Let’s start with a  few bullets:

• Jack and Kat Fahle are very cool.
• Laura Moretz from New Charlotte has mad skillz
• Watch out for Clay Farmer – he is coming fast!
• I did not take any pictures.

This weekend we met Tracy Custer who as Andrea said” Is even cooler than I hoped.”   She was so friendly and encouraging and talented. Watching her dominate the event with grace and a smile and her maniac pack was inspiring and humbling.  You could not tell if she was working or playing because she made it all look so fun and easy.  Tracy commented on my post on routine flow and it was brought to life this weekend watching her and Mark work with their dogs.

We also met Preston Dean and Mark Muir.  Mark is a big kid with great skill and imagination with his dogs.  We were wide eyed watching his freestyle.  Preston is a whirl of elbows and knees who was so fluid and has such control of the disc. They were both a joy to watch.

Watching these and other top level players at the event helped Andrea and I get a sense of where we stand and where we want to be. We are in the middle stage where we both have talented dogs and a moderate understanding of the rules of the game.  Now with more experience and continued work we seek the mastery exhibited by the great players we saw like Mark and Tracy. This weekend was another reminder to be patient, to have fun, to keep learning, seeking, growing.

When we started discdogblog.com we wanted it to be a resource for new(er) teams just getting started in the sport. Over the weekend at least a half dozen people mentioned our blog and how they appreciated the content, learned from the videos, etc.  It was great to know we are contributing something to the sport we love.  And it inspires us to generate even more resources for teams learning and growing like us.

Speaking of learning and growing, Andrea and I noticed that the handlers who were getting coaching from top players seemed to be advancing faster than us.   True or not, it really makes us wish we had someone we could meet with regularly to develop our game.  We don’t have a plan to make it happen yet, but we are open to ideas and suggestions.

Andrea and I identified who we want to be as “dog people”.  We want to train high drive dogs to play disc.  We will rescue and/or foster high drive dogs whenever we can.   Most we will proudly re-home and occasionally we will keep a few of the maniacs.

There were competitive people and not so competitive people at the event. Some people were very intense others were relaxed.  There was a lot of rain. Personally I had a great time and was blessed and humbled.  I love my dogs, I love this life with my wife, and I really look forward to growing new skills and great friendships as a disc dogger.

The DragonDogs-

We fostered a smooth coat BC in MAY. Her name is Flyer. We expected a high drive wild dog. Turns out flyer is more of a cuddler so far.  She is certainly athletic but spends most of her time sleeping. We have not yet seen her chase anything.  Andrea is doing some shaping with Flyer and I am doing lots of loving as Flyer is tentative around men.  Flyer gets a lot of crate time as we hope to bottle up some drive and unleash it in small bursts of training.

Lilli was fixed.  A hard choice really but we feel that there are so many dogs in shelters that we would rather rescue than raise more puppies.  She recovered well and is back playing hard with me.  Lilli is so cool. She really lights up when I intriduce new games to her.

Leila has shown a lot more desire for the disc in May.  She seems to be more of a shaping and potential agility dog and remains an absolute ball of joy and play.

Moxie is the most driven and athletic dog we have.  She is non stop, fearless and has moments as a great pet too. She learned the Japanese dog catch in May.

Kai has been great in practices and training and has improved a ton at events. Her focus has increased and she looks so great in the air.

Sasha came back to us in May and after just her second week was tugging and by her third week was snagging discs out of the air.

The transition of a new dog into the pack always brings some challenges or surprises. Sasha helps balance our pack.  She is 8, much older and bigger than the other dogs.  She had a few accidents the first few weeks but then settled in nicely as she started to fall into a new pattern of work, play and feeding with us.

June will be a busy month, I’ll be posting the June preview soon.

I’m not going to list all the  events  mostly because I doubt I would remember them correctly.  There was a USDDN local with CFDDC where Lilli finished 3rd to qualify for nationals.  There was a local USDDN TF event where Lilli finished 4th (Donna Schoech bested us in a throw off) .  We would consider just doing TF at nationals if our freestyle game isn’t up to par.   We did a UFO event just this past week with Lilli finishing 2nd between the 1st and 3rd efforts of Gary Duke.  Most of these events were windy and my success with Lilli hinged mostly on our high toss and fetch scores.  Kai finished 5th and Moxie 6th at this event.  A big improvement for the rookies.  Next up is a Florida Skyhoundz event which we hear is quite competitive!

