The Safechase™ Greyhound Racing Lure System
Steriline Racing, in partnership with Covey Engineering, has developed a state-of-the-art, battery powered, remote controlled greyhound racing lure, known as the Safechase Lure System, specifically designed for greyhound track racing.
Steriline and Covey have been working together for nearly 20 years to provide safe, reliable, high quality equipment and products to the greyhound racing industry both in Australia and around the world.
The Australian designed and manufactured Safechase™ Lure System is a self-contained machine that has no other infrastructure except for the rail that it runs along. It is a remotely controlled electric vehicle powered by modern rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology. It requires no cable or live electric contact systems, improving safety for both animals and people and reducing operating and maintenance costs.
What is a greyhound racing lure?
Modern dog racing is a competitive sport for greyhounds, or similar dog breeds, in which the dog chases a mechanically operated lure around or along a sand or grass track of between 300 and 650 metres in length. The sports aims to demonstrate and preserve the abilities for which greyhounds were originally bred.
Getting Ready For Your First Coursing Competition
Conditioning: Lure Coursing is not the same as a run in the back yard. Greyhounds put a hundred percent into coursing and an overweight dog that has been a couch potato for a year since he retired from racing should NOT course until he gets into shape.
Take an honest look at your greyhound. Can you clearly see the outline of two or 3 ribs? Fat rolls do not count. Can you see the tips of his hip bones? Is he within a pound or two of his listed racing weight? You can usually find your dogs racing weight listed on Greyhound Data by putting in his registered racing name. If your dog is not as trim as he used to be, he needs to wait to compete until he has lost some weight. Your dog will lose weight with just a small decrease in food and the big increase in exercise necessary to get in shape for coursing. Your greyhound’s risk of injury is much higher if he is overweight even if he is just running in the back yard.
If you aren’t sure if your greyhound is at a good weight for coursing, take him to a lure coursing event to watch and ask someone there. Coursing folks are an incredibly helpful group of people that will put the dogs welfare ahead of possibly offending someone. It is embarrassing to hear that your dog is too fat but many of us heard it when we first started coursing. In coursing your dog runs farther and more often than he did at the race track so you want him as thin as he was when he raced. A good “pet weight” is NOT a good coursing weight. Human sprinters are on the thin side and the same is true of dog sprinters.
Be sure your dogs is healthy enough for hard exercise by starting with a trip to your vet for a check up. To get a greyhound into condition for coursing he needs to reach a full double suspension gallop 3 times a week. This isnt just a lope, but a hard fast run. If you don’t have a very large backyard you will need to take him to a fenced baseball field or a bigger field if you can find one. If your dog won’t run hard on his own, you may need two people and two favorite toys on ropes. Stand on opposite sides of the field and get him to run back and forth between you using the toys as lures. A long pole or a bull whip with a rope tied to it and a toy on the end also works great for exercising your dog in a smaller area. Some greyhounds will chase a ball or a Frisbee. Use whatever your dog likes to get him to run. Some owners jog with their greyhounds gradually increasing the distance until they can jog 2 miles per day. NOTE: Just walking 2 miles a day with your greyhound won’t get him into the shape he needs to be in.
Remember greyhounds are very heat sensive. An overweight, out of shape greyhounds should never be strenously exercised on a hot day. Exercise in the morning or evening only if it is hot outside and be sure to watch the dog closely and provide water often. Be careful not to over exercise. A greyhound can get the exercise he needs in 1 minute of hard running. Remember the muscle tone he had when he just retired from racing? He got that from racing only 30 seconds once every 3 to 5 days. When a greyhound is in top shape you should be able to see a stripe in the muscle across the rib cage from shoulder to flank. He should also have muscle visible on each side of the backbone. You should be able to clearly see quite a few vertebrae with thick layer of muscle raised a little on either side of the backbone. Of course, the shoulder and hind end should look very muscled.
Start out slowly with walking instead of running if your dog is really out of shape and increase the time and distance gradually. Remember, some ASFA and AKC courses will be nearly 1000 yards (almost twice as far as your greyhound ran when he raced). Your dog will be expected to run that distance at least 2 times in a day during a competition. If he wins there will be at least a 3rd if not a 4th run. Usually there is another competition offered the following day. My greyhound has run up to 9 courses in the space of two days. It is always wise to take your dog to a vet for a checkup before starting a strenuous exercise program.
