You just brought home that furry little bundle of joy. Now she’s stretched out on the floor, sound asleep and twitching her feet as she dreams of what you can only imagine is winning her first disc dog competition. Then panic sets in. It’s YOUR responsibility to see that she reaches her potential. But how do you do it? Where do you start? You don’t want to make a mistake! HELP!
Fear not. Here at Disc Dog U we have assembled a panel of experts; Professional trainers and World Champs to help you navigate these important first steps. We have put together what our experts recommend as the first 5 things to work on with your new pup.
Of course you will also most likely be starting your puppy out with all the usual basic puppy training like sit, stay etc. While these are not specific Disc Dog related commands, they will help your pup develop overall confidence and can be the foundation for many things you will do together later.
We want to look more specifically at what you can do to help your Disc Dog puppy excel. World Champs; Andrea Rigler, Tracy Custer and Chuck Middleton all weigh in on how to get your puppy on the right track. You’ll notice each has their own style and variations on the different steps, but all are in agreement with the basic principles to get your puppy started on her way to disc dog stardom!
When Should I Start?
Basically as soon as you get your pup, you are good to start with these training suggestions. Of course, always be mindful of the fact that a young puppy is indeed a puppy! They are new to the world. They need you to guide them, protect them and keep them safe. This means keeping play sessions short, and certainly no big or unnatural jumping.
Puppy growth plates generally close by 18 months (some can close sooner) but you should avoid pushing your pup to jump, do big overs, vaults, flips etc. until those growth plates are closed. You can always get a quick X-ray done at your vet if you want to make sure it is safe to start training bigger jumps. Natural running and jumping puppy play is okay. Just be careful pushing them to do things they wouldn’t normally do in the early stages.
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Which Disc Should I Use?
Puppy gums are soft and their teeth can be fragile. That can be hard to believe when they chomp into your finger! But usually using cloth or soft fabric discs are the best way to get your puppy introduced to disc.
Also, a smaller diameter “pup” disc can be easier for them to navigate. Adult dog discs are usually either 8.75 inches (222 mm) or 9.25 inches (235 mm) in diameter. Most pup discs are around 7 inches (177 mm). One of the exceptions to this is the Hero pup 120. While it is “regular” plastic and not a soft fabric disc, it is smaller, about 4 ¾ inches (120 mm). You can gauge what disc to use by your pups size; Smaller pup = smaller disc. Sometimes even the small discs are still pretty big for tiny puppies. ;o)
Here Are Some Disc Options
What Should I Work On?
The first 5 things to focus on with your new Disc Dog puppy can also be used for older dogs just being introduced to disc. Some of these overlap each other, and the order can be shifted a bit, but if you use this list as the first 5 things to work on with your pup, you will be on the right track!
Engagement and Drive Building
Tugging and Bitework
Chasing, Tricks and Movement
Drop and Give
Takes and Catches
Engagement and Drive Building
The first thing we want to do with our puppy is develop that bond and engagement with them. Most of their life up to this point has been spent cuddling up with their brothers and sisters under the safety net that is “Mom” – and now we need them to transfer that trust and connection to us. Engaging with us is also the key to being able to build their drive. Let’s look at how our experts achieve this.
Andrea points out; “Puppies come in all shapes, sizes and drive levels. Some young puppies are very focused at 8 weeks old and some take years to really connect in drive.
You can help to develop their focus and drive by limiting where their drive is being spent. For example, if you allow your puppy to play with a group of other dogs for 20 minutes, he most likely won’t be interested in engaging with you in ‘harder’ activities that require thought. Dog romping is way easier and more fun than dog training that requires thinking, pushing through failure and focus!
While it’s valuable for our puppies to be socialized with other dogs, be strategic about when and how that happens. You can reward the puppy with 5 minutes of dog play AFTER they successfully engage in a 5 minute training session with you. This concept will transfer the value of the puppy romping to the work with you – that’s a pretty great reinforcer!
