Miles did an ASFA lure coursing competition on the 4th of July in Georgia. There was a heat wave going on at the time and temps were around 100 degrees. It was a wonderful field with plenty of shade. They had misters and baby pools and I had fans in my van. By staying wet and keeping the air blowing on us all day we stayed very cool. Miles got his first ASFA Ribbons - a nice blue one and Best of Breed and won a stuffed rabbit and a champagne flute with a greyhound on it.

In August my brothers were in town for my parents 50th Anniversary Party and everyone stayed at my house. Miles had CHILDREN to play with - 6 of them. He was in heaven- until his fur got nearly brushed off by over zealous grooming. We had to limit the grooming to once per day. He really enjoyed the leash walks around and around through the house and having kids to throw his toys for him and swim with him. I came in one day to Miles sitting in his crate WITH two little boys. He was squeezed as far back as he could get to make room for them. Moose wasn't as sure about the kids but decided they were OK after I gave them all treats to give the dogs. The kids passed out treats to the dogs several times a day and were very fair making sure everyone got equal amounts. Pinky the tiny Italian Greyhound got the same amount as the big dogs and is still on a diet to lose all the weight he gained. I came in one day to find Pinky sound asleep in his crate with a pair of kids swimming goggles on. I ran to get the camera but he had moved by the time I got back. My sister in law did get a picture of Moose wearing a swim mask though.

Miles and Jasmine

Moose ready for a swim

Miles and Jayli - she was the main dog groomer and dog walker

Miles newest sport is dock diving. He has been to two different docks on two different lakes and will jump off of them. Still working on getting a big jump with speed. He started out going to the edge, looking over at me in the water then carefully jumping in. Gradually he started leaping out into the water pretty far to get to me but that still isn't really far from a standstill. If I run and jump with him he will run and leap in but there is a huge downside to that - he tries his best to land ON me. If we can get that greyhound speed AND a big leap he will fly. We have lots of work ahead of us.

First Lure Coursing Competition

Miles did his first lure coursing run with another dog (a whippet) to get his QC -qualified courser on Sept 3rd. He had to run clean, chasing the lure and not the other dog. Since he had never run with another dog before and there was a risk of him trying to play since he is a goofy pup, I had him do the QC run with his muzzle on. He was totally focused on the lure as if he was running alone and never gave the other dog a glance.
Photo of his qualifying run
Another one

Miles was able to compete in the AKC lure coursing competition that day and won the competition and also Best of Breed. He hit his toes on a pulley during his last run so wasn't able to run for Best in Field. His runs were all beautiful and and very fast. He forced the dog he was running against to cut across the field several times just to keep up.
Photo from the competition

Miles wasn't limping after the initial injury and the only sign was a red line across both middle toes on his back left foot. After a couple of hours of rest the toes started swelling and he started limping and not wanting to put weight on them. The whole foot was swollen by the time we got home from the competition. We had an X-ray to rule out any serious damage a couple of days later. None was found. He was lucky. Hitting a plastic pulley at 40 to 45 miles per hour can really do some damage.

Just to be safe Miles is not able to run around for 2 weeks, then can run by himself only for a week.  He hasn't been able to go to his competition obedience classes or his agility classes and life has been pretty boring. Normally he gets a lot of exercise and seems like he has calmed down from the wild pup that he was. When he can't exercise I can still see how much of a pup he really is. We are doing a lot of swimming to try to keep the edge off but it just isn't enough.

Lure Coursing Practice

Otto's family, Joe and Shari, and I took the dogs to their first ASFA lure coursing practice on Sunday April 17th. Shari and I both took pictures so some of these are hers and some are ones I took. The ones of me are all hers and the ones of Moose. She got some great action shots! The dogs all did great too! Miles ran the whole course with enthusiasm and without looking tired. I think it was 860 yards that day.

I played with Photoshop a bit to get this of Miles starting the course

 

This was Otto's very first time chasing a lure since he didn't get to go with Miles to the straight race practice. He ran part of the course then got unsighted and restarted. He caught onto the game quickly and seemed to enjoy it a lot.  I think he is going to be good because he is really agile in spite of his size.  We wrapped both of the pups legs to protect them from the line. I was so glad that we wrapped them in different colors or I wouldn't have known which was which. Otto had the royal blue wraps and Miles wraps were more turquoise.

Moose got to be the test dog and looked a bit like Alice in wonderland the first few times the lure turned. Never saw that happen at the track! The lure operator was really good about getting it way ahead of him before a turn so he had plenty of room to turn. Moose slowed a bit the first few times to figure out where the lure was going then turned and sped up. He did the whole course and didn't seem too tired afterward. Playing with the pups has given him some stamina I guess. 

Moose was quite excited while waiting for another turn. I am lucky he didn't get away from me.

Moose was a lot more excited about catching the plastic bags at the end. Miles just sniffed each one and looked like he was thinking, "All that running and they are JUST plastic trash bags!"

Don't let your greyhound play with plastic bags.