My husband and I have a pair of 5 month old Scottish Deerhound puppies. We plan to show them and maybe try them at lure coursing. We are novices at both.
For lure coursing, a Deerhound breeder suggested we try the pups with a bag, to see if they exhibited any drive for lure coursing. They did - video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYA3cBji1bQ
So my question, anyone with lure coursing experience and advise for getting started with puppies?
Thanks!
I’ve dabbled with my Ridgebacks! Neither was particularly good at it, but it’s been fun 
The best introduction I’ve had for young dogs are lurecoursing play dates. They are SUPER low key, no one is going to get upset or irritated if your dogs go running willy nilly around the field and you’ll get several shots at running your dogs. They people are also usually really supportive and will laugh with you when you dog does something silly. 
With terriers, we begin training with toys on the end of a lunge whip, often as early as 8 weeks teaching them to track with their eyes and NOT having them make sharp turns until they are several months old.
Do you have a access to a 4 wheeler? Since your dogs are so big, I’d think you need the speed of a 4 wheeler to stay ahead of them.
Do you have a SD club somewhat locally? I know there is a Mid-Atlantic Sighthound club that has lurecoursing dates.
I would be very, very careful taking a Deerhound behind an ATV so young. IIRC, they are not even allowed to run a full course as a test at an event until they are a full 12 months. You will want to keep it very low key until they are older…
You also need to get the dogs comfortable working away from you–far away–and I’m not sure you would really get that off an ATV.
Thanks Simkie & Krys!
Regarding conditioning, we don’t have an ATV. But we are taking the pups for twice daily, off-lead walks around our farm. Off-lead is something I’ve NEVER done with our previous sighthounds (DH, Whippets & Greyhound) for the obvious reasons. But I talked to several DH breeders and owners about it and basically, we have to weigh the risk versus benefit.
The consensus is, to get them fit for show, and proper development, they need more exercise than they get even in our large fenced-in yard. So, we take our Greyhound on lead, as the ‘anchor’ dog, and carry a whistle - which we are training them to respond to if they go too far. And carry tons of treats which we give out generously. And often, I’ll ride along on horseback while my husband walks. Plus our farm is very rural, so cars/roads are not an issue.
I will say, its been an eye-opener. Already these pups are more fit than our other sighthounds ever were. And watching them bound thru the open fields and run and play full-out has been just amazing. But its still nerve-wracking!
So I think, even though we are mostly on foot, they are getting plenty of exercise because they have each other to run and rough-house with. So for lure coursing, I guess the rest really depends if they have the drive for it?
Thank you for starting this thread!
I’m hoping to do a bit of lure coursing w/ the Ibizan puppy I’m getting next year, and know almost nothing about it. The breeder promised me a basic rundown, and of course before I actually get the puppy I plan to do more in depth research, but it’s great to be able to get some information here from others who have experience w/ it.
Hey Supafly - congrats on your (future) Ibizan pup! I just got this video link to lure coursing with Ibizan, so here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQYIEfICLMg&feature=share
One thing I’ve learned regarding lure coursing with Deerhounds is NOT to expect them to do better than Greyhounds and Whippets in open coursing. They aren’t as fast or have the same drive. And Deerhound style of running/hunting is a bit different. They have shorter necks and tend to run with their head up.
I’m not sure where Ibizan fall within sighthound coursing, but I suspect they are more competitive than DHs. But again, none of my info is first hand experience - just what I’ve read or been told.
I tried with my Whippet Mix and he wasn’t interested as much as I thought he would be. It was awfully hot out there though, so I am going to try again.
But I agree that a play date is the best place to try it out.
Lure coursing
My family lure courses Afghan Hounds. We run them AKC and AFSA.
The advice I would give is
-get them fit which it sounds like you are doing already, it is common to see dogs quitting mid course because they are just not fit enough
-go slow and be patient-do lots of practices
-when they are young try to not run them with aggressive, bolder dogs. We have an older, slow male we normally start ours with as he won’t interfere with new dogs and he always stays on the lure, just very slow!
It is best to start with practice runs and running them single until they are running very solid. Good coursers get ruined by trying to rush them along. Start with short runs. We typically start with down and back a short way, then progress from there. We run ours in single runs until they consistently run the course everytime, then we run them in practice runs with a consistent older dog, then if still running well move onto actually running in trials. And if at any point they start loosing focus or quitting we step back until consistent again.
In our experience, go even slower with the males as ours at least tend to be ADD and lose focus when coursing in groups
If you haven’t seen it, go watch and talk to people. Everyone is always very helpful. Often at competitions they will do practice runs after. It is fun and the dogs love it!
jreventer - thanks for the great info!
Oh my, my JRT would literally poop himself with excitement. We have to try this out on the farm.
:yes::yes::eek:
I have an older adopted Irish Wolfhound who was 4 when we got her, and who had NEVER been trained in any obedience. She was the boss in her former family. We had to take her on a long line walking our property (also very rural), and eventually could let her loose. Can relate entirely to her taking off, and are they fast! She’d go run after deer, tree raccoons, and chase bunnies! I’d end up home with heart failure! (TG no wolves to chase in this environs in this century! :lol:)
I’ve tried to explain who’s boss :winkgrin:, she is older and has quieted down a great deal, I keep a bright orange vest on her, and I have trained her to the whistle as well. But she still has a mind of her own - I have to blast it to the nines to get her to return sometimes! But now she always does within less than a minute. (We have lots of woods, so it’s easy to lose sight of her.)
I thought of lure coursing as well, and she seems to have the drive for it - but she is already 6&1/2 - you know that’s beginning to get up there for an IW.
They are all great dogs - great conversation starters, and great companions!:yes:
CVPeg - sounds like she’s one lucky Wolfhound to be with you! And yes, watching them go full-out is a magnificent sight!!!
Where did you get orange vest for her? That definitely has been on my to-do list, especially as the days get shorter & losing light.
Your pups look to have the drive to lure course by your video!! Hope you have a blast:). I have “tried” to lure course both my whippets. My female wouldn’t even try…lol. She is so smart and she knows if she runs off away from me she will be scolded. oh well. plus the huntsman said she was “overweight”…
My male who has tons of game I thought was going to be good but later found out he only wanted to chase the dod chasing the lure to play. oh well again…
They both get plenty of time off leash at the 200 acre farm where I board so all is well plus I have indoor kitties and decided it would be best to leave well enough alone. Don’t need more prey drive in them than they already have.
GOOD LUCK!!!
I started my basenjis with a lure on the end of a lunge whip. When first run on a real lure, they consistently tracked off to the side. I think they were used to trying to cut the corner.
It’s great fun. The only reason I stopped was that the nearest lure practice to me is run by a whippet club and it sure seems that all the whippets ran multiple times before any other breed got a run in. :mad: This was with numbers assigned to each dog.
After the third time this happened the other basenji owners and I just left in disgust along with the afghan hounds and wolfhound!!
[QUOTE=Mao;5828858]
CVPeg - sounds like she’s one lucky Wolfhound to be with you! And yes, watching them go full-out is a magnificent sight!!!
Where did you get orange vest for her? That definitely has been on my to-do list, especially as the days get shorter & losing light.[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure! Maybe mail order - may have even picked it up at Beans or Petsmart or Petco. The brand is “Outward Hound” Pet Travel Gear. It’s great - very light weight, attaches easily w/ Velcro and has stayed on well. I got one also because we have to deal with poachers.:mad: Even off season…
Have fun!
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