It's been said (btw I believe this can happen) that u can take a race out of a hound if it had too many warms up or too long of a warm up prior to running a actual race. Im interested in hearing opinions on this bcuz u also c people who believe in runnin them hard prior to the race to make sure they'll be able to hang in there. Imo is if u have been workin ur own program for awhile u shouldn't have to put too much on them bcuz u should already know what to look for and should be able to see in a shorter amount of time if the hound meets ur standards. On the other hand if u hop from line to line and don't drop anchor as Jack says, u run the risk of taking one away from ur dog bcuz ur not sure what ur looking for if u dont have any time in with the line. Jmo.