Dogs and Disc Golf

I got my Mach II yesterday and put it in the back yard. It didn't take more than 3 or 4 putts before my dog realized this was a game. She includes herself in all games. Now I have a good reason to make all my putts, because the ones I miss get tooth marks.

More dog stories here.

You might want to teach the dog that balls are good toys and frisbees are not toys, or you will never be able to take the dog out to the course with you.

I know of smart dogs that know the difference between "their" frisbee and other frisbees.

There's a dog in the NW US that is simply excellent at locating discs in the bushes. It's got to be a sixth sense. Don't see him around much, but man, is that a good dog to have around on a woody course. When that dog is in your group, you're simply not going to have a lost disc -- kurt from Seattle

[morgan]

It's not a sixth sense, it's one of the five regular ones.

Here's one about dogs. The world record for throwing a disc and having a dog catch it when the dog started out by the side of the thrower is 340 feet (110 meters). It was not a real golf disc it was one of those slow flying things called frebees or frisbs or something made by Wham-er or something. The dog was a whippet and I've seens whippets run, they can run as fast as the disc no matter how hard you throw them!

Whippets can run 42 MPH. How fast does a disc go?

There was a couple that used to walk their dog along the disc golf course I learned to play on (Roanoke). They saw the game being played often enough that they tried it and liked it so they started playing while walking their dog. As they understood the basic conflict between DG and DOG they taught their dog not to chase discs but they also taught him to retrieve discs (without puncture) out of an OB stream that comes into play on four of nine holes. As this stream is 10 - 20 feet wide and up to about 3 feet deep it was a very cool dog to have around.

Later

Maybe this should go in the "fantasy course" section. But a good clubhouse with "caddy dogs" that carry your discs in a bag harnessed to their back and great retreiving abilities (soft mouths) - that would be pretty cool.

I have a doggy back pack (got it from REI.com) that I put on my Doberman so when I am out on the course with the dog she is my caddy. It's really nice, especially since the fatigue factor doesn't come in to play much since I am only walking and throwing (no carrying!) It easily holds 10 discs.

I just got the DEVO reference. Very funny!

Thanks

[axldog]

I use my dog as a caddy too! I got a doggy backpack from REI. It holds my discs and beverages for both of us. I've been training him to do this for a year now. He never touches the discs.

[morgan]

My dog finds the lost discs more easily if I allow him to scent mark the discs with a little urine before I start each match. It sounds gross, but it keeps people from stealing my discs. Trouble is, I have to play with rubber gloves.

A little more than I wanted to know Morgan. I'll never look at your dog the same way again!

I bought a puppie whippet at 8 weeks old. Now he's like 3mo. old. Great dog. If he takes to catching that fastback, will just be the topper.
Want a cool smart, poud, hunter? Get a whippet. Whatch out, they can jump very hi at intense speeds. Prijon is a good boy!

Also, to add to some other postings.
The whippet that holds the record now was chasing a Innova Lynks. I'm tring to remember, but it's more like 390' now. Go find a Lynks and see how far you can throw one. That dude can crush. And whippets max out around 35 mph.
Still very fast!!!

I know greyhounds can go 42 MPH, I was just guessing whippets were about the same. Sorry if I was wrong.

[rhett]

Hey Morgan, that's another good reason to stay away from the habit of licking your fingers before you throw!

Thats cool, whippet good. I just wanted to add to let the people know. Although, the greyhound is faster. The whippet will out sprint the greyhound. Not bad for being half it's size.

[morgan]

The greyhound is to the thoroughbred what the whippet is to the quarterhorse. Lower mass means better acceleration.

Greyhound: Average speed 40 mph
Whippet: Average speed 37 mph

Greyhound is the fastest dog. Whippet is the fastest domesticated animal for its size.

Info. gratis AKC.