Unsolicited attention is key to teamwork with your pup. If he is off sniffing, playing with another dog or chasing a squirrel, he’s not engaging with you and the value exists in all of those other places instead of with you. The trick to engagement is to have as much of the dog’s perceived value with YOU, the handler.”
She shares some easy ways to add value:
- Treat/Trick training for meals.
- Reward for unsolicited eye contact – the dog CHOOSING to engage with you without being called or asked to engage.
- Having one on one time focused just on your puppy a few times a day with no other dogs loose, and no other humans or tasks sharing your attention. Puppy comes out of his crate, engages with you for up to 5 minutes in some activity (a walk, some wrestling or cuddling, trick/recall training, exploring a store/new environment, etc).
- Keep all of your sessions FAST and FUN. Have a plan going in of what you want to accomplish, how you’re going to accomplish it, and how long it will be. End on a positive note before the puppy disengages. Your first few sessions may just be 30 seconds and that’s totally fine! What we’re looking for is the puppy to have a fast, fun, fantastic time with you, then go back to his crate to relax. When the session doesn’t go as planned (because they are puppies and unpredictable!), roll with the changes and keep it Fast and Fun.
Chuck relates the story of how he got his puppy “Boss” to engage and play with him when he was very young.
“At six weeks of age Boss was encouraged to play with an old sock. While he played, he was encouraged to come to me with the sock. Generally, these initial attempts at retrieving covered only two or three feet – a distance where a little physical encouragement from me was possible, if needed, and he was praised like crazy.
We tried it again and again, always for only a couple of minutes at a time, always over short distances where success could be controlled, and always with insane levels of praise. I knew (was hoping) that some day the Frisbee would become its own reward, but when it comes to teaching your dog (old or young), something new, lots of praise is a must. If your dog learns what praise is at an early age, he will be easier to train using that same praise as he gets older. Soon, little Boss would cross the room with that sock and the praise continued.”
At this point it is also important to point out that every puppy is different! Regardless of how much drive they have, take your time and remember everything is done in small steps.
“We are not trying to build Rome in a day. Tomorrow is another day. Your goal is to develop a dog with drive and desire and that happens by taking baby steps early and sometimes for an extended period of time.” - Chuck
This leads us into another important area of Disc puppy development:
Tugging and Bitework.
Tracy lists this as her number one thing to get your puppy doing; “Tugging is my first go-to thing with a puppy or new dog……….2 disc tug games. I get them to tug, then let them WIN the disc, then offer the 2nd disc to tug again. Go back and forth between the 2 discs.”
Andrea also stresses the importance of this;
“Without bite, dogs don’t catch. Solid bitework is access to strong grip and catching skills. Bite/Tug is the highest value toy reward for each of my dogs – and I use it regularly in my training with each dog their entire lives. Bite is now a reinforcer or reward for other behaviors.
Remember how we talked about “Fast and Fun” above? This is the most important part of starting disc play with your pup. You always want to quit the game before your dog wants to quit. Sometimes this means that your dog plays for 15 seconds, then the session is done. Also for a young puppy with soft gums and puppy teeth, use a cloth or soft material disc at first to encourage tugging and biting the disc.
You can get your puppy interested in the disc by sliding it around on the ground back and forth in a keep away game – letting them get it, tug it and WIN. This is a super important distinction. Your puppy needs to WIN, every time.
Think of it this way…. You meet up with some friends and they want to play a new game. You’ve never played this game and really, you’re not sure if you’ll enjoy playing. You play the game 4 or 5 times and each and every time, your friends dominate the game – they win every time. Are you going to want to play that game next time if they ask again? Less likely, right? How you would you feel about the game if you had WON it every time?
What does it look like for your puppy to win? When you engage in tug, let the puppy take the disc from your hand and mark the removal from your hand – not the bite. Puppy bites the disc, pulls it out of your hand and as that pull happens, you mark it with your marker word (I use YES!) Check out Pvybe.com for more on this concept. My dogs also LOVE it when I tell them how big and strong they are for pulling it from me – ‘WOW! You’re so strong!’
