Welcome to our Updated Lure Coursing Program!
If you last attended our lure coursing sessions prior to 2023, please read through this entire page, as we restructured the program in 2023.
Lure coursing is now scheduled as individual 20-minute sessions! We made this change for several reasons:
If you and/or your dog are new to the sport, the individualized attention ensures you're getting as much help as possible acclimating your dog and assessing their interest.
If you and your dog are very familiar with the sport, the individual time slots ensure you're not waiting for other folks to finish their turns.
Regardless of your familiarity, the individual attention allows the host to go over safety information more in detail and more personalized! This includes safety with the lure, dog health safety (including warm ups and cool downs, as well as health concern signs), and anything else that might be relevant for YOU!
Individual appointment slots allow you to go at your pace safely without any pressure!
Safety Information
Safety is our #1 concern, and our program is made with that in mind!
All Lure Coursing sessions will include:
MANDATORY warm up and cool down time
Discussions regarding WHY warm up and cool downs are important, as well as what to watch for in terms of potential injuries, heat exhaustion, and overstimulation
Discussions regarding whether or not lure coursing is a good fit for your specific dog when relevant (some dogs just aren't interested -- and that's okay!!)
What does that mean for you/your session(s)?
After your first session, you will be asked to warm up your dog before your appointment time slot begins, and cool them down after. This ensures you're able to get as many runs in as possible during your allotted time on the field. Anyone who has not warmed their dog up before their time begins will be required to do so, regardless of lost coursing time. This is for your dog's safety, as warming up helps prevent physical injuries.
Your sessions will be 20 minutes long, and we will do our best to get 2-3 runs in that time frame. Due to weather and safety constraints, we do not guarantee 2-3 runs per session. Your host will determine how many runs are safe for your dog based on their observations at that time (weather, how your dog looks, etc). We want you to get as much as possible out of your session, but not at the cost of your dog's health and safety.
Recall is a mandatory part of lure coursing! In order to get the most out of a session, dogs need to be able to be caught quickly at the end of the course. If your dog's recall is unreliable, we would recommend working on that before trying lure coursing. Please note: if your dog does not have a reliable recall and takes awhile to be caught after your first run, we reserve the right to not run them a second time in order to ensure we stick to the schedule. Instead, we will use that time to work on recall. These sessions are not intended to be free run time for the dogs, unfortunately: our sport park field simply doesn't have the availability to offer free run rentals at this time.
How To Sign Up
All clients are required to sign up for a Starter Session initially!
If you have not done lure coursing with us since before we restructured the program in 2023, or you have never done lure coursing with us, you MUST begin with a starter session. This allows us to introduce you to the current program and ensure all your questions are answered.
Once a Starter Session has been completed, Pro Sessions can be scheduled as desired.
If you completed a Starter Session in 2023 and don't feel the need for a refresher, you do not need to sign up for a new session this year. If you would like the refresher though, feel free to sign up again!
We do not recommend scheduling lure coursing more than once per week, for the safety of your dog.
All sessions are $26 per session.
All lure coursing sessions are held at our West St Paul location: 1700 Marthaler Ln West St Paul, MN 55118
Session availability will be added one month at a time (NOT all at once). If the calendar is full, check back in a couple weeks and more dates will likely be added!
Lure Coursing will continue through August 2024 at minimum: how late it goes into the fall will depend largely on weather.
Starter Session
If this is your first time lure coursing, or your first time lure coursing since before 2023, this is where you'll begin!
This is also a great refresher on the safety information for anyone who would like it.
Pro Session
If you've completed your Starter Session (or at least gotten it scheduled), you can schedule the rest of your sessions here!
Additional Info
Age Restrictions
For our young (under 12 months) and sugar-faced friends, your lure course may be adjusted to straightaways only for physical safety.
Weather Policy
Lure coursing may be cancelled due to rain, heat, or humidity: please keep an eye on your inbox the day of your session just in case! You will be able to reschedule or refund in that scenario at no cost to you.
Refund Policy
If you need to cancel your lure coursing session, you may receive a refund or transfer to another open spot if we are notified in writing at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment. Lure coursing cancellation requests must be made to office@thek9coach.com - please do not email your trainer.
No-shows and cancellations within 24 hours will forfeit their prepayment.
Share a slot?
You may bring a second dog (within the household or a well-known friend) with a second handler to your reservation at no additional cost.
Regardless of how well the dogs know each other, they will do individual runs.
