I have 7 dogs which include two 9 months old pups. In each of the two runs are those short coloured ropes the ones with a knot tied in each end, the ones purchased from pet stores. The colours of the ropes range from white, yellow, orange mix, pink/white and a mix of blues. The thing I have noticed over some weeks is that the dogs will mainly head for the white and yellow ropes to play with, and ignore the others. I know like many others the theory that dogs see blue as we see red, but I wonder if they are more attracted to whites and yellows, maybe it could seem to be the reason why the dogs in New Zealand chase harder after the white lure and not so much entirely as the finish on. Have our authorities got it wrong re colours of our lures, Interested in others thoughts?

There has been considerable scientific investigation into what dogs/greyhounds can see, bearing in mind that they are all partially colour blind (in our terms). As I recall, red is not a good idea.

Google it and you will see reports.

Meantime, in respect to lures and rugs there is a need to review what is being done. That can be done only by a combined effort from a qualified colour consultant and a forensically qualified vet.

I have asked, but never got an answer, how current colours are selected. I suspect a few blokes around the boardroom table together with a material manufacturer. Neither are suitable. However, the fairly common use of a pink/red lure suggests my suspicions are correct. They did not ask the dogs.

The point is that a colour is not just what it seems to be for me and you - there is a sender and a receiver. It is a function of the subject colour (say the red rug) and how it fits into its environment. That involves lighting, distances, weather variations, the human eye, and so on. So the red sends out a message but it may or may not be well received by the viewer (ie dog or human or camera). Sort of like a heat seeking missile.

Just as one example, I recall that the old Penrith track once had blueish bulbs in their lighting system which made it very difficult to separate one rug from another. They changed the bulbs and all was OK.

Another example is the human eye's ability to separate (say) the red and the pink in the back straight in ordinary weather. It's easy if they are standing in front of you but difficult in a tougher environment. The same goes for a black or white dog with the 2, 3 or 7 rugs.

The related question for lures is whether the movement overrides the importance of the colour??? From the ages, greyhounds are bred to detect movement of prey in the field, just as other breeds are bred to detect smell, etc.

Not a silly topic at all.

Neitz confirmed that dogs actually do see color, but many fewer colors than normal humans do. Instead of seeing the rainbow as violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow, orange and red, dogs would see it as dark blue, light blue, gray, light yellow, darker yellow (sort of brown), and very dark gray.Oct 20, 2008

But definitely not red. It comes out greyish.

There are quite a lot of tracks where the camera position is too low and/or the rail structure has a widish bar which hides the view of some of the dogs. Each little bit, when added to colour and weather issues, makes it harder to pick out the runners.

Then you have places like Meadows where the fans are at ground level but the camera and pictures are good. Or places like Cranbourne or even Albion Park where everyone uses the monitors.
Wenty live viewing is fine but videos are poor due to the technical reproduction of the file.

All this is due to allowing tracks to grow up like Topsy without proper consideration of the final outcome for both live and distant viewers. Excellence is missing.

Here's another one.

What is the most suitable colour(s) for the winning post ?

"What is the most suitable colour(s) for the winning post?"

Funny you should mention that. The short answer is a mirror.

However, years ago I suggested to authorities that on the way to the boxes someone should use a builders line (eg as for brickies) to delineate a line in the sand perpendicular to the rail at the winning post. Viewers could then get an appreciation of how a tight finish ended up - as with rail or wide running dogs.

It would also be ideal at Bulli where (like a few others) the camera is not perpendicular to the rail and viewers are frequently confused as to whether the fast finishing outside dog has got up. Just one of many issues with this track!

In effect, this has been done elsewhere in either gallops or trots I forget which). It can also be done digitally on the video - which occurs routinely in the NFL to designate the 10 yard line. (Why not in NRL?)

Whatever, these are devices to aid the customer. They all love to be a judge. It's all part of the ideal package.

All these points serve to amplify the intimate greyhound experience and so keep fans interested - more so than at the gallops where few can reliably sort out the jockeys' colours - and not at all in the back straight without binoculars - and most go the track only for the booze.

Matt,

An alert dog would note that you are off to the races in that clothing and therefore be keen to join you.

Your second sentence escapes me. To Fido, the Red and Pink are slightly different shades of grey.

Not sure about Dayglo Pink - that might be worth a try. I once saw the whippets using a Dayglo Yellow, which was great. However, the ordinary Yellow is easy to spot anyway.

My further preference would be to use Dayglo for the Blue or Green but I will leave it to the experts.

Bob, Not much of a party mate.

95% of fans, or probably more, are nowhere near the track and have no intention of going there, me included. They certainly do not have access to Finishlynx.

Bob,

On very rare occasions I have seen SKY post a picture of the Finishlynx screen but nothing that they have generated themselves. Remember, it's not the stewards but the combination of the contracted SKY cameraman, the type of camera and its reproduction and the organisation by the club. SKY has virtually no control over any of this until it leaves the track.

In that context, let me say that SKY pictures in Vic are vastly superior to those in NSW. You can expand the NSW picture but it then gets very scratchy.

Anyway, that was not what I suggested. I proposed that the attendant or the guy with the super scooper should pick up the string on the way to the boxes, flick it along the finishing post line and then put the string away. There would be a visible feature left on the track which would guide viewers - instantly.

On the rest of it, it is a matter of stringing a cable from the Finishlynx computer to the SKY outlet and letting the cameraman add to the file as he sees fit. That would give a similar result providing SKY did not switch over to the trots, as is its habit.

The idea is to move as much of the action as possible into the lounge room or the pub bar. Move Mahommet to the mountain.

State authorities could make a rule telling clubs to do this, but that would require them to do what is good for the customers - a tall order. However, the bonus would be that once the practice is settled down it would be some incentive for SKY to always give dogs a better go. After all, the trots are dying anyway, false starts or not.

I don't think it is legal/proper for a steward to act as judge but they are required as a routine to verify what the judge did. Hence the "correct weight" call.

I can recall cases of wrong decisions being made and not checked but that would be rare.

I can also recall examples of old photo finish pictures being posted but that was prior to the ready availability of video replays.

I still want a builder's line and coloured chalk.

Bruce,

That idea does not stack up with two turn tracks. There won't be much left of your delineated line after the field has passed the winning post the first time.

Such is the case with most of the city races throughout Australia.

You do come up with some good ideas from time to time, however I feel with this one, we need to draw a line in the sand, and reject it.

Possibly but how do you know until you try it?

Bob,

Yes, but I am not sure why the SKY camera is off centre and the Finishlynx is not (otherwise they would have no hope of deciding close finishes at Bulli - remembering that the grandstands are past the finishing post, as they were at Olympic Park).

Bruce,

The last race run at Olympic Park was on 26/2/1996..23 years ago, so I fail to see any relevance to any discussion re photo finishes today.

As for the positions of the grandstand and the winning post at Olympic Park, if my memory serves me correctly, you have got it back to front-- the winning post was actually past the grandstand.

Incidentally, I did manage to train a few winners there, so I do have fond memories of the place.