I took Ember and Cabrera to Centreville, MI for lure coursing and weight pull this past weekend. They let me practice with them in lure coursing first and since they both qualified, their runs were accepted. I ran them in trial two and also qualified with both. Ember was very excited to watch the other dogs and couldn’t wait to do it. Cabrera was more reserved and startled by the pulleys in the first run, but was much better in the second run. Here are their second runs.
I also tried weight pull with both of them. Ember got the hang of it pretty quickly and will love it. Cabrera, not so much. He wanted to know why he had to wear this harness, why was this big cart behind him, and why wouldn’t it move? Ember will be my performance dog and I love trying new things with her, but Cabrera has converted my mom into loving GSD’s, and Julie knows how hard that was! He’s such a snuggler!
Oh that looks like fun. Ember looks like how I imaging Ziva will approach the plastic. I am taking Z-Evil one to a coursing event in Dunkirk, NY at the end of the month. I think it will be right up her ally. Do they ever catch it? I am going to try and get someone to video her run, since I want to focus on watching instead of my camera. Was it really tiring for them? I was thinking of entering 2 courses on 1 day, but wasn’t sure if it would be too much.
Hahaha! You think that two courses would be too much? Remember who we are talking about here: Z-Evil One and Ember. Ember was revved up and ready to go for weight pull after a bit of a rest after two runs. She did, however, sleep all the way home. Cabrera was zonked out in his cage after two runs. Z-Evil One will do fine with two runs. Just give her a break in between. Someone was controlling the pulley, so if he was too slow, the dog would have caught the lure, but he was pretty experienced. He had to slow it down for Cabrera and speed it up for Ember. 🙂 Everyone kept asking me if the dogs had high prey drive, i.e. did they chase balls, etc. If the answer is yes, they will love coursing. Z-Evil One will love it, just let her watch the dog in front of her.
It was nice to see you and the dogs! Did you go back Sunday? We were there again in the morning, much better course (much longer, great for Nikon finishing his CAX).
Lisa, two runs are fine. Nikon loves it so much I often pay for a “fun run” in addition to his qualifying runs and let him run a third time. Yes they can catch it and it’s not a big deal. Nikon will always grab it at the end and he knows the middle piece is the rabbit pelt (the other pieces are plastic bags). If I have a dog that will really thrash it, I bring out another toy in my pocket and redirect them onto that and play tug as we leave the field.
It was nice seeing you, too! We did not go back on Sunday. I am signing up on Friday of the Premier for more runs, though. You answered my question of whether I can have a toy or food, etc. on the field for after the run. Ember is learning that as soon as the run is done, she can take off and explore. She’s too busy to stay with me, and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to catch her. She has never had a great recall, but is doing better. I was going to take a ball and food to try to get her back, and if all else fails, keep Cabrera by the course to attract her to him. Is that allowed?
Absolutely use Cabrera to help Bailey come back to you. There are a lot of dogs that have “issues” doing back to owners. Congratulations on the two qualifying legs on both dogs! Woooo wooo
Congratulations Lies on Nikon’s CAX title!
Honestly I never even thought about whether it was allowed, lol! Nikon won’t leave me but he will repeatedly attack the lure if I let him, which isn’t really all that bad (they don’t care, the sighthounds do it) but just holds up things at a big event when everyone is waiting so I often pop out his ball and redirect him to that.
That looks like a lot fun. Thanks for sharing the videos.
This looks like a blast!