartest dog Ive ever met, so I'm hoping he doesn't decide the lure is for idiots.
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It doesn’t look like a rabbit! Bit of fluorescent orange plastic but it goes fast!
 
I'm absolutely gutted. I went today, and Cooper wasn't having any of it. I knew before we tried it wasnt for him. He was mildly interested in lots of other sight hounds being there, but really all he wanted to do was go hunting in the woods that surround the track and got really sulky when he wasn't allowed.

When it was his turn I tried to gee him up, and he lolloped after it for about 80yds, turned round, came back to me and wanted to go home. Hes a super smart boy, and he knew fine well it was plastic and therefore it was of zero interest to him. I brought him home as there wasn't really any point trying to engage him. So no track days for Cooper and I guess that rules out the racing I'd planned to do with him.
 
I'm Dun said:
I'm absolutely gutted. I went today, and Cooper wasn't having any of it. I knew before we tried it wasnt for him. He was mildly interested in lots of other sight hounds being there, but really all he wanted to do was go hunting in the woods that surround the track and got really sulky when he wasn't allowed.

When it was his turn I tried to gee him up, and he lolloped after it for about 80yds, turned round, came back to me and wanted to go home. Hes a super smart boy, and he knew fine well it was plastic and therefore it was of zero interest to him. I brought him home as there wasn't really any point trying to engage him. So no track days for Cooper and I guess that rules out the racing I'd planned to do with him.
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I had a bitch like that. We took her lure racing and all went well until the thing snagged and she caught it. It was a plastic bag. If she could have folded her arms and tapped a foot while glaring at me she would have done. As it was the look on her face was a sight to behold. She never showed the slightest interest ever again.
 
He was furious with me as soon as he realised it wasn't a jolly hunting session. They kept saying he's very laid back, he's not, he's sharp as a tack he was just so angry with me he shut down. I'd planned to spend all next summer going round to the country shows with racing on but I don't think he's having any of this. He looked disgusted with me when he came back and dragged me to the car. And that was that.
 
I'm going to try once more with another dog to see if that gets him interested, but he's so clever, and so dog neutral now he's grown up. that I don't think he will be fooled. He knew fine well what he was supposed to do ,he just didn't want to thanks.
 
I'm Dun said:
I'm going to try once more with another dog to see if that gets him interested, but he's so clever, and so dog neutral now he's grown up. that I don't think he will be fooled. He knew fine well what he was supposed to do ,he just didn't want to thanks.
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Sorry, just like mine was. We switched to tracking game on a long line and harness with massive food rewards for finding and just looking. The dog should have been thoroughly frustrated by this but adapted really well and seemed quite fulfilled by the hunt even though he was not allowed to catch and kill. It was however tough on the human who was often dragged through the undergrowth at a very fast walking pace. In the last few years I had to give up and let my husband do it.
 
It might be a stupid question, but what if you talked to the person in charge and try to tie a rabbit skin on the plastic or something
more interesting to chase ?

They probably have had other dogs not responding to plastic before ?

Sorry if it's a stupid idea...
 
Oh thank god, hes come up slightly lame this morning. 2 days before we went he went left and I went right and he went on a jolly little rampage through the woods, got totally lost and was missing for over an hour. I found him trapped on the wrong side of barbed wire in a copse. He sliced his face open in lots of places, I decided to still go as it was just superficial scratches and they'd scabbed over, but given how off he was and the now mild lameness, I think he's taken a tumble and hurt himself.

Obviously its not good he's hurt, but I'll book him in with my physio, who he sees a lot due to him not caring if he hurts himself or not, and then hopefully we can try again. When he was about 8 months old we used to go to whippet meet ups with other young dogs where he ran rampage for an hour and had the time of his life. I took him one day and he was like this, and turned out he'd hurt himself, had some physio and the next week was back to normal
 
Janique said:
It might be a stupid question, but what if you talked to the person in charge and try to tie a rabbit skin on the plastic or something
more interesting to chase ?

They probably have had other dogs not responding to plastic before ?

Sorry if it's a stupid idea...
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Its on my list of things to ask. I so want this to work as it will be so good for him.
 
I'm Dun said:
I'm absolutely gutted. I went today, and Cooper wasn't having any of it. I knew before we tried it wasnt for him. He was mildly interested in lots of other sight hounds being there, but really all he wanted to do was go hunting in the woods that surround the track and got really sulky when he wasn't allowed.

