Lure Coursing

It was a very dull, misty day on Sunday but despite that we had a superb lure coursing session. As before we were joined by Beanie & Biggles’ pals Tess, Tara, Clara, Cuillin and Jamie.

Our first race put Biggles up against Tara. Last time Tara ran well up to the first corner then lost focus, but I was hopeful that this time my trusty little boy would show her the ropes. Sadly this was not to be. Biggles kind of followed the lure but his tendency to cut corners didn’t help his running mate at all.

Biggles keeps the lure in sight…

…but loses poor Tara by the first turn

His approach to following the lure may have been a bit unconventional but he won his race and bayed his head off the whole way round!

Tess and Cuillin were next on the track. Both showed improvement over last time and clearly enjoyed running together, though Cuillin won the round by virtue of having completed more of the course.

It was Beanie and Clara next. They had a good race up to that treacherous first corner but then Clara failed to make the turn and Beanie shot away..

Beanie and Clara just before the start…

Beanie chases after the lure intently…

And savors her victory as she romps down the final straight

Beanie catches the lure at the finish, and Susan catches Beanie

Cuillin, Beanie and Biggles were now through to the next round, with plenty of time to chill out while watching the other races…

The deer hounds do their thing…

while Beanie & Biggles settle down for a good (legal) chewing session

The next round put Biggles and Cuillin up against each other. Obviously Cuillin is considerably faster than the Biggly boy, but on the other hand you can’t lead a race if you don’t know where you’re meant to be going…

Cuillin takes an early lead..

But Biggles hangs on in there..

Until the corner claims another victim..

Once Cuillin fell behind it should have been a simple matter for Biggles to follow the lure round to the finish, but things are rarely straightforward when the Bigglet is involved. Somehow he lost the lure and headed off on a little jog through the middle of the field.

I had visions of us spending the next ten minutes trying to recapture our cheeky little monkey, but thanks to some skillful lure driving by Kevin Rose this was not necessary. Just as Biggles neared the other side of the field Kevin started the lure moving once more, and it caught Biggles’ attention. He kept the lure right under our boy’s nose and guided him slowly but surely in towards the finish line..

In the very last yard Biggles lunged for the lure, caught it, and did a little victory roll before sliding neatly to a stop right at our feet. He got re-leaded immediately, but he also got a whopping great lump of chicken stuffed in his mouth by way of compensation. He was now through to the third round – a first for the Biggly boy!

Beanie’s next race was against a very fit looking whippet. It was pretty much certain she’d be beaten, but to her credit she gave her opponent a good race for the first straight, and then when the whippet pulled away she headed directly across the field to the final corner to have one more full-on chase to the finish line. She lost naturally, but she went out in style.

It was now getting darker and starting to rain, and though Biggles was still in the competition his next competitor would almost certainly have left him in the dust with no lure to follow. He’d have run off to do his own thing, undoing the good work of the previous round. Instead we decided to quit while we were ahead, and returned home with the unspoiled memory of our little boy doing his victory roll as he caught the lure.

There are more shots from Sunday’s lure coursing here, and here’s a video with a bit of footage from three races, one of which is Beanie’s valiant clash with the whippet: