Last year in straight racing in this region, we went from running two races of Azawakh to running three to four races of Azawakh. This means we went from five or more dogs competing to nine or more dogs competing. In lure coursing we went from two dogs competing to ten dogs competing, with a likelihood to add three or more dogs in competition this year (in the PNW alone). In a more common breed, this jump wouldn’t be quite as dramatic (though even in most breeds, nine is a respectable entry) but for a breed where there have literally only been five dogs, at most, competing each year since the breed was recognized by AKC in 2019, these are huge increases. Additionally, the Pacific Northwest wasn’t the only region that had Azawakh running. In ASFA there were dogs running in the Southwest, New England, and the South. This is an unprecedented increase in competing Azawkah and it makes me so happy.
As more people look into introducing their Azawakh to the game, I want to share my experiences. To my knowledge, I am the person who has the most experience introducing adult Azawakh to running sports when they don’t have previous experience with the activity. And let me confirm, introducing an adult is a different ball game than getting a puppy started.
Just like with conformation, for those of you interested in getting started in sighthound sports I want to help give you all the information you need. This post centers around Azawakh ready for running sports. The timing and process will be different with a Greyhound or a Borzoi or a Basenji. The handling component of most sighthound sports is minimal, the sports tend to be huge confidence builders for the dogs involved in them. I started racing Ami and Anu as adults (they were experienced lure coursing dogs already) and I saw a huge increase in their comfort level in being handed off to strangers which transferred to the conformation ring too. I have several blog posts about getting started LINKS.
I highly recommend starting puppies with straight runs. This can be practice at a straight racing meet, after a lure coursing trial, or some Fast CATs allow for puppy practice. I start puppies as young as 8 weeks and let my puppy practice as often as I attend my events (which is as often as my schedule allows usually once or twice a month). I start with 10-20' for baby dogs and then slowly start building up. I'll let my puppies do one full LGRA straight 200 yards) between 6-8 months depending on their coordination and maturity – at this age they are running far longer stretches than this on hikes and free running, so I have found one run at 200 yards does not overly tax my young Azawakh.
I start adding another neutral dog around 8+ months. Traditional school of thought is to typically delay in introducing another schooling dog until the dog is close to their full speed and near minimum racing age. However, I have found in all breeds where I’ve helped start dogs, that often, introducing another dog while dogs are still young helps them become accustomed to always running alongside other dogs. If you continually practice your dog alone until they are 12 or even 18 months, what I typically see happen, sometimes even with very keen dogs, is that when you add another dog, the green dog tends to be overly interested in the dog. You see, that new dog is novel when the green dog has established a pattern – they chase the lure alone. Instead, the pattern I wish to instill in young dogs it – we chase the lure together. Additionally, and I will touch on this more later, Azawakh seem to enjoy and desire running in packs, rather than running solo. They are run in small packs in their COO and sometimes, running Azawakh alone can be extremely demotivating to them in my experience.
Around 6-8 month is old is also when I start introducing a muzzle. I will do some training sessions at home with spray cheese or peanut butter smeared in the muzzle and I have found with Azawakh that is typically enough to get a good start on muzzle training. By the time I start introducing the muzzle in practice runs, my puppies are very keen and reasonably experienced, so adding the muzzle has never been a big deal.
Around a similar age to both adding a muzzle and another dog, I will also introduce box training. Typically when they are babies we will run them through racing boxes that are open and have the back panel pulled off. At that point they are small enough that the confined space of the box isn’t much pressure. I will let them got through the box and then go around to collect the puppy. Around six months is where whoever I hand the dog off to takes the dog to the racing boxes and then holds them in a completely open box. Once they are comfortable with that step, I close the front of the racing box but hold the dog in the box with the back of the box removed. We might stay at that step for a bit before then loading the dog fully in the box and closing the back. Typically, by a year of practice monthly or every other month, my young dogs box easily and even eagerly. My Azawakh
For a lot of Azawakh, being handed off is by far the hardest step for them when learning racing. Being restrained by a stranger is a ton to ask of a guardian breed. For my baby runs once they’ve seen a box, I largely work on them getting handed off to a soft-handed, confident stranger for their puppy bumps. I don’t need to add the additional pressure of a stranger holding my young Azawakh in the box. Once Azawakh understand that getting handed off to someone means they get to chase a lure and relax into the process is when I start getting serious about box training.
While I do introduce a lot of components around the same age (muzzle, turns, other dogs, box training) I don’t introduce all those components at the same practice. One time I might add a muzzle, another I might run with a schooling dog. Once a dog is comfortable with one component by itself, then I will layer in another component.
Generally my Azawakh are ready to compete but a year but it's longer if they've had less practice. As a disclaimer, there are absolutely breeds that I would not compete with at only a year old (Greyhounds for instance). Azawakh are very body aware, tend to not be hard on their body when running, and very pack oriented, which is generally why I let mine compete as soon as they’re of age. Quixote, who is a large male, did not run Open (with other dogs) in lure coursing until he was running in Singles consistently and successfully. However, because he is very spatially aware and the shorter distance, he competed in LGRA shortly after her turned a year old.
I'll add a gentle turn around 8-10 months. If we happen to have an oval racing meet I'll let them run part of the course. Or if there's a lure coursing trial that offers practice I'll have them take one turn. Once they’ve seen turns, I will let them start running a full lure around eleven months, if there happens to be opportunities to do so. For introducing lure coursing, where there’s generally fewer practice opportunities, I will start a dog with a Junior Courser run (AKC’s title where the dog runs alone and must complete the course two times (on two different days) in order to title)). I will also run a dog in Singles (dog runs twice in a day). For dogs in good running condition, I have no problem running an Azawakh in Junior Coursers and then Singles – so a total of three runs in a day. Amalu, Tabiri, Quixote, and Drama have all been introduced to the sport this way. Typically (with some exceptions that I will discuss), once dogs are running reliably by themselves then I will qualify them to run with competition by running them with a solid bye dog.
In general, it is much harder to start an older dog 18+ months old than a puppy. Azawakh often are not the keenest running dogs on a mechanical lure (especially compared to a breed like a Greyhound or Whippet) and they can be unmotivated to run alone when they really have developed to run in packs. Additionally, an adult Azawakh has their full guarding instincts and they may find judges and photographers and huntmasters on the field suspicious, whereas when you start with an Azawakh puppy they won’t care about the strangers awkwardly standing in and around the field.
I have started or help start six Azawakh (Tabiri, Gem, Sule, Yahya, Imber, and Czerny) 18 months or older in racing and lure coursing. Gem and Czerny has seen the lure on a limited basis, the other dogs had never seen a lure before at any point. I also have a couple Azawakh that didn’t get the start I prefer. Amalu was my COVID ypuppy, so practices were extremely limited during the early pandemic. Birdie got a really good foundation in racing and she got her Junior Courser and Qualified Courser at slightly over a year old, but then I didn’t run her again for two years, which was extremely detrimental to her confidence. I also have worked with a number of younger dogs (12-18 months) who got a couple practices in as young dogs, but didn’t get a broad foundation. Every single one of these dogs needed slightly different support to be successful.
Case Study- Tabiri
Tabiri came to me at a little over 3 years old. He still had a fair bit of range of motion and rehabilitation exercises needed to rebuild strength and flexibility from his accident. I started him with lure coursing actually because there were no race meets immediately after bringing him home. I ran him in Singles, muzzled. I had absolutely no concerns that he would attack or pursue anyone (dog or person). I was, however, concerned that he would unsight and then wander off and some well meaning but misunderstanding person would reach out to grab him. Sure enough, he did unsight his first run and get stuck on a pulley, he then wandered off, bayed at the photographer, and wandered off to find me. His second run in singles, the lure op did an absolutely phenomenal job keeping the lure right under his nose and he got around the course.
He gradually worked up his confidence. He still is prone to unsighting when lure ops get the lure way out in front like you would for a Whippet, but he has earned a High Scoring Single placement before in ASFA and is most of the way to his ASFA Total Coursing Proficiency. The only reason I have never qualified him to run with others in lure coursing was because when I first tried to QC him, the line snapped around the first pulley. Anubi pounced on the lure but Tabiri had never seen a line break before and collided full speed with Anu, which resulted in Anu’s knee needing to be rebuilt. It was a freak accident, literally no one one’s fault but every time I’ve considered trying again, I relive the accident. We are potentially going to try to qualify Tabiri with Ash this spring (2025) so that we can have a major in Veterans in the fall.
In straight racing with Tabiri, I knew he wouldn’t be fast enough to interfere with any of the other dogs. I also didn’t expect him to want to try to interfere. He is a solid enough dog and a pack oriented enough dog that we just threw him into the fray without so much as a practice on the straight – not generally what I recommend, though his was very similar to how we started Czerny – just throw her in and let the solid dogs show her the ropes. We certified him with Anubi – he was like a greased spider monkey on crack trying to get into the box that first weekend. Thankfully, it was Whitman boxing him and he was able to convince Tabiri that in order to run he did indeed need to enter the box. Within four meets, he was boxing like he’d been born to it and to this day any reasonably polite person can box him, they just have to be prepared for him to try to open the box himself if they’re too slow.
Tabiri was almost painfully slow to begin with. He had a solid box break for such a big male, but then he would fall behind. He has fused vertebra in his neck and his anticline (where the spine hinges and where a lot of a sighthound’s speed comes from), so this wasn’t too confusing. Anubi, Amidi, and Amalu would be finishing the race and he would be halfway down. But he always had a huge amount of heart and always finished at full speed. About a year after he’d been racing, he finally started to gain speed and actually started to pass dogs off the line. He earned enough skill and speed to finish his Gazehound Racing Championship and to this day runs just as hard as he did his first race.
Where he has always shone is on oval. He’d already been lure coursing and racing on the straight for eighteen months by the time he competed in oval. We mostly ran oval shortly after Anubi’s knee injury and I was blown away by his determination and skill on oval. Oval is a game that requires a lot of mental puzzle pieces and traffic management. Tabiri is a dog that hugs the rail and ignores everyone else, so while everyone else was figuring out the turns and traffic he just steadily powered his way to Best of Breed repeatedly. Even at NOTRA Nationals last year he finished 3rd (of 13) at almost seven years old.
Case Study- Amalu
Amalu was my COVID puppy and didn’t get a lot of practices before she turned a year. I threw her into LGRA and she did a solid job. She was relatively distractible and occasionally would want to play in LGRA, so I did her Junior Courser and ran her in Singles in lure coursing. Eventually I QC’d her. She took Best of Breed her first time in Open. The next day she took third (of three). Her next to weekends out (back to back) she was excused for trying to play. She went into season under a week later. I tried her back in singles and she’d would do great – even taking High Scoring Single – and then she’d be lack luster or quit on the course. Inevitably she would go into season within a month.
The pattern that emerged was that when she is hormonal, she becomes very distractible. To this day (and she is a finished Gazehound Racing Champion), when she’s close to coming into season her head pops up and is on a swivel when she’s close to going into season. She’s clean and predictable in straight and oval, so when she’s close to being in season I don’t run her or only run her one program. In lure coursing, since she won’t run by herself anymore, I resolved to try entering her again once she was spayed as a Veteran (this fall).
Interestingly, last summer, shortly after Amalu got out of season – Amalu and Drama were running in the mid-point race. It was Drama’s first-time-entered (FTE) and our friend’s Basenji got loose and was trailing the two Azawakh up the track. Of course everyone started screaming “loose dog”. Amalu’s head popped up from the lure and she saw Drama and started to solicit play. Drama corrected her, they both finished hard on the lure. We reran the race. Amalu has interestingly never had another issue.
Case Study- Birdie
Birdie was my first puppy who had a textbook start for racing – both straight and oval. However, I wasn’t lure coursing much at the time. Anubi was recovering from his knee surgery. Amalu and Tabiri weren’t running in Open. Amidi was singled out in AKC. I was also campaigning her and her father in the show ring and had less time for running sports in general.
As such she got a couple solo runs, a QC, and then didn’t run for almost two years. When she first ran in Open, she ran very heads up, very aware of the other dogs. She wasn’t interfering, just very aware of them. We ended up trying to late slip her to see if creating distance between her and the other dogs would solve the issue. It actually did exactly the opposite and her confidence plummeted – she ended up quitting that run about three-quarters of the way through.
