Disc Dog Training

krissy

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Kootenay - How much does Onyx weigh? She looks like a decent sized dog. Is she lighter than I think she is, or are you just uber strong? :hail: lol I can't imagine my dog launching herself at me to catch. I feel like that would end bad!


On another note... I've got two Hyperflite Frostbite discs in the mail on their way to my house! Woot! It's getting cold all of a sudden this week and the club didn't have any SofFlites or Super Aeros in stock so I'm going to try these. When they restock in November I'll get some other types to try out.
 

Kootenay

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Kootenay - How much does Onyx weigh? She looks like a decent sized dog. Is she lighter than I think she is, or are you just uber strong? :hail: lol I can't imagine my dog launching herself at me to catch. I feel like that would end bad!
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She's pretty little, about 40lbs or just under? I hope she doesn't grow too much more. She's still pretty easy to catch, but it wouldn't be fun if she got too much bigger!
 

krissy

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Ha! I definitely thought she was bigger. I was like... "maybe I CAN catch Kili". 40 lbs... ok. 60 lbs... we'll see. 75 lbs (Summit)... I'll die. :rofl1:
 

krissy

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Ok, so an update and video.

Our Hyperflite Frostbite discs arrived the day after I ordered them from the local disc dog club. Talk about service.

I was very pleased initially that Kili seemed to be very interested in the disc. However, she quickly lost her desire to tug with it, though she still wanted it and chased it readily. But the problem is that I have really built such a strong tug drive with her for a reward that not tugging with the disc seems to have devalued it for her.

I thought maybe I could throw the Hyperflite but then reward with tugging with the West Paw rubber disc. That did NOT work. As soon as the softer disc came out she totally lost any interest in the Hyperflite and refused to chase or pick it up. But she can't catch the West Paw. She has been doing well with learning to catch the Hyperflite but her motivation for it is only so-so. She also does really well catching short throws made toward her, but throws that are away from her (that she has to run down) she has trouble with. I'm guessing that'll come as she learns that the game is to catch it.

Tonight we worked on "disc race"... I hold her back, throw the disc and then race her (that's a relative term when you're talking about a greyhound) to the disc. That's one way that I really worked up her drive for the tug toy. The other thought I had was to try to rig the disc up to a leash or flirt pole.

Looking back at the video footage it does cross my mind that maybe she was tired, maybe too much training... however I do feel like the diminished tug drive has been real over the past couple of days. At the very end of the video is the last bit of training from today, and I'm thinking maybe she was just tapped out. I hope so anyway. We did about 3-5 minutes of rollers, short catches, and chasing me to grab the disc. Had a break. Then 3-5 minutes on flatwork (working on "around" and "through") then she had 10-15 minutes to play with toys, with Summit, with me, and just to sniff and be a dog. Then the failed attempt with the West Paw was only really one throw. Then we did that last segment with the disc race. I called it quits because I could feel that I was soon going to be getting annoyed because she kept biting me. That first yell was because she actually bit me REALLY hard and it caught me by surprise... in fact I have a big bruise on my wrist. The second one didn't hurt at all but I yelped because that wasn't a "re-grip error", she was actually going for my arm. Grabbing me when we do personal play has been an ongoing issue, but there's no toy in that situation.

So here's the video footage from the past few days (Warning: Turn your speakers DOWN! ha ha)

[YOUTUBE]RCNDknsEDUA[/YOUTUBE]

Let me know what you guys think is going on. Any suggestions or advice? I really have no idea how to train a dog for disc. I'm not sure I'm doing it right!

P.S. My neighbours are soon going to think a whack-job moved in next door with all the hooting and hollering going on every time the puppy catches a disc.
 

SaraB

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I can't watch the video because I'm at work and this computer needs to updated for video watching, so take my advice with that in mind.

Some dogs have a hard time moving to a hard disc after using a soft one. There are a few softer "hard" discs that can help those dogs. Typically if I hear a dog isn't wanting to tug when they've always had a nice tug in the past, I would recc trying a softer disc. The Hero Super Aero's come to mind and are what I used to transition my husband's dog to real discs because of his softer mouth. Plus side is that they are very durable! These discs are competition sized and can be used permanently, so there is no need to switch away from them. I know they Frostbites are pretty flexible, but they really aren't as soft as the Super Aero's.

Also, limit tugging, it should super fun and a reward. If the majority of your 3-5 minute session is tugging, then she will get bored of it. If you can't go 3-5 minutes without filling the extra time with tugging, cut your session even shorter. 1 minute and then a break. End while they are still actively engaged with you.
 

