
Don’t Pick Up That Disc! Flatwork Navigation for Better Disc Management
Yesterday we covered Efficiency, Intelligence, and Intent in Disc Management in overview fashion. Today we’re going to go a bit deeper and focus in on one of the applications mentioned in that piece: FlatworkFlatwork is the stuff that happens between the catches. How the team moves and transitions, often without the disc, is flatwork. Flatwork concepts in disc dog are taken from the agility and herding... Navigation.
Eppie & I set up a situation featuring a couple of multi-disc sequences using 5 discs. A simple 3 disc sequence followed by a 4 disc sequence with two discs sitting 10-18 yards away. We worked through this situation with standard, reflexive disc management and with the Don’t Pick Up That Disc! idea.
The Set Up
We’re trying to link 2 sequences: a 3 disc sequence and a 4 disc sequence using 5 discs total.
Two discs are placed in a “pile” 10 to 18 yards away. The idea here is that Eppie & I will do the first sequence of 3 tricks and try to make the next sequence of 4 tricks happen in flow with good disc management.
We will employ 2 methods, a standard disc management method where we pick up everything we can on the way to the next sequence: Pick Up All the Discs and a Don’t Pick Up That Disc! method where we pick up the remote pile of discs and then meet the dog back atop the pile from the first sequence. Watch the video and it will all make sense…
Pick Up All the Discs 1:21
The discs are about 10 yards apart here. The throw is made at about 12 yards towards the pile of discs.




We’ve already missed our tight, flowing hook up, and we get set up together after missing the connection.
I could have done it faster, for sure, but is there another way?
Don’t Pick Up That Disc! 2:11
Same set up…
I make the throw at 2:15 and am immediately able to take off, chasing the throw and moving with my dog. This is Team MovementTeam Movement is how dog and handler move, as a team, out there on the field. It is a judging category in some organizations and certainly is a focus of many judges, players,....

By the time Eppie lands after making the catch (2:17), I’m about 3 yards away from the pile of discs and by the time Eppie turns back towards the handler after his outrun, I’ve already got the discs picked up and am waiting for him (2:20):






A Truly Hidden Pick Up
I followed the rules in both situations, but one of them had truly hidden pick ups, and it wasn’t the first one. The first one, following the rules of Disc
Management actually draws attention to me picking up the discs, and not in a good way.
The only time you saw me pick up a disc in the Don’t Pick Up That Disc! reps is when I wanted you to. Only during the Flatwork, when we were moving together and the disc pick up could be seen as multitasking were you able to see me, Eppie, and a disc pick up in a 5 yard circle.
Flexibility – Because Wind and Misses Happen
We missed a disc in one of those Thru-n-Flip moves. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. That kind of mistake, a disc being 1-2 yards away from where it should be can be real trouble if you are reflexively picking everything up on your way to the next sequence.
Picking up the discs later with the Flatwork Navigation makes it really easy to handle these small errors that are bound to happen in freestyle play.
It is also super easy to change the direction of a throw, or of the Flatwork Navigation due to wind, mistakes, or the mechanics of the catch and retrieve.
Eppie and I worked clock and counter in our Don’t Pick Up That Disc! Flatwork Navigation reps (clock retrieve at 2:23 and counter clock at 3:37).
There was little need to survey the field in this session, or to handle wind but it is just as simple as pulling the dog a bit further or doing a front cross instead of a rear cross on the flank.
Disc Management is Far More Than Picking Up Discs

Disc ManagementDisc Management is a disc dog term that describes management and organization of discs throughout the routine. Disc Management is a scored category in most disc dog freestyle organizations and has great impact... is not nearly as much about picking up discs as it is about knowledge, planning, shapes, and team movement. If that Skrat gif looks familiar to you, odds are you’re not planning well, are not doing Flatwork, and/or are not employing Shapes in your game.
Make throws towards the sidelines as well as up and down field. Employ a Working FlankThe Working Flank is a moving position. On a Working Flank the dog is out to your side some distance and holds position, moving with you as you move around the field. The.... Leave those discs lying in that pile you made and make a plan and create some Team Movement to help you pick up those discs.
Disc management doesn’t have feel like a crazy squirrel gathering nuts. TakeA Take is a cued Bite that replicates the placement and timing of a throw. Usually used with overs, vaults, and flips, the Take is a powerful teaching tool for creating habitual leaping... your time.
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