The long courses and quick turns in ASFA and AKC coursing are ultimate tests of conditioning. Shot on Site Photography
Lure coursing clubs always check their courses to make sure they are as safe as possible but this is a strenuous sport and there is a risk of injury. It is just like the soccer or football that we let our children play, we know that accidents can happen. Our children enjoy the sport and the exercise is good for them so we let them play, it is the same with our dogs. By making sure your dog is in the best possible shape, you minimize his risk and increase his enjoyment. Trim nails: Make sure your dog’s nails are as short as you can get them. They should not touch the floor when the dog is standing. When a greyhound runs and turns at speed there is a lot of force put on those toe nails. If they are long he can end up with painful broken nails or possibly a broken toe. This is something you should do anyway if your greyhound runs around in your yard to minimize the risk of injury. Practice wrapping your dog’s legs: Many people wrap their dog’s legs to protect them from line burn and to keep the dewclaws from catching the line. In most LGRA and NOTRA racing events this is not necessary since the line is out in front of the dog at all times. Dogs do cross the line and run along it in ASFA and AKC lure coursing so many people choose to wrap. Some people extend the wrap down to cover the large pad on the base of each foot if the ground is rough or hard. Greyhounds can easily tear off pieces of this pad when turning or stopping quickly on a rough surface. You can get VetWrap at your local horse supply store. It is what is used to wrap horses legs with. How much should you buy? I can usually wrap 6 legs with each roll. Wrap the legs just tight enough for the wrap to stay on at a full gallop. Practice at home so your dog gets used to the wraps and you have a feeling for how tight to wrap them. You will want to take the wraps off after each run and re-wrap your dog’s legs just before his next run. Use wraps in black, tan and white only. Other colors are available but it is against the rules to use wraps in the colors of the other dogs coursing or racing jackets so it is easier to just stick with black, tan or white rather than trying to remember which colors can be used for which type of event. When you go to your first coursing event look for another greyhound owner and ask them to show you how to wrap legs. Most
are glad to help.
Most clubs offer coursing practice and certifications before or after their competitions for your dog for a small fee (usually $5 – $10). Practice and Certification is required before your dog is allowed to compete. Here are the requirements for each individual coursing/racing organization: ASFA: Your dog should run a practice alone, then runs with another dog in front of judges to be certified (a muzzle is not required but should be worn during certification out of respect for the other dog and owner – you can’t be sure that your dog won’t bite another dog over the lure until he has run several times). Both practice and certification can be done on the same day at a practice session. AKC: Your dog must complete two full courses running alone. They must each be run on separate days in front of two different judges. At that point your dog will get its’ Junior Courser (JC) title and be able to actually enter a competition with other greyhounds. NOTRA: Your dog will be asked to run one qualifying run in front of a judge with another dog before competing. LGRA: Your dog will be required to do a qualifying run before competition in front of a judge.
Owners at the competions usually have dogs that can run with yours for certification runs. It is usually better to do this rather than run two dogs from the same household together. Dogs that live together sometimes play and correct each other instead of focusing on the lure. 
Ms Wrong Dog in yellow crouched and ready for that “Tallyho”. Diane Lewis Photography
All of the coursing/racing organizations above have a calendar of events on their websites. The official entry forms (called Premiums) are available online or can be requested by email. Arrive early and bring your entry form with you along with copies of your dog’s paperwork (NGA volume and certifications numbers or AKC ILP and a copy of your certification slip if you have already done a certification run). Registration with the coursing or racing organization can be taken care of when you get to the competition in the case of ASFA, NOTRA and LGRA and will only cost a couple of dollars. The field trial secretary will help you do this. For AKC coursing your dog has to be registered by obtaining an ILP number (see above on how to get one). Be On Time: When you are actually competing you will need to be there early for Roll Call (the time is listed on the Premium and is NOT the time the trial starts). At Roll Call dogs sign in and are jogged in front of an inspection committee to make sure they are sound. The females are wiped to make sure they are not in heat (yes, they will even wipe your spayed female). The individual courses are then drawn and posted and they will also post the order the breeds are running in. I won’t go into how to read what they post but you can ask anyone there to help you figure out when your dog runs and what color of jacket he should be in. If you are not there in time for Roll Call your dog wont be allowed to run. Pay Attention: It is your responsibility to have your dog to the starting line