[lafsaledog]

Hello, I am Bill Geibel, and anyone who has played the Akron or Buchmiller courses in Lancaster, PA knows my dogs.
2 stories about the dogs I have owned.
These stories are dedicated to Princess ( I lost her to a car accident out front of my house )
She was always with me on the disc golf course and she would "spot" the disc on the ground when it stopped ( or where she last saw it ) and one time there was snow on the ground and my partner in compition threw a disc and she "spotted" the disc too good and hit the disc with her paw and SLEDDED down the first hill on hole 1 at Akron which the "drive" amounted to 50 ft LOL in total distance ( 175 ft drive - 125 sled back ). And the kicker is my partner took the 50 ft drive LOL I thought he was really cool about it.
Along the "spotting" ability of Princess I only lost 2 discs ( non water ) while she was with me on ANY course I played ( not just home courses )She used to "circle" the last area she saw the disc and even if it was not in the circle she made I would normally follow the flight pattern after she would "spot" the disc and normally find the disc.

The other story is the name of the dog I have now.
His name is Shadow. The name was given to him by a friend who said he would follow you around like a shadow. Well, of course, being into disc golf as big as I was at the time I wanted to name the dog after something DISC GOLF wise ( ACE, Hyzer, etc ) and anyone who knows old disc golf discs knows that Discraft used to have a disc named "SHADOW" Problem solved. Shadow is his name.

If you play in the Carrollton, TX area, you know me and my dog Cupid. In the beginning, Cupid would chase discs or walk in front of people while putting. But now she knows the courses and if everyone stands still, so will she. But a lot of people are strongly opposed to dogs on the course, even a well behaved dog. One thing I have noticed is there is a direct correlation between how much a person hates the dog and their lack of character. As a result, I go out of my way to avoid playing with people who don't like the dog. When I played at Pease (sp?) Park in Austin, it seemed like every card in the mini had a dog. I wish I could play there more often!

[morgan]

I tried to teach my dog to throw the chicken wing but every time she gets ready to throw the chicken wing, she eats it. How do you train a dog not to eat chicken? If I put dog repellent on it, she doesn't want to throw it.

My dog Buddy, a Labrador Retriever, spots and retrieves discs, even those under water that are visible from the surface. He will completely submerge his head under water to retrieve a disc. I rarely lose a disc when I have him with me on the course, and even added a disc or two to my bag on occasion that he finds in the brush. He usually will soft mouth the discs, although on occasion he gets carried away and I do have a few discs with toothmarks. Usually we save the Frisbees for chew toys!

The club I play with "Shoot the Breeze Disc Golf" Ashtablua, OH, has adopted Buddy as the club mascot. I am going to discuss the urine on the discs to mark their scent, as discussed by Morgan, to see how they fell about that. That's too funny!

Thanks for letting me sing my dogs praises, he's a good friend, and partner on the course.
PS
I would never make him caddy for me nor do I think he would!

[morgan]

If you have a heavy bag of discs to carry around, may I suggest sled dogs? One large Malamute can probably pull a load of 500 pounds of discs on a sled, or even more if you use a wheel cart. Just think how many discs that would be. I figure 500 pounds is 1332 discs if they average 170 grams each. If you carry that many discs, you should win the round easily.

That was funny! I'm ROTFLMAOUBITF. Morgan, if you carry 1332 discs on a sled, how do you scent mark all of them? It must be quite a sight (and a stink) to see your Malamute coming up the fairway with a sled.

My dog Truman is my favorite dog. Sure I tried to trane him to retreave disc but he just wont. I think He should be Disc Golf Most Valuble Dog.
Did I mention he was a mixed Beagle, Sheltie.

