[Ghst]

Ok, so I took it upon myself to teach Murphy (my JRT) how to play frisbee. Beings how Murphy can leap and nip my shirt sleeve at shoulder height (I'm 6'1") I thought about how cool Murph would look a leapin and a catchin a frisbee. So off to the local pet supply store to find a frisbee. I didn't want any old frisbee, it had to be a dog frisbee. I wanted a soft frisbee, one that wouldn't hurt his mouth cause he is still sheddin his teeth, and I didn't want one that would hurt him, before we could have all this fun I had invisioned. Well I found the frisbee, and headed back home with my prize. The frisbee I had purchased was basically a hoop of soft nylon tubing with some type of pretty nylon fabric coverin the hoop to make it sail and fly like a regular frisbee. When I got home the fun commenced! Murphy just had to have this new toy so it wasn't hard to introduce it to him and get his interest. So I sailed it a few times. Murph ran and got it, and returned it to me. I thought cool, Then I let it rip in a rollin fashion, and he would tear out after it and capture it (whilst it was still a rollin). I used the word "capture" because I now realize that that was how he must be a viewin this new thing. I think that by rollin it on the ground away from him, his instinct took over and he is seeing prey trying to escape. He returned it twice, but he had difficulty a lettin go, so we could have some more fun. The third time I rolled it he ran it down, and with it in his mouth, head held high, pranced (the same walk he uses when he is a showing me a mouse or mole he done captured) strait toward me, then, pranced off into the azaleas in the flower bed, and commenced to tear MY Frisbee up! I couldn't retrieve it either, had to call Murph out of the bushes, then tell him "go get the toy" which he finally did.
Recon just how I can go about playing Frisbee with my JRT and have him not see this as a fleeing rabbit? I can tell by his posturing that he is proud to have captured this "Thing" and wants to enjoy it by himself. He also wants me to see him with his "prize thingy". Oh he will jump and catch the Frisbee in his mouth (short close range tosses, near him) But most of the time he leaps and hits it with his front feet, then returns it to me. Until he decides to prance off into the azaleas. When He takes it into those darn bushes its game over. Once I retrieve it, I stop the play session. Does anyone have any suggestions how I should be handling this? Done had to get me a long stick so I can get that Frisbee outa the bushes.

[lange]

I've never had a dog who could catch a frisbee unless it was already on the ground!

My dog Wrigley sometimes brings balls back to me but he usually drops them a few feet in front of more or goes off on his own because he tires out quickly.

I was able to teach my Akita (of all dogs!) to return a ball to me by clapping & excitedly praising her as soon as she caught the ball I rolled past her. I think the easiest way to do it is to start with much shorter distances. It may be hard to do with a frisbe so you might want to start with a ball first. Throw it so that he catches the ball only a few feet away. As SOON as he catches it squat or sit down & praise and clap & whistle..fawning over how incredibly smart he is!! The hope at this this point is that he is soo excited by your enthusiasm that he runs back to your without yet dropping the ball. Then as soon as your hand grabs the ball give him a treat so he can swap the ball in exchange for the treat. He should catch on to this if he brings it back a few times. Then you can go longer distances & then try it with the frisbe.
I Hope it works for you! BTW Kong sells a pretty sturdy Frisbee that neither of my dogs has yet destroyed even with them playing tug of war with it. It has a nice heavier weight to it.

[Taming Rover]

The first thing you need to do is work on making sure he's got a good "take it" and "out" command, or "capture" and "leave it" or whatever you want to use. Do this by playing with him without throwing the frisbee first. You can even use a tug rope or something like that, use a toy that is big enough for you and him to grab onto at the same time. Every time he takes it in his mouth on his own, say your word, "capture" and any time the toy comes out of his mouth, either he drops it intentionally or it just comes out of his mouth in play, mark that moment with your word "out" or whichever and give him a treat, then say take it and resume the play. (I can give more tips on this if you need them)
Once you have this established. start tossing the toy a short distance and say "capture" and as soon as he has it in his mouth start clapping and moving in the opposite direction and praising really big and encourage him to come toward you. Once he gets there Do NOT take the toy right away, give him lots of praise and him pet him while the toy is in his mouth, then continue playing with him with the toy for a while before throwing it again. You don't want him to think that when he comes back to you you'll take the toy, or else you wont be fun.
You want to make sure that YOU are what's fun about this game not the toy. This also helps curb fixations on toys.

Once you feel good about this, move onto the frisbee and start tossing farther distances, always praising and encouraging him to come back to you and never taking the toy right away.
Another tip is to not throw the frisbee in the same direction every time because he will start to anticipate you tossing it back the way he just came from and may not want to come back into you all the way. It helps to stand in the middle of a field and always throw the toy in a different direction every time so it's always a surprise to him and he knows he has to bring it back to YOU to see where YOUR going to throw it next.
As you can see the emphasis is really on you to be the fun part of the game and that should take the importance of his "prize" away and put it onto you as the handler of the toy.

He also shouldn't be allowed to take the frisbee, (or any special toy used for this type of game) and chew it on his own, so that when you bring this toy out, he knows that this is the time for catch, retrieve etc...
Hope that helps and let us know how it goes! Also would love to see some some action shots if you can get em ;o)

[Ghst]

Thanks both (lange,and Taming Rover) have given me some helpful ideas, I've resorted to tossing an old football until Murphy gets the right idea about the return. I think I will take him out to a open field to work with him with the frisbee. With the football he returns, 95% of the time. We have another dog at our property (relatives dog) that murph is just crazy about and the other 5% of the time he takes the football to her and tries to get her to take it, or to play "The Game" too. but she is 11 years old and don't have time for his foolishness. Here is a action shot of murph bringing me the ball.

Bring the ball to me.jpg

Here is Murph trying to give the ball to his friend.

20110101153253_0001.jpg

[Taming Rover]

Nice shots.
He's adorable with that big ball in his mouth ;o)
Glad your having success with it! Keep it up and you'll have an awesome frisbee jumping Jack in no time.

[Ghst]

Yea! Yesterday, Murph made good progress! When workin him with the Frisbee, He caught the Frisbee in the air 4 times. These catches were short tosses towards him, I toss the Frisbee about 2 feet to one side of Murph, never strait at him. I don't want the Frisbee to hit him if he doesn't catch it or try to catch it. I want him to initiate the Frisbee, and make the catch on his own. Which he did during yesterdays session. I rewarded him with praise for doing such a great job. Things to Note: Kneeling down, Petting and Praising Murphy may result in Murph climbing onto my knee and then attempt to get on my shoulder. But this is done without pee-ing on me. (He use to excitement pee.) It seems that Murph always has something he has to add to whatever we are doing. Anyway, the final tally was four catches out of six, which I thought was very good, before he ran off into the bushes with it......

[lange]

Originally Posted by Ghst

Things to Note: Kneeling down, Petting and Praising Murphy may result in Murph climbing onto my knee and then attempt to get on my shoulder. But this is done without pee-ing on me.

LOL! Good thing he can control his bladder.

Murphy is catching on so quick. Good job to you both!

[Ghst]

LOL! Good thing he can control his bladder.

Murphy is catching on so quick. Good job to you both!

Yes , Murph had a bit of a bladder control problem, any excitement and he would just wee all over. But now I think he has control of that problem. At least he hasn't wee-weed on me in quite some time. Thats a "Good Thing"!

[Ghst]

A Few shots of Murf Playing Frisbee
About to catach Frisbee.jpg

Catchin Frisbee.jpg

Murphy makes a Catch.jpg

[lange]

Kuma has bladder control problems usually when she meets new people who rile her up.

Wow, Murphy looks like he is really doing well with catching! I know I'll never own a dog who can catch a frisbee, I tend to gravitate towards less acrobatic dogs But I love the sport of it. It looks so fun in the person & dogs perspective!

[Ghst]

Yes, Murphy is making progress but still has a long way to go. He is about 9 months old, and is still developing his agility. He often mis-times his leaps and misses the catch. But it is fun watching and participating, as he develops his skills. Notice in the third picture, the red Frisbee that is on the ground? That one is a dud. Its smaller and you have to throw it pretty hard for it to sail. Had a tennis ball in the center, which I removed because it made it to heavy, and it just wouldn't float when you threw it. Murphy will try to catch it, but he really doesn't like that one.

[Ghst]

Wat-taa surprise! Yesterday, It had warmed-up nicely outside. Decided to work Murph with the Frisbee. And waa-taa-ya-know, He showed vast improvement in actually catching that Frisbee. He caught about 10 out 15 throws which was very good, compared to 3 out of 20. I finely noticed that he seemed to catch it when I threw it from lower to the ground and over his head a little. Yep he can catch it pretty good if he doesn't have to jump much. Got me to thinkin that he was like a lazy baseball player, only catch it if you put it in the glove. But a catch is a catch and it will help him hone in on the agility catches that he mis-judges. He still has a tendency to try to catch or swat it down with his feet. But I think he is just now realizing that I get real happy with him when he does catch it. I don't know any way to get him to stop using his feet. I guess he will get it down pat before to long. Praise with a catch no praise if no catch, thats how I'm doing it right now.

[lange]

Nice! That's a huge difference. Come next winter he will be doing back flips when catching the ball.

Originally Posted by Ghst

Wat-taa surprise! Yesterday, It had warmed-up nicely outside.

You don't know how envious I am reading that. Two more months to go!!>...then I'll be doing my own back flips outside too. lol I can't wait for Spring!

[Ghst]

You don't know how envious I am reading that. Two more months to go!!>...then I'll be doing my own back flips outside too. lol I can't wait for Spring!

Me Too! You don't really know how close to reality this is.

Nice! That's a huge difference. Come next winter he will be doing back flips when catching the ball.

Murph sometimes jumps hard and high after the Frisbee thats comming over his head, he forgets to "Set For Landing" and has ended up landing on his back afew times and once he actually landed on his head. A Sorta half-back flip. But he's learning to do a one-eighty in mid-air keeping his feet under his body, as he tracks the frisbee in flight.

[lange]

It can't be that cold by you is it? The cold is unmotivating in getting me to walk the dogs and Kuma needs a ton of work right now. It's also harder with snow & slush on the ground. My pant legs are soaked by the time I get home. I wish I had my old treadmill then I could pull the Cesar Millan trick before walking her so she'd be tired before we go out. haha

It would be fun to see Murphy in action. Maybe some videos in the future of Murphy working the frisbee?.. That would be cool.

[Ghst]

It can't be that cold by you is it? The cold is un-motivating in getting me to walk the dogs and Kuma needs a ton of work right now. It's also harder with snow & slush on the ground. My pant legs are soaked by the time I get home.

I live in Mississippi, So We really don't have a harsh winter. Its more like spring time, with day temps between 45-70 degrees, with some cold snaps thrown in. We have had two snows this year and they both melted away within 3-4 days.
Murphy loved the snow! But I had to hold off workin him outside until the snow had mostly melted away. Especially after it had crusted over, making walking difficult for even Murph. And I don't want him to get hurt trying to please me in those conditions.
I still have a few post before I'm allowed to post links to some of Murphs YouTube Videos. Do a search on YouTube "Jack Russell Terrier Murphy training to catch a Frisbee" or "Jack Russell Tug of War." Or search "Beshires1" thats me.

[lange]

That sounds nice. My favorite temps are 60-70*. I like our winters but they're just too long, I seriously need to consider moving in the future.

I'm going to look for Murphy's video. If I can't find them I'll pm you for the link.

Ah found you! That was easy.

[Ghst]

I thought that that video would show better the time I've spent playin Frisbee with Murph. You can see him actually getting ready for me to throw it to him. He makes several misses before he makes a couple of catches. The last catch on the video, he seems proud of himself and has to show it to his girl-friend on the porch before returning it to me to get his praise.LOL

[lange]

LOL I hadn't even noticed the other dog on the porch, I had to take a second look. That's funny. He was def radiating pride! Is the black one yours too?

[Ghst]

No, she ain't mine. She is a Lab-Chow mix, that belongs to my daddy-in-law. He lives really close so Molly the LabChow, kinds stays around.... guess she kinda likes Murphy. She is about 13 years old and thinking of robbing-the-cradle, I guess. (She has been spayed). She don't play much with Murph although he sure tries to get her to! He has even put that Frisbee into her mouth, and stirred up about 5 seconds of tug-of-war. Murph now seems to wanta show her stuff that he can do and get her approval.

Oh lange, by the way thanks for the comment on YouTube. That seemed to be the best music for the occasion!