Georgia Irish Disc Dogs

“What I learned in 2007 from Disc Dogging and Memories”

By Mark Muir

  This year had some highs and lows on and off the field but overall I consider it a incredible success. Rocket and Gipper won multiple championships with Gipper’s top win being the Ohio State Overall Championships and Rocket’s top win being the USDDN Overall National Championships.

  Personally I still had to take some steps backward to move forward, after my wife drummed in my head over and over I think I finally turned the corner and started to realize finally that the dogs never ever miss a disc on purpose and that when all is said and done all they want to do is have fun playing disc with me.

  Rocket of course is always there willing to go but Gipper has been more of training situation with me due to his numerous little quirks that I have had to work through on a daily basis. Gipper has taught me so much more about myself and truly what training a disc dog is about.

 I made many more friends this year and we actually competed in numerous different states this year with the hopes one year soon of  leaving the country to compete also.

 We made a major decision this year deciding that we would go ahead and get a third puppy. Why? Some might ask. One of my biggest fears is my age and I wanted to go ahead and get a third one so I could compete with it also before my old age/aches and pains kick in, which they are already there to some extent. We decided we would get a little girl and we would name her Irish. She is due to be at our house sometime around mid January 2008.

 We look forward to another fun and incredible disc dog season this year and most of all we look forward to having fun playing disc with our dogs and continuing our friendships with others and making more.

Mark and Stacey Muir

ROCKET-GIPPER an IRISH

“My early start at a young age in the sport of Disc Dogging”

By Preston Dean

"Well it all really started for me when I was just 12 years old.  I had always wanted a smart dog that could do something besides just a dog that sat on the couch its whole life.

So that is when I adopted Skye, a blue merle border collie from

I was really inspired to teach Skye how to catch Frisbees when I saw a local trainer in Petsmart throwing disc and doing all of these crazy tricks where the dog would stand up on his feet and catch the discs.  After I saw that, I knew what I really wanted to do with Skye. 

     So, I begged my parents to take me to some of the competitions.  I always brought my video camera and videoed everybody’s routine.  I really taught myself how to teach all of his tricks by watching people’s routines on tape and deciphering and thinking out how they probably trained there dog to do that trick.  That is how I trained Skye.

     Now I have a new little project on my hands with my newest pup, Sienna.  She is certainly a “nut” if you want to put it into those words and I am sure that many people have seen this already.  She is certainly a “hard” dog and has so much drive it’s almost hard to control her.  One thing I will say about her that she really does love to please you and she really loves everyone in my family like the way she greets us by squealing and making all of these gorilla type noises.  I wouldn’t give her back for anything because I know in a few years she will be an awesome dog.

     This sport has meant so much to me and I have not even been competing for a year yet.  I always look forward to going to competitions and being in such a friendly environment.  Everybody is always so helpful and willing to give great advice.  But, there is one person that really has just taken me under his wing and has really just given me somebody to look up to and his name is Mark Muir.  Mark, by his own choice, has really just given me so much advice on what to look out for, what not to worry about, and what I need to think about.  I really admire him and he has been a great person for me to look up to and I really appreciate it Mark.  There is so much more I could say, but I really just wanted everyone to know how great of a guy he is.

     Also I just wanted everybody to know that my site www.georgiadiscdogs.com is up and running also and please come by and visit it.

Dean

Skye, Soaring Sienna

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“How Do I Teach My Dog To Play Frisbee?”

By Chuck Middleton

How many times has someone asked you that question while you’ve been at the park practicing? Over the course of 20 years I’ve been asked that very question literally hundreds of times and I still do not have a simple response. Through trial and error, I’ve learned that what most people really want is a quick-and-easy answer when there isn’t one. For many years, I tried in earnest to explain that each dog learns a little differently and share, in detail, some of the things they might do to encourage Frisbee play. I could stand there and literally watch their eyes begin to glaze over as they tuned me out. I imagined their thoughts, “This guy is crazy. I don’t want to be a dog trainer, I just want my dog to play Frisbee.” Soon I learned that it was just easier to tell most people that my dog was a “natural” and go back to my training session. After all, I’m pretty sure that was what most people were already thinking, and it gave them the justification they were seeking to explain why their dog wouldn’t play Frisbee, “he’s just not a natural.”

