Game Concepts

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We deal with the problems of the complex nature of K9Disc by having a standard communication system. The Consequent Chain, a 3 step process based upon Operant Conditioning is the foundation of the Consequent Game.

We will teach our dogs, through this communication method, that their behavior affects their consequence, their good behavior makes the game interesting.

Many times, dogs don’t really understand that the object of the game is to catch the disc. New players with poor throwing skills teaching their dogs to catch can be a difficult and frustrating experience for both dog and handler. A simple fix for this that is nearly unmistakable communication for the dog is verbal praise and high animation for a catch, and silence for a miss. This works extremely well in teaching the dog the object of the game: catch discs!

Let’s say that you have a dog that does not retrieve well, and is always dropping it a few feet in front of you. This is a frustrating problem for many trainers, as the more pressure you put on the dog to bring you the disc, the less apt he is to actually bring it. The dog learns that interaction with the handler creates stress, and learns to avoid that situation. The disc gets dropped farther and farther from the handler.

There are many things that you can do to get a retrieve, but few people use the dog’s drive and the rules of cause and effect, a consequent game, to get the disc brought to their hand.
Here is how the consequent game can help you get the disc dropped right next to the handler.

A roller is a disc that is rolled along the ground like the wheel of a car. It bounces as it rolls, tends to trigger prey drive in most dogs. To throw a roller hold the disc in your hand like a normal backhand throw, but turn your palm up so the rim of the disc points to the ground and the sky. Flick the disc out about 5-10 feet in front of you, make sure to get it spinning well. The more spin the better and longer it will roll.

This is probably the most important reward in the Consequent Game. It is also the most complex. In essence, when your dog is honoring your request, the game is exciting, when your dog is not honoring your requests, create a lull or break in the game before you try again, or shift gears to something else entirely.

Playing disc with a dog is a complex game: attention, outrun, tracking, chase, catch, retrieve, drop, positional awareness, all of these issues come into play on every throw, and that is just in a backyard game of catch. When we start to play freestyle with our dogs, there are literally hundreds of complex situations like these going on within our games.

This game differs from other dog sports, mainly in terms of complexity. Predictable body movements cue and trigger dogs to perform behaviors in agility, and while those predictable body movements are still important, they do not necessarily communicate the same information in a game of canine disc. The equipment is static in agility and flyball. Discs are moving and unstable. We constantly ask the dog to catch and release his target which is not only the target, it is also the reward. We ask them to switch from target to target all the time.  There are many possible pitfalls. The Consequent Game isn’t the answer to all of them, but it sure is a good start and an enlightening concept.

Much of dog training is putting your dog into or keeping your dog out of behavioral ruts. k9disc is no different. Change things up frequently to keep the game exciting. Many dogs will grow bored with a set sequence, and you will have to work to get them to really shine within that sequence that is boring to them.

Let’s say we want our experienced dog to drop a disc at a distance of say 15 yards so he can go after the next disc that we would like to throw at him. This is a fairly common problem for many discdog teams, you might have had it yourself. For some reason they just don’t want to drop.

So our focus is on the drop. We need to ignore everything else and focus on that one behavior: the drop.

Teaching through the consequent game requires that you focus on one skill at a time. If we are working on a retrieve to the hand, we are going to focus on retrieve to the hand. We will ignore pet peeve behaviors, or minor mistakes in other parts of the game in order to keep the game moving so we get the chance to make our dog believe that a retrieve to the hand is an exciting event.