Knowing how your dog moves is the key to Team Movement and flow in disc dog freestyle. This knowledge requires more than just chucking discs and picking up more and requires more than just drawing up and practicing your routine. Check out this quick discussion with Jack Fahle, founder of the UpDog Challenge to hear a bit more about the topic of reading your disc dog.
Ron Watson lays out some key tips to throwing the behind the back and under the leg backhand throw with discs.
Using the body as flick and positioning and cuing the body make both of these throws much more successful and much more functional, even in windy conditions.
A discussion on the aesthetics and performance of disc dog shapes from a comment on the Pawsitive Vybe Disc and Dogs Blog.
How and where we throw the disc has great bearing on how and where our dog moves. This sounds elementary, but the application of this knowledge is not nearly as simple as it sounds. Or maybe it is just as simple, it’s just not super easy to understand.
Disc Dog Flatwork and Shapes are related but not the same thing. Just because you have good flatwork doesn’t mean you will have good shapes and vice versa. It is possible to have great Shapes and poor Flatwork. As it is possible to have great Flatwork and poor Shapes.
A judged subcategory in UpDog, Shapes are not well understood in disc dog freestyle. That said, they do have bearing in your score in other organizations depending upon the judges sitting on the panel and they definitely impact your flow and Team Movement.
Flying discs are magical missile objects. They seem to move in an impossible manner. It is this impossible movement that attracts people to the flight of a flying disc and disc play in general. Cool throws need not be difficult things and the coolest throws are often quite simple.
For many throwers, old and new alike, Hyzer and Anhyzer are like some kind of paranormal activity, like ghosts they are completely visible but ephemeral and difficult to understand. For those that are initiated and understand the concepts practical applications of the skills are often hard to find. Enter Catch with Curves…
Throw as many 42 yard throws as you want and you can still be surprised and affected by your rampaging frizbeast bolting up field and pressuring your throw. If only there were some way to practice Toss N Fetch throws under that kind of pressure… Well, grab a few discs and a partner and head on out to the field.
This session is focused on practically applying the 8 and 12 Hands Forms towards a Zig Zag. You can look at this as training, learning, or a proofing exercise simply by shifting your focus.
The X Hands Forms are throwing forms from Disc Quan Do. The X is just a place-holding variable. Each belt level of Disc quan Do has a throwing form featuring four throws. 4 Hands, 8 Hands, 12 Hands, all the way to 32 Hands. You don’t have to be a Disc Quan Do practitioner to use the forms, but it does help to have some structure…
Grip is an important aspect of disc throwing but it is not the only aspect of throwing to keep in mind when it comes to smooth-flying success or fluttering failure.
A blind toss is a throw where either the dog cannot see the release or the handler cannot see the dog at the time of release. Blind tosses can be of benefit on the judges card or they can be looked at as handling or routine building mistakes, depending upon the judge and the performance of the skill. Regardless of the scoring implications understanding the nature of blind throws is important to all disc dog teams for both freestyle and games.
Intangibles… The things you need to know that you don’t know you need to know. There are many intangibles in disc dog freestyle and disc dog games, and they often take years to grasp. There are intangibles in disc throwing in general and intangibles in throwing disc to dogs. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there were something you could do to draw those intangibles to the surface and make them much easier to grasp? Well, I got some good news for you…
This is an excerpt from our Patrons Only Disc Quan Do Class. It’s about the connections between the Stance Shifting Form and functional disc dog Team and Handler Movement. Classes are about 1 hour long on Monday & Friday and are available to Patrons Only.
Tell, Trigger, Target is the disc dog vault sequence. Tell the dog where the disc will be caught and what type of vault is to be done, Trigger the dog’s movement with the presentation of the vaulting platform, and set the Target. It is your job to deliver this information so the dog leaves the ground knowing these three pieces of critical intelligence.
Obi has come a long way. He is paying attention to his handler, he’s following his handler’s movements and respecting and responding to positional pressure and body language. As a result he’s playing much more safely and successfully, and his leaping is coming along. That said, he’s still apt to get ahead of himself and run too fast. This could easily spiral out of control and lead to a return to unsafe and unsuccessful play.
A Fish is a Flying Give. The dog is supposed to spit the disc out while in mid-air. Some dogs to it fairly naturally, and some have to be taught.
Many handlers struggle with disc dog skills simply because they think that their only cookie in this game is “the Disc”. The disc is a cookie, but it is not the cookie. THE cookie that is most important in the game of disc is Next. It is far better to have your disc dog working for Next than the disc. So, how does that look and how does that work?
Throwing upside down makes a dog approach and pursue the disc more thoughtfully. Ron & Epic work on regulating disc dog pursuit.
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