Disc Dog Training

Um... this.

Here's the latest video of Zinga playing disc. I'm horribly sick so there isn't a lot of enthusiasm on my end, but she has more than enough for both of us. I took advantage of the new soft snow and worked on flip catches with her. I think I'm going to call them windmill catches instead because that's what it looks like with her massive amount of legs.

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YAY this thread wasn't lost!!

Update on the merle girls' disc training as of right now.

We spent all last weekend at a Pawsitive Vybe B&B. Talk about brain overload. I am STILL sore and exhausted but holy crap did I learn a ton. Both girls rocked it and I am so incredibly excited for this upcoming season. I'm expecting Zuma to knock the competition out of the water and Zinga to make her official freestyle debut as well.

I was also fortunate to spend some time down in Florida with one of my disc idols and got her input on a lot of things. Mostly, how important flatwork is in regards to freestyle routines. Just having a couple ways of moving your dog around the field is fine but it never really produces a routine that flows. We worked a lot on setting the flank, rear crosses, ribbon work as well as some drills to help get more air out of their leaps. Learned some cool new throws as well.

As for what we learned at the B&B, I have pages upon pages of notes. Zuma has enough sequences to make a whole routine and a half. Our trick list has grown a ton and it was great to get more input on how to make our existing tricks flashier.

Zinga has officially gone into full disc training mode. Her growth plates were *almost* closed when I did her prelims at 7 months, she'll be getting another set of rads done in a couple weeks to confirm that they are fully closed in her legs. Until then, leaping is only done on thick mats or in fresh deep snow and kept at a minimum (2-3 actual jumps a week? if that).

We have a playdate coming up on Sunday which is indoors since we still have a ton of snow and ice on the ground. Hopefully I'll get video of some of our new things then.

I made this video to help Linds out, figured I'd post it here in case there is anyone lurking that likes this sort of thing.

Big problem in disc is teaching dogs to jump without dragging their toes. One of the drills that can help that is doing overs but bringing the disc down as the dog goes to grab it. What happens is the dog ends up looking downward which bends their back and results in them bringing their butt up. Muscle memory eventually takes over and you get a nice arching jump.

[YOUTUBE]zGl0KNLMvis[/YOUTUBE]

I'm so grateful you made that video for me! Super helpful!

I had been hoping that if anything good was to come out of winter it was going to be that I had snow to practice jumping and form in with disc. Instead, we just got lots of cold and frozen ground that I didn't want to jump her on.

Now that she's a year old I can start working on it more and hopefully since it's THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING (even though it's currently 20 out) the ground will start to thaw soon.

Any more tips you think of or hear toss them my way pretty please!

I know some of these quotes are all over the place but . Hudson LOVES Frisbee it seems. I picked a canvas type one up super cheap in Nov. and got it out a month or two ago. he promptly destroyed it, so I got a West Paw one. He really loves it. I can't throw a disc to save my life, but whatevs.


I looked up "Disc dogs" in my area and these guys came up. Turns out Pawsitive Vybe is located in Kingston, NY. Also known as about an hour and half from me. Gonna have to look into that a little more.



B&B in NY or somewhere else?

I'm really just in here to say that I lurk in this thread and love seeing the updates. I'm probably never going to do disc but I really like seeing how it works and how awesome everyone's dogs are!

I think I'm going to have to get more into disc this summer. Cohen seems to really love her frisbee but I have serious trouble throwing. I'm so spazzy that I can't be consistent and my fingers are always where I don't want them to be.

My end goal is to put together a simple yet flowy freestyle routine. I'm part of a group that does performances and we don't always have frisbee dogs with us, so I'd like to fill in the gap a bit. Cohen has a multitude of tricks that I think would work well in a routine. However I think that our distance work is lacking (probably due at least in part to my bad throws).

Anyways, I've never really sat down and tried to figure out the sport, or how to get from point X to point Y. I figure I'll try learn a bit more about it in the coming months and really go at it once the ground dries up a bit. Seeing everyone else's dogs do so well is a good motivator. They're all looking wonderful.

I'll respond with some ideas for you in a bit for Cohen! On my lunch break now.

I have kind of the same questions as Sekah does. We've recently started playing with 2 Aussie girls who are local and have access to a large field, working on some dock diving stuff, fit paws, and now we might start some early flyball work. We're just out having fun, and the dogs completely love it. I'd love to give disc a try, even if it's just to try something new out in the field playing around. So how would you start with dogs that know how to catch a frisbee and play simple throw and catch on a regular basis?

There are two different game types in disc dog, Toss & Fetch and Freestyle. The training that goes into both is different as the games are completely different. However, a lot of the drills that help strengthen one game will ultimately help the other game as well. Generally what's needed for a good game of Toss & Fetch is a go-around, a nice throw and a quick retrieve to hand. There are a couple exercises such as setting the flank that can help the dog out though.

This would be my plan for working on a freestyle foundation.

For a dog that can catch a disc and has good drive for it, I would start with flatwork. Teaching go-arounds, ribbon work and rear crosses will help you learn to maneuver the dog around the field and place them where they need to be. Having this ability will create a freestyle routine that flows better and is more interesting to the judges and spectators as it's not just two dimensional.