When it was his turn I tried to gee him up, and he lolloped after it for about 80yds, turned round, came back to me and wanted to go home. Hes a super smart boy, and he knew fine well it was plastic and therefore it was of zero interest to him. I brought him home as there wasn't really any point trying to engage him. So no track days for Cooper and I guess that rules out the racing I'd planned to do with him.
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I thought of Cooper when I watched this today -
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=712010826513485
 
He would have clocked that before they released them and headed straight to it! 😂 😂

There has been some interesting developments with Cooper. While trying different activities with him it became apparent very quickly that he never does anything without Floyd. The set up on the boat wasn't really suitable, and Floyd gets separation anxiety left without another dog so practically was next to impossible. Without Floyd he shuts down unless he wants to do it. Game over, not doing it, end of. So I've put a ton of work into him one on one. With the current living set up its much easier to have them doing things separately thankfully. There is also an element of if he feels out of his comfort zone he shuts down. He doesn't want to try new things that he might not like or thinks are pointless thank you very much.

So he's been going swimming. He loves the water but was frightened to death of not having his paws on the ground. I found a pool where I can go in with him and have a very patient kind person on the ground. Hes made huge progress and I am so, so, so, so proud of him. Hes gone from being frightened and very shut down, not doing it, just standing rigid and ignoring everyone and everything, to coming down the ramp on his own, launching in, fetching toys, doing laps and generally having a brilliant time. I only have to pick the swimming bag up or say swimming and he's so excited and happy. Its taken about 6 weeks to get there, but its been worth it. Dock diving is now on my list of things he might like to do instead of racing.

I wasn't sure at first if I was doing the right thing and we were all very, very, very careful not to ever force or pressure him as that made him worse. I did in the end pick him up and carry him with me into the water and just hold him while he figured it out, and he's just built on that week by week. Ive spent a ton of time doing anything and everything one on one with him and rewarding him for every try he does whatever it is. I didn't realise that he needs a lot of praise. He was always told good boy etc, but he, for now at least, needs a ton of OTT, praise. Hes absolutely blossomed. I feel sad I didn't realise that actually he's quite a worrier in some situations and it was just hidden by floyd being so confident and outgoing and cooper using him as a prop. I think it probably wasn't ever actually an issue till I asked him to do something he didn't really want to do and then inadvertently pressured him, even if it was in the form of encouragement. Hes super smart and actually quite a complicated little dog. Its also very clear that he's an addict, if he doesn't get to hunt every few days he gets depressed. The chemical high he gets from it must be immense, and its very hard to replicate it. Swimming has been the only thing that's worked so far. I do want to do some scent work and trailing with him as he would be brilliant at it.

We are giving racing one last try this weekend having not been since last year. If he says no again then I'll call time on it permanently. But I think there's a reasonable chance he might run now he's gotten used to doing things he doesn't fancy because I ask him to and him then finding he enjoys it. The set up with the woods full of deer when that's his preferred prey and he's never allowed to hunt them is not ideal, but its what we have available. We shall see!
 
Today Cooper went racing. He was like a different dog. From the second he arrived he was barking and singing and very much "let me at it". I left my other boy in the car and he didn't care at all. When it was his turn he was so excited he was bouncing and squirming, got him settled and slipped him and he was off. There was a small moment at the top corner where he looked like he might stop and come back, but decided to carry on. So hed have been slow, he was nowhere near top speed at any point, but that will come. The main thing is he loved it. I only ran him once so we were done quick and he came home absolutely full of himself and high as a kite on endorphins. Hes had some chicken and some of my icecream and he's asleep in front of the air con very happy with himself.

I was so happy I had to go and sit in the car and have a little cry. I was offered a puppy the other day, perfect racing lines etc, etc and I turned it down, partly because puppies are such hard work but mainly because I hadn't quite given up on Cooper and he's done me proud. He can do a few more training sessions then we can head off in the little caravan and do some proper lure coursing and showing. It doesn't matter in the slightest if he wins, but I couldn't take him when he didn't run at all. Thankfully we've cracked it.

No video of him running, but this is him waiting his turn, I did encourage him to be fired up and OTT which I wouldn't allow normally, but I wanted his blood up and him wanting to do it. Weird to hear him barking as he's normally very quiet! I didn't get any videos of him singing, but once he did that I knew he'd be ok. Every other time he's been silent and had an utterly mutinous look on his face.

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Cooper just ran a race!! In so happy I had to go in the car and cry! He was so different this time. I left floydy in the car after a leg stretch and he... | By Vickie | Facebook

Cooper just ran a race!! In so happy I had to go in the car and cry! He was so different this time. I left floydy in the car after a leg stretch and he...
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