When we next tried running her, I opted to run her in Singles. She did the 100 yard straight, saw the lure take a turn, looked for her packmates to join her, stopped dead, and walked sadly back to me. Interestingly, Epiphany did the exact same thing as test dog the next day. When we QC’d her the following month she had absolutely no hesitation and took turns driving and flanking when running with her dad. They did not want to run without a pack to run with.
After her failed Singles attempt, we were fortunate that we were able to practice Birdie with Bayek, Theresa’s Pharaoh Hound who has been the bye dog for dozens of green dogs. Birdie didn’t run perfectly. She was aware of Bayek and she used him to stay sighted. She thought about quitting halfway through and then got back on the lure. It wasn’t perfect, but by running her with a solid, confident dog she proved, she had no interest in interfering, just didn’t have the confidence to run alone. We ran her the following month with Ash (Saluki, they ran in AOK (lure coursing) and she was much improved. She finished over ¾ of the course keenly before losing confidence.
With her, our strategy is to let her run with solid dogs. She won’t interfere and her confidence seems to improve with each run.
Case Study- Imber
The most involved adult Azawakh that I’ve started has been Imber. Imber came to me loving the show ring but with essentially no foundations in any other activities. I introduced him to the lure on a fully fenced field two weeks after he came home. He was super keen and then was very pleased to play keep away after. That resolved easily with more recall practice.
The next time he ran was about three months after he came to me (a month before his second birthday). We threw him into racing as we did with Tabiri and Czerny. I suspected he would be to busy taking things in to try to interfere. It was a hand slipped meet so we didn’t have to introduce boxing yet. He was the slowest to take to the muzzle, even with practice at home. He loped and trotted and walked and tried to get the muzzle off mostly that day. Nina’s owner ran with him a bit to help give him some confidence. The next day was oval practice and we practiced him with Nina. Nina was young, but extremely keen, and she took off like a rocket, which was enough for Imber to take off with her. They ran together and clean around the oval and Imber earned his oval certification.
The next time he raced was in the beginning of 2024. We worked through box training – sending him through the box, standing alongside the box, with him in the box but with the back open. Imber is prone to big reactions, so we had to take our time, but by the end of the first race weekend, he took third behind Moss and Nina in the high point program. When we brought him out the next month, he was box trained and a complete menace. He had figured out the game enough to have all the components but he was no longer overwhelmed and so he was beginning to look around and solicit play from his housemates. Running with housemates can be very very difficult because the dogs spend most of their time playing with each other, so it can be a learning process for them to learn to mind their own business.
Thus began a very long process of getting Imber to run focused and keen. Theresa and I did a lot of practice where he was very late slipped (if we late slipped the schooling dog instead he would slow down and turn and try to play). We ran Imber with dogs that would correct him and dogs that would ignore him. We couldn’t run him and Amalu together because Amalu would take him up on his playful advances. I don’t know how many practice runs we did with slowly working him to the point where he could slip at the same time as the other dog – probably a dozen (we’re very fortunate to have many practice opportunities in this region for racing). Once he could slip at the same time as the other dog, he was allowed to start competing again but we would only run him one program because more than that and he would start to revert. In July (so we’re talking a break of five months – he was almost three years old) we finally reintroduced the box and another dog. At that point, Imber was still running heads up, but his problem then was he didn’t know how to pass.
Imber is wicked fast – only slightly slower than Moss. Fast dogs have to learn how to pass and it can be typical for young, green dogs to be looking around when they first start passing dogs because they aren’t clear on what to do. Imber has an incredible recall and good verbal responsiveness, so when he would start to look around when passing, I would call him, which would help refocus him. At this point we kept it so he was only running one program a day all the way through LGRA Nationals in September.
In November, we ran him (boxed started) and he started in the low point and finished miles ahead of the other dogs. He moved up to the high point, he was focused and calm and we decided to keep him in, and it was like a switch clicked on. He finished first – still looking around a bit when passing, but absolutely no interference. His third program (the first time he’d run three programs in ages) he won and for the first time, finished focused ahead and on the lure. He ended up taking Best of Breed (in an entry of 9) and I was stunned. He repeated it at the end of November and then again in December – running keen and heads down. He didn’t take Breed (entries of 11) but he was making Moss work and beating Anubi two out of three programs. He is now a single point from his GRC after only four meets.
