Baby's first lure coursing qualification

We had some absolutely fantastic fun today, going along to the first ever ANKC sanctioned lure coursing trial in Victoria, held by the American Staffordshire Terrier Club of Victoria.  I've been waiting a while for this, having taken Louis along to a number of fun days before, and watching enviously as other States  commenced trials.

While sadly Louis is too old to now be using his body like that, at Christmas time, I'd given Baby a bit of a fun go to see how she liked it, and as the answer had been a resounding yes, we decided to give it a crack.  I also invited Nadia and Nath with Nugget (Armahani Goldstone Gonagas (AI)) and Brooke with Freya (Armahani Goldstone Geassi (AI)) as the two dogs had attended the same event at Christmas and had also had an absolute ball.

Of course, trial conditions, and  with a much longer course (650 m in this instance), I wasn't sure if any of the three would make the distance, particularly as Baby is only just getting back into condition after having babies.

Each dog has to pass two runs, both scored out of 100, with a total score of 150 for a JC (Junior Courser) qualification.  Baby went first and clearly had not forgotten how much fun it was. After her run she was pretty hysterical, wanting to go again!  She got a score of 80, so on track to qualify.  Both Freya and Nugget started fantastically, and I thought both would make it, but managed to get distracted half way through and then lost the lure.  That eliminated them from taking a second run, but they showed plenty of promise, so we'll give them another go soon.

With machine breakdowns delaying the trial, Baby's second run was a long time later.  She was clearly a little more tired, as her speed started to wane at the end.  But I'm told her course was much more accurate, and she scored 82 for her second run.  In the end, the delay meant not all dogs got their second runs, so qualification scores were based on double the morning score, giving Baby a total of 160 and her first JC qualification.  

​Can't wait for the next trial!

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