[CptJack]

I have decided we need a thread for dogs who do disc dog stuff (competitively or otherwise). I have nothing major to say at this point, but I know questions come up and we have a few people who play here and god knows questions and brags could always use a place to go.

I have played casually in my yard and at parks for ages, but attended a seminar a few weeks ago, actually started attending practices with the local club and the bug bit hard. Not sure when I'll actually get to a competition, but certainly by this fall with at least one of the border-things and probably both of them.

 

[Canyx]

I've been talking about casual disc stuff on the Dutchie FB page I'm on. Namely, how to stop Brae from preemptively jumping while the disc is still high and doing crazy dangerous flips or landing hard (he doesn't mind). They talked me into getting official discs instead of using the Chuck-it kinds, which are light and slow and fun to tug with for me. I have a Hero and a Jawz arriving in the mail next week.

 

[CptJack]

I think the Jawz disc will probably help you. Not only are they pretty danged sturdy, they're heavy - which means they don't 'float' very well, even as well as comp discs or Hero 235s or other lighter discs. They do tend to drop abruptly and take a LOT of spin.
Which means there's less time for him to do crazy nonsense. That said, they're still pretty danged tuggable.

I actually need to buy a metric ton more discs. My throwing prefere and my dogs bites are not compatible and I am going to have to a-) compromise on SuperSonics and b-) Get better about weight. My PREFERENCE is flat out fastbacks, but those things are freaking disposable with the dogs and I can't really afford that for all my play :/

 

[emmybear]

I’m so glad you started this thread! Disc is hands down the favorite sport of Renegade and Rio. After a mini-seminar and actually learning to throw half decently it now ranks up near agility for me as well.

I’ve done a few seasons of Toss&Fetch league with Renegade which is super fun. I plan to try to teach some freestyle tricks with Rio when he gets closer to 1 1/2 years old. I decided that Renegade is just too big for us to be able to do most of them safely.

No actual competitions yet but there’s a bunch of Updog within driving distances to me and it seems super fun so that’s in the future when I have extra funds.

So far I prefer the Hero xtra distances but they become unusable after just a couple sessions so I bought a Jawz that has held up pretty well for a couple months. Renegade thinks it’s good for tugging, I think it’s impossible to hold on after he covers it in slobber. I plan to try a bunch of different discs to find my favorites at some point in the future.

 

[Canyx]

So here's a question. What's a healthy/safe number of good throws for a dog to catch in one session? Soro has always been the kind of dog who tells me when he's done. I actually don't know what Brae's limit is and I don't want to push till I find out.

 

[emmybear]

*ETA: After typing all of this response out and rereading it, I realize it doesn’t actually answer your question of how many is safe/healthy to catch but I’m going to post it anyway because it could be useful to someone somewhere who may read this thread.

That’s a good question. I’m certainly not an expert or even particularly experienced. Renegade is the type who doesn’t stop till he drops when it comes to disc. I just keep an eye on him like I do other exercise and stop him before he gets to overheated or tired.

Other than that I have a few personal guidelines I keep in mind:
The first is that I always end on a good note. Either with a short guaranteed catch or a roller.
-If he gets overaroused/stops thinking, we stop.
-If he starts to any signs of jumping or landing sloppy we stop. He never shows if he’s in pain even if he’s bleeding so I do my best to prevent accidents where possible.
-If we have a session or day where he does a ton of disc I generally wait a few days before doing it again so his muscles have time to recuperate.

If the play is spaced out over more time he can catch more. I try to only let him play disc a few days a week since it’s high impact.

Bottom line is that I just watch his body language and stop before he becomes unsafe due to arousal/fatigue/or any other factors. The number of throws really just depends on your dog’s fitness, technique, your throws, the weather, and how often you play.

 

[Canyx]

Thanks emmybear! I had the same general guidelines in mind. It's just sooooo hard with a dog that would rather break himself than stop playing...

I don't know why I look for a number or something black and white when I know it doesn't exist

 

[emmybear]

I can relate. I always have to check Ren thoroughly during and after physical activities because he just doesn’t stop.

The only hard number I know related to disc is that in a 60 second round of Toss&Fetch 5 long throws is generally the upper limit(with exceptions) but that’s related to time constraints for the round rather than physical ones.

Life would be easier if there was an ultimate rule book with all kinds of numbers for dog related things.

 

[CptJack]

It so, so, varies by dog.

With Molly, she'll do bone headed things that will kill her, but she's not going to do it via going too long. What I used to call poor stamina, I've realized, is actually a mild version of border collie collapse. About 15 minutes, she's good. 20, she's starting to lose her back end/stagger around and losing awareness of her surroundings. So, 15 minutes we stop and take a drink and cool off. If it hits 20 minutes, well, there's a hard stop there with clear physical signs to cool her off and let her rest. Also, good chance to check her feet because my god her feet.

