Frisbee?

[primabella]

one thing i've noticed about Mickey is that he loves to jump and to chase after things. he's also got tons of energy, so i've decided to get him into frisbee. i have an old one that i keep in my cabano (shed, i think its called in the US) and threw it around to see if he was interested. turns out, he LOVES frisbee and i wanna get started now so he gets really good by summer. can anyone give me some tips on how to teach him. (like, at what height and how to show him exactly what to do? he just runs after it and "attacks" it now) i would like to get started tomorrow since i have a day off of school and the weather will probably be good.
any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks!

[Cookiebaker]

When we first got the frisbee, I would throw & Malone would run after it...and then run away with it. So I had to chase him down, which was more tiring than taking a walk. So, I filled my pocket up with those itty bitty little treats, and after I threw the frisbee I yelled "Bring it Back!". It took him a little while, but he caught on pretty quick. Oh and the other thing is that when they are small puppies still, they can't follow things too well. So start by throwing it while he is watching and in a direction that he can follow. As he catches on, then you can throw it farther and longer etc. Hope that helps!!

[primabella]

yes, it does! thanks anna. i also asked my mom to get a small frisbee (the one i had was big. mickey was always putting it around his neck )

[ParNone]

Well this might not be the right way, but I started Oz off with
a ball. Once I got him catching the ball coming right at him,
I started throwing it to the side of him. Once he was reliably
catching the ball to the side, I got a soft frisbee and starting
kind of close to him, I'd throw it softly at him. I slowly got further
and further away from him and started throwing it off to the side
of him. I'm now throwing the hard frisbee, going through the
same steps as the ball and the soft frisbee. He's doing pretty
good catching it to the side now about maybe 10 ft from me.
He's not really suppose to be jumping yet, so we'll probably stay
at this stage for awhile, just extending our distance. I'll probably
wait at least another 6 months, before I start throwing it high,
where he has to jump.

Par...

[Kfamr]

ooohh... i have this wonderful demo game/ training cd for the computer from pruina that my mom's boss gave me, because his sister works with purina. If you'd like you can pm me / e-mail me you address and i could try and get it to you!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Dusty is my frisbee dog! He loves it and lives for going out and playing frisbee. Believe it or not I had to teach him since retrieving did not come naturally to him even though he is a Golden Retriever! Here's a picture of him with the kind of frisbee I swear by!



This frisbee is called a soft bite frisbee and can be bought through any of the major dog catalogs for around $10.00 US. It doesn't hurt the dogs teeth and is easier for them to pick up if they miss it.

How to teach the dog starts out with small steps. Hold the frisbee and keep telling the dog to "Take it" or whatever phrase you prefer. Make it exciting by the tone of your voice and reward him with treats when he does. You really need to get excited so the dog will realize he did something really great!!

After he will consistantly "take it" from your hand you need to toss it about 2 feet in front of you and say "take it". When he does go crazy again and reward him with a treat.

After he gets the hang of getting it only 2 feet away you need to work on another new command. "Come" is given when he gets to the frisbee. You can have a short line on him so if he hesitates you can pull him in. The second he gets to you go crazy again and give a treat. You can give a treat every couple times he listens AFTER you realize he understands the command. Then eventually fade the treat all together for the come.

The last new command he will learn is "Release". When he brings it to you (you must have the come command working first before introducing this one) you want to tell him "Release". I give the dog a small little tap under the chin. When he releases immediately go crazy with praise and a treat. Again after he understands you can begin to fade the treat.

Eventually you will be able to throw further and further with him coming back and releasing so the game can go on and on and on and on and on.... You get the picture.

Have fun. That's the most important thing to remember and work in small increments of time. I find 10 to 15 minutes is tops for introducing new commands to a dog. You can do it several times a day but there should be a break inbetween the 10 to 15 minute intervals so the dog doesn't get overwhelmed and end up hating what you are trying to get him to love!

Hope this helps!

[tomkatzid]

I too really recommend the soft frisbee as shown above. I have seen dogs lose teeth with the hard frisbee, however if you will be competing in any contests they won't let you use the soft ones. Our little Nina has become pretty good at it. I actually started her with one of those little soft ones, about 6 or 7 inches diameter. We would throw it for her in the house and all of a sudden one day she started catching it. I then got her the bigger soft one and threw it a short distance, gradually further.
A friend of mine has a blue heeler that is really good at it, he can't do the hard ones because they cut his mouth and he is a hemophiliac, the bleeding won't stop, so he is the one that got me into the soft ones. Our two run out together for the frisbee, the heeler(Bo) is such a gentleman he lets our little Nina catch it half the time, even though Bo is much better at it. Today Nina tipped one and Bo leaped into the air and caught it. It was spectacular!!! Anyway, if you see bleeding I'd go to the soft one, and check the teeth too.......tom

[primabella]

oops, i missed this thread before thanks everyone for the suggestions! i asked my mom to get us a better frisbee. i think i'll try the softer ones that dusty uses. i'll be printing out these directions and try it out ASAP thanks!

[lovemyshiba]

Good luck playing frisbee with little Mickey!!
I have been wanting to get one for Kito or Abbey (I'll probably have to buy 2), and I'm glad to read the recommendations for the soft ones--I'll pick a couple up next time I go to whichever pet store I go that time--we're low on treats, so I'm sure it will be tomorrow!!