What is Lure Coursing?
Lure coursing is the sport of having dogs chase a mechanized lure. Modern lure courses use an artificial lure attached to a pulley for dogs to chase. And it’s not just for sighthounds anymore – recreational lure coursing clubs have been established for dogs of any breed.
The History of Lure Coursing
Lure coursing is the modern version of chasing a lure based on the ancient sport of live game chasing. Sighthounds were bred for tracking live small game such as hares, pigs, foxes, and in some cases large game such as deer or antelope.
The sport goes has a long history – 4,000 year old Egyptian tomes depict coursing with long legged hounds. It was a popular sport amongst wealthy landowners that had big hunting grounds to practice on. In the middle ages coursing was only accessible to royalty; in England commoners were not allowed to own a Greyhound for quite some time.
Lure Coursing Title Structure:
All Lure Coursing Titles are added to the dogs’ official registered name according to the title’s acronym. All lure coursing titles are added after a dog’s name except a field champion title or a dual champion title which is added before.
(JC) Junior Courser, dog must complete this lure coursing test twice and in each instance must run alone and receive a qualification after showing enthusiasm and no interruptions in each run from two different AKC judges.
(QC) Qualified Courser, a certificate is issued by an AKC judge once a dog shows he/she can run with another hound of the same breed or similar running style and can complete the course cleanly with no interference with the other hound, with no interruption and enthusiasm.
(SC) Senior Courser, dog must earn qualifying scores (with competition) at four AKC lure coursing trials under three different judges.
(MC) Master Courser, dog must have earned a SC and have earned an additional 25 qualifying scores (with competition) in either the Open, Veteran or Specials stakes.
(FC) Field Champion, dog must earn 15 championship points including two majors
(majors = 1 st place earning a value of of 3,4, or 5 pts according to the Schedule of Points by Breed) under two different judges and at least 1 point must be earned in competition with a hound of the same breed.
(DC) Dual Champion, dog must earn an FC title in Lure Coursing and a CH title in conformation dog shows.
As with any puppy, early socialization with other dogs and basic obedience is highly recommended. Foundational test levels such as Junior Courser is a great place to introduce a puppy to coursing and serves as a pre-requisite to the Qualified Courser test level where a dog must prove they can run cleanly with another dog.