Speaking of competitive, one of the dangers of competing is losing sight of fun.  Most of March was a drag for me as I struggled with inconsistent freestyle throws.  My ratios were way down as missed trick after missed trick piled up in my head.  Finally I had enough, it was not working and I was frustrated.  When I looked at what was missing that would make the difference, I realized it was fun.  I was putting too much pressure on myself to be “good” and to compete and I was not having as much fun playing with my dogs.  So I reframed it, putting fun back where it belongs, first and foremost with my dogs. I’m not that concerned with winning or keeping score so I was surprised by how I got caught up in the competition part.    When I step back I can see and accept that I am a slow and steady learner and that my time with my dogs will be much better spent playing and having fun and the scores and wins are the stuff that happens when I finish playing.

Another breakthrough this month was getting Leila on the field for some toss and fetch.  Leila is very social and loves everyone and everything with little love for work at this point.  So we were very concerned to let her loose on a field surrounded by dogs and people.  The first event Andrea kept her on a long lead and the second event she let her off the lead and Leila stayed on the field and chased plastic.   When we move later this month we will be able to practice toss and fetch with her.

Kai is another breakthrough this month as she has struggled with staying focused and on the field her last few events.  Her first TF (Sept09)  she r-u-n-n-o-f-t each round in pursuit of whatever moved and did not want to recall.  At the CFDDC March USDDN event, during her freestyle session, she caught a long skip and proceeded to do her own thing for 15 seconds until I got her back.  At the Markham park TF she had to stop at this one spot and sniff for an extendededed period of time.   At each event she showed a lot of potential.  She is an awesome TF dog and tho her freestyle game is limited, she LOVES to vault!  So at the most recent UFO event she had a clean freestyle round and 3 clean TF rounds. No sniffing, running off, or nature breaks.  One thing that helped I think was walking her all over the place to get in her sniffing quota before the event and a potty break before every run.

Andrea and Moxie grew so much in March.   They are a good pairing.  Moxie is non stop giving 100% and so is Andrea.  The two big challenges for Andrea are having consistent TF efforts and keeping her routine grounded a bit because Moxie loves to take it as high as she can.   Andrea ironed out both of those issues by the end of the month.  Moxie’s TF efforts were excellent with no prejumping, great tracking and speedy returns.  With more experience Moxie will be really have a strong TF game.  Moxie is a big air super fast and energetic dog ACD and harnessing that into a smooth flowing freestyle session is a challenge that fits Andrea.  Andrea is developing flow and rythm and has a great feel for Moxie in just a few months.  Moxie has improved in every way from her house behavior to TF.

Moving to the new house will help us all improve our Toss and Fetch game thanks to the big yard.  I need to measure for exact distance but I estimate it is close to 50yards corner to corner.  We had to go house hunting because the local parks we had been utilizing hired an officer to police the dogs off leash rules.  And our yard is too small for TF and takes a beating from the 4 hard cutting Aussies.  We lose the pool and water view but we gain a stress free practice area and a new town to explore – Jupiter Farms.

Andrea and I would really like to host a Palm Beach disc dog club.  A group of people we could play and grow with in the sport in our own neighborhood.  We have had a half dozen people come over to play with the DragonDogs over the past few months the latest of which was Diane Ford with her 2 kids and 2 furkids Stormy and Mystic the puppy.  Diane wants to socialize her puppy and felt that our playful energetic pack was good company for her puppy. On the second visit Mystic had her first swim in the pool.

We are still learning and adjusting and training for pack dynamics.  As long as there are no new additions, I think the pack will settle in over the next 6 months.  We’ll train a bit more patience with Lilli, a bit more sense for Leila and a bit more confidence for Kai.  Moxie, well, we just need to work on her banshee screeching.    Andrea and I will put a bit more emphasis on creative throws so that means lots of passing back and forth – learning through play as our friends at Pawsitive Vybe say.

That’s when we discovered Hero Discs.  I’ve noticed over the past year, lots of people have switched over to Hero from Fastback – and there are so many varieties.  I’m the one who handles all of the disc ordering in the house, so I know them all by name and weight and function.

We switched Lilli to Super Hero discs exclusively after trying all of the “Super” style discs (Super = hard bite/durable) – and pretty much everyone we talk to – all the old cats – think it’s ridiculous that we use such a heavy, soft disc for freestyle.   We did come from an Ultimate background after all, so although Super Heros are the heaviest disc, they are still quite a bit lighter and smaller than the 175′s we’re used to tossing.

