Most of you probably have not even heard of it before. Scenthurdle is a dying sport, well actually it's comatose already. :o) There are less than a dozen teams throughout Canada, and six of them are in Alberta. :o)
Definition of Scenthurdle as per the CKC:
Scent Hurdling is a relay race with 4 dogs on a team. The course consists of a starting line, 4 hurdles spaced 10 feet apart and a box. The first hurdle is 4 feet from the start line and the box is 12 feet from the last hurdle. The first team dog jumps the hurdles and attempts to find their own scented dumbell from among the four that have been placed on the box. When the dog finds the right dumbbell he runs back over the 4 hurdles and crosses the finish line so that the next team dog can be released.
Here is the only video I could find on youtube....
skip to 1:17 for the actual racing...
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It is great fun and Wicca loves to play. She earned her Scent Hurdle Dog title- after her first few races, and is pretty serious about it. As with all things Wicca she is fast and intense. When we first started she used to demolish the box, walking all over the other dumbbells and making a mess. The boxloader loved us. :o)
Wicca was on a team called Due South, and raced about 6 times a few years ago. Unfortunately our team fell apart and we haven't been able to play in ages. I am itching to play again. I was asked a few weeks ago to play on a Calgary team- and I am so excited! I do hope to form a Lethbridge team one day, but by the time I get the people interested, and train the dogs, it will be a year before we would be ready to race. So the tentative plan is for Wicca and I to join an out of town team starting in January. It will give us a chance to practice, and get to race.
BUT- if any of you Lethbridge people are interested in forming a team, and learning how to play let me know. :o) It's fun, and not all that hard. Oh- and you don't have to practice very often once your dog knows the game so it's not very time consuming. The only downfall is that you have to be willing to travel to Calgary to race......as Lethbridge only has one race a year. Email me if you are interested!
6 comments:
You have some lucky dogs! You keep them so thoroughly entertained!
What fun! I have never heard of it, but it sounds great. Wicca sure looks happy in the pictures.
Oh! Sadie wants to play!
Wow... that's an awesome thing. We'd be right there if we lived closer; Simon would think that was the best fun ever! :)
Wow, I've done a lot of reading on dog sports & never heard of that one. Did there used to be more competitors? Is there a league?
I've heard of scenthurdling before, a lady on our flyball team used to play it with a team in Alberta. I would LOVE to try it with my guys ... don't know if Gio could get over his "crazy flyball dog" tendency, but he does love scent work ... But alas, I don't think there are any teams in Saskatchewan. Maybe someday I'll try to get a team up and running here. Think it could be a blast!
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