when he is supposed to compete. There won’t be a specific time listed. They will just post the running order so you will know that the Greyhounds compete after the Italian Greyhounds, for example. You have to watch carefully to make sure your dog is ready when his turn comes. They will run all the breeds once, then start over and have the breeds run a second time in the same order. For LGRA and NOTRA the dogs all run a third run. Points may be deducted if you are late to the start line and hold up a course.Help: The LGRA racing events call for everyone to participate even when their dog is not running. Each dog needs a person to release it and someone else at the other end of the track to catch it. They also need many finish line judges and are pleased to show you what to do. NOTRA meets also ask for volunteers to be finish line judges. The ASFA and AKC meets are harder to judge so you won’t be asked to help until you are very familiar with the sport. Since the lure returns to its starting place the same person can release and catch the dogs in ASFA and AKC coursing.Plan to stay all day: If there are ties, there will be run offs before awards are handed out. In ASFA and AKC the winners will run again for Best of Breed (optional – you can choose to withdraw if your dog is too tired to run). The breed winners then run for Best in Field against the best of all the other breeds (also optional). For Best in Field the different breeds run together but are judged individually by how their breed typically runs. It would be impossible otherwise for a slower dog like a Wolfhound to ever win against a Greyhound. Best in Field is usually the top award and means that your dog ran better than any other dog, regardless of breed, in that day’s competition. Best in Event is even bigger and that is only offered at some trials. That award goes to the dog that ran the best in two days of competition. Ribbons, trophies and sometimes toys for the dogs are given out after the competition is over and the points have been posted. Each organization has rules on colors of ribbons and if they must be given out at all. Any additional prizes and trophies are up to the individual clubs. Usually the Best in Field or Event means you get a trophy, sometimes there are Best of Breed prizes too. Sometimes all ribbon winners get to pick a dog toy. By the time the ribbons are handed out it is often starting to get dark.
What is Lure Coursing? | United Kennel Club (UKC)
Contemporary racing greyhounds are bred chiefly to chase mechanical lures. In Australia, greyhounds are not commonly allowed access to the lure at the end of a race. It is unknown if, over time, this creates frustration that eventually reduces greyhounds’ willingness to chase a lure. A previous study found that greyhounds at race-meets often engage in behaviours, at the end of races, that may indicate frustration when the lure is still moving and audible but not accessible. Straight trial tracks have a quiet lure that stops much quicker than lures on racetracks. One straight trial track in New South Wales never allows greyhounds to access the lure while another track usually allows greyhounds to access the lure. This provides the opportunity to study behaviour in greyhounds before and after a chase where lures are accessible (straight track), not accessible and not detectable (straight track), and detectable but not accessible (racetrack). The results reveal that, compared with greyhounds at racetracks, those on straight tracks fixated more on the lure itself or where the lure was last seen. This suggests that the lure retains more salience if it is not associated with frustrating outcomes, such as protracted cues but no opportunity to chase.
The willingness of racing greyhounds in Australia to chase a mechanical lure on racetracks will affect the longevity of its racing career. Racing greyhounds that fail to chase may be retired from racing at an early age and their fate becomes uncertain and may in some cases be euthanasia. At the end of races, greyhounds are diverted into a catching pen while the lure continues on. Racing greyhounds may also run on straight tracks for training purposes, where the lure comes to a stop either within the catching pen or just outside it, rather than continuing on. The purpose of the current study was to determine if these different track conditions and lure features affected greyhound behaviour before and after chasing the lure. Video cameras were used to record the behaviour of greyhounds immediately before chasing a lure either on one of two straight trial tracks (n = 89 greyhounds) or during race-meets on oval racetracks (n = 537), as well as at the end of the chase in the catching pen. The results were analysed with logistic regression mixed models and coefficients expressed as odds ratios. It was predicted there would be a higher frequency of behaviours indicating frustration in the catching pen at tracks where no chase objects were accessible. This pattern was present, but not significant. It was also predicted there would be a higher frequency of behaviours that may indicate high anticipation before chasing at tracks where chase objects were accessible in the catching pen. This pattern was not realised. Behaviours prior to chasing varied between track types and days, suggesting these behaviours are unlikely to be good indicators of anticipation or motivation to chase. This study shows that greyhounds behave differently in the catching pen depending on the track and lure features.
Greyhounds (Canis familiaris) are sighthounds and have been selectively bred for many generations to chase fast-moving visual stimuli. While they were originally bred to chase and capture prey such as hares, deer, rabbits, foxes and wolves [1], they also have a long history in the sport of coursing, which can be described as a competition between sighthound and live prey [1]. Coursing with live game still occurs in Éire, but has been outlawed in many other places, and has been widely replaced with racetracks and mechanical lures.
Despite many generations of selective breeding for chasing mechanical lures on a racetrack, some modern-day racing greyhounds do not reliably chase a mechanical lure. Failure to chase attracts penalties (endorsements) on the racetrack in Australia, in the form of temporary bars on racing, for offending individuals [2]. As a result, failure to chase contributes to greyhounds being retired from racing while still physically sound. This is an example of so-called behavioural wastage [3]. The proportion of greyhounds with endorsements for failure to chase in NSW is low, at fewer than 1% of starters (GRNSW, unpublished data), but it is likely that many dogs that do not chase reliably are retired from racing before they are given an official endorsement for failure to chase on the racetrack.
The reasons for greyhounds failing to chase are not well understood, nor has the magnitude of this problem within the Australian greyhound racing industry been established. Indeed, aspects of canine chase responses are not well understood, in spite of their critical role in greyhound racing. For example, it is unknown to what extent chase behaviours are learned or innate, or how they develop in young dogs, at what age, how dogs may interact with chase objects when they have captured them, what reinforcers maintain or strengthen these behaviours, and what factors affect motivation to chase. This knowledge gap has relevance beyond greyhound racing, as chasing is a critical aspect of other working roles that dogs fill, such as herding livestock. Furthermore, there is potential for chasing behaviour to cause catastrophic problems such as sheep worrying.
There is currently no published literature on chase motivation. Motivation in dogs for any resource or activity has been only sparsely considered in the literature. Motivation may be considered as processes of an organism that directs action towards the satisfaction of needs [4,5], and refers to the incentive to perform specific, goal-oriented behaviours. Motivation cannot be measured directly but must be inferred from an animal’s behaviour [6]. Greyhounds may chase lures because of their internal motivation to perform the behaviours involved and they derive direct reinforcement from the performance of those behaviours themselves (appetitive behaviours). Alternatively, greyhounds may be externally motivated to chase by the possibility of interacting with the lure (consummative behaviour).
Rather than attempting to identify and track the minority of greyhounds that do not chase, an investigation into why greyhounds do chase allows for a larger pool of dogs to be drawn upon for data collection, and provides a starting point for identifying factors that contribute towards failure to chase. One potential factor in the maintenance of chase behaviours is whether greyhounds are sufficiently reinforced for chasing lures to continue doing so indefinitely. If greyhounds are reinforced by accessing objects they have been chasing, then preventing access may negatively affect interest in chasing lures as well as promote frustration.
A previous study examined racing greyhound behaviour before and after races [7]. The study looked for behavioural signs of heightened arousal before races that may be related to performance or positive anticipation, and behavioural signs of frustration after races that may indicate a lack of reinforcement. Race-meets in Australia are held on oval tracks and greyhounds never get access to the lure at the end of a race. Instead they are funnelled into a sand-trap catching pen while the lure continues around the track. As such, they offer a model of how greyhounds behave in the absence of consummation.
The existence, in the Sydney region, of two operating straight tracks available for training purposes only (Appin and Redhead) offered an opportunity to collect additional data on greyhound behaviour prior to chasing and in catching pens under two conditions. The Appin track never allows greyhounds to access the lure, while the Redhead track usually allows greyhounds to access the lure in the catching pen. The current study was designed to quantify the behavioural differences in racing greyhounds immediately prior to and at the end of a chase according to whether or not they could access the lure.
The University of Sydney Animal Ethics Committee approved the current study (Approval number: 2016/1015). The owners/handlers of the greyhounds provided informed consent for the collection of infrared s.
The study was conducted at three greyhound racetracks in NSW over a period of 6 months, and two straight trial tracks in NSW over a period of 2 months. The racetracks were Richmond and Wentworth Park in the Sydney metropolitan area in June and July 2017 respectively, and Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, approximately 80 km north of Sydney, in October and November 2017. Data were collected from 3 race meets at Richmond, with 11 races per meet, 2 race meets at Wentworth Park with 10 races per meet, and 3 race meets at Gosford with 8, 10 and 11 races, respectively. Race number for each race meet was recorded so that it could be used as an indicator of how long dogs had spent at the race meet before infrared s were taken immediately prior to their race. The straight tracks were Appin, located approximately 70 km south-west of Sydney CBD, and Redhead, located approximately 150 km north of Sydney CBD.