You want to have multiple discs in these sessions so you can reward that removal from hand with another BITE and tug, and another WIN! “
Chasing, Tricks and Movement
Of course once your puppy is biting and tugging, we want to get them to do some chasing. Another important thing is to work with movements and other tricks that will be valuable to more advanced disc training.
Chuck took the next step with young Boss as he started teaching him to chase.
“I tied that same old sock to a rope and dragged it around and around the house constantly encouraging Boss to ‘get it’. It was important that Boss was allowed to catch up to and grab the sock. As he progressed, Boss was praised not only while chasing, but also for grabbing the sock. Soon, he was chasing without fail.”
Using “Rollers” is usually the “first step” in teaching your puppy to chase a Frisbee. Rollers bring out the puppy’s prey drive and they help them learn to grab a disc by the edge.
Tracy combines the roller with the tug reward her puppy learned earlier. “I teach the puppy to chase a disc rolled on its edge on the ground, then bite it and return (or start the return) for a 2nd disc as a tug reward.”
Andrea also says that rollers are the first of the steps to get a puppy to master catching discs. “For rollers – roll the disc along its edge vertically. These take some practice to perfect and there are a few different grip options. You can use a typical backhand grip, flip it up and snap it down towards the ground. Sidearm grip, flip up vertically and snap towards the ground (this grip has the most spin and speed). Push roller is similar to a bowling ball being rolled and is a slow speed, easy to control roller for a young puppy.
Rollers teach your puppy how to track a moving object and accurately grab it while it’s rolling up on its edge.They also engage their natural prey drive. At first your puppy may just run over the roller and go pick it up after it has stopped. The goal is for the puppy to grab/catch the roller while it’s still rolling.”
Video - Learn How to Throw a Roller for Your Puppy
The term “Flatwork” comes to us from the horse world, and it has been used by agility trainers as well. It basically means you are training on the “flat” ground – no jumping or obstacles. You are basically training movements. Getting your puppy to spin in both directions or follow your hand are examples of things that you can have your puppy learn.
Learning more disc related “moves” can help give your puppy the skills they will need. Tracy says: “I teach positional cues. I like to introduce the go around in both directions, (having the puppy go around you as you sit or stand) as well as the go through (going between your legs) – to flank both directions or go straight out. Initially I teach these movements with cookies, then move to the disc. This is also great to work on while you are working with the rollers!”
While you are working on Flatwork and teaching movements, you can incorporate various other “tricks” that will serve your disc dog well in the future. Andrea has a list of things she works with her puppies on as they are growing. She says:
“Now that you’ve got a plan for drive building, focus and engagement, you need to know what to do with your training time to start training your new frisbee dog! Flatwork and trick foundation are perfect places to start to get them thinking and moving, especially for a young dog. I have a list of tricks and movements that all of my puppies learn first and these turn into the foundation movements for freestyle when your puppy is grown. One quick tip is to make sure you do everything on both left and right sides – and use both your left and right hands to cue and reward the dog.
- Pedestal/Ball work – climb up, stay, duration, release on cue.
- Through – both ways – through the legs and pay (reward with cookie/praise) on both left and right sides.
- Around – both ways. (Puppy running around you)
- Arm hoops – both sides of the body, front and back entrance. Start by making your arms into a hoop and have puppy go through – keep your arms LOW to the ground.
- Leg Weaves. (Have the puppy “weave” in and out of your legs as you walk)
- Backup to a target and stay.
- Hand touches. (You can hold out your hand and use the command “touch” and have the puppy touch their nose to your hand – giving them a treat as soon as they do.)
- Spin and twist. (Have your puppy follow your hand as they spin 360)
- Sit pretty and stand on 2 back legs.
- As your puppy develops continue to work on more complex moves. This will ensure your puppy keeps building skills and stretching their mind!
Now that you are rolling and your puppy is becoming a disc dog machine, it might be a good time to remember to keep things FUN!
Chuck has some great advice.
“Less is more. By now you’ve probably been told to stop playing the game before your dog is ready to stop. ‘But, he still wants to play.’ Yup, you’ve just found that fork in the road and now you have to choose your path. You stop or you let your dog decide when he’s ready to stop.
