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Ya’ll know I have Whippets and one thing that Whippets love to do is RUN!

They will chase just about anything and that includes a white plastic bag being dragged around a field by a string. That’s Lure Coursing and it involves turns and stuff.

Racing is a straight 200 yards and is generally considered to be safer than Lure coursing since you don’t have the turns to contend with. That doesn’t mean that it’s not completely without any danger! You still see injuries such as pulled muscles and sometimes a scrape or two. Some people worry about a “pile up” at the end when the lure stops moving, but I’ve never seen much of one of those. The dogs have much better control over their bodies than that.

But racing requires different equipment from lure coursing. The biggest piece of equipment are the starting boxes. They are usually made of 3/4″ thick plywood and have these big spring hinges on them to raise up the door (which is one piece that covers the front of the box — that way all 6 dogs get an even start). Moving boxes takes muscle cause they are HEAVY, but some of the guys in the club have devised a way to move them easier and have put wheels underneath. The wheels can be retracted once the box is in place so it sets on the ground properly.

My dogs aren’t the fastest out there so we more than often come home with the turtle award (given to the slowest dog of the day), but they don’t know where they placed, they just know they had a blast running with all their buddies and hanging out with the humans.

Racing Whippets is a purely amateur sport in the U.S. — no betting, no “track” and usually not many spectators, but its a great way to spend a weekend with like minded folk who just happen to own beautiful dogs that love to run. It’s more like a community picnic/camp out than anything with pot luck lunches and lots of laughter and fun.

I’m hoping this fall will see me at more races than the last couple of years. I’ve missed being in the great outdoors.

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