With the drawn-out process with racing, lure coursing was never a priority with Imber. The first time he saw turns he ran a beautiful JC course and the judge didn’t pass him because he pooped at the end of the course (which is not against the rules in lure coursing, only in coursing ability tests). The next times we ran him in Singles, he would even leave me. If someone else slipped him, he would run 50 yards and then peel off to go find me (or the car). We tried QCing him July 2024 with Bayek to see if running with another dog helped. It definitely did help him focus, but he had awful luck – mechanical failures after less than 100 yards three times in a row and we ended up pulling him because he was mentally spent. We tried against in October and while he didn’t pass, he quit part of the way through, it was the best we saw him run. He wanted to run so badly, he wanted to join Bayek and Bayek wanted him to succeed. He just didn’t have the confidence. However, he did spend the rest of the weekend standing with Bayek watching dogs running whenever the two were outside.
Thankfully, we had the opportunity to run Bayek with Imber again at AOK9 Lure Coursing the next month and his runs were stunning. Watching them, you’d never believe that we had spend nearly two years helping this dog have enough confidence to run. Bayek, as we say, ran like a Pharaoh and Imber stayed on the lure – quick, clean, and so keen. He ignored Bayek and Bayek gave Imber exactly what he needed – the chance to see that he could drive the lure all by himself. We did run Imber in Best of Trial as the light was failing and I am so so incredibly proud of how her ran.
Those case studies were long, but hopefully helpful in understanding some of the ways that you might troubleshoot when getting adult Azawakh (or indeed adult sighthounds) started in running sports. Understand that it can take a year plus for the game to click. It takes a year plus to train green dogs, it follows that most green adult dogs need the same amount of time or more. Occasionally you will get a dog like Ami or Drama. Ami had done one Fast CAT practice before I QC’d her at one year and three days old. She took Breed over Anubi both days and ran for BIF very competitively. Drama hadn’t seen a lure since she was seven weeks old when we took her out and practiced her at a lure coursing trial at eleven months old. She completed the course. The next month, Theresa took her to the lure coursing trial where ten year old Jolene put Drama’s JC and QC on her and ran her in Singles. She also qualified in LGRA her first time seeing a straight racing track and her second time seeing a lure. It’s exhilarating to see that kind of natural instinct, but it doesn’t mean they’re inherently better runners. Imber’s scores were equal to Drama’s the day in November they both coursed. Was it worth all the effort to get Imber running after almost two years? Absolutely, it has given him confidence and purpose.
Very long story short. I have found Azawakh tend to run better when paired with solid schooling dogs versus running alone. Late slipping can be a tool to benefit and boost confidence (Imber) or can harm confidence (Birdie). Utilize the experience sighthound running people in your area – community is invaluable. Additionally, I am always always happy to help talk through someone starting their Azawakh in running sports.
Final Notes-
Finally, I know Fast CATs and CATs are very accessible and mainstream but I really do recommend LGRA (straight racing) and NOTRA (oval racing) and ASFA/AKC/UKC LC which are almost without exception much much cheaper with more opportunities for running. For example, Fast CAT is often $25/one 100 yard run per dog in my area. In contrast at LGRA last weekend I ran 9 dogs, each dog ran 200 yards 3 times, for a total of $45/day. I know starting in a new organization can be intimidating but I am happy to provide introductions to people in the local to you coursing community.
Getting Started Blogs:
Getting Started in and Lure Coursing and Coursing Ability Tests:
Getting Started Racing Guide:
Mental Component to Running Sports:
Lure Coursing and Racing Jackets:
Muzzles (racing requires muzzles, lure coursing does not):
https://www.themuzzleshop.com/ - most of my girls are a 3, my small boys are a 4, and my big males are a 5 in the don pare 107 or 110. Those are my favorites.
I'm always happy to help with getting dogs started in sports as well as gear sizing. Please feel free to ask questions!
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