This video has a great example of working the flank and rear crosses:
[YOUTUBE]R02oBIO0j7I[/YOUTUBE]

This video has ribbon work:
[YOUTUBE]T88S__TDe2Q[/YOUTUBE]

This video shows go arounds and other set up moves:
[YOUTUBE]8Vjdp6Fj_88[/YOUTUBE]

From there I would teach set up moves like scoots, throughs and spins. These are a great way to slow your dog down (collection!) and to put them where they need to be to complete a trick. Many sequences begin with one of those tricks or a variation of them.

After that I would work on simple sequences like Around the World and Zig-Zags. Both of those sequences will help the dog learn to catch multiple discs rather than focusing on just the one. It will also help you get your "drop" on cue. A couple other exercises that can help with drops is oppositional feeding and oppositional leading. Throw a disc out for the dog, the dog catches it, call a drop, mark the drop with a yes while throwing the next disc out. The difference between the two exercises is where you throw the disc; oppositional leading means you pick the dog's line of travel so the throw would be off of his original line. Oppositional feeding would mean the next disc is thrown on the dog's path of travel.

This video has Zig-Zags:
[YOUTUBE]o8ZrSmKlGVc[/YOUTUBE]

This video has oppositional feeding:
[YOUTUBE]-mV4zHfT05Q[/YOUTUBE]

I would also be working on smaller tricks such as overs and flips. Timing and throws are 90% of freestyle, if you can't get that disc where it needs to be, when it needs to be, your whole trick is going to fall apart, not to mention the increased risk of injury to your dog. So those two tricks help you learn about timing and disc placement. Any new throw such as the throws needed for flips and overs should be practiced without a dog until you are consistent.

This video shows flips:
[YOUTUBE]iY0YA0wN47w[/YOUTUBE]

Now if you already have a bunch of tricks and different catches, you are ready to start to build sequences. Tricks are arranged into sequences that generally consist of 3-5 throws and then those sequences are arranged into a routine. Putting tricks on notecards and then picking 3-4 random notecards and arranging them in different orders can help you build sequences. Always think about the number of discs you need for each sequence and the flow of the sequence. When you go to teach a sequence, it's easiest to put "waits" in between each trick until you and the dog have the flow down.

This video shows the wait between tricks during sequence building:
[YOUTUBE]5DBI7LoAEkE[/YOUTUBE]

We went to the field to work on disc stuff, but it was so windy and snowing half the time we couldn't do much. I was really off with my throwing as well, but I'm blaming that on the fact my fingers were so cold I couldn't feel the disc between them. lol

Anyways, a few video's. This is of a roller:
This show's me throwing them straight at the ground. David finally told me about it

So I threw them less "at" the ground and more "with" the ground lol

This one I actually threw it, but I only meant to throw it low, but somehow I got it up way too high. Despite my horrible throw, Talon caught it ^_^

Is there anyway to teach him to land better when he jumps or how to stop? He puts the breaks on immediately like he can turn on a dime, but he can't. Instead he rolls or slides. >_< When he jumps he jumps straight up and down instead of jumping with some horizontal speed and landing right. He lands all on his back legs and I worry he will hurt himeslf. Any pointers?

I like your "with the ground" roller, very nice!!

To your last question, my best suggestion would be lower, faster, flat throws to help him with his jumping. Higher, slow, sloped throws allow the dog time to slow down and get under the disc to wait. Usually they answer that with popping straight up and landing straight down (a pogo jump). In contrast, a lower, faster flat throw would make him run to the disc instead of waiting for it, and his speed would force that extra stride or two needed to turn around safely. As he gets better about catching the disc in stride, you can move to higher and higher throws.

Nice go arounds! Talon is so much bigger than I had him pictured in my head!

Totally agree with Dex.

Thank you

That makes 100% perfect sense! It's been really windy lately, I think I need a heavier disc so I can throw it better in the wind. The light disc is great for him to catch, but the wind catches it so easily. I also need to work more on my throwing

Thanks, been working on his go arounds a lot, seems to be paying off. Only issue with that is speed, he sometimes goes around just at a "lalalala I've got nothing to do" pace lol We are working on speed. I've been telling him to go around and then holding the frisbee up for him to grab and encouraging him to grab it. Seems to be helping a bit. Anymore suggestions is great as well

LOL really? Bigger?? Remember, I'm a super small person, 5'1'' .... barely. >_< He is actually within range for border collies as far as height on the AKC website. He is 18'' at the shoulders, but only 22 lbs as of this morning. He is such a skinny boy, but I think disc has been helping. He's gaining some muscle

Doing the rollers after the arounds will help amp up his speed.

Oh! He's really not big at all! The video is deceiving. LOL

It really is, he is so tiny! I never thought of BC's as being this small honestly.

Ok, so just doing more rollers. I always wait for Tal to make it to my left side before throwing the rollers, should I throw as he starts going around or keep waiting for him to get to my left side first?

Throw them as he's coming around, you don't want him waiting if you are trying to build speed! Get him driving around you, chasing that disc right away.

Ok, that's what I was doing wrong. I was waiting for him so he'd get around and then have to wait for me to throw it! Thank you! You guys are so awesome, I'd never figure this out by myself

Here's an old video of Zinga doing puppy stuff last fall. Note where I'm throwing the disc, as she's going around so that when she gets to my side, the disc is leaving my hand.

[YOUTUBE]N2hiGWRLJ_8[/YOUTUBE]