Oh. My. God. This may be one of the most fun things you can EVER do with your dog. This past Saturday morning, Snick and I trekked to Central Jersey with friends Catherine and Nick and their two dogs Wylie and Tigger.
I believe the course was about 700 yards long. No one was officially timing the dogs, but we used Cathy’s iPhone and clocked Snick’s second run at just under a minute. That’s a polo field they’re running on and, no, there’s no fence. I was terrified to let Snickers take off like that without a leash, but after watching Tigger do it, I swallowed the lump in my throat and let him go. We had a little trouble catching him after his first run because he was trying to figure out where the “bunny” went after the bags stopped moving. Luckily, the lure operator heard us stressing and turned the lure back on long enough to grab his interest so we could snag him. Letting him go the SECOND time was even scarier, but at least we were more prepared to catch him that time. I’m going to take some sort of toy for him to “kill” at the end of the course next time – more satisfaction for him and an easier catch for me.
There’s really not much else to say… just watch the video that Nick posted (THANKS NICK!) of Tigger and Snickers chasing the lure!
OMG! I heard of lure coursing awhile ago, and thought it was perfect for shibas, but all I could find were things for sighthounds. Thank you so much for sharing. I’ll have to see what other similar events there might be in the future.
Snickers…that looks like SO much fun!! Chasing things is so much fun!! I’m a heeler-so mom takes me sheep herding…but it’s so cool that your mom took you to do something that you are supposed to do!! Aren’t our mom’s the best!!
Woof
Velcro
That looks like great fun!
Enjoyed your entry on Doggy Etiquette, Midwest Style too. So true. Having raised my girls on 60 acres and letting the neighbor dog come on in to play in our yard and taking the girls to town for socializing on super long leads; it was tough to get used to the downtown Houston mish-mash of etiquette styles. Frankly, I’m thrilled to be back in a countrified area again 🙂
Cute. 🙂 I bet you he has a higher gear than that though. 🙂
He does actually. 🙂 If you look at about 2:00 on the video, that’s his fast sprint on the second run. He was going faster on his first run. It was a sight to see!
Hello Jenna and Snickers
Looks like you had a fun with that Lure Course. Please say hello to Wylie, Tigger, Nick and Cathy from thier friends in san diego from the San Diego Shiba Meetup. We Miss them very much, and good to see they are doing well.
Jodie Karamoto and Hana-cream shiba-
Oh wow! Great job snick! I’d looooove to do this with my Shiba (I think she’d totally kick butt!). Although like you, I’d be scared that in the middle of chasing the lure she’d dash off after some distant squirrel =P
It’s TERRIFYING to say the least. I crossed my fingers and held my breath that his prey drive would keep him chasing the lure until he got back to us. Then, of course, you still have to catch them. LOL. If you look at the end of the video, you can see how Snick had just ran past Nick trying to grab him and was about to avoid me too.