No dog I know was born a natural Frisbee player. As we all know there is more to Frisbee play than just throwing the disc into the wind on a wish and a prayer. By examining the basic dynamics of how your dog learned to play simple throw and catch, you’ll be much better prepared to teach your dog more advanced Frisbee moves and tricks.

No matter how smart your dog is, or you think he is, he will never learn, “Now, I want you to run after the Frisbee when I throw it, catch it before it hits the ground, and then turn around and bring it back to me.” But take that sentence and break it down into individual pieces, like links in a chain, and many dogs with some natural or encouraged desire can be taught to 1) chase, 2) catch and 3) retrieve. There you have the basic pieces of canine Frisbee. Eliminate any one of those links and the game quickly becomes an exercise in stress management instead of a fun activity for you and your dog. Actually, it is possible to break it down even further. By looking at just the retrieve you’ll see that it too consists of three pieces, 1) taking an object, 2) carrying it and 3) giving it up. These steps are links in a behavior chain that, most of the time, must be taught individually before they can be combined–just like a chain is made by first creating the individual links before connecting them together to create the desired length.

Now you may say, “My dog does all those things naturally, I didn’t have to teach him to play Frisbee.” With some special dogs that may be the case, but chances are far greater that he simply transferred the learned behavior chain above to the Frisbee, from a ball, sock, stick or bone.

Before we go further, let me digress for a moment. Due to the very nature of canine Frisbee, physical coercion is a poor training tool. In obedience, for instance, you make a dog do what you want until he learns to do it correctly, either to please you and earn a food reward or praise, sometimes simply to stay out of trouble and avoid a strong jerk on the leash. But try to force your dog to chase, catch and retrieve the Frisbee and soon you’ll be spending more money on a therapist than I spend on dog food and discs. Positive reinforcement is often the best way to train a dog, and the only way (in my opinion) to train a Frisbee dog.

So then how do we encourage our dogs to play Frisbee?

Behavior chains are taught in reverse order. Using Boss as an example, I’ll briefly explain how he learned to chase, catch and retrieve, in reverse order and independently of each other, before we ever combined them together for a game of ‘throw and catch’ with a Frisbee disc.

The first link: At six weeks of age Boss was encouraged to play with an old sock. While he played, he was encouraged to come to me with the sock. Generally, these initial attempts at retrieving covered only two or three feet–a distance where a little physical encouragement from me was possible, if needed, and he was praised like crazy. We tried it again and again, always for only a couple of minutes at a time, always over short distances where success could be controlled, and always with insane levels of praise. I knew (was hoping) that some day the Frisbee would become its own reward, but when it comes to teaching your dog (old or young), something new, lots of praise is a must. If your dog learns what praise is at an early age, he will be easier to train using that same praise as he gets older. Soon, little Boss would cross the room with that sock and the praise continued.

The second link: I tied that same old sock to a rope and dragged it around and around the house constantly encouraging Boss to “get it”. It was important that Boss was allowed catch up to and grab the sock occasionally. As he progressed, Boss was praised not only while chasing, but also for grabbing the sock. Soon, he was chasing without fail; when the sock was removed from the rope, slid across the room and retrieved, we had two links in the chain complete.

The final link: Learning to catch is extremely difficult for a puppy. When Boss was between 10 and 14 weeks of age I fed him hundreds of pieces of dog food–one piece at a time. When his attention was focused on the food it would be tossed up and in front of his face and he would be given the command “catch”. In short order attempts at catching were being made and as eye/mouth coordination increased catches became routine. Training to catch food was interspersed with work trying to catch a bounced tennis ball. A bounced tennis ball offered Boss a larger “catch” target with a longer range of travel and the ability to try and catch on the second or even third bounce. During our “catch” training, our chase & retrieve training continued with Boss’ sock being replaced with a Frisbee rolled on its side. By fourteen weeks of age Boss could chase, retrieve and catch somewhat consistently, and by 15 weeks he finally chased, caught and retrieved his first flying disc.

Although Boss is only an example, (Flash, Fly Girl, Donnie and Hank learned in much the same way) it is used to illustrate how a so-called “natural” might have learned the steps of playing Frisbee before ever seeing a flying disc. More importantly, it illustrates how a dog learns to play Frisbee - IN STEPS. This is critical. If you are still with me, but thinking, “My dog knows how to play ‘throw and catch’. What I need to know is how to teach him to do those other things, like vault off my back.” Well then, you need to go back and read this article again, because I just told you how - IN STEPS.

A vault is no different from ‘throw and catch’ in that it too can be broken down into trainable steps, or links, or pieces. I’ll help you with part of the first step. Your dog cannot fear punishment if he jumps up and puts his feet on you. Think about what the other steps might be and I’ll discuss those in a future article. 

Until next time, praise your dog like crazy because a dog that responds to praise is a dog more easily trained.     

Chuck Middleton

“Teaching Vaulting”

 by Chuck Middleton

Chuck lives in

with his wife Lisa and their five mixed breed dogs – Boss, FlyGirl, Donnie, Jessie, and Hank. Chuck has been training and competing with his dogs since 1986 and is a founding member of the Dallas Dog and Disc Club (the first ever disc dog club). Chuck has competed in eight ALPO/Skyhoundz World Finals. Chuck and Donnie won the 2001 FDDO National Championship, the 2002 Skyhoundz World Championship, and the 2002 USDDN National Championship. Chuck has also qualified for and competed in two Purina IDC National Finals, has won several Texas State Championship titles, a Georgia State Championship (toss & catch), and numerous local competitions.

In this article I will address some of my basic training concepts regarding the vault. But before we try and take something that is fairly simple and make it more difficult than it needs to be lets look at the foundations that our game is built upon. The chase. The catch. And the retrieve. These seem pretty simple, but by first looking at these basic elements you will be better equipped to understand and then train more complex tricks.

The chase, catch and retrieve are the basic elements in this game we play with our dogs. Think of them as links in a chain – a behavior chain. Remove a link and the chain in broken and our game quickly becomes an exercise in stress and anger management instead of a fun activity for you and your dog.

Actually, it is possible to break down each link in the chain even further. Think of it as a behavior chain within a behavior chain. By looking at just the retrieve you’ll see that it also consists of three pieces, 1) picking up an object, 2) carrying it back to a desired point and 3) giving it up. These steps can be taught individually and with a young puppy many times a owner will indeed actually teach them individually – either consciously or unconsciously  As a puppy matures elements of the retrieve are quickly and easily combined.

Many times I’ve seen someone show up at a playday with a problem similar to this - their dog will chase and retrieve the disc, but it will not catch the disc. The problem is that a link in the behavior chain is missing. At that point “the catch” must be taught as an individual element and that cannot be done with their dog 20-30 yards away. That is why when I work with someone new we always start close-in – generally within an arm’s length radius. By keeping your dog close to you you have better control over him and you can instantly offer praise. Ahhh, praise . . .

Lack of praise is the single biggest mistake I see with inexperienced, and sometimes experienced trainers, when training a young dog. What I’m talking about here is something over the top that really gets your dog’s attention and maybe that of a few other folks at the park. Hoot, holler, and make a big deal. I see it time and time again, a dog will get basically the same response when he first hits a trick (i.e. making a catch) as he got all the times before when he failed. From his trainers reaction the dog sees no difference in failure and success. So how is he supposed to know one from the other? The praise must instantly mark the desired action. How can you mark a catch or an attempt when your dog is 20-30 yards away? When the dog does get praised upon returning to his owner he connects the praise to either coming or the retrieve. Don’t let a world class competitor’s lack of praise in competition or practice be your guide. By the time their dog reaches that level of training the behaviors and tricks have been perfected and the disc has become its own reward. 

Keep these basic and elementary elements in mind while we move on to something a bit more complex, yet in many ways equally simple – teaching a dog to vault.

