Pearls – it’s a bit of a running joke in my BNI group – is a tidbit of valuable info.  Stuff that I’ve learned from the actual experience rather than a video or a story told.

In May, we got to see what we’ve been working toward.  Until this past month, we had only competed in Florida.  We joined the CFDDC, which is an awesome group, and did every competition in FL we could get to.  With Lilli, Jason did really well and Moxie and I had great potential right off the bat.  We had seen videos of other top disc doggers around the country, but not live and in action…. until we went to Freedom Weekend.  I was awed, excited, humbled, inspired and it was so super cool to meet Tracy.

Moxie stylin' at USDDN Freedom Weekend

Between then and now, I’ve learned a lot of valuable pieces that will take us to the next level.  Here are some of the top ones on my list:

1. Don’t repeat tricks if I miss them.  None of the top teams do it.
2. Focus on flow and catch percentage. Can’t get a big score if I’ve got a low %.
3. Video the teams you love the most – and the ones that WIN – and learn something from them. 
4. Relax.  Breathe.  I’ve really enjoyed playing with Moxie at the last 2 events, mostly because I was relaxed and only had the expectation to play with my partner.
5. Try cool new stuff – be innovative.  We added a Japanese dog catch and a butterfly vault to our routine.  Hard stuff is fun to try and creative stuff is fun to watch.

Our first butterfly vault caught in competition!

Some random thoughts:

I think Moxie may be a ACD / Kelpie.  Been wondering what she’s mixed with and saw 2 different kelpies today that look just like her!  Kelpie would be so much cooler in the mix that a terrier of some sort…

Last weekend, the day after UFO in Jacksonville, Jack and Kat Fahle, Chris Engel and Mike Dillon, Jason and I got together at Mike’s place in central FL to jam.  We all played with other people’s dogs and worked on some new tricks and the dogs all ate horse poo (which is a separate story).  We really enjoyed hanging out and playing.  We learn so much watching other people play.  Mike and Molly are coming over this weekend to work on some more vault training and a dog catch.  We’re gonna take lots of video and put together some new videos for the blog.

Moxie and I have made great progress on the shriek.  If you’ve ever seen us in competition – you’ve heard it.  Earsplitting.  A 5 minute session with Susan Garrett and like magic (and holding criteria) – we’ve made fantastic progress.  I love and appreciate the gurus we have in our lives and hope to someday be that for other people.  We’ve been so honored to hang with and learn from great people – Ron and Apryl, Susan, John Arnett, John Geraghty…  We look forward to finding a “more local” mentor to get us to the next level of play.  Can’t wait for Ron and Apryl’s camp this summer in MI!

Lilli is 3 yrs old. We have had her since she was 4 months old I think.  Andrea got her specifically for the purpose of being my disc fetching dog.  Freestyle and agility were not really in the plans at that point.  We started at ground zero as it pertains to training dogs.  In some ways that was awesome because we were a blank slate.  At times it was overwhelming as there are a variety of styles and strategies from old school discipline to new school positive training, mirror training and pack leader strategies.   We had one dog and that one dog got basic obedience training in the kitchen.  We were thrilled at the success of sit, down, stay.  Lilli was great at learning basic commands.  A few months later we took an official obedience course with a local trainer.  She fired us up to train for agility, which Lilli loved.  Then we felt like freestyle would be the next obvious step for Lilli who had really showed a passion for disc play.   We met again with a local superstar disc dogger who gave us some basic steps.  We were thrilled with the progress.  But one dog and two eager handlers was not enough so we opted for a second dog.

Leila , our red merle, arrived in a plane from Michigan.  Cuter than any puppy I had ever seen.  She was a princess, bred for confirmation, we were sure (ok- hopeful) she would work out as a disc dog with such fine lines and breeding.  We left a few weeks later, flying all the way to Canada for a puppy camp with Susan Garrett.  And it really changed everything for us.  What Susan teaches is like dog training college.  Truthfully we felt behind the curve on just the first day.    We came home with a renewed energy and deeper understanding of the mechanics of training.  Crate games by Susan Garrett for sure has been the difference maker in having our high energy dogs become great house pets.   It wasn’t long though before we felt more lost than found.  Unknown to us we had misunderstood any number of suggestions and tips given to us by Susan.  Our enthusiasm and energy waned because we saw minimal success (really we were just expecting too much- going too fast)

Our First Biggest Mistake

We thought Lilli should teach Leila how to be a proper dog.   Leila is an awesome student when it is time for training. Probably the best in our pack of four.  She is also the worst.  By letting Lilli and leila romp through her early months, Leila bonded with Lilli way more than us.  And now Leila is such a dog’s dog that we can not be assured of her recalls in doggy situations. (more about this later)

Lesson #1    Bond with your dog (puppy or new dog) and establish a solid recall before allowing unsupervised free play.

