Loot the World | circa 2014-2017

Pretty sweet Counter Clock Around the World here… an Around the World is four throws in circular fashion with the dog on the Working Flank. This is a Counter Clockwise Around the World.

Loot the World

  • Tricks are are:
  • Blind Reverse Back Vault
  • Carom (no disc)
  • Magic Sidearm
  • Blind Jazz Throw
  • Left Handed Spinning Airbounce
  • Blind Push Airbounce

Spinning Throws, Throwing Spins, and Blind Catches

Counter clock is Loot’s Strong Flank, the direction he likes to run. The first throw on the Around the World is a fancy spinning Sidearm, aka: Flick. It looks as if it is thrown from wide open hands; I call it the Magic Sidearm. It is a counter clockwise spinning throw, meaning the disc spins counter clock while in flight, so Loot can completely see it from my hand to his face. All the handler spinning is just spinning to hide the throw from the crowd and set up a good line and deliver to the arc of the circle at the right place and right time – hovering right in front of Loot’s face while he’s running the circle. (Throwing On the Flank)

The Jazz throw spins clockwise, and as such is “blind” for Loot on the Counter Flank. At 0:21 of the video, the disc disappears behind my back to reappear a few strides later. This 1-2 second disappeared disc is a Blind Toss. A Blind Toss usually is a throw where the dog can’t see the disc, or the human can’t see the dog or the target. We no longer do the Jazz Throw in the Around the World, as it’s a super nasty blind toss and was rarely successful.

Blind Throws and the Left Hand

The Left Handed Spinning Airbounce is a pretty bad ass move. Counter clock is a tough direction for right handers, and having a marquis throw like a Spinning Airbounce come out of the Left hand smoothly is helpful for competition. The only problem is that most people don’t realize it’s Lefty. It’s “too smooth”. Such is life.

The Push finish looks real simple, right? From 0:32-0:34 the disc is not visible to Loot as he covers 6 to 8 yards. The distance run blind might not be so bad if the dog and handler were not on a line and throwing an interception.

Clockwise Throws Go Clock and Counter Throws Go Counter per the 13 Laws of Flatwork

Playing It Safe

This is one of the first repetitions of the Loot the World that I worked where I purposefully made the pattern a bit less difficult.

Each of these throws has quite a bit of chase to them. The disc and dog are running in the same direction quite a bit, and the circle of the Around the World is some sort of egg shape. Compare the above version’s angles and interception vs chase attributes with this one:

Aggressive Shapes and Angles

This version is FAR more aggressive in terms of Shapes and Angles. Each of the discs are placed in nasty interception territory; discs flying at Loot, towards him and hovering on the line. There is very little chase involved in this version of the Loot the World.

I really enjoyed this sequence, but we rarely caught all 4. Personally, I thought 3 of 4 in stride with leaps was plenty to get a good score from a thoughtful judge, but most thoughtful judges didn’t agree with me.

I like it at least as much, from a judging standpoint, as the top version from the drone. Top one gets a better score, but the bottom one… that nasty stuff above is made super nasty with more interception. It’s a heroic, epic sequence. It’s also stupid to try to do in a competitive environment; discretion is the better part of valor. Learning the Laws of Flatwork taught me that. Now the Jazz throw is a reliably heroic leaping catch on the Clockwise Flank and I’m working a Lefty Jazz throw for our Zig Zag, and Around the World.

You learn something every day if you keep your eyes open and explore things.

* Drone Footage by Ethan Wilhelm.

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