The Appin and Redhead straight tracks operate for the purpose of training and conditioning racing greyhounds. These straight tracks are surfaced with grass, set on a gentle incline, and use a drag lure attached to a wire at ground level. Greyhounds are released from boxes or slipped (released by hand) and pursue the lure into a sand-trap catching pen at the end of the track. Both tracks were attended for the duration of their daily operation on two separate days in November and December in 2017. Dogs trialling at the straight tracks may be racing or in training, and are always muzzled. They start from boxes at two different distances (see details below) at both tracks, or they are slipped on the track near the start boxes. A description of the straight tracks is shown below.
Lure: A teddy bear plush toy fixed to a metal sled, which is dragged up the centre of the track on a wire. The lure travels smoothly and does not bounce or leave the ground.
Catching pen: Firm sand with a trapdoor on the back wall of the pen through which the lure exits the pen. The trapdoor closes behind the lure, so dogs cannot pass through.
Procedure: There is no formal stir-up on trial tracks. Trainers may get their dogs out of the trailer or vehicle several minutes before they run, and walk them on leash a short distance from the track, or they may unload dogs only when it is their turn to run. Dogs may be slipped on the track or started from boxes. Dogs usually run in singles, but up to 4 dogs can start at once. As the greyhounds approach the catching pen, the lure speed is increased to draw the lure away from the greyhound(s) chasing. This is intended to prompt the dogs to slow down. The lure comes to a stop behind a trapdoor at the back of the catching pen. A large gate descends vertically across the track at the start of the catching pen to contain dogs in the catching pen. Dogs are then caught by stewards or volunteers and placed in kennels alongside the catching pen until they are collected by their handlers. The handlers will water them and hose them down if desired, and then load them back into the car or trailer.
Lure: A large polystyrene ball approximately 25 cm in diameter with a tail of synthetic fur attached. The lure is attached to a wire approximately 1 m from the left edge of the track. It bounces erratically as it is dragged up the track and hits small bumps in the ground.
Catching pen: Soft sand-trap with a curtain approximately 1 m wide hung on the left-hand side of the pen halfway between the start of the sand-trap and the rear wall of the catching pen. The lure is brought to a halt behind the curtain.
Procedure: There is no formal stir-up on trial tracks. Trainers may get their dogs out of the trailer or vehicle several minutes before they run, and walk them on leash a short distance from the track, or they may unload dogs only when it is their turn to run. Dogs are either released from boxes or slipped on the track near the boxes. Track stewards report that the lure speed is increased as dogs approach the catching pen to encourage them to slow down, and the lure driver aims to stop the lure immediately behind the curtain in the catching pen. Dogs are prone to driving hard into the catching pen rather than slowing down. A gate can be pulled down vertically across the track to contain dogs in the catching pen, but this is not always performed. Dogs can travel around or through the curtain to access the lure. Stewards or volunteers catch dogs and transfer them to kennels on the left side of the catching pen where they are collected by their handlers. Again, the handlers will water them and hose them down if desired, and the dogs are then loaded back into the car/trailer.
The data collected from Appin and Redhead tracks were pooled with behavioural data collected previously during race-meets at three different racetracks, Richmond, Wentworth Park, and Gosford [7]. All of these tracks adopt the same procedure for racing consisting of a stir-up where dogs about to race are allowed to watch the lure travel two laps of the track while they are in the stir-up pen beside the track. Greyhounds are walked to the start boxes once stir-up is over. The dogs are funnelled into the catching pen at the end of the race. Nominated catchers then catch the greyhounds and leash them. Richmond track has teaser toys attached to bungee cords in the catching pen. These cords are stretched across the track as the greyhounds approach the catching pen and then the toys released so that they bounce into the catching pen ahead of the greyhounds. The greyhounds therefore have the opportunity to interact with the teasers in the catching pen upon finishing the race. No lure, toy or teaser was available in the catching pens at Wentworth Park or Gosford.
