Fit Friday: Disc

Koira loves playing disc. She goes totally bonkers for it. But wet, soggy, slippery ground is too dangerous to play on for a dog who will push through anything when motivated, so we haven't played in quite a while. Luckily for her, the sun came out for the past week and dried everything up enough that we could play disc a bit at the park this week.

She bounced this one off her nose and then scrambled to grab it again.

I knew we hadn't played in a while, and even though we have tried to stay active this winter, it isn't the same as what she does while playing disc. There are some things you can, and should, do to help keep your dog safe while playing disc.

Early drop throw, it hit the ground before she got to it.

To try to keep the session as safe as possible, I did a few things. One, I worked a few years ago on improving my throws without Koira there. Throwing consistent and safe throws is essential to keeping your dog safe while playing this game. I have heard of more torn ACLs from bad catches/landings playing disc than any one other incident. The best throws for dogs are long and low with a good bit of lift, so the disc isn't traveling super fast and isn't diving straight into the ground. Dangerous throws are the ones that go high and cut to the side or drop abruptly, causing the dog to change directions suddenly or leap in ways where they can't land properly. And some dogs do really bad with "floaters" which are throws where the disc is super slow and lets the dog outrun and get underneath it. It is a delicate balance of having it slow and low enough, but not TOO slow and low. Everyone has bad throws sometimes, and you can't control a sudden gust of wind, but you can greatly improve your dog's safety in this game by practicing without your dog until you can pretty consistently get throws that are going to be safe to chase, catch, and land for your dog.

Since we hadn't played in a while, I also made sure to enforce breaks. We would do a few throws, and then do some downs, some posing for the camera, etc. In the middle of this disc session was when we did our photos for the Zukes Z-Bones we reviewed earlier this week. The short breathers helped keep her from getting tired and sloppy and increasing her risk of injury.

Something else I have been working on is getting rid of the crazy bonkers part of Koira's response to discs. It is great that she loves the game, but it is not great if she body slams, grabs discs while they are in my hand, goes after someone else's disc, etc. And those are things she always used to do. Luckily, keeping her from going after other people's discs was an easy fix, and was mostly just reinforcing her recall and leave it when she was excited. Now, we can go walk the paths through the disc golf course without her even looking at their discs. In fact, we had disc golfers playing through this field the entire time we were there, and she never once tried to go for their discs.

I've had these discs for something like 4-5 years and they have barely a dent in them. They are these Hero Discs.

As for the rest of it, we have been working on a lot of impulse control in various settings. Having her down before she gets to have a toy thrown, heeling while I hold a toy visible and within reach on that side (we do an off-side heel, so, on the right). She likes to lunge for the toy that is within reach, but we've managed, over time, to reduce that to almost nothing, though she will occasionally still try a snatch if she is really really up. Teaching her an off side heel gave her an alternative to body slamming or circling manically trying to get to the toy. I can now walk her to the park with a ball or disk or chuckit in my hand without issue.

Practicing down-stays as a means of taking a break between throws

The one thing that we still have problems with is her drop when she is excited. So we play with two discs, I throw one for her, and then have another one ready to throw when she gets back. When she naturally drops the first one, I give her the drop cue (out), and I have some hope that by reinforcing her dropping the disc by throwing the next one, it will help reinforce that cue even when she is in a high state of arousal.

Working on our down stays benefits in multiple ways. She takes a break so she doesn't get tired and sloppy going solid, she gets to work her brain a little and come out of hyper arousal states, and we get to take adorable pictures.

All of this said, we stayed at the park too long that day. When we finished up and headed home, Koira had a very slight limp going on. That night, she was pretty stiff. I have some vetprofen on hand for when we do a lot of activity and she needs a little bit of an anti inflammatory, mostly during flyball weekends. By the next day she was fine with no signs of a limp, but it reminded me that even if she acts young, she is 8, and she does have a lot of old injuries that can flare up and cause soreness. We took it easy the next day, and then did a shorter disc session, with more breaks for heeling and stay work and trick training in between throws, the day after that, and had no signs of soreness.

A tired dog is a happy dog.

Pallo's Frisbee Antics

We're off on our great adventure to Las Vegas to attend the BlogPaws conference. While we're gone, I have a few blog posts scheduled to go live. I'll post our photos and story from the trip when we get home!

Pallo is less disc crazy than Koira. Koira didn't used to love discs, but she kind of takes my word for it if I tell her a toy is awesome. So when I asked her to play with a frisbee, she caught on pretty quickly and now is absolutely bonkers for the sport. 

Pallo is totally okay with playing some disc. He'd rather play ball. But if disc is what is happening, he'll go along with it. 

Of course, he manages to look pretty enthusiastic about pretty much anything he starts into. Silly boy.

He also makes almost no effort to ever catch the disc in the air, and seems to enjoy chasing the rollers. Nothing wrong with that as along as you don't expect to score points in a Distance/Accuracy competition!

