School is in and the learning goes on
After a successful breaking in and a spell, the young greyhounds (around 16-18 months old) start to replicate racing conditions in trials. After their time off they need to regain their fitness and strength, so the dogs commence a slow build up during pre-race training and trialing.
As with any elite athlete there is a great importance placed on staying healthy and injury free during training. The dogs are initially hand slipped in trials , instead of being boxed, to reduce the pressure on their bodies until they gain the necessary fitness and strength. As the dogs progress they begin with solo trials then graduate to two dog and four dog trials, eventually starting in the boxes, simulating what they can expect under race conditions.
Greyhounds are very much individuals and their training should reflect that and be customised to get the maximum benefit from each session. There should always be an objective to the trialing session as it is as much about education, as it is getting fitter.
So, it is important to match dogs correctly to get the best out of them and work to their particular needs and idiosyncrasies. If you want a dog to build its confidence, put it with a slow dog. If you have a young fast dog that is not pushing itself, best to put it with mature race dogs to give it some motivation and focus. Or if a dog is lacking confidence or has been stressed in a race, you give it some easy trials, let it lead and win. Trialing starts over shorter distances of 250-300m initially, gradually building up in distance as the dog's fitness and its physical make up allows.
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How the dog progresses in its training is determined by the stopwatch, but not as you might expect. A quick finish time is important but at this stage of a dog's development the time splits over different sections of the run are more important. They are crucial pointers that show improvement and capability, or to point to injury, lack of fitness or inability to cope with a particular distance. The stopwatch allows a trainer to compare a dog to it to itself, by the clock.
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Depending on the dog's genetics and if every goes well, the trialing distances will gradually increase from 350, 400 up to 500m over time. Trialing at different tracks is also crucial to get a dog familiar with that track and so it doesn’t 'get lost'.
The final stage is to replicate race conditions by trialing in a four dog field among dogs they aren't familiar with, to see they handle the field and finds their way around without getting interfered with. If all goes well it is time to nominate them for a maiden race and their racing journey begins.
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