A total of 525 greyhounds were recorded over the 8 race-meets at 3 racetracks. A total of 89 dogs were recorded at the straight tracks—43 at the Appin track and 46 at the Redhead track. Both male and female greyhounds were represented at all tracks, and dogs were aged 1–6 years old. Dogs varied in experience at racetracks, with their number of starts ranging 0–177. Experience of dogs at straight tracks was unknown as some had not attended race-meets. Dogs were excluded from data collection if they had previously been recorded by the current team of investigators at a prior meeting regardless of the track, so there were no repeat measures on dogs.
The behaviour of the dogs was recorded using one GoPro Hero3 Black Edition action camera (GoPro, Inc. San Mateo, CA, USA) mounted onto the fence of the catching pen, and one hand-held Sony HD Handycam HDR-PJ760 video camera (Sony Corporation, Sony City, Minato, Tokyo, Japan). The videos were analysed in Windows Media Player 11 (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) or QuickTime Player (Version 10.5 (1015.2.1), Apple Inc.,Cupertino, California, CA, USA) at 0.5 × speed. Sony HD Handycam HDR-PJ760 video cameras were used to film greyhounds before they were either slipped on the track or loaded into start boxes, starting when the greyhound was walked on-leash to the side of the track and finishing immediately after the dog was released to chase the lure. The ethograms developed for a related study on race day behaviour in greyhounds [7] were used again in this study. Five behaviours were added to the ethogram to record and characterise greyhounds interacting with the lure at the Redhead track—finish early, removed forcefully, paws, bite lure, and bite dog ( ). Behaviours that had recorded counts that were rarely higher than 2 were reduced to presence/absence variables, as shown in . Teasers were present in the catching pen at one racetrack (Richmond) and were used during races. Teasers are a toy comparable in size to a lure. They are usually made by wrapping foam around a length of PVC pipe and then securing a cover of synthetic fur to the outside. The purpose of a teaser is to encourage chasing by tossing it, dragging it along the ground, or wiggling it in the hand, and some dogs are given access to a teaser to bite and tug on it after chasing.
All data were analysed by logistic mixed models using the glm and glmer functions from the lme4 library and the MASS package for ordinal regression in R (version 3.06, MA, USA; R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). The package ggplot2 was used to create graphs. Two models were trialled for each behaviour. The Full fitting factors were Sex of dog (Female/Male/Unknown); Time of day (Morning or Twilight/Evening); Distance of Race; Type of track (Straight or Race Track) with Track ID nested within Type, and Date nested within Track ID. Also included was whether an object is in the caching pen, and Track ID was nested within this also. The Reduced model removed Date nested within individual track. The reduced model was the more parsimonious as assessed by lower AIC and a non-significant deviance difference test in all cases. Standard residuals, and cooks distance were examined for influential outliers. The object in catching pen factor allows analysis of the effect of the availability of an object to focus on in the catching pen at the end of a chase and includes teaser (Richmond only), lure (Redhead only) and none (all other tracks). Wentworth Park and Gosford racetracks were not pooled for this analysis, as a previous study showed track differences between these tracks [7]. Wentworth racetrack was used as the reference track. Number of starts, distance travelled to reach the track, and age of dogs was only available for dogs at racetracks, but these factors were found to have no significant effect on behaviour at racetracks in a previous study [7].
Some behaviours in the ethogram in did not occur with sufficient frequency to analyse formally. These included holding teaser, finish early, removed forcefully, paws, bite lure, and bite dog.
Teaser-related behaviours were uncommon compared to lure-related behaviours, and could only occur at Richmond racetrack, making analysis of these behaviours independent of lure-related behaviours challenging. It was decided to pool these behaviours along with holding teaser with fixation of the lure or lure gate so as not to lose all potential effects of the teaser on frustration-related behaviours through excluding them from analysis.
Video data were collected from 89 dogs running at straight tracks (43 from Appin trial track and 46 from Redhead trial track), and 448 dogs running in races at race-meets (167 from Richmond racetrack, 153 from Wentworth Park racetrack, and 128 from Gosford racetrack).
Binary logistic regression models revealed that some behaviours were more likely to be observed at some tracks than others. Results are expressed as odds ratios (OR), which is a measure of the strength of the association between a condition and an outcome. The OR represents the odds that an outcome will occur, given the presence of a particular condition (e.g., the track, time of day, or the date) compared to the odds of that outcome occurring in the absence of that condition. An OR higher than 1 means an increased likelihood of the outcome occurring in the presence of the condition in question, whereas an OR lower than 1 means a decreased likelihood of the outcome occurring in the presence of the condition. Confidence intervals (CI) are also presented, which indicate the degree of uncertainty in the OR. A wide range in the CI indicates increased uncertainty. The tables in this section show OR and CI.