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Figured I'd update on our latest comp! We had our disc competition for the season, a Skyhoundz Disc Dogathon. It all went pretty well, we were indoors which is awesome as it's pretty cold here right now. Zinga brought home 2nd place in Spot Landing and Time Trial. Zuma and Zinga tied for 2nd place in Freestyle. I threw Zinga's Bullseye because of her dropping the disc early, made her go back to get it a few times as I don't want it to become a habit.

Zuma apparently was still sore from an accident during last weekend's agility trial, so her freestyle game was really, really off. She's going to take a long break with some laser therapy to see if that helps. She had a chiro appointment last wednesday and another coming up soon, so that should help as well. Poor girl, if I would've known she was sore I wouldn't have even entered her!

We have a ton to work on for next year, a ton of great new ideas. I'm glad to have the break to focus on other things and to get some new tricks under our belts.
 

CharlieDog

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Indy is showing considerable interest in the disc now, but either I throw to fast (Ozzy is a fast dog, and reaches the disc in time to catch it in the air, Indy does not) or she needs to build up some speed.

Is there a way to throw the disc so that it floats a bit slower? She's gotten really good at up close catches, but she's very pawsy and tries to shove the disc into her mouth with her feet :p

Is there also some way to improve eye/mouth coordination? She's gotten pretty good at close throws (five to seven feet away from me) but further out and she loses it. She keeps her eye on it, but she can't seem to connect. Is this just a practice issue?

This is all new to me. Ozzy was born knowing how to catch a disc flying mid air and he gets some big air. There's a vid on my FB if anyone is interested. I tagged Linds, but I'm not sure if she saw it.

Also, what's the dog situation like at comps? Ozzy isn't a fan of other dogs very much, and I don't want to set his reactivity issue back with flooding him with dogs.
 

krissy

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Some dogs have a hard time moving to a hard disc after using a soft one. There are a few softer "hard" discs that can help those dogs. Typically if I hear a dog isn't wanting to tug when they've always had a nice tug in the past, I would recc trying a softer disc. The Hero Super Aero's come to mind and are what I used to transition my husband's dog to real discs because of his softer mouth. Plus side is that they are very durable! These discs are competition sized and can be used permanently, so there is no need to switch away from them. I know they Frostbites are pretty flexible, but they really aren't as soft as the Super Aero's.

Also, limit tugging, it should super fun and a reward. If the majority of your 3-5 minute session is tugging, then she will get bored of it. If you can't go 3-5 minutes without filling the extra time with tugging, cut your session even shorter. 1 minute and then a break. End while they are still actively engaged with you.
I am getting some new discs next week. Katherine Furger kindly donated 5 gently used discs (I asked for Hero Super Aeros and Hyperflite SofFlites so not sure how many of each I'm getting) for me to try. My trainer is bringing them for me to class next weekend. So hopefully softer discs will help.

Now... when you say to limit tugging, we don't play tug for 3-5 minutes straight, I use it to reward her for chasing after the disc, catching it, etc. So whatever we're doing (rollers, throws, etc) I encourage her to bring the disc back to me and we tug for a couple seconds, then I throw it again. But now the problem is that she is reluctant to tug when she brings it back. Do I just throw it again? Give her a food reward? I tried switching to something she can tug with as the reward for chasing, catching, and returning the disc... but that just made her lose complete interest in the disc.
 

Pintage

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This is probably terrible advice, but I struggled for months trying to get Lugia into disc (she's also a sighthound). I mean, she'd catch discs and retrieve them for me but it wasn't exactly the most thrilling thing for her. She also didn't like tugging on plastic discs, either. The thing that REALLY made things click for her was watching other dogs play disc. Probably anthropomorphizing here, but I think of Lugia as a really competitive dog, so after she watched this dog play disc, I immediately threw one for Lugia and she SPRINTED after it (with a gusto I'd never seen before), did a flying leap and caught it midair. Since then, she's been crazy about catching discs. I'd play tug using a plastic disc with Circus, Lugia would come and play tug too, even though she never liked plastic... she even makes a point of tugging harder than Circus and tries to rip the disc from my hand and commences "killing" it...

I don't know how often model-rival training works for dogs in general, but I found that it works really really well for Lugia (I don't train Circus this way, I think there's just some aspect of Lugia's personality that makes m-r training work). Like, Lugia never used to like chasing and retrieving balls. She'd look at me all "You threw it, you get it!" But once she saw another Silken chase/retrieve tennis balls, she became obsessed... just watching this dog fetch for 10 minutes somehow turned her into a ball-crazy dog o_o
 

JacksonsMom

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This is probably terrible advice, but I struggled for months trying to get Lugia into disc (she's also a sighthound). I mean, she'd catch discs and retrieve them for me but it wasn't exactly the most thrilling thing for her. She also didn't like tugging on plastic discs, either. The thing that REALLY made things click for her was watching other dogs play disc. Probably anthropomorphizing here, but I think of Lugia as a really competitive dog, so after she watched this dog play disc, I immediately threw one for Lugia and she SPRINTED after it (with a gusto I'd never seen before), did a flying leap and caught it midair. Since then, she's been crazy about catching discs. I'd play tug using a plastic disc with Circus, Lugia would come and play tug too, even though she never liked plastic... she even makes a point of tugging harder than Circus and tries to rip the disc from my hand and commences "killing" it...