Remember, your enthusiasm is more important than you think. At first your dog will not understand the game is chase, catch, retrieve and release/drop. But, by enthusiastically marking each of these elements with verbal praise your dog will learn. I think that most of my dogs start playing this game to please me. They see my joy and enthusiasm and soon they start to play it because they’ve learned to love it.”
While it is awesome that your puppy is engaged and chasing rollers (and maybe bringing them back), it is important to get them to understand that the game only continues if they give the disc back to you!
Drop and Give
Training a solid “drop” or “give” now will help you in the long run. Once again Tracy loves the two disc approach to get the puppy to drop one.
“In the beginning stages, I don’t really care much about the puppy dropping a disc in my hand… but instead I show them a 2nd disc (move it around a lot to stimulate prey drive), and wait them out for a drop. Then I reward them with the tug or a roller.”
Here is how Andrea tackles the Drop, Give and Retrieve aspects of training.
“Once there is a lot of value for tug and removal from hand, you can start some retrieval work. The puppy will start to drive back to you with the disc in their mouth for the reward bite/tug. Call the drop and offer the next bite. When they drop to bite the next disc, use your reward marker (YES!). If your puppy is dropping the disc right away after winning the tug, you can start to own that drop. Before the puppy drops the disc, call the drop. When they drop it (automatically), you mark it and reward with the next bite. Drop is simple to own and capture if you cue and mark it at the right times – just be consistent.
‘Give’ is a cue I use that means to put the thing in my hand and remove your teeth from it. One fun game I use to help get this behavior is a spin off of the Push Back and Jam game from Susan Garrett’s recallers program.
When the puppy is coming back in with the disc, start to push them back away gently when they get to you – push from their shoulders as they push in. Make this gentle and playful – push back, invite them in, push back, invite them in. Ideally they will still be carrying the disc they won during this time. If they drop the disc on the way back in, start the game over with a tug and reward for removal from hand. Swap back and forth between toys – retrieve, bite other toy, YES! for removal from hand, call drop, bite new toy, etc.
Some puppies may have too soft of a temperament for this game, spunky ones will love it and it will fire them up! The push back game will eventually encourage the puppy to push the disc back to you which turns into your retrieve! Once the puppy charges in pushing the disc at you, you can hold it and ask for the give, wait and reward with another bite.”
If your puppy is chasing, tugging, doing some retrieving, and generally engaged with you and the disc, they are well on their way to putting the final piece of the puzzle in place: Catching their first disc!
Chuck relates the process he used for Boss.
“Learning to catch is extremely difficult for a puppy. When Boss was between 10 and 14 weeks of age I fed him literally hundreds of pieces of dog food–one piece at a time. When his attention was focused on the food it would be tossed up and in front of his face and he would be given the command “catch”. In short order attempts at catching were being made and as eye/mouth coordination increased catches became routine.
Training to catch food was interspersed with work trying to catch a bounced tennis ball. A bounced tennis ball offered Boss a larger ‘catch’ target with a longer range of travel and the ability to try and catch on the second or even third bounce.
During our ‘catch’ training, our chase & retrieve training continued with Boss’ sock being replaced with a Frisbee rolled on its side. By fourteen weeks of age Boss could chase, retrieve and catch somewhat consistently, and by 15 weeks he finally chased, caught and retrieved his first flying disc.
Although Boss is only an example, it is used to illustrate how a so-called “natural” disc dog might have learned the steps of playing Frisbee before ever seeing a flying disc. More importantly, it illustrates how a dog learns to play Frisbee – IN STEPS.”
Often the process is simplified to the three steps of: Rollers, Takes, Catches.
Takes and Catches
A “take” is simply holding the disc up in front of the puppy a few inches in front and above their nose and encouraging them to “take” the disc. This is teaching the puppy to reach up and bite a disc that is flat, and in a similar position that they will encounter once it is thrown.
Tracy uses several discs for this: “With a stack of discs, I encourage the puppy to move towards a disc in my outstretched hand and take it. I then go back and forth doing multiple takes.”