JBR! The dog of all dogs. He's still learning. He's a black lab that has had a couple grand in training under his belt. He's been trained to retrieve everything and that's what he does, to my dismay on the DG course. (many of you animal rights activists will not like the following, but I don't really care!) He does much better when his shock collar works. All that he wants to do is go get something, and that something happens to usually be my best drive of the day. If the shock collar is working correctly (i.e. charged) he will just run out to the disc and mark it. He usually won't pick them up (after a good shock the first time he tries to), he'll just run around near it. If he can't find the disc, he is hilarious. He runs around like a chicken with it's head cut off until I call him to me. He's still a pretty big pain in the [*****] on the course, and I never throw as well when he's with me. But he has only been out 3 times, so I do not expect too much. I've got the patience, now I just have to get my shock collar to work right, and we'll make some real progress.

JBR....
My Black Lab, Lucy, is THE disc golf dog at Redan Park in Atlanta. Her favorite is a tennis ball and all her friends out there LOVE to throw it for her. The only time she'll touch a disc is if you ask her to fetch it for you.....say....out of the shoul. Then she'll get it for you...no teeth marks....and bring it right back to your feet. All she wants is a treat!
Sara

JBR is the coolest. One of the best things I ever did was to have all the training done for Duck hunting. He has the softest mouth, and rarely puts teeth marks in discs. The only time he does is when he's ****** and gets ahold of one at home when I don't realize it. That's a great idea to take the tennis ball with me on the course. That's his favorite toy at home. I may have to get a hard rubber ball from the pet store, so that the tennis ball does not get all messed up on bad days. When everythings working right, he won't touch the disc when I tell him to "leave it." But he feels that he has to go run after everything/anything thrown. This usually means that I do not get to throw first, which does not bother me. He'll get better. He will probably be my constant companion at the course from here out. By this time next year, he is going to be the DG dog of all dogs.
"la di da di da. It's the mother f'n JBR, Roc dog mother f'er!" Sorry, just heard DR. Dre's next episode. This is another little tribute to him.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0962934623/o/qid=974455613/sr=2-1/103-2113017-8570239

I just got back from playing Rosedale in Kansas City and remembered what happened to me last year. On hole 17 I turned over an X2 and it went into a backyard on the right side. I wasn't sure if it made it through the brush so I went to look for it. Lo and behold a black lab had it in its mouth and wanted to play. I couldn't and wouldn't climb the fence but I tried to call the dog over with my disc. He kept coming back to me and my brother but I just couldn't get the disc because he kept backing up so he could play. I finally had to pretend that I could only reach a few inches and he came close enough and I snagged it. Completely undamaged and I was relieved to get the disc back. I probably wouldn't have even found the disc if this dog hadn't found it for me.

Wow, now I'm jealous. My local courses are in parks that don't allow dogs. Consider yourselves lucky.

Uh, he said a back yard. Duh.

Well last summer we decided to play this private course on our way to Canada. The course is on a farm in mid michigan. We walked up to the first hole, a vicious dogleg right, and tried to turn over our right handed shots as much as possible. Our newbee friend shanked his drive horrifically to the left and into a natural lane. As it turned out, the lane hid a small crick, and the disc splashed when it landed. It was a dismal start to a day of disc golf. We creeped up to the last known sighting of the disc, when out popped one of the farmers dogs who had been tailing us. He was soaking wet, and had the disc in his mouth. What an amazing sight. He had retrieved the disc on his own accord. Obviously he was a well trained disc-finding dog which we told him.
We found out from other golfers that one of the dogs' names was Sid, and that they readily will follow any discgolfers, and help retrieve their discs all for the measley fee of a little attention.

"we give them what time, food, space, and affection can spare and in return they give us everything and all. it is by far the best deal ever struck by humankind." close enough.

Swope Park in KC, (one of the best disc golf courses in the world I might add), It used to be the 4th hole (years ago), you had to throw along a 10' fence the entire length of the hole on the left. So for us right-handers, often you would go over the fence. There was a section of the fence that you could hold up the bottom, crawl under to retrieve your disc. Only problem was there was big Doberman pincer chained to a tree in the back yard of the house nearby. There were times when you would just hear him growling and then barking as you ran for your life and hoped the chain would hold.

This hole became affectionately know as the "Doby hole"!

