Differentiating between frisbees?

[AltheaATX]

Hey everyone, this is my first time posting here. My 9 month old border, Ally, is an absolute nut for the frisbee, it is by far her favorite toy. My roomates and I are avid disc golfers, and took her out to the course for the first time yesterday. You could say it didn't go over so well. As expected, everytime we threw our discs she would try to run after them and pull on the leash. We tried our best to make her sit and stay when we threw, but she gets so excited when she sees the frisbee in our hands that she can't sit still. I plan on doing alot of frisbee stuff with her when she is old enough to jump without hurting herself. How can I continue to work with her on frisbee in the backyard, but at the same time teach her that she can't chase the golf discs at the course? If anyone has had a similar situation or has any tips on training her how to differentiate between the 2 games I would be very grateful.

[Ninso]

Eileen will probably move you post, as this forum is for working stockdogs, but anyway . . .

 

First, while obedience is important, if you plan on making a disc dog out of her, it's not really fair to make her sit and watch while you play. You want to encourage her drive for the frisbee rather than discourage her from chasing them. Of course, at disc competitions the dogs can't chase all the frisbees they see, but in those cases most of the dogs are crated when its not their turn or on leash with a handler paying close attention and encouraging them to chill. I personally would recommend leaving Ally home when you're out to play frisbee on your own.

 

That being said, you can and should teach her to leave frisbees and other things that are not hers to chase, but this is a gradual process and the dog must learn to build up focus and self control. I would start with a solid "leave it" command, and if Ally doesn't know this command already, I would probably start with food since the frisbee is going to get her too hyped up. If you want details on how to teach the command let me know and I can describe the process. Once she is doing well with food, I would switch to a lower value toy. Put Ally in a down stay and toss the toss a short distance (by short, I mean basically just drop it in front of her and tell her to "leave it." If she breaks her stay, pick up the toy and put it away for a minute, then try again. If she stays, ask her to make eye contact with you (getting her focus off the toy) and when she does, either release her to get the toy or pick it up and throw it for her. Build up gradually to throwing further and further away (the farther the throw, the more the instinct to chase will kick in). Once this is solid, you will repeat the process, but without asking for a down-stay first. Then you can build up to using high-value toys or frisbees, working outside, working in the middle of a game of fetch, etc. Let me know if you need me to clarify any of this.

 

Oh, and welcome! We love pictures!

[DeltaBluez Tess]

My hubby is an avif disc gofer. we used to play Ultimate too. Shiro was our Frisbee dog too..

 

So anyways we had the same issue as you. We made her sit and then would toss a "floppy cloth frisbee" for her. That way she knew it was her Frisbee. when people were tossing other Frisbees.

 

Getty (Jeff-spouse) taught her how to be a disc dog and she would know her "Dog bag of frisbees" than the "Disc Gold Bag"

 

Get a floppy cloth frisbee for her when you go disc golfing and toss it a few yards away. Do not do long tosses so she will only look for the short throws for her floppy disc.

 

Diane

[AltheaATX]

Thanks for the tips, and sorry for posting in the wrong spot, I guess I just saw "Training". I like the idea of bringing her own frisbee to play with. I can't justify leaving her at home while I'm at the park, especially when its 3 or 4 or more times a week, thats just not an option in my mind. At the same time I agree with Ninso that it really isn't fair to make her sit and watch as we throw the disc. I think that if she has her own frisbee to carry around and play with I may be able to distract her from ours. This way I can teach her that its ok to get her frisbee and not ours, rather than discouraging her from chasing all frisbees.