A CAT

A few weeks ago, I took the dogs to a CAT hosted by the Chintimini Kennel Club alongside an Earthdog trial. That means a Coursing Ability Test to those unfamilar with the term. CATs are open to all breeds and mixed breeds registered with the AKC or through Canine Partners. Each dog runs alone over a 300 or 600 yard course. The dog just has to show a basic instinct to follow the lure, follow it for most of the course, and do so within the time limit.

I love watching CATs because there is such a huge variety in the dogs who come. Some of them are totally into lure coursing, while others couldn't care less. And sometimes it is really hard to guess which ones will do what when you first see them arrive.

This Irish Water Spaniel? Totally into lure coursing. I think this dog would follow that lure anywhere, for any distance.







This Dalmation had only seen a lure once before. She didn't even notice it at first when she was brought up to the line, and kept trying to slip loose to go find her people. Then, all of a sudden, the lure operator managed to catch her eye by moving the lure a little and BOOM, she was totally on it.







Or how about a rather absurd dog to see lure coursing, when compared with the long legged, sleek sight hounds the sport was designed for? But just because the legs are short doesn't mean the drive is any less, as this dachshund showed us.





Or how about this dachshund?



A really big fan of lure coursing is Elli, who we think is a dalmatian/whippet mix. Her mom has a blog about Elli over here, if you want to check them out more.





I honestly got so many pictures of so many dogs that there is no good way to share them all on the blog. And, I try really hard to only post the pictures where the dog looks like they are coursing. So all the shots of the dogs who refused to run, didn't want to get that far from mom, or simply had no idea what was supposed to be going on, all of those get deleted out of courtesy.

And one more shot. This is Sam, a lab/shepherd mix owned by a friend of mine, and who absolutely loves lure coursing.