I don't know how often model-rival training works for dogs in general, but I found that it works really really well for Lugia (I don't train Circus this way, I think there's just some aspect of Lugia's personality that makes m-r training work). Like, Lugia never used to like chasing and retrieving balls. She'd look at me all "You threw it, you get it!" But once she saw another Silken chase/retrieve tennis balls, she became obsessed... just watching this dog fetch for 10 minutes somehow turned her into a ball-crazy dog o_o
This worked A LOT for Jackson too. He didn't care much about fetching until he watched my uncles GSD fetch and saw her loving it so much. Then the chuckit brought out excitement in HIM too, and I bought him his own. Now he loves to go outside and fetch!

I did the same with the frisbee, too. I played it with the GSD first and he was watching her loving it.
 

Oko

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Today I discovered Feist is an absolute disc monster, we did some rollers in the yard (and for the first time ever, she retrieved). Can't wait for her to get big so we can start training. :D
 

krissy

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I don't know how often model-rival training works for dogs in general, but I found that it works really really well for Lugia (I don't train Circus this way, I think there's just some aspect of Lugia's personality that makes m-r training work). Like, Lugia never used to like chasing and retrieving balls. She'd look at me all "You threw it, you get it!" But once she saw another Silken chase/retrieve tennis balls, she became obsessed... just watching this dog fetch for 10 minutes somehow turned her into a ball-crazy dog o_o
This is how Summit first learned how to go through a tunnel. We had it scrunched right down short and we had treats and were trying to lure him through, and he just wouldn't go. So we ran my friend's young GSD through and I swear Summit was like "Well if that little twerp can do it, so can I!" and that was the end of that.

But I'd have to find a dog that likes playing disc first because I don't know any right now.
 

CharlieDog

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Indy is showing considerable interest in the disc now, but either I throw to fast (Ozzy is a fast dog, and reaches the disc in time to catch it in the air, Indy does not) or she needs to build up some speed.

Is there a way to throw the disc so that it floats a bit slower? She's gotten really good at up close catches, but she's very pawsy and tries to shove the disc into her mouth with her feet :p

Is there also some way to improve eye/mouth coordination? She's gotten pretty good at close throws (five to seven feet away from me) but further out and she loses it. She keeps her eye on it, but she can't seem to connect. Is this just a practice issue?

This is all new to me. Ozzy was born knowing how to catch a disc flying mid air and he gets some big air. There's a vid on my FB if anyone is interested. I tagged Linds, but I'm not sure if she saw it.

Also, what's the dog situation like at comps? Ozzy isn't a fan of other dogs very much, and I don't want to set his reactivity issue back with flooding him with dogs.
Anyone? Bueller?


Indy's improving slowly, but she's also having to learn that she can't bring the disc back if she's standing on it :p
 

Kootenay

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Anyone? Bueller?


Indy's improving slowly, but she's also having to learn that she can't bring the disc back if she's standing on it :p
Onyx did that for a while (still does, but a lot less often, thankfully!), and it took her a while to figure out catching and then catching longer throws...I would be inclined to say just give her some time and she'll figure a lot of it out. But I am by no means an expert on the subject!
 

CharlieDog

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Onyx did that for a while (still does, but a lot less often, thankfully!), and it took her a while to figure out catching and then catching longer throws...I would be inclined to say just give her some time and she'll figure a lot of it out. But I am by no means an expert on the subject!
Thank you!

I started out with rollers, but she was so driven for the disc that I ended up just doing short throws, and the throws that turn into flips. She catches those fine, and tonight she was less "LET ME SHOVE IT INTO MY MOUTH" than yesterday. She also appreciates tugging on the disc quite a bit, so there's no lack of drive. I think it's a lack of coordination. :p

She still doesn't reach a flying disc in time to catch it in the air, and when she does she usually waits for it to land. I don't reward those with tugging, but if she does snag it out of the air I reward with tugging. I praise heavily for even fetching a disc from the ground though, but no tugging. I make her drop it when she gets to me. She likes the tugging quite a bit.
 

Kootenay

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Thank you!

