Disc Dog Training

Babyblue5290

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I learned a trick from a weekend training seminar recently for this... take a stack of notecards and write down one trick you know per card. The trick can be with or without a disc (so spin, crawl, rebound, wave, etc all count as a trick). Then shuffle, pull out three-four and put them in an order that seems reasonable. Try it out, if you like, write that sequence down. BOOM. First sequence done. Then do it again and again until you are happy with how many you have. The idea is to try different tricks near each other and figure out which ones flow nicely into the next and which just don't work.
That is such a great idea!!! We just got back from playing at the park, but I'll try this next time. He doesn't know a ton of tricks (we are slackers lol) but I'm sure there are enough there to make a few cards at least lol
 

Sekah

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I think the move you are doing at the beginning of the video with Cohen is actually a rebound. A vault uses the handler's body to get to the disc. Typically (although there are no official rules LOL) people start with a leg vault. It's easy, straight forward and there is more leeway with the toss. A rebound (swimmer's turn, etc) usually transitions to a reverse chest vault where the dog approaches from your front, turns on your body but heads UP instead of back down to the ground. The disc is placed up and out for the catch. You'd have to throw with your left hand I think for that one too just because of the direction she turns.

The rebound she does could totally translate into a back reverse vault as well however I still think you'd have to throw with your left hand for it :/ Unless you pull a Ron Watson and can fandangle it with your right hand over the right shoulder.

Cohen's flip catch is also to her right. I think she's very right handed :p I think you might have to start practicing throwing with your left hand!
Right. Rebound =/= vault. Will try to get some video of our stuff soon. And Cohen has always been very right-side dominant. Dang dog.
 

SaraB

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Pretty proud of the girls so far this season! Saturday was our 1 year anniversary for starting disc. We entered our first competition 1 year ago, Zuma won 1st in both novice freestyle and toss and catch and we haven't looked back since!

Currently, Zuma has qualified for the 2013 USDDN World Championship in both toss & fetch and freestyle. Zinga has qualified for the 2013 Skyhoundz Disc Dogathon World's in Bullseye. We have one more qualifier on the calender for this season, so I'm excited to see what they do there!

There are things to work on and so much room for improvement, but I was ecstatic with how they played this weekend. Zuma was one point away from the leader in her first round of microdog freestyle, so close. Of course I brought out an extra disc and got a penalty point in the second round, so that knocked us down to 4th. Zuma also placed 3rd in Pairs D/A (there were over 40 teams entered), super proud of her for that one! Just shows you don't have to throw far to win, just need a fast dog. :D

I didn't get a chance to see the results or scores for the entire weekend but they should be posted soon.
 
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It was such a fun weekend with Sara and Dex! Amazing to watch those two (and three dogs) in action and in person along with meeting so many great people and disc players. So much learning and fun happened!

I entered Didgie in Novice Freestyle on Saturday and Novice Distance and Accuracy (D/A) and she took 1st in Freestyle and 2nd in D/A! I was so proud of her. I forgot part of my routine during the freestyle (And only had a 60 second routine but found out when I got there it was better to go the only 90 seconds allowed so I had to throw in somethings) but she had no difficulty, she didn't care at all about the crowd of the people or the dogs. I was also informed I was no longer allowed to compete in Novice so we're moving up :yikes:

Then on Sunday I entered both Didgie and Traveler in games (Pairs D/A, Bullseye, Time Trial, and Spot Landing). Traveler was a gamble since he is prone to overstimulation in those environment and hasn't been in something like that in a long time so I ran him in the first two on a long line.

The first game with him was the Time Trial and he was super distracted, didn't catch a single disc and I got my ankle caught in the long line (I think the entire crowd winced in unison). But right at the end of our time (60 seconds allowed0 he clicked on and looked at me like "OOOHHH!! We're playing!! Lets go."

The next thing we did was Spot Landing and it was with a shorter long line and he started out with way more focus and actually was chasing them and catching them. Until he saw Sara and took off :D But way better than the first time AND he didn't go say hi to the judges on the field which was HUGE.

Then we did Bullseye and he was really great! He did try to go where Sara was again but Dex was there to tell him to leave (Which he was heartbroken about) and I was able to get him back and get a few more throws and catches in which made me super proud of him!

He may not have placed at all but the improvement he made in one day was amazing to me and I was SO so tickled with him!

Didgie took 1st in Novice Time Trial and 2nd in Bullseye, which wasn't bad considering that for Bullseye unlike the other games you get to play with two discs and she has an issue dropping them when she sees another disc (She's great with one) and we started out good but she got excited and dropped it out in the field so I ran and got it which resulted in her dropping the other one way out in the field so I just said forget it and played with one disc instead of getting all discombobulated but it worked!

But yes, so proud of my dogs and proud of myself for keeping calm and not getting rattled. It was a great first time competing out there with the dogs and I can't wait for the next time!

And here's our freestyle routine!

[YOUTUBE]tvLp4BfxaCA[/YOUTUBE]
 

Laurelin

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that's awesome! Can't wait to get a dog I can play disc with. Though I have no idea what all those classes mean.
 

Sekah

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Congrats to you two! (Three!) And all your dogs! You all did marvelously, and you have every right to be proud. Way to go!
 