Results of analysis for the two most common catching pen behaviours—fixate on lure and jostling—are shown in . Fixation on the lure was significantly more likely at the straight tracks (OR = 8.34, z = 2.611, p = 0.009) than at racetracks (reference OR = 1), as shown in . Additionally, the behaviour was observed much less commonly in the catching pen at Gosford than at the reference track of Wentworth Park (OR = 0.26, z = −2.512, p = 0.012). Jostling was also significantly less common at Gosford than at the reference track of Wentworth Park (OR= 0.29, z = −2.682, p = 0.007), but there was no significant differences between straight tracks and racetracks for this behaviour (z = 0.402, p = 0.688).
Three behaviours were observed both in the stir-up at racetracks and prior to box-loading or slipping at straight tracks—Handler-assisted rise, lunging, and jumping. The results of analysis of these behaviours is shown in . Handler assisted rise was less common at tracks with a chase object present in the catching pen (OR = 0.04, z = −3.796, p < 0.001), as shown in , but the interaction term was also significant (OR = 6.79, z = 2.015, p = 0.044), suggesting that this reduction in the behaviour was smaller at Richmond with its teaser, than at Redhead with its lure. The difference between straight track and racetracks was not significant (z = 1.169, p = 0.243).
The difference between lunging at straight tracks and racetracks (z = −1.510, p = 0.131) and tracks with chase objects in the catching pen and those without (z = −1.810, p = 0.070), both fell short of statistical significance. Lunging was markedly less common at Gosford than at the reference Wentworth Park track, (OR = 0.21, z = −3.784, p < 0.001), the difference between these two tracks in the reference class for both comparisons potentially obscuring any differences. In addition, the odds of lunging were reduced (OR = 0.99, C.I. = 0.99–1.00) for every additional metre of race length.
The difference between jumping at straight tracks and racetracks (z = −0.817 p = 0.414) and tracks with objects in the catching pen and those without (z = −0606, p = 0.545), did not approach statistical significance. Once more, the behaviour was substantially less common at Gosford than at Wentworth Park.
Contrasting the behaviour of dogs at straight tracks prior to trialling and in the catching pen with behaviour of dogs at race-meets in the stir-up and the catching pen identified some patterns that suggest stimulation that is important to greyhounds in chasing activities. These findings begin to characterise greyhounds’ interest in the lure.
Greyhounds fixated on the lure or where it was last visible much more frequently at Redhead and Appin compared to the three racetracks. Racetrack lures are very loud. The noise mostly comes from the lure carriage traversing the rail at high speed, and this alone can be heard inside buildings at racetracks and even off the property. Racetrack lures also usually carry squawkers, which make quacking and/or chirping sounds loud enough to be heard over the lure carriage traversing the rail. Racetrack lures are not fitted with brakes and continue to move after the dogs have reached the catching pen. The visibility of the lure may also be limited, both at the start of races when dogs in starting boxes can only see out of a small window near the bottom of the box, and during the race where dogs at the front of the pack likely obscure view of the lure for dogs behind them. Thus, sound of the lure, rather than visual stimuli associated with it, may be the most salient stimulus in this environment. This has never been formally investigated, but sound is believed by a majority of racing greyhound industry participants in Australia to be more important than visual stimuli [3]. In contrast, the lure at straight tracks is quiet and stops moving quickly. For a greyhound in the catching pen on a straight track, there are no further signals pertaining to where the lure may be. It is either visible or neither audible nor visible. So, the situation on straight tracks compared to racetracks may more closely align to the ethology of canine predatory behaviour patterns, in that a pursuit ends either with capturing the prey, losing all sign of the prey, or with the prey close but inaccessible such as when it has taken refuge (e.g., underground) or travelled out of reach. Racetracks may represent a different end-of-chase for greyhounds, with a physical barrier preventing further pursuit as the chase object draws away.
