Lure Coursing

 Lure Coursing is a sport in which dogs chase a "lure" - usually a white bag, but many things can be used.  Sort of like the way greyhounds chase a fake rabbit on a racetrack.

Until a few years ago, only Sighthounds (Greyhounds, Whippets, etc) were allowed to compete in lure coursing in AKC.  Then they started an event called a "Coursing Ability Test" or CAT in which any breed could compete.  The lure is dragged over a winding course on a flat field: 600 yards for most dogs, but small dogs and brachiocephalic breeds can run 300 yards.  For the CAT, there is no official time and it's a pass/fail test: does the dog keep chasing the lure?  3 successful runs gets the dog a Coursing Ability title (CA).  Additional successful runs get higher titles.

I tried this with Dakota for the first time when she was 6, and she thought it was stupid.  "It's just a plastic bag!"

But the younger dogs like it, and we have found that if they learn the game when they are young, they often will continue to enjoy it for years.  Of course they know it's just a bag, but they enjoy the chase anyway.

These photos are all of Ellie, enjoying the chase:

Cones are used to cover the pulleys, which are used wherever the line dragging the lure goes around a turn:

Here she is at the end, about to catch the bag!

A few years later, the AKC introduced another lure coursing event called the Fast CAT.  This is a much shorter course, a straight 100 yards.  The dog is timed, and the time is converted to miles per hour.  Then they get points based on the mph.  For small dogs, there is a handicap process in which they get more speed points than they would otherwise.  150 points gets the dog a novice Fast CAT - which is abbreviated as BCAT for some reason.

You can get great head-on photos at a Fast CAT, since the dogs are running in a straight line.  Here's Ellie:

And several great pictures of Izzy.  I have lots more photos of Izzy doing Fast CAT than regular CAT, because she likes the Fast CAT better.  Ellie likes them both.  We have a friend who has a dog who loves the regular CAT but not the straight, shorter Fast CAT so much.  Every dog is different!

This last one is my favorite, with her tongue flying like a flag!

If you are interested in doing this with your dog, they have to be at least a year old (although some clubs hold practice runs at the end of the day that are good for puppies).  Go to https://www.akc.org/sports/coursing/coursing-ability-test/ for more information.