I want my dog to catch dog discs yet I want to take him to the course.

[THUGNIFICENT763]

Dogs are smart animals, pretty amazing what they can comprehend, your average dog has the comprehension level of a two to three year old child. Mine can differentiate between "Frisbee" and "disc". Frisbees are dog toys, whereas discs are off limits. My dog will look at me like I am an idiot if I try to offer her a putter, I love it.

 

[joecoin]

Shock collar.

Or get a cat.

 

[Bones2039]

Just recently I've started to work with my family's 8 year old cattle dog to take him along to some disc golf courses. He has done disc dog events so he is very use to chasing flying discs. The big thing with him is he is pretty well trained and while he wants to chase the discs, he will stay and wait when told.

At this point I don't ever let him off leash but after the throw when we walk to the disc I tell him to "find it" and once he does and sits he gets a treat or I give him one of the discs used for disc dog as an award. He has caught on really well. He whines as I get ready to drive but he hasn't picked up a disc he isn't suppose to after the first few times.

My family has 4 dogs and he is the only one that I trust. One is just way too disc crazy and won't settle down and not chase after discs. Another one is absolutely obsessed with my mother and won't focus on anything but her. The last one is a pup that I plan to work with but she needs to develop a better recall and to follow commands a little better before she trys the golf course out.

 

[ru4por]

Dogs are smart animals, pretty amazing what they can comprehend, your average dog has the comprehension level of a two to three year old child. Mine can differentiate between "Frisbee" and "disc". Frisbees are dog toys, whereas discs are off limits. My dog will look at me like I am an idiot if I try to offer her a putter, I love it.

:doh:

 

[zenbot]

Dogs are smart animals, pretty amazing what they can comprehend, your average dog has the comprehension level of a two to three year old child. Mine can differentiate between "Frisbee" and "disc". Frisbees are dog toys, whereas discs are off limits. My dog will look at me like I am an idiot if I try to offer her a putter, I love it.

This is what I was hoping to hear.

 

[zenbot]

Now, what if I want my dog to help me find bad drives in the bushes?

 

[zenbot]

Now, what if I want my dog to help me find bad drives in the bushes?

I guess retrievers can be trained to go get a shot duck and not eat it. Point and bark maybe?

 

[Nasty Nate]

Just recently I've started to work with my family's 8 year old cattle dog to take him along to some disc golf courses. He has done disc dog events so he is very use to chasing flying discs. The big thing with him is he is pretty well trained and while he wants to chase the discs, he will stay and wait when told.

At this point I don't ever let him off leash but after the throw when we walk to the disc I tell him to "find it" and once he does and sits he gets a treat or I give him one of the discs used for disc dog as an award. He has caught on really well. He whines as I get ready to drive but he hasn't picked up a disc he isn't suppose to after the first few times.

Yea! Cattle dog love! :thmbup:

Get a clicker. Clicker training is very effective and you can do it easily to teach your pup yes and no. Although I am talking to my brother right now (pup is technically his dog) and he is saying he started by just rolling discs to her when she was young and she would retrieve them. He would always ask her or tell her to get her toy, so she would go searching. Of course, there's all kinds of in-between training and things to do, but that will come with time.


Here's my doggy catching a disc.


...and here she is finding discs!

Good luck with your dog! I hope you raise an awesome discing dog. They are indispensable!

 

[THUGNIFICENT763]

I guess retrievers can be trained to go get a shot duck and not eat it. Point and bark maybe?

You are referring to "gentle mouth", and it takes some training for sure, early on in the formative stages. I like canvas training dummies for this purpose, they can take a thrashing until your dog figures out not to beat the crap out of what it picks up. My Golden is an adept underwater swimmer, she can fetch the exact rock I throw in a pond, so discs are a piece of cake. The only thing that stops me from taking my dogs to courses is the fact that my dogs play too rough with other dogs.