There was a difference between frequency of fixation at the different racetracks, with this being less frequent at Gosford. Fixating on a teaser was pooled with fixating on the lure or lure gate for the current dataset, but this did not increase the percentage of dogs fixating at Richmond, where both teasers and the lure gate were present. This suggests that the tendency to fixate is most strongly influenced by proximity to the chase object and is not influenced by providing an alternative moving object. Richmond racetrack had a markedly lower frequency of all putative frustration behaviours in the catching pen compared to Gosford and Wentworth Park racetracks [7], and this may be associated with the teasers in the catching pen. That said, it would appear that the presence of the teasers may reduce putative frustration behaviours, but on the whole, a teaser is not a substitute for the lure, and most greyhounds will quickly abandon it. The difference between Gosford and Wentworth Park is more difficult to pinpoint. It is possible that there are features of the catching pens at racetracks that influence how willing greyhounds are to enter them, such as the level of lighting, the shape of the catching pen, or its proximity to other structures. If the greyhounds do not readily enter the catching pen, they remain on the track where they are closer to the gate where the lure disappeared, meaning they may be more likely to fixate on the lure gate if they were less likely to enter the catching pen in the first place.
Access to the lure may be granted on racetracks during training and at Redhead trial track, but was never granted at Appin trial track. In spite of this, fixating on the lure gate was not significantly different between Appin and Redhead, suggesting that this behaviour is not maintained or modulated by direct access to the lure. This aligns with chasing as a means to obtain food, where the behaviour often does not result in success. Hunting success rate among wild canids varies greatly but can be as low as 5.5% in dingoes [8] and less than 6% in Coyotes [9] while a range of 10–50% is reported in Grey Wolves [10]. A success rate of 66% has been reported when dingoes were observed chasing sheep, but dingoes studied to date have often been witnessed breaking-off a chase before the sheep is killed, suggesting that the dingoes in question were not sufficiently motivated to pursue a kill [8]. This is noteworthy, as it would appear dingoes’ motivation to chase may differ from their motivation to kill and subsequently feed.
Hunting success rate is poorly documented in domestic dogs. Domestic dogs assist human hunters most often by flushing prey animals, chasing them, and holding them at bay until human hunters catch up [11], meaning that the percentage of domestic dog hunting activities that result in prey capture may depend largely on the types of hunting they are bred for and engage in. Evidence from hare-coursing competitions in Éire suggests that greyhounds capture approximately 13% of hares in that context [12].
Jostling in the catching pen was less frequent at Gosford than at Wentworth Park. An apparent pattern of increased frequency of this behaviour at tracks where there is no access to a chase object in the catching pen did not reach statistical significance. Jostling has not been validated as a behaviour associated with frustration or heightened arousal but, if it does occur primarily in association with these emotional states, it is expected that it would be most common at Wentworth Park and Gosford racetracks and Appin trial track and least common at Redhead trial track and Richmond racetrack where greyhounds could access the lure or a teaser in the catching pen. This expected pattern did not emerge in the current results, with jostling remaining low at Gosford. Jostling was infrequently recorded at the Redhead track on the first day of recording but more commonly recorded on the second day, which prevented it from being resolved in the statistical model. There was also considerable variation in jostling at Wentworth Park between observation days, and some variation at Gosford as well. Further data would be required to verify any influence of a track effect on this behaviour.
Jostling may also be affected by the number of dogs entering the catching pen. Where multiple dogs are exercised together on straight tracks, there are usually only two dogs involved; in contrast to the six to eight dogs involved in races. Jostling may also be influenced by the behaviour of other dogs in the catching pen. It is often accompanied by vocalising, which may encourage other dogs in the catching pen to jostle too. Another factor that may affect jostling is how familiar the dogs are with one another. Dogs that are familiar with one another may be less inhibited when together, and therefore more likely to jostle. However, familiarity is far more common on straight tracks (where dogs living at the same location are run together) than at oval racetracks, and there was no clear difference in jostling frequency between straight tracks and racetracks. Finally, jostling may also fluctuate in frequency in response to features of track design or prior experiences with specific tracks. For example, if jostling occurs as a response to frustration or anticipated frustration when losing sight of the lure or approaching the catching pen, then how early the catching pen becomes visible may signal coming frustration and thus prompt jostling with more time for dogs to engage in it. The shape of the catching pen varies between tracks and narrower or shorter catching pens may promote more jostling. There may also be an invisible effect of learning. If dogs have had experiences being jostled more often on a specific track, they may anticipate it and start it themselves as a result. It’s possible repeated races with many of the same dogs with similar track-specific experiences could create a culture of increased jostling at specific tracks.