Susan calls it second dog syndrome. Seems people get an awesome dog and sort of expect the same results with the 2nd.  But novices like us had  no idea the impact of a second dog.  The dynamics change in ways difficult to see with human eyes. And we were dog dumb. We didn’t know enough about packs or dog behavior.  I think it was Ron Watson (maybe Susan) who told us that dogs let loose on their own find all sorts of reinforcement from their environment.  Reinforcement away from us creates unwanted (does not always mean bad) behaviors.  Like Lilli chasing Leila created a Lilli who bites heels and a Leila who wants to be chased by every dog she sees.  And for some reason Leila is the most inappropriate dog I have seen.  She playfully jumps on every dog she sees and one day…that might not go so well.  A dream for us would be to have leila spend time with an experienced pack so she can learn appropriate pack manners.

Lesson #2      Reduce free play/free roaming of young dogs to avoid unwanted reinforced behaviors. This also makes training sessions more valuable.

Ok so Leila was too young and developing really slow and we decided we wanted an older dog we could start playing with right away.  We were warned.  We didn’t listen.  

LET ME SAY RIGHT HERE – there is nothing wrong with anything we did or anything you do.  Dogs can be dogs and however it works for you and your dogs is fine.  As it pertains to having (in our opinion) properly trained dogs these are the issues we have and are experiencing and choose to address for our pack.

We got Kai, a beautiful black bi with brindling aussie.  We didn’t know any better. I am certain if we were to do it over again with what we know now we would not have taken Kai bear.  Not because she isn’t wonderful, but because we realize we want disc maniacs.  Like Moxie and Lilli.  We were not great judges of drive and mostly because of my soft heart we made Kai part of our pack.  At the time Kai would barely even look at a disc.  (She is now a talented disc dog)

So a week later we were heading north to see Susan again. But before Canada we would stay a few weeks in MI with Ron and Apryl of Pawsitive Vybe.  This was like mind blowing canine disc training for us.  What we learned there took us from the backyard and into competitions with all four of our dogs.  We can not wait for another week at Pawsitive Vybe and I will explain why in a bit. First you should know we left MI and continued to Susan’s Camp. Intermediate training!  We focused on Leila and Lilli and mostly left Kai in the borrowed camper(thanks Lynda).   And it was like being there for the first time.  I mean she said a lot of the same stuff and it was like we were hearing it for the first time. The light bulb came on there. That’s why going to Ron’s camp again will be so valuable. It’s like these guru’s impart the basic ideas the first time and then the second time you hear it you have the foundation to begin to really practice the principles.  My friend Andy Steed used to say we are different people every moment and so a story told over and over is experienced differently in each telling. We were different people attending camp the second time and left much better equipped.

Lesson # 3.  Learn everything at least twice.  Come back in 6 months and Learn it Again.

Now we have a fourth dog. And for me, three of the most important lessons come here.  Moxie is an absolute maniac. She is fast and furious, a cattle dog is not an aussie.  That’s not one of the lessons though.  Moxie is Andrea’s dog. And she is working with Leila as well.  Lilli and Kai are my dogs.   Kai has become a frisbee fan. She LOVES to vault and she loves to chase discs.  She still has a weak bite and not nearly the intensity of Lilli or Moxie.  Leila at 16months old is just starting to catch long discs.  She seems like she needs a few more months to grow up yet.  Moxie came into the world a frizbeast and Lilli has a very long trick list and here start the final lessons.

Lesson #4   Focus on Fun when training for competitions.

Last month I got caught up in trying to compete.  It’s a normal human reaction.  I went to the first few for fun, did well, and then felt like I needed to keep doing well.  I started to feel pressure to do things right and found myself not having fun in practice.  After a few weeks of being frustrated and delivering poor throws (poor dogs) I sat down and thought it through.  Having fun was way more important than competing.  So the next week I just went out and played and it was the most fun I had in a while.  It inspired me to edit the routines I had created for Lilli. Instead of trying to jam in all the cool tricks she could do, I narrowed it down to the ones she and I do very well and have fun with.  I’m going to sneak in a tip here about competing  in disc events.  Practice like you are competing to get a real feel for the status of your routine.  Go to a strange field, play music and have someone time it.

Back to Moxie and on to the next lesson.

Lesson #5  Don’t settle and don’t settle for unwanted behaviors.

