WHELPERS:

WHELPERS:

The earlier you play chase games with your pups the better. A soft toy with a buzzer inside is what I used when I was breeding, they would be isolated and we'd paly for 5 minutes or so.

The confidence they got from this would set them up for what was to come, a life of chasing a mechanical hare, with 7 other dogs bumping and bashing their way to the front of the pack! 

The 6 to 12 week age bracket is critical, don't miss the chance to unlocking their prey drive early, and start them off on the right foot. It sets the tone, it tells the pup what you expect from them, and it stays with them for life. 

• WHISTLER TEASER
• FAUX FUR

The days of going from a paddock to breakers is over, it's time to start doing what many others are already doing, getting rearers onto a lure system throughout rearing. Early education will ensure your pup is ready when they turn breaking age. 

You can setup along side your rearing yards, or in a paddock. There's no minimum age because these units have full speed control. 

The younger you start teaching pups to chase, the better chance they'll have of reaching the track. Start slow, and don't use the lure system until they are confident and chasing the hand lure first.

Test them with one of our electronic teasers as well. Then just start with simple 50m to 100m chase games with the lure system, and progress as they do in skill and age. Do it from their yards first, but the get them on their own away from yard-mates, and away from their comfort zone.

Sprint lanes are ideal, we'll cover that soon. First, here is a customer video using one of our RETRO Models the R610, this is has since been updated and is known as the R600 which has reverse. 

I would be giving each pup 1 solo session per month up until breaking age, in the sprint lanes, or up the straight, and then step it up and roll into a pre-breaking phase with them, more on that next, for now watch the next video.

• R600 for 12v push button remote, OR for full speed control purchase the OMEGA 300 which has a drag option too.
• FRENZY TEASER
• FAUX FUR

This stage is so under-used in the industry. If you're looking for a real edge over other breeders and rearers, then start doing pre-breaking! It saves time at the breakers, it ensures they're even ready to go to a trial track in the first place, and it makes for a smooth transition from farm life to track life. 

The first experience a breaker has on the track needs to be positive, otherwise it gets exponentially harder to break them in, meaning you may have to try more than once just to get them to break in, this is a waste of time and money, get them ready prior. 

For Pre-Breakers, this is just the rearing stage with increased lure sessions, and more distance if possible, with plenty of bite-ons and big pats when they do a great job. One minor detail that can also help, is getting them to chase up the straight, but instead of the middle, have the loop lure set on the left side, get them used to running full tilt along the fence.

Confidence is priority one with pups and adult dogs. 

Also, at this stage I would combine all that they've been doing during rearing, but add in longer run sessions, over longer distance. I'd also be doing jump outs from the boxes with the lid already open to get them extra comfortable. 

If you have a bullring, I highly recommend using the same lure and electronic teaser at the breaking track, or get your breaker to use it. Or ta very least the same faux fur. Something familiar will help the pups nerves, but the pre-breaking and all the hard work during rearing, plus the added early work as 6-12 week-old's will set them for this moment, this is make or break time! 

• R600 for 12vpush button remote, OR for full speed control purchase the OMEGA 300 which has a drag option too.
  
• DELTA 500if you want to go further, or the ALPHA 900if you also have more than 15 dogs to work per session. 
• FRENZY TEASER
• FAUX FUR

For all ages, sprint lanes is a great place to either start teaching them to chase the lure, or to give older dogs a quick sharp hit-out. It is also fantastic to do interval training, you can learn more about that here: INTERVAL TRAINING

For the older dogs, including race dogs, using a lure system in sprint lanes means you won't need another dog to run along side them. This in itself means you won't be teaching any dog to chase dogs, they'll only be focused on the lure which is obviously critical to winning races. 

Ensure you leave at least 10m at either end for the dog to ease and safely turn around, I trained like this for years without any serious injuries, you might lose the odd nail or get a bit of sand-toe, but even these are rare in a proper setup. 

Using a single starting box in the sprint lane is also great. You'll find once you stop running dogs in pairs, teaching them to chase each other, and start using one lane to teach them to chase a lure, you'll end up with a spare lane. I used mine for box training. 

With box training with the lure system, it meant I could do it all on my own, and repeat the 80-100m jump outs over and over until the dog nailed it. You could do the same in a paddock, or up a straight too, which I also did. More on straights and paddock soon, first here's some sprint lane footage, again using the old R610, which is now the 12 volt R600 system:

• R600 for 12v push button remote, OR for full speed control purchase the OMEGA 300, but if you have more than 15 dogs in work, definitely go with the 12v system R600, which can also be left out in the weather. 

Nothing get as close to the real deal of chasing actual prey like an open field course. If you don't have a space like this, you can also use a local football oval or field. We'll cover that next.

This has so many benefits. Fitness, strength, mental health and being able to open up into a full sprint for longer. You could also run in pairs, but you should know your dogs well enough to make your own judgement on this. 

Video show another RETRO machine the R525, this has been replaced by the DELTA 500, R600 and ALPHA 900. Link at the bottom of this page.

• R600 for 12v push button remote if you plan to go up 600m
• ALPHA 900 if you plan to go beyond 600m. 

If you don't live on a farm, or don't have access to a paddock, a football field will do just fine. Here I setup a simple 300m tringle course for 2 greyhounds, you can give them as long as you won't on this continuous loop course.

The OMEGA 300 (aka R300) is plenty powerful enough for this type of training, that in the first video. The second video is the all powerful ALPHA doing a simple straight loop, can go for hours on 1 charge.

• Depends on the distance. With each system we have, their name is followed by a number, this number is the loop distance they can do at 75KPH, they slow down as you go beyond this distance. 

Imagine being able to do your own private coursing! We all know after a dog does coursing, they find another gear back on the race track! You can do this with a Renegade Lure System!

If you have your own straight track, I strongly suggest getting either the R600 or ALPHA. The R600 can also be left out in the weather, so it suited to big teams and high usage. Get yourself a solar drip charger and you won't even have to charge the car battery! 

Like sprint lanes, a straight track with our system is great for box work. Except this time they can grab the lure as a reward. Attach a race day lure and run along the left side for near race conditions. They'll chase like demons after this! 

Or if you have a slipping track nearby, use the drag attachment on the smaller systems. This way you don't have to setup a pulley course. But if you have time to setup a continuous loop, then you can do something like this in the video: 

SAFTEY HINT: They can't trip on the line if they're going in the same direction, also, they will never burn themselves on the line if they stand on it. If they stopped and stood on the line then yes it would, but that just doesn't happen.

• Depends on the distance. With each system we have, their name is followed by a number, this number is the loop distance they can do at 75KPH, they slow down as you go beyond this distance. 
• The speed control machines (OMEGA DELTA BETA) all have a drag option too, so these might suit if you have a small team.

If you just have a few dogs, and train from the suburbs and use a local slipping track or similar, then perhaps the drag option will be ideal for you. 

You can do a simple straight run, or use a field pulley to run up and back so you can train by yourself. You can also create a course despite it just winding back into the machine, as opposed to a continuous loop.  

The drag option also gives farm trainers the alternate way to train. With the drag you can run any distance, you're only limited by the space you have, and the amount of braided fishing line you have on the drive wheel. 

But mixing loop and drag training is ideal, you can be doing interval training and box work on the loop, then give them a long hit out on the drag and let them grab the lure. 

• Depends on the distance. There's 2 drag wheels, one is 150mm and holds around 500m of braided fishing line, and the other is 230mm and holds 1000m of line.
• CLICK HERE FOR DRAG PACKAGE 

VIDEO SETTING UP A DRAG:

DRAG USING FIELD PULLEYS: