Interception vs Chase

Posted on December 20th, by Ron Watson in Week 1 - Throwing Theory and Disc Dog Applications, Week 3 - Throwing. 1 Comment

Download HD Movie! – Right Click>>Save As…

Download Movie! – Right Click>>Save As…

Most dogs jump for Frisbees because they missed. They have over pursued, ran past the target and make a last ditch effort to make the catch – they jump because they’re out of position and they’ve missed.

There are several reasons that this happens, but let’s focus on two for now. The lack of a plan and too many opportunities.

Chase

Disc Dogs usually start out chasing discs. Everything is about the disc. The handler throws and the disc flies away. The dog pursues indiscriminately because it is not necessary have to plan to catch the disc. If the dog misses the initial attempt, the disc often is still accessible. There are so many opportunities when you are chasing the target. Chasing the disc requires following the discs path or line. So a plan doesn’t matter. The dog learns to pursue, hard, and not think too much about how they are going to make the catch.

Interception

An interception, however, requires a plan. The dog sees the trajectory of the disc, makes a plan to catch it and then executes. Because the dog and disc are not on the same path, the plan all boils down to one point – the point where the disc’s trajectory intersects with the dog’s planned path. That is a single point in space and time. There is literally just one shot to get it right.

With an interception, the dog has to put together a plan to hit one point, in space and time, in order to capitalize on the opportunity and catch the disc. When chasing a disc there is a long line of many many points of opportunity and space and time are not nearly as important as staying on task and tracking that disc – eventually, the dog will get the opportunity to make the catch.

Information

The biggest difference between Interception and Chase is the amount of information available to the dog for which to make a plan. When the dog is Chasing a disc, their focus is up, at the bottom of the disc, as the disc is above their head. The closer they get to the disc, the more engrossed and overwhelmed they become by the presence of that disc.

Another issue with Chase is that there is no way to gauge speed. Speed is computed by comparing the movement of the target in relation to the stuff in the background. When the dog is chasing a disc, there is no background, there is only the disc and the sky. This makes computing speed very difficult.
The difficulty of computing speed with limited information is increased because of the speed change that happens right before the catch. A well placed disc flies out there and hovers, it move fasts then slows down and stops right before the catch. The lack of information on the speed of the disc when chasing is a major issue for almost all dogs.

Intercepting a disc, however provides a ton of information from which to gauge the speed of the target. The horizon, the trees, the grass, and all of the background visuals are available for the computation of speed. This makes formulating a plan much easier. The dog has greater intelligence on how discs fly and how to go about catching them.

The Point?

To boil it all down, chasing discs is about following a line, a series of many points, and intercepting discs is about conceptualizing the discs line, and making a plan to intercept the disc at one, singular point.

The great thing about intercepting discs is that the dog has to go to where the disc is going to be. If the disc is 5 feet in the air, the dog has to get there. Intercepting discs is one of the ways that we teach dogs to leap here at Pawsitive Vybe.

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About Ron Watson

An accomplished dog trainer, dog sport coach and dog behavior expert, Ron Watson of PVybe spends every minute he can collaborating with dog lovers all over the world.
Specializing in canine performance, learning theory and behavior, Ron along with the fabulous Apryl Lea, run real world and online seminars as well as personal training, clinics, and Hangouts.
He lives to talk dogs, so go ahead and ask Ron a question via our contact page, Facebook or on Google+.

One thought on “Interception vs Chase”

Ron Watson on December 1, 2010 at 3:32 pm said:

Hey guys! Got the video wrapped up and posted…
Peace
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