Gentles, Mark The Goatspotter here..... Regarding adoption groups. The adoption group here we got our two greys from (First State Greyhound Rescue) is of the non-approving of the racing industry bent. Fairly stridently in fact. Their adoption screening process requires applications, references, home visits (before and after adoption), an adopter pre-selected vet and a well-developed adoption contract. One aspect which worries me in conjunction with SCA coursing events - and other coursing events is a provision in the adoption contract which plainly states that the hounds will never be allowed off lead in an unfenced area for any purpose. Fastus Minimus can testify to the hazards of sighthounds which fail to continue a chase of the lure in favor of chasing another quarry in an unfenced insecure facility. Her whippet coursing group (which on occasions courses all sighthound breeds) had a hound escape last year during a meet at an un-secure (split rail fence at best) location. It was several days? before the hound was found. My adoption contract specifies my hounds can't participate in lure coursing at an insecure or unfenced location on pain of hound removal from the adopter. This means the majority of coursing locations within the SCA world and AFSA/AKC worlds appear to be off limits for our hounds. I understand that 90+ % of all sighthounds will chase the offered plastic bag lure without losing interest in favor of something else they see out there which appears more interesting. However that leaves the other 10% which fail to chase or worse yet, fail to complete the course and chase something besides the lure...... Just one failure of a hound to complete the course and running off is too many and inexcusable, especially if the hound is not recovered or the incident results in the demise of the hound. IMO there is no excuse for such an event to occur - which means I believe there is no reason for a coursing event to take place in an unfenced locale. No owner can predict the response of a hound bred to chase movement in an environment where the hound is free to chase what it will - given their lengthy breeding-in of the instinct to chase. In period, hounds were lost and/or killed during hunting events. Now, in contrast to many rescue/adoption groups, FSGR had a picnic last year and ran a coursing event in a fenced area. My male went nuts for it.... very good racer retired by leg fracture at nearly the end of full racing career... more to this later. He was so excited by the idea of chasing the lure, he jumped up, put his paws on the top rail of the paddock fence and started to aggressively chew the top rail in an attempt to get into the coursing area. I had never seen this behavior previously...... However, my female initially failed to chase the lure despite a full racing career. She watched the lure go off, went over and peed, got ears scratched by an admirer and only then, after teasing by the lure operator took after the lure.... If she had had an opportunity to get past the fence, she would have... totally ignoring the lure. Now, onto old injuries: conventional wisdom suggests that American racing greys have a skewed number of injuries to one side of the hound due to the tracks running the hounds the same direction around the track during their racing careers. The tight turns and bumping/falls and mechanical lure hazards all take their tolls. I don't see too many hounds who raced long careers which do not have at least one or two decent scars. Both of mine do. Our male (Cmon Faster) fractured a leg in his last race (the racing comments indicated he 'gave way'). It was suggested to us that this hound possibly should not ever run hard again - not at the annual Dewey Beach event or under any other circumstance.... But given that he leaps off our porch and upon occasion runs TIGHT figure 8's and occasionally falls in our back yard, he seems none the worse for wear thus far.... Now, in contrast.... During the FSGR coursing event, one hound who coursed - chased the lure straight into a lure course turn (unlike most of the other hounds which seemed to naturally know to lead the curve) and didn't get her body to follow her head as the lure changed directions..... She went hock over heels (several times at that - really ugly to see) and came back up to chase the lure, but it was painfully obvious she'd broken a hock. She still wanted to chase, but a three-legged hound can only run so fast unless they have practice. Injuries can happen at any time. But, conventional wisdom seems to suggest that hounds with a prior break or fracture may be prone to re-injuring the same limb. The injury was the only serious one to occur the whole day, but was a bad injury. I'd blame it on the hound given the lure master gave good performance the entire day and had the professionally made equipment and a nice course laid out with no really sharp turns and a manicured field which was neither too dry nor too wet. All that being said, I'd love to let my male run in coursing events in the SE Pa, De, or Northern Md.... But, my contract says no running off leash unless in a secure fenced area and many events don't offer this security. If you want to course your hound which has had a fracture or break in it's former racing life, I'd encourage a visit to your grey-savvy vet, and have some x-ray films taken and a thorough exam made before coursing the hound.... Ounce of prevention vs a pound of money spent on re-habbing another break on a hound which should never have run again outside the back yard, or not even there....trust your vet's opinion if you trust your hound with your vet. As far as SCA events go, I'd gladly carry 100-200 feet of fencing and posts in conjunction with other SCA coursing enthusiasts in order to participate in fencing off a lure course - just to be sure that my hound would be with me when the day was done. I'd also make sure that adequate space was available to lay out a decent length course with no sharp turns - not always an option at many SCA events based on coursing reports of total course lengths of 300-400 paces; given an average male pace of 2.5 feet.
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