Evening my lovelies! Now today I want to talk about something very exciting with you… Disc Dog! It’s something I’ve had my sights set on for a little while but honestly, I’ve had no clue how to go about it. Luna has always liked frisbee’s, so I thought she’d love it from the off. Aurora however, whenever I had thrown a frisbee in the past she would always wait until it hit the floor before trying to collect it. Of course I’m not the kind of person to say “Oh, it’s just not for her”, I knew that it was me being a dummy and not knowing what she needed to show her how to do it correctly! Remember 99% of the time, the problem is the handler, not the dog! I thoroughly believe in that saying, you can teach a dog almost anything, you just might have to completely switch things up (in most cases, I know there are the odd exceptions).

Now I’ve been friends with the wonderful Sputnik the Sighthound for a while as many of you will know. When I saw Emily and Spud had made an awesome new friend who was teaching her how to get into disc dog, I of course had to meet this new friend. Said person is the super talented Sian and The Wonder Collie’s! They are incredible! Picture proof!
Q: How did you first hear about disc dog?
A: “I actually first saw disc dog through some accounts on Instagram and instantly fell in love! I knew straight away it was something I’d love to take part in one day when the right dog came along!”
Q: Did you find a club to train with initially?
A: “When I first started out in disc dog there was a grand total of two other UK disc doggers, so no. Everything I did when I started out was all self-taught, or us following advice from disc doggers around the world I had contacted for help. However, now that the sport is growing in popularity and therefore opportunities, I would highly recommend finding classes or a workshop to help you get into the sport!”

Q: How long were you training before you started performing?
A: “The length of time I had been training all of my dogs before they started performing differed a lot – obviously every dog is different so I really took it as a dog-by-dog basis! Storm and I had been trick training together for around five months before his first performance. It was much harder with him as neither of us had a clue what we were doing when we first started, we really had to learn everything together! Never the less, he didn’t let me down and started me on the path of performing! Ellie was much different to Storm (probably helped that I actually knew what I was doing with her, thanks to the experience with Storm) and successfully did her first performance after just two weeks! And at Dog Fest no less – talk about being thrown in at the deep end! Little Jet was the most complicated one, because trick wise he was easily ready to perform after just weeks of being with us. But behaviourally it was a different story, with his reactive nature. He’s a good case of needing to know your dogs limits and not pushing them to get what you want. After a long nine months he successfully did his first performance and I couldn’t be prouder!”
Q: Now that you have been performing regularly, how often do you train with each of your dogs?
A: “During the height of the show season, rather than planning sessions I tend to prefer to find opportunities and just incorporate tricks casually into their routines (such as on walks or while they’re having ‘play time’) to keep them fresh and stop it becoming too tedious for them. Storm will do almost no planned training in the house, Ellie will do a few frisbee sessions a week to make sure she stays in top form, but Jet does regular sessions as he isn’t performing yet and still has a lot to learn! Once the season starts to wind down we generally do 1/2 short sessions a day.”
Q: What’s your favourite thing about performing?
A: “My ‘job’ means I get to go to amazing shows and meet some great people, then go into a ring and play with my favourite dogs…what isn’t there to love?!”

Q:What’s the worst part about performing in a ring, if there is a bad part?
A: “I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing as such since it’s all part of the job, but as anyone who works with animals knows, they have their *cough* moments. At the end of the day, you are only half of the team, and its all too easy for your dog to just stick two paws up at you and bugger off! And in those times there’s not really much you can do but stand there and watch, or take a bow if it’s a really spectacular fail!”
Q: If someone wanted to start training disc dog, how would you suggest to go about it?
A: “Make sure your dog is fit and healthy first off – it never hurts to be given the all clear by a vet! But disc wise, find a classes or a workshop you can attend, ask people for advice (the disc community is a very friendly one and people are always willing to help each other out!), or find someone who’s style you like and just try it using YouTube videos/social media platforms as your guide! Obviously safety always has to come first, and never push your dog (or yourself) beyond your limits. Oh, and most importantly, always have fun!”

We’ll finish off with a few more photo’s from today. I hope you enjoyed this post! Don’t forget to leave a comment, like and subscribe if you enjoyed it!
Loved this post! Looks like both Luna and Aurora (and you!) got to grips with it pretty quickly! I’m not sure if Roxy’s up to being a disc dog, whenever the frisbee comes out she looks so disappointed that it’s not a ball!!
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See Aurora was a bit like that initially, but after making the frisbee fun and her realising that she can chase it when she had figured out to target the rim to catch it, she absolutely loves it now and starts squeaking when she sees me pick them up to go out! X
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Awesome! My BC is only 4 months old but once her growth plates close I know the possibilities will be endless. I want to take herding lessons with her soooooo bad but I don’t know if there’s anyone near me who gives them. I will keep looking though. I don’t have sheep, just chickens.
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Awesome! From personal experience with my reactive girl, Luna, letting her her was possibly one of the worst things we could have done. Of course this is not the same for most, but ever since taking herding lessons with her, she now only tries to herd dogs, never tries to play with them. It’s a shame that she can’t work sheep all the time due to her hips as I think that would be the perfect job for her! But I don’t have the facilities to do it more often but for a short time each day and no farmer wants a dog that can only work for 20 minutes at a time! This is just my personal experience though, I know of many who have taught to herd leisurely with no problems. Honestly I’m the first that I know of to have this problem!
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I think if she could learn to herd, she could help keep the chickens in the yard when we let them out. Right now she just chases them at top speed, so I was thinking if she could learn to herd them in a more controlled fashion that would be very useful.
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Oh yes definitely! Do you put them away at night? An old friend had a collie who used to do this for him every night 😊
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We let them out in the evening, and when it gets dark, they go in by themselves. But before dark, they try to go and scratch around in our neighbor’s garden, (haha, sorry guys,) and we always have to chase them back in the yard.
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Haha, brilliant. Love the idea of naughty chickens!
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Amazing!!
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Looks like you had lots of fun! xx
Love From, Steph & The Spaniels
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That we did! Reckon you could frisbee?
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