Take several average dog owners and ask them to tell you how they taught their dog to sit, stay, down, rollover, or whatever and chances are you will probably find that they each probably used different techniques to reach the same end. You will also find their dog’s execution of these commands also varies from excellent to not very good, to maybe not at all. The same thing would probably happen if you got a bunch of disc dog people together to discuss how they taught their dog to vault. Everyone's techniques would probably be a little different. So use what you learn here as a guide, not as rules carved in stone. Also, go to the web and find some of the training articles posted on various dog and disc club websites. If your are really serious, read some general dog training books to understand how professional trainers get from point A to point B. Last but not least, watch others and ask questions.

My history with vaults dates back to 1987 when I first taught my Border Collie, Flash, to vault. At that time, a vault was nothing more than your dog using a part of your body to gain greater height in an attempt to take a disc from an outstretched arm – a take. Very soon thereafter, a few enterprising competitors learned that it was not only possible, but much more exciting to actually throw the disc in the air for their dogs to intercept and catch. With some practice, and the use the elements outline below, Flash went on to learn the leg, back, chest and reverse back vaults. Since then I've used similar techniques to train my dogs Boss, FlyGirl and Donnie, and now Hank to vault. Interestingly Donnie's vault training stopped shortly after it began. His awkwardness in the air after vaulting led me to stop doing the any vaults at all with him. We did not start vaulting again until he was over four years old. At that point his coordination had finally caught up with his drive and desire.

That brings up a point that should be discussed up front. If your dog does not vault easily with firm, confident landings, then he will be better off without the vault in his repertoire of tricks. As a side note - the vaulting platform you offer your dog, as well as your disc handling skills will have a direct impact on your dog’s takeoffs and thus his landings. More on this later.

I know that Donnie would have kept vaulting and risked injury, but he would have done so only because of his trust in me. The trust each of my dogs give to me is truly a precious and nurtured gift that doesn't need to be tested with an injury or worse yet a broken leg. For the time being I was content to know that he understood the concept and I hoped that maybe someday his coordination would catch up with his heart, his drive and his desire to please.

Larger dogs are generally at greater risk of injury from vaulting, and 50 to 60 pounds is generally considered the upper limit. Of course, there are exceptions. Like Paul West and his 90-100 pound German Shepard Shadow. Shadow had unusual grace and coordination for such a large dog, and Paul for his part has above average skills when it comes to training and disc placement/management. Large dog or small dog just use some common sense and caution.

One more word of caution before moving on. It is my belief that it is ok to work on the basic concepts of vaulting while your dog is young, but save the actual vaults until your dog’s first birthday or beyond. His puppy bones, growth plates, joints and ligaments are still growing and developing during the months of puppyhood, and you don't want to cause an injury at this young age that will affect his health and happiness in the years to come.

Also, you will want to wear some kind of body protection such as a neoprene thigh support and a neoprene vest to protect yourself from your dog’s toenails.

Step by Step

In its most basic elements, what happens when a dog vaults? He puts his feet on some part of your body. So if your dog has been taught from an early age not to jump up on you, well then your path will be a little or a lot more difficult. It is much easier, at some point later in your dog's development, to teach him that there is a correct and a incorrect time to jump up on you. Stated differently, it is much easier to teach your dog the "off" command than it is to teach him the "up, come on it's o.k. up, no really it’s o.k. this time, I won't scream and holler to get off me, up" command.

Some dogs seem to learn the vaulting concept with relative ease (FlyGirl & Hank). Others (Boss) may take hours, upon hours and month after month to train. I think what happened in Boss' case was that when training Flash I didn't know any better, so I started him at the kindergarten level. With Boss, I assumed he would be equally as easy to train, so I enrolled him right into advanced classes and he failed miserably. That lesson was still fresh in my mind when I started working with FlyGirl and Donnie, and so with them I went back to kindergarten. That is where you and your dog should start, kindergarten.