When we got Moxie -Tracy had tested her on Fastbacks, so I tried those out first.  She had a really solid 85% catch percentage right out of the shelter.  I didn’t want to mess with it, so I stuck with light discs.  Fastbacks had the same effect though and Moxie’s typical ACD jaws of death literally tore through each disc in one session.  I heard about the new Hero 235′s, so I got a set of those reading that they fly like a Fastback, but they are more durable.  That is accurate – they don’t tear like Fastbacks do, but they still get really punctured and edgy after a few sessions – albeit lasting much longer than it’s predecessor.

Moxie and I have been practicing for our freestyle routine for the upcoming USDDN Fun in the Sun Qualifier this weekend and her catch percentage the past 2 weeks or so has tanked.  The conditions have been windier and her inexperience has made it hard for her to read discs and again, being a cattle dog, she tends to pre-jump in anticipation.  After 5 or so rough routines in a row, and most of the misses coming on her usually-rock-solid 20 yard toss and catch, we did a run-through with Jason’s Super Heros.  It was also the first practice without 20 mph wind gusts too so go figure.

The result was much improved.  She had a much higher catch percentage than with the 235′s and BOY does she LOVE to tug those rubbery discs!!!  I can hang on fine if I keep her front feet off the ground, but if she gets full tug leverage with those discs – wow she’ll take my fingers off with her head whip!  So I’ve decided this weekend for the event, I’ll run her with Super Heros and see how that works.  I’ll likely catch all the same “heavy disc” flack from the veterans…

Next up – a post about all the different disc types, styles, weights, etc that we’ve tried over the past 3 years.

We are working on a footstall.  We have spent about 6 minutes on it and I am sure our dogs will do it pretty soon.  Not sure I want them to though.  I love that other people do it just not sure I want to copy that particular skill.  The one we are missing that I want is the reverses.  Like anything else we just need to spend some time figuring it out or get some guidance and then practice with the pups.

I saw Abby Cline on discdoggerweekly and I really like her creative flow with the dogs.  I’d like to see her do a full routine once.  I have only seen her practice.  I saw a video of a (this could be way off) Japanese dog handler who was a ninja/breakdancer.  He had so much flair and movement with his dog. THAT is what I want.  Not sure I am in shape to match his moves though.  Anyone have that video handy?

It’s cold so the dogs are geeked and I am freezing.  In South Florida no less.  Despite my hate relationship with arctic temps I have been out with the dogs twice a day.  Learned a new vault for Lilli and Kai just needs some experience.  She is quite good for just a few months of play.

This weekend we have a toss and fetch at Markham park. Did I mention I hate the cold?   Andrea is going to run Lilli and I will run Kai.  Andrea wants to beat me but her chances are slim.  Sorry buttercup but daddy has the thunder arm. As long as Kai can catch them and get them back within 5 feet of me   Then Sunday we are doing some Ren fest thing.  I guess we will show up and play with our dogs for a few minutes for 3 different shows.  Andrea posted it on the Florida disc dog site.

I am really excited about the coming year.  We are not in the top 10 percent but I think top 25% is fair. We have great dogs, good disc skills, and motivation to play and enjoy the sport with our dogs. We also have great friends and teachers and mentors who help us grow.  Hopefully we can grow the florida disc dog club and have a strong weekly jam club of our own.

There are a lot of different types of teams in the sport.  Some people mostly rescue dogs and play with crazy cool mutts.  Some people are particular about the breed they play with.  Some handlers are way better than their dogs, and some dogs are way better than their handlers.  Some people play to innovate and other just imitate what they appreciate.  I think the best possible presentation is a ninja breakdancer.  So I am going to go watch  Kill Bill and start practicing my splits.

We expect Santa will drop off a big carpet for the livingroom this gift giving season so our dogs have a little less slip and slide inside. And we are bringing back the Santa hat Lilli wore so dashingly last season. Someone ate that one so we need new hats for the DragonDogs.

Soon we will post our infamous sock training video. Never before seen insider footage linking the secret of Lilli’s tremendous speed to socks. Andrea is working “sit pretty” with the dogs for strength and entertainment value. Kai is a natural, the other two not so much. We’ll be posting some “sit pretty” video also this month. And we’ll review our work on the big pink ball, now that we have a new one.

