beginner question

[Christine]

The first dog we adpoted with a bad hip, I wasn't going to make him catch a disc.

 

Now I have a puppy, and love to picture him chasing discs, doing the flips etc etc. This would also be great interaction for the kids.

 

I got him a soft disc and he fetches it great, and drops it for a kibble too.

 

But I can't get him to actually catch it. At first he waited for it to land, now he is trying but only caught it once.

 

Does it come with practice, age (he is only 5 months old), or does he just not have it.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Don't worry about his catching it now. He's much too young. You can assist his mouth/eye coordination without putting pressure on him by making a game of his catching a bit of food, then a favorite soft toy, until he's ready to do those lovely flying catches when he's done growing.

 

Remember, don't make him jump for it until he's done growing, about fourteen months old. Until then, rollers until he's maybe nine or ten months old. Then practice keeping that disc low on nice long tosses - those are the ones that are most efficient anyway.

[PartnersPal]

Hi Christine,

I agree, don't try to get him to catch a disk now. I would suggest that you start out with "rollers". That is, throw the frisbee so that it rolls on its side on the ground. This will teach the dog to chase it and he will be more comfortable in grabbing it while it is moving. Once he gets that down you can move on to throwing the frisbee for him to catch. Good luck

Nestor.

[border_collie_crazy]

I agree dont worry about his catching, Misty could not catch a frisbee until this past summer and she is 2 years old, it takes time and how much time depends on the dog.

[Christine]

Thank you all very much!!! I wasn't quite sure if he'd have to "learn to catch"

 

I'll do the "roller's" for now, and work on him starting out in the direction I'll be throwing.

 

And hopefully all will go well. He definately loves fetch so we may be successful next summer.

[Wufnu]

Our current dog (which is only a non-BC in appearance and breed, she fits the BC descriptions perfectly) has only just recently begun catching the tennis balls in the air.

 

At first, she would just listen for the sound of it hitting the ground, start after it, then retrieve it from the ground. By trying to "trick" her all the time, she now follows the ball through the air when we throw it (and boy can we throw it far and fast) and doesn't start running until it's left our hand. It usually only bounces once, anymore. Sometimes we shuffle things up and just toss it 20ft, or bounce it straight up. She's getting very good at catching and is starting to jump a bit. We tricked her yesterday and she had to correct her course by some 90 degrees. Caught the ball at a 90 degree angle to it's course which I'd never seen her do before. Speaking of dropping, we use two balls to get her to drop the one she's carrying. We've gotten so we can time it when she's running at us full speed so that the ball she drops rolls right to our feet, she chases the other, and we pick up the one on the ground. Perhaps an investment in a second frisbie is in order?

 

Perhaps it just has to do with age? Perhaps he'll grow into it with practice. I would wait till he's older (as you've already agreed to do) before letting him jump, though. Even if he doesn't enjoy catching the frisbie before it lands, at least he likes bringing it back!

 

There's no way you can't have fun like that.