Vaulting Kindergarten

Watch any vault, whether it is the leg, back or chest vault and you will start to see the same thing occurring with every dog. As the dog leaves the ground his front legs will extend and reach towards the vault platform (leg, back, chest, etc.). As the front feet start to make contact, a dog will start to tuck his back legs in anticipation of getting them up and in position to the plant and push off. So having looked at a vault this way, what is more important—the front feet or the back feet? If you answered the front feet, you would be correct. If your dog's front feet never make contact with your body than he will never start to tuck the back legs. Literally he will be jumping over, rather than jumping off.

Every chance you get I want you to encourage your dog to jump up and put his front feet on you. If you are trying to overcome old "get off me" training this may require the use of treats, toys, or the disc. Whatever you use you must get your dog comfortable in putting his feet on your body. Be persistent, and don't confuse your dog. When company comes over just crate your dog if jumping up on strangers is a problem. For now you want your dog to think anytime is an okay time to jump up on you. Obviously, it should go without saying that you need to use some common sense if there are small children in the house. After he learns to vault, you can go back and teach or re-teach the "off" command. You also need to be working on a sit/stay command. It doesn't need to be obedience ring perfect, just something that will let you put some separation between you and your dog so you can have some space to set-up during later practice sessions.

Walk all over me

The first vault I generally teach is the leg vault. I always start on the floor or ground with a puppy or adult dog. You will find that you can move the disc around in such a way as to force dog to put his paws on you. I always try to work on these early building blocks inside the house (far fewer distractions) if possible. Start by actually sitting on the ground with your legs out in front of you, at a 90-degree angle. At this point I just start encouraging my dog to walk or run across my legs – if his paws make contact then he get the disc as his reward, otherwise it’s a game of keep away. The obvious goal here is to get your dog to crawl, walk, or run over your legs while going for the disc or taking the disc out of your hand. Whether your dog runs over your legs or jumps over them, praise his effort at trying to get the disc. My puppy Hank was crawling all over me at nine weeks old to get to the disc. Here is a word of advice – always put the disc away before your dog tires of playing. If you find yourself losing patience just stop and start again later. Remember, none of this works if your dog doesn’t have the drive or desire to take the disc from your hand. So work on building disc drive by making the game fun and keeping it short.

Soon you will progress to kneeling with one leg stretched out with the heel resting on the ground, and from there to standing, again with one leg outstretched. These should be done with your dog at a 90-degree angle to you. You may need to work on your balance. Your leg doesn't need to be stuck out fully perpendicular to the ground, anything up and off the ground will work. If at anytime during these practice sessions, your dog puts a paw on your leg, make sure you make a big deal out of it. Note: Remember praise? This is your dog’s only barometer. Doing X = lots of praise, not doing X = silence. Your pup will figure out very quickly what it takes to elicit your praise and his reward.

My goal here is to get my dog to start putting his paws on my leg. As your dog is learning to vault he needs to associate putting his feet on you as something terrific. Praise, praise, praise – make a fool of yourself. As training progresses you can learn to use praise as a selective conditioner. But it only works if your dog has learned to understand praise as something great and wonderful. Over the top praise is one of the greatest shortcomings I see with new disc dog trainers. The disc will eventually become its own reward, but initially your mind and lots of praise are the two strongest training tools you possess.

If your young dog never touches your leg, even while standing, then he is either a very strong jumper or may still harbor some reluctance about putting his feet on you. There is no need to worry. Take your time and be consistent and the pieces will fall into place.

It's not uncommon to have to go backwards when training the “vault" and actually refresh your dog's earlier training exercises. All good animal trainers maintain strong behavior chains by continually working on very basic exercises and elements. Learn from them and do the same thing.

Moving Towards the Leg Vault

At some point, it's different for every dog, you'll want to start bending your leg and resting the bottom of your foot along the inside of the knee of the leg that is set on the ground. It is at this point that your dog may start trying to jump around your thigh and knee to get to the disc held in your hand. This is where a tree, light post, fence, or the side of the house can become invaluable training aides. Just put your knee against any one of those objects and then lean back just a bit to give your dog some added space.