Moxie has a horrible shriek.  Andrea and I both hate it.  Susan says barking is a low cost behavior for dogs. Super easy to for them to do. No work at all.  It’s the one behavior that really brought up this topic for me.  The things our dogs do well are the things we hold strict criteria for.  The unwanted behaviors are things we have not yet chosen to address.   Our dogs sit at the door because we hold that as a strict criteria.  Lilli will bite at Leila’s heels when they are playing together because we have not yet addressed it.   All the dogs will go to their crate when asked because we maintain that rule.  Leila will not recall 100% if there are other dogs present because we have not yet trained the wanted behavior.  We get what we train and we get what we don’t train.  A dogs behavior is absolutely a reflection of the trainer.  And repeated behaviors are naturally reinforced.  This is a reminder for me that I am responsible for my dogs behavior.   I can’t really ask or expect from them anything I have not taught them.  Once they know the behavior I do expect it from them.  If I don’t, they won’t.

What are the costs.

The cost of not training. The costs can’t all be measured and thankfully many will never be realized.  There are horror stories and funny stories.  Lilli use to chase ducks into the middle of ponds.  We stopped that.  We lived in fear until we did because Lilli could not swim at the time.   I would be swimming to the middle of some nasty body of water to rescue my doggie paddling dog. Leila might one day meet a dog with no patience and big teeth.  We are always yelling at Moxie to shut up.  Using her name in vain, because we have not yet trained her to shut up.  This will likely confuse or water down the power of the recall.  Lazy is what that is.  I speak for myself of course.  Yes we are busy, busier than ever!  Our business and our dogs has reached an all new demand.  And plenty of people say just let your dogs be dogs and that’s fine. We do. They are dogs.  And we are responsible for their training and their safety in a world of cars, wild environments and untrained dogs.

The next step for Andrea and I is to take a look at the unwanted behaviors and decide what we will address and how.  And any behaviors we don’t address are the ones we choose to live with. We’ll do this with a  consideration for the costs of allowing certain behaviors to continue.  What will that look like over time after years of reinforcement?

And Finally Lesson #6   Rescue a Dog

Leila was our first and last puppy.  We will be getting Lilli (this week) and Leila fixed. Kai and Moxie already are. The world does not need more dogs (you know what I mean). There are millions of abandoned super stars, cuddle monsters, and abused pups in shelters all over the country.  In time we will get more dogs and they will all be rescues.

So at the heart of all this is being responsible for our dogs.  We have learned so much from our pack.  We were in over our heads and maybe we still are.  But we love our dogs and they seem pretty happy too.  We will continue to learn from the great friends we have who are enthusiasts or gurus who love to share their knowledge.  And we will make time to teach and share what we know with others.  We’ll be back to see Susan and Ron this summer I am sure.  Sorry this one rambled on a bit and I hope the post helps some other up and coming dog lovers in their dog training adventures.

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.

For those of you who aren’t on FB or haven’t heard yet…there is a new member of the Dragondogs.  Moxie.

Moxie is our first ACD aka Australian Cattle Dog aka Blue Heeler.  Tracy Custer evaluated her and sent her info out into the disc dog network about an awesome Frisbeast.  Abby knew that I was looking for a new dog, so she sent me the link with a note that said… here is your dog.  It went kinda backwards from there.  Some other guy wanted her too – so I made the patient and responsible choice after a really cool chat with Apryl … I’ll wait another 6 months until Leila is a bit more established.  The dog would have another great disc home to go to so no worries.

The day after – or maybe it was a couple days after – I made that very responsible and patience choice, I get a message saying that the guy never claimed her and she still needed a home.  Oh well now that just changed the whole game!  The rest of the story is not that interesting – we got her and a nice lady drove her down here from St. Louis to Tampa.

The next morning it started – we got right to play cause Lord knows…there wasn’t another option for Moxie.  She was ready to go.  Her growth has been ridiculous – stupid – insane.  I’ll let you see for yourself just the difference between day 1 (session 2) and day 2 (session 2).  This girl can jam.  Enjoy!

Last night I figured I’d try teaching her to flip in the usual space where we do all of her shaping – inside on the carpet.  She loved it!  She did some little “umpa lumpas” and was very emphatic and focused.  I think I’m on to something!

This morning, she was extra amped and playful in her crate so I brought her out to try some more flip practice on the shaping carpet.  She was a disc monster – tugging and flipping and stretching to do more a real flip motion while coming back for more.  (Most often outside during training, she’ll take a tug but doesn’t hold or really pull on the disc.)

I have a new plan.  I’ll teach her to flip, catch butterflies and some short tosses on the carpet inside and when I feel she’s super confident, bring it back outside.  Hopefully building her confidence in the action itself, when she goes outside to practice, the stress of the training itself will be minimized or gone altogether. Check out a quick video of this morning’s session.