Andrea says this about takes; “This teaches the puppy to collect, adjust their striding and use their rear legs to push and grab the disc. This is a super important skill long term – collecting their body and accurately grabbing a disc from the air.”
Now that you have the puppy “taking” the disc from your hand, you can cue the take and then the second before they bite the disc, you let go of it. So now the disc is “free floating” instead of solid in your hand. This is basically “catching” a disc. Then start to do extremely short tosses – basically set up the take and then throw the disc a few inches – gradually increasing that distance as the puppy is successful.
Andrea says, “Once your puppy is catching the close tosses, you can start to toss it a little farther. I recommend using the Around behavior discussed in the Flatwork section to send the puppy around you first, then toss so their momentum is headed in the direction of the throw. This will help to speed up the process of catching!”
She also reminds us to keep our focus on what exactly we are trying to accomplish with each session with our puppy.
“If you’re working on the elements of catching with your puppy, don’t worry about the elements of a retrieve. It doesn’t matter if they bring the disc back at this point. When you work retrieve, you’re working retrieve. When you’re working catch, you’re working catch. So make sure you’re marking and rewarding just the behaviors you’re actually working on in that session and keep the session simple. The less behaviors you work in a single session, the clearer the criteria will be for the dog to be successful.”
One of the most important things you can work on to make your puppy be successful doesn’t even include your puppy!
Practice your throws and rollers without the dog!!!
Andrea agrees; “While your puppy is learning to catch, you’re also learning to throw! You can set your puppy up for success if you practice your throws before your session with the puppy begins. The better your throws and mechanics are, the clearer it will be for the puppy to know what you want him to do.”
Bad throws can lead to the puppy getting frustrated and losing interest. Proper placement of discs whether they are rolled, thrown, or even just held in the hand plays a bigger part in how a dog reacts to the disc than most people think. Haphazardly pitching a disc out there without intent is a good way to discourage a young dog. So practice, practice, practice!
There you have it! Get your Disc Dog puppy working on these things and you will be on your way! Remember to keep sessions short and above all, make it fun!!! And as Chuck says, “Praise your dog like crazy because a dog that responds to praise is a dog more easily trained!”
Now go make a Disc Dog!!!
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Educators and Contributors
Here at DDU we are thrilled to present the best instruction from the best Disc Doggers in the world. This article was put together with the amazing input from this crew.
Andrea Rigler
Writer
Tracy Custer
Writer
Chuck Middleton
Writer
Jeff Scheetz
Editor
3 thoughts on “First 5 Things To Teach Your Disc Dog Puppy”
I really loved this article! It gives me a great start— I know what to focus on for the first few weeks training my puppy (I pick him up in 10 days). I really appreciated the specific detail of where to mark behaviors because I wasn’t sure where the exact moment for reinforcement should be.
Thank you fo the information and I hope to work with you more soon.
Sheri Morrissey
Very helpful great article
What a great article! Thank you all for your contributions and words of wisdom. I’m working with a puppy right now and Andrea’s list reminded me of a couple things I should add, like arm hoop, which I’ve never taught before. I’d like to add something that I’ve taught all of my dogs and already started with Mars, Right and Left, as they are running away from me after a toy during a game of fetch with something other than a disc at the beginning. When you start with disc, it’s ALWAYS leading them, so this is taught with other toys that I throw. I call out right or left and they learn the direction with which side the toy is on when they see it bounce. Later, I can use this in guiding them to a toy in the yard that they can’t find, in tall grass, or the snow. It will eventually be used in disc, as well, for times they lose track of it, I can yell out right or left to tell them which way to look or run. I’ll also use it in games requiring direction changes when I can’t always use my body position as effectively. When they are looking at you, you have body and hand cues available to you, but when they are hauling down the field away from you, the verbal cue has been the difference in a catch or miss more times than I can count on extreme distance games or even toss and fetch throws. Even if you want to teach your dog to track the disc by always having an eye on it, these commands can serve you well in many ways, including at a point when eyesight starts to diminish, down the road.