A friend recorded one of his runs for me. Coursing Ability Tests are usually set up with two different courses, a longer one that most of the dogs run, and a shorter one for tiny, smush-faced, and older dogs. At ten years old, Brisbane is allowed to run the short course. He is willing and able to run the longer one, but keeping him in shape is difficult and he's not as fit as I'd like him to be.
Usually I ask the judge which they'd like him to do, and so his first run was on the longer track. They both start out in the same place going the same direction, but the longer one turns to the right and the shorter one to the left. Brisbane likes to anticipate where the lure will go so he can get ahead of it. On this run, he expected it to turn right, so he runs the wrong direction briefly.
Sisci was three weeks short of her first birthday for this event, so she was not eligible to enter. However, they did do fun runs. These are not counted or recorded, and are a nice way to let puppies and unregistered dogs participate. Fun runs are also an inexpensive way to try out lure coursing if the dog has never done it before, and the handler isn't sure if they want to play. Sisci definitely wants to play.
After her run, everyone wanted to know why Sisci wasn't entered. The AKC requires all dogs participating in a Coursing Ability Test to be at least a year old. Sisci is now old enough to officially do AKC CATs, and I'm sure every run she does will be a qualifying run just like Brisbane's.