We’ve also put a couple more pounds on her over the past few weeks after Jason suggested it may be better for her.  She was very lean like the other girls – which is what I like to see in a disc dog.  However she comes from conformation lines and it seemed she was too lanky -and floppy.  She now seems much more balanced and strong and she didn’t flop at all during flip training – rather landed soundly.

I love the challenge that our girls have brought to us.  They are all very different and it has motivated me to be a multi-dimensional trainer versus just doing things the one way I know how.  We have one hardcore, one soft and one aloof.  I’m certainly looking forward to our next hardcore!!  Learning about the different personalities and training styles that are effective for each dog have taught me the value of assessing the individual dog for how they learn.  There isn’t a single perfect formula.  I plan to write a post soon about different training approaches.  The thought came to me after a great conversation with Apryl Lea yesterday – she helped me by figuring out what type of student I am.  Anyway…more on that later…

Emily requested a Leilani fix today – so shall she receive.

Lei has been developing slowly as a disc dog.  We figured when we got her as a puppy, it would be the same as getting Lilli as a puppy – she would grow up living frisbee and loving nothing else.  About 6 months ago, she started stressing when playing disc outside.  She loves to tug with the disc, but when it comes to rollers and throws, she’ll only stay focused for a minute – 2 minutes tops.  We’ve noticed she doesn’t require play/work like the other girls and is happy to be a couch potato all day.  The perfect family pet!

Considering all of this, I’ve decided to focus on her being our trick dog.  She LOVES shaping and is very happy to train for quite a while – never losing focus or drive.  We’ll give her a break from disc work and keep it to a couple simple catches and tugging and see if she grows into it.

Here’s a video of Leila’s shaping session earlier today.  Watching it back, it seems like all the stuff she’s working on is her favorite trick – and that’s a very good thing!

If anyone has any cool shaping trick ideas – please post them here!!  We love the feedback!

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.

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!

When we first heard of Kai (then her name was Sketch), we were told she was a high drive Aussie with performance potential.  We weren’t really looking for another dog – Leila was only 6 months old and we still had a TON of training to do that was keeping us busy…but I couldn’t resist at least connecting with the breeder and current family and learning a bit more about her.  We had an Aussie Pool Party and invited Kai, her owners and Ami Boxer and her pack – who includes Kai’s sire.  I was pretty sure in the first few minutes that she wasn’t what we were looking for performance wise.  We enjoyed the day none-the-less and I really enjoyed connecting and talking dogs with Ami.

The owners asked that we give her another review without all the hoopla – that she’d show more drive and focus.  I had shared with Jason before we met her that I’d only want to take her if she was already catching or at least tracking the disc and had basic obedience and a nice pile of drive to play with.  She had none of the above.  We then found out that Kai shares Lilli’s grandsire – they’re cousins – so we gave her a 1 week trial. Her current owners had allergies and she was overwhelming them a bit.  We were leaving in a week to go to Ron Watson’s Pawsitive Vybe Disc Dog Camp in Michigan and really struggled with whether to take her or return her.  It really came down to guilt…if I’m to be completely honest.  I didn’t have the heart to give her back to a family that wasn’t able to really work her.  Several friends (and experts) advised us against keeping her for those reasons.  When we went to Susan Garrett’s Skills camp in Ontario after Ron’s camp, Jason reminded me of a valuable thing that Susan shared.  ANY healthy/sound dog can be a successful performance dog with the right kind of training – or at the very least – a great family pet.  I was really just looking for the easy way out – and Kai was going to be a lot of work.  During our deluxe road trip to the north-country we decided to keep her.

This really ended up being a long story…  Lots of performance trainers of all different sports pick and choose their dogs – all requiring specific criteria.  Others like Ron and Apryl often end up keeping high risk dogs – performance viable or not – just because they have nowhere else to go – hence a houseful of dogs!  We had a choice with Kai.  I’m sure that her sliding doors future would have looked very different from the dog she is today had we not made that choice.  And not necessarily good or bad – just amazingly different.

In less than 2 months of focused training, Kai has transformed from a no-to-low drive, not focused, lacking basic obedience, no retrieve and generally aloof attitude towards training to a focused, driven, tracking and retrieving, jumping, flipping machine who demands play several times a day and belly rubs at night…all night.  It really came down to Jason’s challenge – that Kai would prove whether or not I’m a good dog trainer.  We got lucky with Lilli and we know it.  Kai wasn’t being handed to us a finished dog.  I like challenges.

So with no further adieu – here is a video of Kai we shot today in the outer band winds of Hurricane Ida – practicing for her first D/A event this weekend at Canis Major.  She’s amazing.  A different dog.  We chose her as a superstar – even though she didn’t appear to be that initially.  I’m grateful for the challenge and rewards of transforming and growing with her.

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.