With Kiran, it's more like forcing a break, removing the toy and watching his behavior. If he's still focused, bouncing up and into my face demand barking 2-3 minutes after the toy has disappeared, he's good to go. If he starts sniffing around or doing other things, he's getting a break. Repeat more frequently as time passes. In truth, I use this mostly with water related activities, because I am slightly paranoid about it. Other activities - we quit when I'm done? He doesn't get dangerous or sloppy, he mostly is catching the discs without jumping but with lots of running, when he does jump it's very level unless I'm baiting him upward (which I do very rarely), and he takes his own water breaks. I've never seen him quit, and I've never seen him exhibit a single physical sign of being 'tired' before I'm bored out of my damned mind and ready to move on. Weirdly sensible dog, basically.

 

[CptJack]

I've ordered 5 of our disc club special order in super sonic.

And I am about to place an order of 100 misprint 'chompers' (They're fastbacks) because in bulk they come out to < 2.00 each. ALL THE DISCS. Need to probably find a jawz or two to add to the mix, too, for home play. At least it's less expensive than agility equipment?

 

[CptJack]

And I've just signed up for my first event, at the end of September in King, NC.

 

[ForTheLoveOfDogs]

I know literally nothing about Disc Dog but it sounds like it would be something Ember would enjoy. The closest disc dog league is about 35 minutes from me. They had a "try it" day but I missed it.

We'll see though! Would love to learn more about it.

 

[CptJack]

UpDog, at least, has a lot of games where if you can throw at least 10 yards and your dog can catch a roller or in the air throw you're good. ...I very much appreciate them for that. Because I am not exactly throwing out 100 yard throws here

(Also they're very, very, chill about dogs and reactive dogs and so on, which makes things nice.)

 

[CptJack]

I've ordered 5 of our disc club special order in super sonic.

And I am about to place an order of 100 misprint 'chompers' (They're fastbacks) because in bulk they come out to < 2.00 each. ALL THE DISCS. Need to probably find a jawz or two to add to the mix, too, for home play. At least it's less expensive than agility equipment?

What I actually ordered was:
20 Misprint 'chompers'/dog discs (still fastbacks)
20 Fastback flex
3 Euroblend fastbacks
2 new jawz
+ 5 super sonic club discs.

SO HELP ME GOD if I have to buy more discs before the first of the year, I'm grounding the dogs.

Also https://updogchallenge.com/ good description of the various games in Updog here.

 

[Canyx]

My TWO discs

...arrived today. Commence the fun!

 

[emmybear]

And I thought the 10 discs I bought at one time was a lot. Most of which now need to be replaced. I plan to buy misprints/uglies in bulk at some point too. Renegade is very hard on his discs and wants to tug with them. He’s too strong for me to keep a grip on the slobbery things.

 

[CptJack]

I really lack the ability to explain how hard it goes against my grain to be spending money on buying things I know are going to end up in the trash - but clearly not enough to do a massive order to get it over with.

I will try out the flex discs and see where I file them. The chompers will go into the 'take to comps' pile and only be used there. The super sonics will be used at practices and seminars. The jawz are 'we're playing at home/in the park' discs. With any luck I'll only be replacing the competition discs with stupid regularity.

 

[emmybear]

I want to try out the Hyperflite competition standard discs and see if I like them at all. I’ve thrown one a few times without a dog and liked it. It’s pretty cheap per disc to buy the misprints in either 50 or 100 at a time. It’s a good idea to save the flimsier discs for competitions.

I need to bite the bullet and actually enter a competition. Over a year of training for agility and I still don’t actually enter trials. It gives me anxiety but I know that if I just go ahead and do it I’ll love it. It took a lot for me to even go and do Toss&Fetch League which is super duper casual.

I also need to try to find a disc club to practice with. I can imagine it being very helpful to give each other feedback.

 

[CptJack]

I am a weird one, in that I am MUCH more comfortable in a competition than a club practice or a lesson or class - for both disc and agility. I absolutely have no idea what is wrong with my brain, but the fewer people there are, the more nervous I become.

Which is great for getting to competition but makes doing the work to get there interesting! Brains, man.

 

[CptJack]

Okay, I have filled out and sent off my entry for the UpDog event in King, NC the last weekend of September. This is in the thick of agility season but it's also the only even kind of soonish thing that doesn't directly conflict with agility and, well, agility wins.

But I'm excited and proud! Also got the first set of 24 discs in today. 20 more to arrive sometime next week and the last 5 are club discs so. Whenever.

May I also say, I LOVE JAWZ pup?