Still, Pallo has fun playing disc.

While we're at BlogPaws, Pallo will likely be spending most of his time at the provided daycare. Hopefully he'll be able to talk plenty of the people there into playing with him so I have a nice, tired dog by the end of each day!

My Graceful Dog

Koira is normally pretty graceful. She is sleek and elegant and powerful.

Nailed it.

And then you pull out a frisbee. Koira tries really, really hard to get the disc. Sometimes, like the above photo, she does it with style. Sometimes, she flubs.

Not quite understanding the physics involved in disc catching

Whoops.

Spit flying, disc wobbling, muscle rippling catch

I think it just goes to show that no matter how graceful and beautiful the subject, a photographer can get an unflattering photo. Then again, it can sometimes be the outtakes that are the funniest looking back on them. And I do have to take some of the blame for those flubs- while Koira has some catching issues, I was also throwing the frisbee left handed while kneeling with my camera, taking photos with my right hand. So my throws were perhaps not quite predictable.

This may not be super graceful, but I love the power and intensity.

Still, my little girl kind of rocks.

Happiness, embodied. 

2013 Photo Challenge: Join me?

I wanted to do a photo challenge for the new year. But, I am not good at doing the daily pictures. Themes always leave me feeling un-creative and lacking in ideas. Specific challenges make me want to rebel or make me bored with taking the same photo over and over.

So, I decided to create my own challenge, and I invite anyone else who is interested to join in. You can join with your blog, with Flickr, or any other way you choose to share your photos. This is not a daily, weekly, or monthly challenge. There is no limit to the number of pictures you can take to fulfill it. Take as many pictures as you want at a time.

Requirements for this challenge are pretty basic, and you can feel free to take your own spin on it if you would like. The basic idea, though? Photograph every dog breed in the AKC/UKC in the year 2013. Or, alternatively, photograph every dog sport. For extra challenge? Photograph every dog breed and every dog sport as a combination challenge. Feel free to pick your own kennel club if you are outside the United States.

Want to only take pictures of dogs actively competing in sports, and do that for all dog breeds? Great! Want to take pictures at only conformation shows, in the ring, and win pictures? Great! Want to photograph the widest variety of breeds possible, all while performing agility (or some other sport)? Great!

My personal goal for this will be to both photograph every breed in the AKC and UKC as well as every sport that is active in Oregon. My hope is that I will learn a lot about photographing dogs other than my own, and, at the same time, motivating myself to travel to different shows and competitions around my area to learn and photograph. My focus will be on quality of the pictures, trying to highlight something awesome about each breed and each sport.

Want to join? Let us know what you plan on using for your goal. If enough people are interested, I will put together a page with links to blogs who plan to participate. The Flickr group is open to everyone interested in the challenge, so feel free to join over there, whether or not you plan to post on your blog.

Disc Dogging at DaVinci Days

On Saturday morning, I headed over to the annual DaVinci Days celebration, where they hold a disc dog competition with free entries. I've entered almost every year, though sometimes with a friend's dog (the border collie Possum, before she moved away). Even though my dogs have no chance of beating the teams who spend a lot of time practicing, it is fun to get out there, compete, and, of course, watch all the experienced teams.

A few of the more experienced teams also did a freestyle demo during the half time break between the two rounds of toss and catch. It is a ton of fun to watch a good freestyle team at work.



The toss and catch part of the competition is pretty straight forward. Each handler/dog team has one minute in which to gain as many points as they can. The field is sectioned off into different point zones, with the farther zones being the most points. The handler must throw from behind the line; it doesn't matter where the dog is when the handler throws.



To get points, the dog has to catch the disc before it hits the ground. The dog gets an extra half point by catching it while jumping with all four feet off the ground.



I'm not a very consistent thrower. Koira is not a very consistent catcher. I am pretty sure she deliberately bumps the disc back into the air the first time, rather than trying to catch it and hold it. The best way to get her to catch the disc is to do a long, low throw that she can't get underneath of in order to nose bump it back up. I am, unfortunately, not all that good at long, low, fast throws.



For me, though, one of the most fun things is to take pictures of the dogs at the event and then look at them afterwards. Some spectacular facial expressions are captured.



Pallo did not get to come along to the disc competition. He has been off for a while. I'm not sure what is wrong with him. He had a full blood and urine panel done, which revealed nothing wrong other than a few urine crystals (for which the vet said to up his water intake, so he now gets some kibble floating in water a few times a day to get him to drink more). There is no limping or obvious signs of pain or discomfort.

The big thing is really that Pallo isn't being obnoxious. He isn't bugging me constantly to throw a toy for him. At flyball, he has been very off, refusing jumps, running around the course, not even going down all the way to the box, etc. For Pallo, this behavior is very, very strange. Hopefully it is nothing serious or long lasting. We have him on pain medication for now (to try to see if he gets better with it, which would indicate him actually being in pain from something). He is also on leash walks only, crate when I am not home to supervise, but is allowed to be pretty free in the yard with supervision.



