Disc drop in on Sunday

Ok so last week I totally forgot this past Sunday was Easter. But, there is a disc drop in this coming Sunday, at Ron & Apryl's. I am THERE! It's soo much fun hanging out with them, and you'll learn so much from the two of them. I for one am ready for some outside fun! Carly will be my freestyle dog, but I still play toss and fetch with Oskar. I think it's a great conditioning tool for dock jumping, it really works so many more muscles than simple fetch with a chuck-it (which we do alot of that as well). It REALLY works the hind end muscles. However, throwing correctly is critical, and Ron and Apryl are both EXCELLENT at teaching how to throw correctly.

As an aside, I was watching some OLD IDC's on ESPN Classic the other day, and saw one from 1998, and who did I see playing freestyle---none other than Ron Watson! I wonder how many IDC's he's been in? It's no easy feat getting in in freestyle either. I'm just happy we have a couple of the top disc people in the country here in Michigan to teach us!

If anyone's interested in coming out on Sunday, post here or send me a PM and I'll get you more info. Hope to see some of you there!

Hmm... now what Sundays do I have this summer where I won't already be competing in one dog sport or another...?

I think we need more weekends in the year.

Mine doesnt seem interested in catching anything (sometimes even food) in his mouth. how do you get them excited about actually catching it?

If you come out on Sunday Ron and Apryl could show you!!!

I would if they offered it on a saturday. I unfortunately work from 7 am to 3 pm sundays

Oh well that sucks! Next time I see you at an event, I can show you some things to get Bo interested in a disc.

Thanks...he will chase one just wont attempt to catch it lol...Only thing he catches are animal crackers :-P

I know you said before, but how old is Bo? Do your verbal and body languages communicate that catching is FUN? Are you both in an alert state? One of the biggest things we have learned is that if you're not excited about a game, then why should he be?
Assuming that he is old enough for the coordination required of him to accomplish catching, there are a few tricks. (Remember that kids can throw and hit well before they do a good job of catching the ball? Dogs, too, seem to learn catch later- and it can take a while.)
Are there other dogs around that do catch? Is there a favorite treat (or a beloved toy) that he would hate losing to another dog (that will catch it)? Let him watch. Then try it with him. If he doesn't catch it (it counts as a catch even if he just barely gets it to his mouth at first), he doesn't get it- let the other dog catch it. Then that dog gets your praise. Give him, say, three to five tries a session. When he does catch it, give him the treat and TONS of praise. Also, when he does catch it and you've given him immediate and lavish praise, but you're not positive that he will repeat, stop the session there- you always want to end training on a positive note. It's amazing how much they learn by example (and by rivalry).
We rarely had to go beyond this with our dogs- as long as they were old enough for the coordination. In our household of six dogs, if you don't master catch, you'll soon be without a lot of food and toy goodies that the others do get. There are many other ways- all involve rewarding him with so much praise that you might be embarassed to let any non-dog person see and hear you! But, hey, your happy praise is the BEST teaching tool of all.
If this does not work for you, let us know.

Thanks, i wil give it a try he is almost 3 now. He love praise I use that a lot and I know I ask a lot of him. Hunting, not being gun shy, dock jumping. Yes a couple of his favorite toys arent the best for catching. I have gotten him to start to catch a ball by bouncing it high down the drive way. and he is good at catching staight on throws of animal crackers but if i throw a blooper he usually misses it. As far as competition no i dont have a dog that catches around me that i know of right now. I think that would be a great tool for him because he hates to be beat to retrieves. One of the things I am thinking of doing for his jumping is sending another dog to get the toy and sending him a few seconds later. I did this to get him jumping originally. I want to do this on a less sturdy dock. I appreciate the ideas I will have to try and incorperate those into helping him learn to catch. What age do most dogs develop that co-ordination?

Most of our dogs catch well a little early. But, then they have lots of incentive and practice early. However, the one we rescued from Detroit was probably two at the time. Took a few months before he could catch things before they would bonk him in the head! And he is a smart boy who loves to please.

