Track Meet, Tampere 2001

The dogs speed away after the lure. From the left, Glenda, Mandi and Gilda.
The acceleration is so powerful that the the hounds' footprints look like small explosions.

Deerhounds are a rare sight at Finnish track meets. In August of 2001 Deerhound Club members from the Tampere area organized a practice track meet for Club members. The idea was to familiarize both owners and hounds with track running procedures and equipment... and to see how many of the hounds would take off after the lure.

The local sighthound club people were constructing a new building while we were there. The foundations of the building are being cast in the background.

The Tampere track has a comfortable sand surface and is located in a beautiful meadow in the middle of some woods, very near the city center.

Tiikeri, Loch Beltane Braveheart

The track meet attracted the fastest ten percent of Finland's Deerhounds. In addition we had the company of a few Irish Wolfhounds and one Borzoi. Almost all of the Deerhounds were first timers.

Young Salli, Falbala's Henny-Penny at full speed.

Track running is much different from coursing with which Deerhounds and their owners tend to be more familiar. Now the only thing that counts is how quickly the dog runs around the track. No points are awarded for artistic or technical merit.

Lady's Kiss Superman - Pessi - cornering.

From a large dog's perspective being crammed into a small starting box makes no sense whatsoever. It must be rather claustrophobic in there. But they quickly learn that once the door opens the hunt is on !

Mandi, Sweetscot Megasheen, and her prey.

The motorized lure makes a lot more noise than that used at coursing competitions. Depending on the track the lure may be towed, as it is in Tampere, by a radio-controlled toy car running along the track, or a large and complicated mechanism may be used. The increased noise level may distract even the most experienced of coursing dogs.

Gilda, Magbeth's Glamorous, being tutored.

The confusing environment of the track is not something that the dogs are familiar with. It takes practice before the average Deerhound realizes that they are supposed to catch the lure despite all this confusion.

Ah, so this is what all this fuss is about. Gilda gets it.

Usually the first attempts at track coursing are not terribly successful. Having been trained to stay close to their owners at all times, Deerhounds are understandably uncertain about whether it is really permissible to just take off after the lure. It takes time and positive experiences until the hound learns that the track is a special place where running directly away from and even losing sight of his of her owner is perfectly allright.

Yikes ! The pack leader was left behind, I'd better run right back to her !.
Gilda stops chasing the lure, turns around and returns to her owner.

More Pictures from Tampere

More Running Deerhounds

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