A word of caution here. Always have your dog come from the outside of your leg rather than the inside. Do I need to explain why? If you are right-handed, you will use the thigh of your left leg as the vaulting platform. If you're left-handed, use your right leg.

This is also where you may find out if your dog has a tendency to drag his back legs rather than tucking them. Then again you may have already discovered this. If your dog drags his legs you can expect some painful bruises on your thigh, as your dogs hits you with the leading edge of his back legs as he comes over. This can be overcome with a little training. Remember what we discussed earlier? The back feet will follow the front feet. Watch closely and see if your dog is planting his front feet on your thigh. It may be a timing issue or your dog may still be having trouble with the concept of putting his feet on you. Is your dog setting up too far away? Maybe he's too close? Is your dog making any attempt to plant his front feet on your thigh? Maybe you’re holding the disc to low.

Watch a dog jump over an obstacle in stride and you will see that they generally do this with the front legs tuck, while the back legs are stretched out in back. As their front feet clear the obstacle and approach the ground they start to extend. Then their back legs and feet begin to tuck in anticipation of landing. Now compare that to what see when a dog vaults. Now think of your body as the ground. If you watch a dog vault, you will see them start to tuck their back legs after their front legs make contact with the trainer’s body. Their back feet are planted near the front feet, and from there they push off or vault towards the disc. You can see the same physiological mechanics at work when your dog jumps on the sofa, or the bed, or into the car or truck. Front feet touch and plant, back legs tuck and then plant near the front feet. The only difference is the dog doesn’t continue to push up and off.

So if your dog drags his legs while trying to come over your thigh it is generally due to the fact that his front feet are never making contact. There are a number of exercises that you can do to overcome this. Try this exercise if your dog is having problems with this front-feet-first concept. Assume the leg vault position and lean up against something for balance and then use a disc, toy or treat to encourage your dog to jump up and simply put his front feet on your leg. All you want here is for your dog to place his front feet on your leg while keeping his back feet firmly planted on the ground. If your dog is small you may have to do this exercise from a kneeling position. If you didn't start this exercise using the disc, you will want to transition to the disc and you will want to do this exercise over and over until your dog starts to comprehend the concept you are trying to teach. The concept is to plant the front feet on your thigh as they take the disc or treat from your hand. Just remember - the back feet will follow where the front feet lead.

The Vault

Often, this is the stage where breakdowns start occurring. So be ready, and then be willing to put some extra thought into your training.

Once your dog is putting all four feet on your  thigh, you will want to raise the disc up so that he is forced to push off to gain the extra height needed to reach the disc. This may happen naturally, or as was the case with Boss, it may take lots and lots of practice with a good deal of experimentation. With Boss, I discovered quite by accident that his angle of approach made all the difference in the world. At a straight 90-degree angle, he would just jump straight up and over – never touching me. If I closed the angle to something like 70 or 75 degrees, he was forced to plant his feet up near the intersection of my thigh and hip to avoid a collision, and thus our first awkward vaults were realized. Soon your goal is to actually toss the disc a short distance in the air to get a little more height under the disc and thus force your dog to jump up and then off you to reach the disc. Be careful here. The toss you want to make is a small one and it should go out as much as it goes up. A toss straight up will cause your dog to land awkwardly and possibly injure himself. Your goal here is to help your dog make the connection that to reach the disc he is going to have to plant and push off your leg.

Practice, practice, and practice your vault toss without your dog. I do it sitting on the sofa in front of the television. It is really just a upward toss with a wrist flip/snap to impart a stabilizing spin to the disc. When I watch vaults fail in competition it is generally a direct result of poor disc placement, lack of spin, and/or bad timing (generally the disc is tossed to late).

Just be patient, persistent and willing to go backwards and work on the basics. This article, along with information available on the internet, and in books and videos, should have you well on your way to teaching your dog the basic concept of vaulting. Just don't forget to pack your love and your common sense along with the discs when heading to the park.

Good Luck.

Chuck Middleton

 Troy McConnaughey's Incredible Fun Loving Dog "EINSTEIN" Making a Kids DAY!!!