I started out with rollers, but she was so driven for the disc that I ended up just doing short throws, and the throws that turn into flips. She catches those fine, and tonight she was less "LET ME SHOVE IT INTO MY MOUTH" than yesterday. She also appreciates tugging on the disc quite a bit, so there's no lack of drive. I think it's a lack of coordination. :p

She still doesn't reach a flying disc in time to catch it in the air, and when she does she usually waits for it to land. I don't reward those with tugging, but if she does snag it out of the air I reward with tugging. I praise heavily for even fetching a disc from the ground though, but no tugging. I make her drop it when she gets to me. She likes the tugging quite a bit.
I had so many little panics with Onyx where she hadn't figured something out yet and I was sure she was NEVER going to get it...but then like 2 days later she's a pro. I imagine Indy will probably figure out she can catch the long throws pretty soon!
 

SaraB

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Indy is showing considerable interest in the disc now, but either I throw to fast (Ozzy is a fast dog, and reaches the disc in time to catch it in the air, Indy does not) or she needs to build up some speed.

Work on throwing the disc shorter distances and with a lot of spin so that it hovers before falling to the ground. This will help Indy learn to catch it!

Is there a way to throw the disc so that it floats a bit slower? She's gotten really good at up close catches, but she's very pawsy and tries to shove the disc into her mouth with her feet :p

I like to teach hover throws by placing a chair about 10-15 yards from me and see if I can float the disc above the chair and have it land directly below into it. A LOT of spin is needed, you get that from the wrist snap, not from the actual arm motion of throwing.

Is there also some way to improve eye/mouth coordination? She's gotten pretty good at close throws (five to seven feet away from me) but further out and she loses it. She keeps her eye on it, but she can't seem to connect. Is this just a practice issue?

Learning to throw where it hovers will help tremendously. Otherwise, work takes up high to encourage her to learn to jump to grab the disc. It will get better with practice. Also, make a huge deal about catches, don't take them for granted.

This is all new to me. Ozzy was born knowing how to catch a disc flying mid air and he gets some big air. There's a vid on my FB if anyone is interested. I tagged Linds, but I'm not sure if she saw it.

Also, what's the dog situation like at comps? Ozzy isn't a fan of other dogs very much, and I don't want to set his reactivity issue back with flooding him with dogs.

There are a lot of reactive dogs at comps. The field is typically not fenced and there are typically dogs walking around the sidelines, however they are generally under control and with their handlers. As long as your dog can focus and stay with you while playing, it's not a big deal. You can always play on a long line at your first few comps to get a better feel for how your dog will handle the situation. Around here though, everyone is typically good about not letting their dog's go say hi to another.
Answers in purple!
 

SaraB

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Now... when you say to limit tugging, we don't play tug for 3-5 minutes straight, I use it to reward her for chasing after the disc, catching it, etc. So whatever we're doing (rollers, throws, etc) I encourage her to bring the disc back to me and we tug for a couple seconds, then I throw it again. But now the problem is that she is reluctant to tug when she brings it back. Do I just throw it again? Give her a food reward? I tried switching to something she can tug with as the reward for chasing, catching, and returning the disc... but that just made her lose complete interest in the disc.
If she doesn't want to tug with certain discs, I wouldn't push the issue too much until she is more comfortable with those discs. Rollers are a great option for a reward! Food rewards are good too, I like to fade those out quickly though. I wouldn't switch to another disc, because of the issue you pointed out.
 

SaraB

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This is probably terrible advice, but I struggled for months trying to get Lugia into disc (she's also a sighthound). I mean, she'd catch discs and retrieve them for me but it wasn't exactly the most thrilling thing for her. She also didn't like tugging on plastic discs, either. The thing that REALLY made things click for her was watching other dogs play disc. Probably anthropomorphizing here, but I think of Lugia as a really competitive dog, so after she watched this dog play disc, I immediately threw one for Lugia and she SPRINTED after it (with a gusto I'd never seen before), did a flying leap and caught it midair. Since then, she's been crazy about catching discs. I'd play tug using a plastic disc with Circus, Lugia would come and play tug too, even though she never liked plastic... she even makes a point of tugging harder than Circus and tries to rip the disc from my hand and commences "killing" it...

I don't know how often model-rival training works for dogs in general, but I found that it works really really well for Lugia (I don't train Circus this way, I think there's just some aspect of Lugia's personality that makes m-r training work). Like, Lugia never used to like chasing and retrieving balls. She'd look at me all "You threw it, you get it!" But once she saw another Silken chase/retrieve tennis balls, she became obsessed... just watching this dog fetch for 10 minutes somehow turned her into a ball-crazy dog o_o
GREAT advice!
 

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