That photo above of the little border collie is probably my favorite of all that I took on Saturday. It definitely has the best focus with the dog's eyes and face.



I still say the bloopers photos are some of the best though. As amazing as high jumps and awesome in-the-air grabs are, the bloopers just make me laugh more.

And, to finish off the post, a picture of Koira, taken with my camera, thanks to my friend Nicole. She does flyball as well (though on a different team) and drove down to my town here to participate in the disc dog competition with her dog (her's is that wire haired black beast with the crazy expression). Another flyballer was with us as well, with her two dogs (both have pictures up above).

You can tell that Koira isn't going to catch this frisbee. Instead, as she snaps her mouth shut on it, the disc will rocket forward and up from the power of her closing jaws, giving her the chance to chase it down a second time. We would need to seriously work on that if we had plans of major competition in disc dog. But, I've pretty much decided that as much as she likes this sport, it is just not something I am motivated enough to put time, effort, and money into really succeeding in. We will, of course, continue to head out to the local competitions for some fun!

Not a lot of air

In the last of my Disc Dog competition series, I want to share some photos of dogs and handlers during Distance/Accuracy at the start line.

This little corgi was a lot of fun to watch, and actually did really well.

A lot of the dogs get going, then look back over their shoulder to make sure their handler is doing their part of the job right.

Some of the dogs were so fast though that once the disc was in the air, the dog was way past being in the frame for a picture.

I love this picture, celebrating after the end of their minute up for D/A. If you look closely, the border collie is giving dad some kisses.

Ilsa, the dog, is staring at her person, wanting her to get this show on the road.

Koira is a jumping maniac when I pull her disc out, and she was not happy that Pallo got to go first. Another handler took this on my camera when we went up, but no pictures of Pallo's runs.

A happy happy bouncy Aussie.

A lot of the handlers have their dog run either around them completely (which is what I do with Koira) or else around one or the other of their legs between each throw. The dog must be behind the line on the first throw of the session, and this is a good way to train your dog to return all the way with the disc.

Since there were a lot of newcomers that wanted to try out disc with their dogs, people were allowed to use whatever frisbee-like toy they wanted. Floppy discs aren't as easy to throw and don't go as far, but some dogs like them way better.

Here are Pallo and Koira's score cards from the event. Anyone want to guess which card belongs to which dog?

And last but anything but least, a couple cute pictures of Koira and Pallo in their crate waiting their turn to play.

A lot of air

If you thought the pictures posted on Saturday were fun, you will love these pictures of dogs getting some BIG air.

Every routine pictured here was set to music, but the best music of the day was this song:


Please feel free, if you wish, to play the song as you scroll down through the pictures.

 These pictures were taken during the Freestyle portion of the disc dog event. There were only 7 competitors in this event, compared to (I think) 16 in Distance/Accuracy.

Freestyle is a set routine that you make with your dog, much like Canine Freestyle (also known as doggie dancing), only with discs added in.

Routines are scored based on a number of factors.

The competitors all came together in a group to decide who they thought should win the freestyle event.

Some of the things factored in were how well received the routine was by the audience, the throw to catch ratio (accuracy), how well the routine flowed, and a number of other things.

Vaults (the dog launching off of some part of the handler's body) are not a requirement for freestyle, though it is a popular technique.

A lot of the handlers wear neoprene vests either over or under their shirt to keep from getting bruises shaped like dog paws all over themselves during vaults.

This dog/handler team was the most impressive at this competition. They were a big favorite of the crowd.

They set their routine to some really good, fast paced music. They moved dynamically with each other, staying engaged and exciting even when collecting the discs scattered around (they can use up to 5 discs in freestyle, unlike d/a which you can only use one disc for).

This dog is seriously athletic, and you can tell the handler works with her a lot to get to this point.

This move was impressive on both the handler and the dog side of it, with the handler doing a handstand/flip, throwing the disc with his feet, which the dog then caught with a really nice bounce in the air. Unfortunately my camera is too slow to catch both parts of the trick.

I mean, look at the BIG AIR in this picture. I almost didn't even have the dog in the frame anymore.

These routines were a ton of fun to watch, and gave me so many ideas. I really want to try freestyle with my dogs, but am not sure I will ever have the motivation to get to the point all of these people were at with their dogs competing. Flyball just takes up so much of my training and my dog-related thoughts I don't know if disc will be able to seriously compete for top billing.

Hope you enjoyed the BIG AIR shots from the weekend. There are still more disc dogging pictures to come later this week. Can't bog down the load times too much with tons of pictures all at once!

I will admit, the Mr. Fancy Pants song was so distracting during the actual competition that I have no memory of which dog it was played for (though I think it was for the Aussie). But, the music certainly stuck with me, and I remember thinking the duo was moving really nicely in line with the music.