Dutch Shepherd Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z83_SAC51HU

Check out my pup....she finally caught on to catching Frisbees out of the air...the link is to a vid I made. Hope ya like it!

Looks like she's got the hang of it! Does she go for the water bucket after each throw? That reminds me that I need to get some more video of Hilde...

AMAZING video - looks like she's got great prey drive!!!

She is GORGEOUS. My two are only just now getting a toy drive at 10 months.

When we started with Hilde, she wasn't much interested either. I started out with just playing with the frisbee without throwing it. She mostly wanted to tug, but I tried to avoid that. Then I would throw it a couple of feet and if she picked it up and returned, she got a treat or a short session with a high-value toy. I continued with gradually further throws. Something else I discovered was rolling it along the ground seems to ignite her prey drive like nothing else! Once her interest in the disc was built, she gradually started going after it in the air, and now seems to like showing off acrobatic catches. Another thing, she doesn't really like the hard plastic disks, but the soft floppy ones work great for her.

If only I could throw a frisbee straight like that. Enzo loves frisbees but mine go 5 feet forward the curve right into a tree haha.

What brand frisbee are you using? I've switched to the chuckit ones. We used hard ones for a bit but they made his gums bleed.

Enzo(2): http://youtu.be/ETJxKDPRsPc

Don't mind the yard, he tears up the moss with his abrupt stops while chasing his Ball.

Please understand that I do not want to discourage your activities with your dogs, but I feel I should relay some information that affected me in regards to this subject.

My lab Tequila was the 1st dog I ever owned that could catch a frisbee, and the thrill of playing with him several times a day was incredible.

This activity, however, is cruel to a dog's joints. By the time Tequila was 10, he had no cartilage in his front leg joints, and was already slow to get up from laying down.

I had to put him down at about 13-14 years old because he could no longer move on his own to relieve himself. The decision to do so was probably the hardest and saddest thing I ever did, and the lingering feeling that there could have been a couple of more years with him if I had limited his activity in frisbee catching haunts me to today.

Yes, I realize he lived a long life on average for a larger dog, and I can cherish his memories even the frisbee days. Yes, I have posted pictures of Radar with a frisbee, but I only play frisbee with him in the water for this very reason (lower impact on the joints and great exercise swimming.).

On my account don't stop playing frisbee, but carefully consider the health risk. Make sure your dog has recovery time between sessions, and don't over do it.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing that, Micheal. Something important to consider.

Also...a dog needs warm-up activity before strenuous activity the same as we do.