Most that play horizon in Winston Salem have seen my Malamute/lab. I have a backpack for him that I don't use, he likes to visit other players and comes back to his name perfectly if he wants to. He is very kind; sniffs hands, does not stand on the tee and will even stop while you throw.

If you smile after a drive he will walk up to you. For the longest time I thought he knew my plastic was close to the basket which was in direct contradiction to his.....education. He just liked to see my happy and learned to expect the good throw pet.

He does not find my discs he gave up on that career after the ever elusive tail crushed his ego.

I think dogs go hand in hand with disc golf.

P.S. its not on PDGA listing but Blacksburg VA has a nice course.

teach your dog to caddy and retrieve lost discs

more at:

http://zwap.to/k9caddy/

If you love to play with dogs.........you should try Norwalk Ct's Cranbury park.The park with more dogs than you can imagine.not to forget steaming piles of.well you know a real bummer for worm burners.There should be a feasable solution?

This is a animated short by Mondo Mini Shows:
Poker Night - "Bet" (http://atomfilms.mondominishows.com/dynamic/09/pn/showplay/play-low.html) (dogs & fribees)
If you have dial-up it'll take about 2 freakin' minutes to load! (the burning cigar)

[slo]

**** (stars). It took me more like ten minutes to load but that's Cartoon Network quality.

[crusher]

It was worth the 10 minutes to load, that's funny!

[rhett]

Darn worth the 10-15 seconds it took to download! Everybody should check it out.

[morgan]

I am that dog!!

Not over the hill yet (ouch). I've still got it baby (Ooooogh). Push a little harder. (ouch) Still as good as I was in college (snap)

10-15 seconds ???
<FONT SIZE="-2">DSL envy</FONT>

[slo]

Never too old a dog for DG.

I think I got it backwards, shouldn't the dog be doing the caddying... click here-caddy in training (http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/discodadee@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=/e789&.dnm=ee7d.jpg)

[scoop]

We just got a new dog...he's a 7 month old Golden Lab with a bit of Blood Hound. He's huge. 100lbs already. And lots of energy.

Since he needs daily walks (more like runs) and I need more disc golf practice, I've started taking him out to a small nearly-pitch-and-putt 9 hole course near our house (Zilker Park in Austin).

I take one disc (a Buzz). Otis (my dog) is on a 6' leash. I put him in a sit, throw my drive, and then we run to the disc. We end up playing a speed golf as I run between every shot and only throw one disc.

He gets a good workout while learing obedience (sit, stay, and leash control). I get a good workout running. Plus I'm really learning to control my mid-range discs much better.

I think I'm going to look into a dog caddy bag, as he's a huge dog and wouldn't even notice if I strapped 2-3 lbs to his back.

Man, I am NOT a fan of dogs on the golf courses. Take the other day for example...

I'm out, golfing (naturally) and my disc is lying approx. 3 meters from the hole. Great! So I stroll over and pick up my disc, getting ready to make my putt.

When what happens? Some blasted dog (who'se owners were approx 15+ meters away) comes running up to the basket and proceeds to take a leak on the pole! Now WHAT is up with that? I just stood there in disbelief. I mean the last thing I wanted to do was throw my disc into a puddle of dog piddle.

I don't know what was worse. The fact that the dog piddled right where and when I was going to throw, or the fact that the dog's owners seemed to think it was perfectly fine for their dog to just go anywhere and anytime it felt like.

[scoop]

I understand your angst, Sherman. Irresponsible dog owners **** me off too.

My dog remains on a leash and in my control the entire round. It's for his own safety as well as that of other players. I also carry plastic bags to pick up his droppings. I'd be livid if my disc landed in someone else's dog's crap...so always pick up my dog's.

