MN Disc Dog discussion

I posted this on FB, but did not get any response from disc doggers....so this is probably a better place to ask.
Do any of you have dogs that catch the disc and then continue to chomp/regrip on the return? Rumble goes through discs at an alarming rate. I have to say, when I have gone to practice with the local team and see how long their discs have lasted, watch them smooth/sand out a few spots, and then continue to use discs that they have had for months, years, I'm amazed.

I don't let Rumble have access to the discs other than when we are playing, so it's not a matter of him grabbing one, laying down and chewing on it. What I notice he does is that often after he has caught it, he re-grips a few times on the return route. Should I try to find a way to extinguish this behavior? I worry I will extinguish good behavior in the process. I have tried Jawz, and I must admit I have a harder time getting good throws in, though I am working at it harder this week, in an effort to switch him over fully to Jawz, which are sturdier. He used to 'reject' the Jawz, how should I say this - he wouldn't go after them like he did the other discs, though he would do some closer/freestyle stuff with them. But right now, I started taking just a Jawz out, and either he plays the game with it or not, which he is choosing to play.

Ideas? Anyone else have a chomper?

Dougal will catch a disc, then put it down and regrip it, if I don't stop him he will continue to chew it up. What I do is yell "No" at him in this process and redirect him to bring it back to me and praise him all the way. When he catches and brings it back with out regripping it I praise him more. So, I do have a similar problem and he does "waste" a few discs. It seems if I don't continually watch him he goes back to the chewing or mauling behaviour. Interestingly enough, he doesn't do this so much in a competition senerio.

Hmmmm...that's interesting. Rumble is not setting the disc down, he still has it in his mouth, but he appears to regrip and chomp as he runs back for the next throw.
i'm not sure it is something I should bother about or not. Maybe the solution is to become a better thrower of Jawz.


andrea

You could try giving a NRM and ending or pausing the game when he does it, but I feel like even with an NRM it would be difficult to isolate the behavior and he may not understand why the game is stopping, then you could start having problems with the retreive or with disc drive in general. Or, what if you started rewarding a hold without chomping? Throw a disc, Rumble catches it, on the way back when he's carried it partway without chomping, mark and reward with a tug or roller.

What kind of discs are you using? There are tougher discs out there that are more throwable than Jawz, such as the Hero Xtra. But lots of us go through lots of discs, even with dogs that don't chomp!

I agree, I don't think giving a NRM with a behavior like this is going to make one bit of sense to him. Some dogs just like chomping on whatever is in their mouths. You see a lot of that same behavior in flyball with some dogs as they are returning from the box. My guess is the more you guys practice and the faster your game becomes, the less time he is going to have to chomp on the disc and hopefully the chomping with extinguish. He is going to be much more interested in focusing back on you for another cue.

I use Super Heros for practice most of the time. They are still a pain in the butt to throw, but they are a bit lighter than the Jawz discs. I tried the Xtras but they were pretty well shredded after one session.

Thanks for the input. So far, we are doing well with the Jawz, but I may try these superheros you speak of. I managed to switch Rumble over completely to Jawz - he really rejected them in the beginning. But now of course he realizes that he only gets to play with the Jawz - mwwaaahhhahhha evil mom.

I am glad I stuck it out in transitioning him to new disc while not using any NRM or anything. Rumble is really soft and sensitive, and I worried I might shut him down. So just kept rewarding and praising as we switched over. He doesn't seem to regrip the Jawz.....

Andrea

Thanks for posting this, I'm having the same problem. She returns the discs fast, but chomps the whole way.

I'm also training for competition obedience at the same time, so I'm hoping that my work there with dumbells will transfer to discs. I think I'm going to just start completely from scratch with the dumbells and shape/backchain the formalized retrieve. Question: is training this stylized retrieve going to impact her disc drive? I don't think so, but you guys probably know more about the risks and benefits of cross-training than I do!

Now as for doing the neck-breaking "kill" shake on the gloves for comp. obedience, I don't know that we have much hope.

This is a good question. I'm not sure the answer.

From my own experience with Rumble...we have recently started some dumbbell retrieves. It's been interesting to see how 'different' he retrieves this item than say a ball or a disc. I have had a few training issues arise during the dumbbell training:
-he doesn't carry it in the middle - we are working on this...
-he has a REALLY hard time sitting/staying in heel while I toss it, b/c he is so used to instantly going out to retrieve from our Chuck-it games, from frisbee, and also, I think b/c in flyball, while the object is away from us already (ball loaded in the box), he is HELD back while on the line, versus in a sit-stay. Holding back really builds that drive to go forward, I think.
-he also wants to drop things readily when he gets close to me, b/c that is what he has been heavily rewarded for
-I may not be explaining all of our bumps in dumbbell retrieving, might be easier to 'see them.'
this was session one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW0ob75ho9Q
second session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NqYo5at ... re=related

I tried to "Rumble" up the game for him in the second vid, b/c he really likes to tug and I thought maybe adding some play in there would be rewarding for him. When I watch these now, I feel like I'm probably trying to work on too many separate behaviors at once....

Always open to input - it helps when other eyes see the sessions.

Andrea

I've shaped a formal retrieve with both Lok and Jun. They see it as an entirely separate skill and it has not hurt their disc game at all. The disc game, OTOH, can hurt the formal retreive when they forget they are retreiving and start 'playing.' I would not use any commands that are at all related to retreiving a disc. I use 'get it' for disc play, but 'retreive' for formal retreive.