Rocky started catching his ball really early - maybe 5-6 months old. More or less as soon as he could fit it in his mouth. it took longer to catch the frisbee, but as soon as he did he decided THAT was the game he wanted to play all th time. The first catch you could actually see the light turn on in his head (mostly because the light was the only thing inside his head) and it was frisbee catching after that. He still loves his ball but if he has a choice it's the frisbee every time. Our other dog Newman has exactly ZERO interest in catching or even chasing the ball/frisbee. We have tried with him and in the house he will sometimes catch his stuffed animal toys but not very often and we have to get him really excited to get that. If you've ever seen Newman you know how far from excited he is in his normal state. He will chase squirrels all day though and has almost caught some. If I throw one of those he might be more interested in playing catch... You can bring Bo over to play with Rocky and use him as competition for fetching. Rocky is also VERY competetive when it comes to getting the toy. It could be an exciting race to watch the 2 of them run for the frisbee.

That might be a plan. He is fast...actually you probably havent seen it an at an event but I bet in short bursts he can get over 35 mph. Its a family board so i wont say what my cousin said the first time he saw bo go all out. I think they would have fun together

Ron and Apryl are awesome! I'd love to bring Bailey to them sometime. He's such a frisbee dog. You are so right Sara, it is such a great strengthening, speed, and coordination exercise.

I've always heard rumors that some disc people fed their dogs out of the disc as young pups. Don't really know how much effectiveness that has. I never did it with Carly. One of the first things Ron and Apryl showed me was to start the dog with "rollers." The purpose for us was to get Carly off one disc and to learn to drop the one she's got and go for my next throw. However, I think it's also a foundational tool to work them up to catching, it gets them into the idea of following a moving object and staying focused on it---this is why you see so many herding breeds doing well at disc!

Rollers are basically rolling the disc on the ground, you pitch it out there so it rolls like a wheel. Does Bo like to tug? You get them interested in the disc by playing tug, get them all geeked about it and toss out a roller. When they bring it back you reward them by playing some more tug with it. Oh, if you are serious about playing some disc, I would invest in a Jaws disc; they are invincible---otherwise you will be going through a lot of discs! Put it this way, I have a Jaws disc I've had for over 2 years, and have a VERY hard mouthed ACD and it doesn't have a mark on it! They're about 15 bucks, but well worth it!

Another good disc is the ones you get from Old Navy. Not the hard ones but the softer rubber type ones. Rocky is VERY hard on frisbees and likes to fold them if he can't catch them. We have a bunch of these Old Navy discs and they tend to dry-rot before Rocky can destroy them. You can find them on sale sometimes for $5.50. Other nice thing is they are soft so when I hit the neighbors car with one I don't feel bad. Rocky will leave teeth marks but they don't crack or rip and seem to fly really well.

Yeah, I've heard that rumor too...

Although, there are lots of other disc people out there (Ron and Apryl have said the same, actually) who believe combining food with discs will not get you a great disc dog. You want the disc itself to be the most exciting thing (besides you, yourself)... not food to be a reward for the disc.

We've tired all kinds of Frisbees [due to Bailey killing most of his toys].

Our favorites are the Hyperflite Jawz http://hyperflite.com/jawzdiscs.html and the Kong Flyer http://www.dog.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemNo=350099. Both are long lasting. The Jawz is harder, but is more acurate in flight. The Kong frisbee is soft, and you can still get quite a bit of acuracy.

You can get the Jawz discs on the Jeffers website and they are only about $8. go to www.jefferspet.com ( i believe that's it!). They are more expensive on the Skyhoundz website.

My aussie plays disc...though he has trouble catching...he happens to hold a 2005 Northeast Regional Womens Division Champion title in the Open Division and the 2006 Open Qualifier Womens Division Champion in Sport Division. I think those were the only two times in his life he actually caught them all! LOL!