“Did you know coordination skills have to be taught?”
Ooh, interactive training sessions
Learning how to fetch, catch, and play frisbee
Surprisingly, coordination skills are not always natural to dogs.
Some dogs catch on much faster because of their genetics, but they generally still have to learn them! Some tips and tricks on how to fetch, catch, and play frisbee.
Praising dogs for these activities should involve higher level of excitement, and fewer treats, since this is more interactive between the dog and its owner.
Fetch
Does your dog know to “come" to you? If not, they should learn this first!
Throw the ball away from you
Start out with small distance, then gradually increase
Say “Fetch!” when your dog goes to retrieve it
Successful fetch? Praise and reward
Unsuccessful fetch? No reward and try again!
Catch
To start, don’t throw a ball at your dog’s face and expect them to catch it! This will hurt their cute faces and cause confusion.
Phase 1. Understanding the Game: Show your dog how to catch without releasing the treat
Tell your dog “sit”
Owner sits in front of your dog
Show your dog that you have a treat (we use kibble)
Trace the catch trajectory using your hand
When your dog opens its mouth or jumps up at the treat, praise the dog and give the treat!
When your dog is consistent with catching the treat as if you were throwing it, advance to the next phase!
Phase 2. Playing the Game with Kibble: Release the treat
Tell your dog to “sit”
Owner sits in front of your dog, about 2 feet away
Launch treat and say “catch!”
Successful catch? Praise and reward
Unsuccessful catch? Remove treat before your dog gets to it!
Catch, and repeat!
Increase the distance slowly
Phase 3. Playing the Game with Balls: Introduce catching balls after catching kibble successfully
Tell your dog to “sit”
Owner sits far away with ball in hand
Toss the ball and try to have the ball bounce once (less pain if they fail and hits them)
Successful catch? Praise and reward
Unsuccessful catch? No reward and try again!
Advance to tossing the ball with no bounce when ready!
Play Frisbee
Does your dog know “take it”? If not, they should learn this first!
Phase 1: Understanding the Game
Sit in front of your dog with frisbee in hand
Tell your dog to “take it”
When your dog takes the frisbee in its mouth, praise and reward
Repeat, until it knows the concept of the frisbee, “oh, I am supposed to take it”
Phase 2: Playing the Game
Stand in front of your dog with frisbee in hand
Lure the frisbee in front of the dog and say “take it”
Your dog should be tracking the frisbee and then trying to “take it”
Start off with luring just a foot or two, and gradually increase distance
Lure the frisbee around your body (don’t turn in circles or you will get dizzy quite fast) so your dog is moving a bit more, and say “take it”
Successful “take it”? Praise and reward.
Unsuccessful “take it”? No reward and try again!
Once successful with the dog going around your body and catching, release the frisbee just a foot or two, and say “take it!’
Successful “take it”? Praise and reward.
Unsuccessful “take it”? No reward and try again!
Gradually increase the distance
Brioche is only at 2 feet right now, but we’re working on it. Baby steps!
