Catching a frisbee

[jwn6w]

I was wondering if anybody can tell me how to teach your dog to catch a frisbee. I had a male that loved running after it and catching it. He carried that thing around with him all of the time. I was not the one who taught him to do it though and unfortunately I do not know how to start. I had tried with my son's dog and had no luck so I thought maybe the way I was going about it was wrong. I would appreciate any pointers here since I want to be able to teach my own dog when I get her.

[Mary Beth]

It seems that some dogs love frisbee and others don't. Hopefully your own dog will be a natural. To teach catching a frisbee, maybe get one that has a handle so the dog can more easily grasp it - I have seen them in pet catalogs - then throw like a ball and reward the dog for bringing it back - I would start with throwing the frisbee away from the dog and not expecting him to catch it -have him on the sit/stay - and walk away a bit then toss it in another direction and let your dog "fetch it".

[chloesmama2]

Originally Posted by jwn6w

I was wondering if anybody can tell me how to teach your dog to catch a frisbee. I had a male that loved running after it and catching it. He carried that thing around with him all of the time. I was not the one who taught him to do it though and unfortunately I do not know how to start. I had tried with my son's dog and had no luck so I thought maybe the way I was going about it was wrong. I would appreciate any pointers here since I want to be able to teach my own dog when I get her.

Our Chloe loves her frisbee. I bought her a frisbee a few months back and threw it to her once and she started catching it. Small at first and then further distances. She carries her frisbee all over the house and asks to play. It is pretty cool. I always wanted a dog to play but never could teach them either. Like the previous post said sometimes they do and sometimes others dont. We started though with catching a ball in the air, so that is where she got the hang of catching. I will have to video tape it one of these days, because I think it is so cool. Good luck on teaching yours.

[jwn6w]

Thanks I will try the ball thing first that is a good idea.

[readaboutdogs]

When they were younger they liked frisbee. They already would catch and bring back a ball and loved chasing/catching soccer balls! We had two that had a soft edge,like rope and a cloth center, the hard plastic they didn't like. We rolled it first, but they ran and caught in the air pretty quick. We'd store them up on a shelf and say "where's the frisbee?" they would always go over and look up at them! On the not so fun side, we stopped frisbee when they had once jumped to catch and twisted their back, they weren't interested after that and neither was I. They always continued to love the soccer balls though!

[Mooch]

Mine likes a soft frisbee, the red kong one is his favourite it's soft to catch and doesn't hurt if they miss the catch and it hits them in the nose


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[Valerae]

If you use clicker training, click and treat each time the dog returns the frisbee to you. As they run around at first, not returning the frisbee it can be frustrating, but you'll probably get results if you stick with it and are consistent.

My mutt rescue is a complete natural at all variations of fetch. Never had to train him for a second. I spent some time trying to train my GSD but she was completely disinterested. We've found other games (mostly nose fun) that she enjoys more so we stick with those. Besides the mutt wears me out with his constant desire to play fetch. :-)

[Jax08]

$10 Frisbee = Almost $5000 in bills for a torn ACL.

Play ball. Short throws.

[Blanketback]

I've never had a dog *not* like chasing things, lol. What I did with this puppy, when I brought him home at 8 weeks, was to encourage him to chase a ball by giving him a ball he could actually carry, instead of something larger that he couldn't fit into his tiny little mouth. I used a mini tennis ball, a cat toy. You have to be very careful with this though, because the toy is only appropriate while the mouth is tiny. I think I only used it for about a week until I worried about him choking on it. I also have a fleece frisbee for indoor games. I use a chewber outside - it's better than the others, IMO.

[Bear GSD]

My dog loves catching frisbee's and was a natural at it. I think that sometimes it's a natural ability for some dogs.
I would start out by using a frisbee that was soft and flexible, like maybe one of the one's made by Chuck It or the one I use which is made by Booda (Sonic Disc).

I would stand in front of the dog with a short distance in between and throw it to him/her to encourage him/her to catch it. If the dog catches it, I would give lots of treats and basically throw a party letting him know how fantastic he did.
Then I would have him return the frisbee to me. After the dog gets used to catching it, I would then work on throwing it away from them in short distances.

I hope you have a frisbee dog eventually, but one word of advice, make sure she's a little older to start. You don't want her to do any excessive jumping when she's growing to protect her hips.