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Cool video, now I'm jealous I wasn't made aware of the meetup :)

and a bit for your early drop problem, make your zone that is acceptable and stick to it.

I have a dog that is like that with toys and I have a rule, if you drop it early, I'm running for it and if I get it before you can get it and bring it back the game is OVER. as soon as she thinks i'm tossing another one she'll drop it. at first I ran for the dropped one. Then I'd let her run all the way to me anticipating the throw and I'd calmly walk to where the dropped one is and pick it up and leave.

It doesn't take long that even the simulation of a step towards it and they get it back to you quickly and before long, they aren't dropping it early because nothing happens when they do except the game could possibly end.

you could also put it on command. I know I use another toy to create the out, but then I proof a hold. You hold it till I ask for a release. So in the presence of another toy you hold and then I'll cue to out and then it gets thrown. Drop it before hand and it gets picked up and I go away.

I'm sure you know how to fix it, i'm just typing out loud :)
 
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Ugh, RTH, I was bad about it for awhile with Didgie mainly because I was focusing on other things and let her get away with it. She's really easy to get to bring me the disc when I'm paying attention and actively working on it but it was pure laziness on my part that got her dropping it early.

I spent the end of last week proofing her bring to hand but and it held out pretty well during freestyle but fell apart during the Bullseye.

I think I'm going to steal your idea of the game over by racing her though. I taught her to fetch by making it a fight to get to the toy and then tugging as a reward for getting it first and making a big deal about not letting her have it if I beat her. Upping it up a notch and making it be a game ender would be annoying the first couple times but really might hammer it home for her. She does better when she has to fight for something.

It's similar to how I get her back when she gets over stimulated and fixated on motion. I tell her I'm going to "get it" and then she gets angry and forgets the other dogs and fights me for her toy.

Also, there's a comp at the end of August in Naperville that Sara and Dex are coming for...hint hint wink wink nudge nudge
 

Babyblue5290

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You guys are so awesome, I loved watching the video (we need moar of those ;) lol).

Linds, Talon is similair to Traveler with over excitement problems. He gets there and goes "ZOMFG ther are far too many thing to see!" lol We went to a really small competition just a week or so ago and I was so nervous. So I know how that feels! Also, long lines are the devil!


As far as disc progress we haven't been able to do anything with Talon since he hurt himself. We are giving it a few more days now that he's walking normally, but I'm not sure if I want to go to the competition in August 10th or not. hmm..
 
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but it was pure laziness on my part that got her dropping it early.
Ha, how do you think I ended up with that problem :) I know your pain

end of August huh? I think I was shooting for a trial then 17th maybe? But I'm thinking i'm going to have to wait. I don't think I'll have tracking where I want it to be.
 

FG167

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Ha, how do you think I ended up with that problem :) I know your pain

end of August huh? I think I was shooting for a trial then 17th maybe? But I'm thinking i'm going to have to wait. I don't think I'll have tracking where I want it to be.
We're trialing that weekend for BH (Kastle) and IPO I (Pan).
 

Babyblue5290

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So for you disc people I have a question. Whenever I tell Talon to "go around" I have always had him go around from my right to my left side. I am right handed and throw the disc right handed. Someone commented at the last disc dog competition that if I throw right handed I should have the dog go around from left to right.

So, what's your opinion? Which way does your dog typically go around and what hand do you throw with?
 
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So for you disc people I have a question. Whenever I tell Talon to "go around" I have always had him go around from my right to my left side. I am right handed and throw the disc right handed. Someone commented at the last disc dog competition that if I throw right handed I should have the dog go around from left to right.

So, what's your opinion? Which way does your dog typically go around and what hand do you throw with?
I don't know what's technically correct but I taught them to go around whatever side I gesture to. My default though is going around from the right and exiting from the left. Felt more right to me
 

k9krazee

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Around for us is always from Right to left and I throw with my right. That's interesting though! I never thought about it. He's most comfortable going that way - but I do admit I should be working on both directions lol
 

Dex

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So for you disc people I have a question. Whenever I tell Talon to "go around" I have always had him go around from my right to my left side. I am right handed and throw the disc right handed. Someone commented at the last disc dog competition that if I throw right handed I should have the dog go around from left to right.

So, what's your opinion? Which way does your dog typically go around and what hand do you throw with?
Dex has a terrible catch ratio if I'm doing toss and catch and have her go around from left to right (I throw right handed). She's much, much better at right to left for her go around. We do both ways during freestyle, but I think that's a little different since I'm not asking her for a straight out run in those cases.

I've heard it has something to do with the spin on the disc and the direction your dog comes from. If they have a wide outrun, you'll notice more of a difference. Think about the way the disc is rotating as your dog comes towards it from the left or the right.
 

Babyblue5290

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Thanks for the input! I definitely feel better running him from right to left, tried a few from left to right and when he got the hang of it, it still didn't feel right.

Dex, I can see what you're saying. When I throw the disc it has a tendency to swing a bit to the right so he would have an easier time catching it and being in the right place if he went from left to right. So I'll try to keep working on the other direction as well and maybe with some more practice that will be more helpful for us, who knows.

Saturday is another competition (D/A of course lol) so we are preparing.

Any Tips? Video from today

 

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