Lilli is getting stronger, faster, and more successful with a bevy of freestyle maneuvers. Andrea will be updating the arsenal this weekend, unveiling the “up and over” and the chest vault. Leila is on the turtle path to freestyle greatness as we give her legs and body time to meet in the middle. A few more months and we’ll have her leaping for Joy! Kai is on the hare path to freestyle magnificence, her disc drive and hops are really developing. We have our first big air dog with Kai.

We are still actively seeking members for the Florida Disc Dog Club. Maybe we should have named it the North Palm Beach Florida Disc Dog Club but I guess we were overly ambitious

As always we are proud of our friends and family in the disc dog world.  Some we work with, some we play with, and all we learn from.  Lynda Orton-Hill, Ron Watson, Susan Garrett, Gary Duke, and Ami Boxer.

This was Jason and Lilli’s second freestyle competition and they rocked it!  Unfortunately, only 2 novice teams showed up.  That may make it appear that it wasn’t much to finish first…  To give FULL credit where it’s due, Jason and Lilli scored 79 points between their freestyle and D/A scores, (at Canis #1, Jason and Lilli scored 65 – what an improvement!) and the top finisher, Gary Duke, in the Super Open Division (expert) finished with 85 points I think it was…and they score more for each area by 3 points (I believe that’s how it works). We’re confident that she’ll be able to keep up with the big boys when she moves up from Novice at our next event!

Lilli caught every single disc and Jason made good throws each and every time.  It was a brilliant routine and we’re so proud of our freestyle team!  Check out Lilli’s newest trick, the butterfly back flip!  It was SICK!  Here’s the video:

Kai and I registered for her first Distance/Accuracy event.  My expectations were to keep her on the field, and my hopes were that she’d play just like we do at the parks and fields we train on.  D/A includes 2 rounds – 60 seconds each – where the object is to throw the disc within the boundaries of the field – ideally in the 40 yard zone.  The team is awarded .5 points additional for each catch made in the air versus with any paws on the ground.

Our first round, I didn’t notice that in the next field over, people we practicing long throws with their dogs.  She lined up fine and went around fine – ran out, caught the first disc, spotted the dog in the next field streaking after a long disc and schoooooommm…she was off to the races after that dog and his disc.

The next round, our plan was to keep it really, really short and add lots of tug with the goal of just keeping her on the field. We asked that the other competitors keep the plastic out of the air while we were up and that worked like a charm.  I first tossed the disc 5 yards and recalled and she came.  Then 7 yards a few times and she came each time and we tugged each time.  Jason thought I certainly could have stretched it to a further throw – I was a bit too nervous.  We got a nice cheer from the crowd each time she caught the discs and came back!

After the event was over, Jason and I took her back out on the field, with other dogs playing nearby, and threw long throws.  She came back each and every time!  I’m so glad this first time experience is over and done with and we can look forward to a solid round next Saturday!  The camera didn’t record Kai’s rounds.  Jason was judging and something happened and it didn’t record.  Can’t say I’m disappointed!  We’ll have fresh video of a great 2 rounds next weekend!

The first date for Canis Major #1 was sometime in September, but it was rained out.  Then rained out again the next weekend.  Followed by several weeks of finals and worlds freestyle competitions…finally we had a date…AND IT DIDN’T RAIN!  It was also close enough to Halloween to make it an extra Spooktacular event with costumes and everything!

We had been working on the routine for over a month with a couple-week-long hiatus in the middle where we did nothing but free play and practicing vaults.  Jason kept the routine simple, with staple moves we knew were solid and we added the noodle in the beginning for fun. (Noodle is Lilli’s latest trick – a backwards walking weave)  It was a windy day but they all had a ton of time to throw and practice with the wind and our Hero Discs made it easier.  Jason got several compliments on his great throws in the D/A round of the event.

The big lesson I learned…check the CD with the routine music.  Make sure it plays.    Of course, ours didn’t so that made for an interesting beginning to the routine and some extra time for Lilli and Jason to connect before starting.  I don’t think anyone really got the coolness of the song we picked considering it sounded all crackly from us rigging the iphone to their equipment.  After the music drama was over…Jason and Lilli rocked it.  Here’s their vid.

Lilli and Jason took first place on Saturday.  I am so proud of them, I can’t even express it all.  Lilli has won everything she’s ever tried, the first time out.  She’s amazing.  If she wasn’t our first disc dog, she’d probably already be competing on a National and World level.  I guess everyone starts out with an amazing crash dummy dog that they break while trying to figure out how this disc dogging thing works.  It started with just wanting a dog to fetch and retrieve a frisbee…and look at her now.  Proud Mama. 