I was playing a round in Seattle one time and a group of us stopped to take a break. I didn't carry a bag back then, just three discs, so I set them down on a stump and started bs'n with the guys when one of their dogs comes up and snakes one of my discs right off the stump. He led us on a merry chase and we all got a good laugh running him down. the disc didn't have a mark on it. that dog was just having fun with us!
I'm definitely a dog fan, they have a great sense of humor. :cool:

[jasonc]

I was playing a round at the Vet with Clayton and a few other people one day. As we are walking down the hill on hole #5 trying to locate everyone's shots we notice Clayton is about 2' from the bucket. We all threw our up shots and as we are walking to the hole a dog comes out of the woods and pees on Clayton's disc. As we're all laughing at the look on his face I told him that's what he gets for bragging about his shot the whole time we were trying to throw :D I still can't help but laugh to myself when I think about it :D When we told him it was now the dog's disc since it had marked it's property he says "**** right, cause I'm not picking it up".....and just left it there

[scoop]

****....


I was at the Vet playing a round the other day...when lo-and-behold, I walk up to the basket on #5, and there's a sweet [*****] cherry disc under the basket.

I picked it up, held it to the sky to thank the disc golf gods for the gift they had bestowed upon me, adn then kissed that cherry new piece of plastic before dropping it into my bag...

Time to go drink a bottle of Listerine.

[exczar]

I was at the Vet playing a round the other day...when lo-and-behold, I walk up to the basket on #5, and there's a sweet cherry disc under the basket.

I picked it up, held it to the sky to thank the disc golf gods for the gift they had bestowed upon me, adn then kissed that cherry new piece of plastic before dropping it into my bag...

Time to go drink a bottle of Listerine.



LOL! Try saying "****-a-doodle-doo!" while gargling, Rooster!

[spartan]

i play rounds with my cat sometimes. he just chills in my bag mostly and never causes a fuss. unless someone tries to reach for the card and then he gives em a good swat. still trying to teach him how to retrieve my disc from the tree, but usually after i throw him up to get it i have to throw rocks at the disc and the cat to get em both down. :(

i am currently trying to build a jacket for him that has pockets for my pencils, scorecard and mini. i think i have the best behaved cat on the course.

here is a pic of my current bag configuration: http://www.members.cox.net/brooksandmandy3/pettotekittytop.jpg

[baldguy]

My dog is a frisbee dog down to her core. She's half Kelpie and half Blue Heeler... which means anything that can be considered a game/work, she loves. She's also very intelligent and after an hour or so of working with her, she knows that when I'm putting in the back yard, she's not to pick any of them up. I can throw all my putters and her frisbee, the only one she'll touch is her frisbee. Even though she knows the difference, she still gets very excited and really wants to play. I haven't taken her to very many tournaments, but she'll be with me in Live Oak this weekend. If my better half (Deidre) is playing, then the dog (Mandy) will stay in the hotel room. Deidre hasn't been feeling well, so she might sit out the tourney and just staff. If so, Mandy will be with her at the course all day.

Mandy is pretty impressive with her frisbee-catching abilities, so hopefully she can entertain a little between rounds :) I'm still not sure about letting her walk with me during a round. I think 4-5 guys on a card throwing discs that she can't chase might just make her little head explode.

There was a rumour once that a big black dog would roam Veterans carrying the biggest baddest stick he could find for all 18 holes. :D

There is a course in Mint Hill where the fairways are basically bushogged out of some thick shule. My chocolate lab Anni is the best because she goes in the shule and finds my disc, picks it up and takes it to the closest spot in the fairway. Every now and then she gets excited and grabs a good shot and brings it back 30 or 40 ft, but the rule is, play it where she drops it. She has a blast. :D

[circle_2]

I've seen that Big Black Dog! Amazing, as it was the only round I've ever played at Veterans!! :p

[circle_2]

I named my DG dog "4"...not a big hit as everybody ducks when I call him... /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Great idea Martin. Now if only I could train my cat to chill out in the golf bag, all would be set!

[Archemike]

I saw a guy who all he has to do is throw a rock near the disc in the water or bush at a desert course and the dog will fetch the disc.