 

[Bones2039]

Yea! Cattle dog love! :thmbup:

Get a clicker. Clicker training is very effective and you can do it easily to teach your pup yes and no. Although I am talking to my brother right now (pup is technically his dog) and he is saying he started by just rolling discs to her when she was young and she would retrieve them. He would always ask her or tell her to get her toy, so she would go searching. Of course, there's all kinds of in-between training and things to do, but that will come with time.

Good luck with your dog! I hope you raise an awesome discing dog. They are indispensable!

Yeah, cattle dogs are great dogs. Stubborn and often too smart for there own good but great companions and fun dogs to work with.

Never have used a clicker for training, might look into that. The pup is actually a cattle dog rat terrier mix. She is being groomed more for fly ball than disc dog so I think she will work great as a disc golf dog with enough work.

We have been doing rollers in the back yard to teach her about freebies and while she likes chasing them she prefers balls to discs. Has shown no interest when we throw discs in the air but she is only 8 months so I'm not too worried about that.

 

[Smigles]

It took me 2 years to get my dog fully rounds ready. ( from learning basic commands like "stay" right after we got him to the point where he can just tag along on rounds and is not in the way). I use an old driver to play catch with him, and he loves bringing it back. But he knows his time to get the discs and his time not to.

I started with telling him to sit and wait somewhere behind the tee. Took a few attempts till he did not run after the disc any more, but he learned it. Once he knows his fetch and wait commands, you'll have it easy. After a while, it gets automatic. I even taught him t go fetch discs out of the water, but he only does it after i told him to.

The better the dog slitens to you, and the older and more experienced he gets, the easier it will be. But it takes time and practice and patience. Good luck with it

 

[bmeyaard]

Awesome!

Could always train the dog to only chase discs when you allow him. Thats what my buddy did. If he gives the stay or sit command, he sits and waits behind the teepad until he says to follow. Then we lose a disc we say "Jackson find the disc!" and his nose is immediately on the ground until he finds.

 

[rickles]

My dog has learned he is not allowed to pick other discs besides his. I designated a clear champ valk as his disc. When I take him out to the course he sometimes runs after drives but knows not to touch them.

This works for me, my dog's got his disc...and mine are mine...he still likes to chase them and point them out for me though which I like when i'm looking for a disc.

 

[KniceZ]

I agree with Broken Shoulders approach - start with a specific and different kind of disc that's the only one the dog gets to fetch. You may be able to get very specific about when the dog can go retrieve or find but not pick up and it will have a soft mouth so it doesn't destroy every disc it retrieves. But as several others have commented until the dog is trained for sit, stay, yes, and no - controlling the urge to retrive will be tough. Just work up to it step by step.

But from my experience it will really depend on the specific dog not just the bread of the dog. I've got a retriever that couldn't care less about fetching. I throw something and she just watches it fly and looks at me with an expressison of - "that was interesting why don't you go get it and I'll watch you throw it again". Our pitbull goes hyper anytime I pick up the cheap catch disc that we throw for her. We have to get a new one every couple months cause she chews them to pieces. But she doesn't even consider messing with my DG discs when I'm out in the yard putting.

Good luck!!

 

[riltim]

I would suggest keeping the dog on a leash. Problem solved.

 

[Jukeshoe]

I want my dog to catch dog discs yet I want to take him to the course. I would love to rip some Ultrastar drives for him in the park.

I would suggest keeping the dog on a leash. Problem solved.

Herp.

 

[knettles]

I got it easy, my dog simply doesn't care about discs/frisbees the slightest. He won't fetch them no matter what, which is great for disc golf. He does eat lots of grass and puke a lot tho.

 

[discRabbit]

Has anybody here successfully got their dog to know the difference between dog discs and golf discs?

Yup, not sure how though. I think perhaps the leash acts as a stimulus control - he never gets to fetch when on a leash but is (almost) always permitted (and encouraged) to fetch when off-leash.

The really nice part is that he's got a soft bite and doesn't deform the plastic - good doggie :thmbup:

P.S. - Most travelled disc golf bulldog? http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/member.php?u=17019