Now that things are settling back down I want to take a few posts to look back over the experience.  It’s good for us to debrief, or decompress as Ron calls it.  And I hope that the information might benefit someone else interested in dog handling or dog sports or traveling 3000 miles in a van.

I’ll review the disc dog camp with Ron and Apryl, the skills camp with Susan, the trip itself, and what was the impetus and impact of the adventure.   That’s too much for one post so I will break it into sections over a few days.

Right now I want to talk about our current state of DragonDog affairs:

All 3 dogs are in crates in the living room. We have increased their crate time for all 3 dogs including Lilli.  So far this has yielded more energetic play and training sessions.

We have shaved back their meals just a hair.  We look for more opportunities to reinforce wanted behaviors with kibble.  previously the dogs were a little less interested in the kibble.  We were informed by several people that maybe we spoil our dogs a bit

We will be participating in our first freestyle event this weekend with Central Florida Disc Dog Club Canis Major Series.  We are entering Lilli as novice in freestyle and Toss and Fetch.  Originally Andrea was going to handle Lilli for the series but she insisted I do it after watching Lilli and I play together.  I’ll let her say more about that if she wants to.  All I will say is Andrea is the better trainer and certainly capable of doing great routines with Lilli.  We both look forward to Kai and Leila coming of age to play freestyle.

Speaking of the monkeys, Kai is a beautiful spunk maniac.  She is a beautiful bouncing ball of energy and enthusiasm.  She quit drooling in the car which is awesome. She shows a lot more drive and has been catching a few discs every session now.  We need to work on her retrieve. Her crate games have really improved. She will sit and wait with the door open while I go outside.   Her recalls are shaky but have improved. Great speed and enthusiasm.  She still feels a little bit like someone else’s dog but I love her to pieces and know in a short time she will have settled in.  Her tug is strong now.

Leila is awesome.   Leila  retrieves like a pro and  her crate games are flawless.  She catches 1 or 2 discs each session with enthusiastic growls.  She is fearless to a fault.  She will be a strong agility dog and certainly a fun frisbee dog.  We need to engage leila a bit more with some mental games.  She has a lot of potential.

Lilli seems leaner and stronger than ever.  She is geared up and ready for the next level of freestyle.  The last few sessions with her have just been so fast!  And I think she would be a very very fast agility dog with some skills training. We need to go back to some basics to clarify some concepts. She was our first dog so she has a lot of reinforced behaviors still like holding on to the disc (which has improved) and barking when she is excited.  She gets more crate time now and in a short time I can see the benefits of raising the criteria for her.

We have made a lot of progress with the dogs since we have arrived home.  Next post will be about the disc camp we attended at Pawsityve Vybe.

So lets start with last weekend.  Lilli was a star.  She crushed the competition in Novice taking both First and Third place for the day.  In freestyle toss and fetch (also known as Distance/Accuracy), the object is to score as many points as possible in an allotted time frame by throwing the frisbee into different zones and the dog catching it.  We would have taken first and second (with Jason crushing my score with his awesome throws) BUT I wore Lilli out on the previous run and she was cooked when it came to his turn to run her.  He still finished 3rd with only 2 catches – that’s how big his lead was from Round 1.  Here are our top 3 results for the Novice division.  Thanks to John and AirK9′s for an awesome event!

…………………………………………….. Round 1                               Round 2                       Total …………………..

Andrea Rigler & Lilli                                17                                             18                                 35

Matt DiPiero & Brooke                            15.5                                          16                                 31.5

Jason Rigler & Lilli                                 21                                             8                                  29

Lilli got some cool prizes but most awesome was the 2 shiny medals claiming her victory and the notation that we are no longer eligible for novice – having finished so well in it.  So Super Pro, here we come!

Since this is our first season with an agility/disc pup, we’re experiencing all of this for the first time.  We thought we’d share some of the resources and info we’ve come upon recently…

Video of the Top Agility Dogs in the WORLD – AWESOME!

Some handling diagrams and ideas

Lilli’s done a great job with both her front and rear crosses.  We start a new advanced agility course on Oct. 8 with Kristin Spillane.  This week I also chatted with Lilli’s breeder for a while and she suggested a great place to practice and get some other training in agility, obedience and tracking.

It’s at the South Florida Fairgrounds – and you can get an annual membership and practice on any of their equipment for the whole year for a low fee.  Check it out here.

That’s all for now.  We’re going to check out some of these new classes and spots to practice, take some new videos and post them.