How to Teach Your Dog to Play Frisbee

By Langley Cornwell

Watching super dog-athletes at events like the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition is inspiring. The K9 Frisbee Dog Entertainment blows me away every year. Likewise, when I watch videos of dogs like Wallace, Bling Bling, Torch, Shiloh and Gracie performing amazing Disc Dog feats, I’m blown away. The way the canine athletes look at their handlers with such concentration and pure trust says it all. These dogs are focused on doing exactly what their person tells them to. At the risk of sounding corny or completely nuts, the look those dogs give their humans communicates the kind of love that can only come from a dog.

We play a very rudimentary version of Frisbee with one of our dogs. Our dog loves to chase the disc but rarely catches it in the air. Even so, she brings it right back so we’ll throw it again. She is a fine athlete; she’s very agile and can jump amazingly high. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I would take the time to teach her, she could learn to be a fine backyard Disc Dog.

Because the name “Frisbee” is a registered trademark, the sport is officially known as Disc Dog. Opinions vary on the specifics of training your pup to be a Disc Dog. It’s like all dog training; there are multiple paths to the same goal. Generally speaking, this method seems to be the most common:  

Use a disc specifically designed for dogs, because human Frisbees are not suitable for canine play.

Begin by introducing your dog to the disc. One of our dogs was interested in the toy immediately, but we had to take extra steps to entice our other dog. If your dog doesn’t take to it immediately, make the disc desirable somehow. Recommendations include waving the disc temptingly while talking in an excited voice, giving your dog a treat (and/or a click if you’ve clicker trained him) when he touches it, smearing peanut butter on the edges of the disc or rubbing a hotdog around the rim. Some people report using the disc as a food bowl and allowing the dog to eat out of it.

Once the disc is desirable to your dog, make it fun. Play gentle games of tug-of-war with the disc for a few days, always allowing your dog to win. Don’t pull too hard and never rip the toy from your dog’s mouth. Additionally, give your dog a CANIDAE treat, a click, or praise for playing with the disc. Reward your dog when he shows excitement about the disc. If he jumps up and tries to grab it out of your hands, reinforce the effort as good behavior.

When your dog has the primary disc in his mouth, use a second disc to entice him to drop the one in his mouth on his own. Choose a specific command; some people use give-it. Your goal is to teach the dog to give up the disc while still encouraging his attachment to the toy. Remember, always encourage your dogs drive to have and get the disc; it’s this focus that makes a good Disc Dog.

Go outside with your dog and issue a sit command. Throw the disc as a “grounder” so it rolls like a wheel. The point is to get your dog to chase and retrieve the disc, and grounders are easy to chase and retrieve. Once your dog has mastered retrieving grounders, toss the disc a short distance in the air. If the dog doesn’t respond to the disc flying through the air, alternate air tosses with grounders. When the dog catches the disc in the air and brings it back to you, offer praise and/or treats and then throw the disc again.

Gradually increase the distance you throw the disc. Eventually your dog will get used to the flying disc, learn how to follow along while it’s in the air, and will want the disc so badly that he’ll try to snatch it out of the air instead of waiting for it to drop to the ground. When you’ve gotten that far, gradually increase your throws until you’re covering some real distance.

You might also be interested in reading Disc Dog, a High Flying Sport and From the Shelter to the Championship Circle, a touching story about a talented and famous Disc Dog named Wallace.

I’m going to try to get our pup to catch discs out of the air. I know she can do it, if I can communicate with her properly. Wish me luck!

Top photo by R. Hensley
Middle photo by Sally9258
Bottom photo by Redjar

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How to Teach Your Dog to Play Red Light Green Light

By Linda Cole

Training is an essential part of a dogs education. Teaching basic commands helps you control your pet and keep him safe. Teaching your dog isnt difficult if you are committed, remain patient and stay consistent. Plus, if you make it into a game, its more fun all the way around. Dogs and kids love to play games, and by teaching both of them how to play Red Light, Green Light, youre showing them how to behave around each other.

One major lesson children can learn from playing the Red Light, Green Light game is how to react to a dog that may be chasing them or jumping up on them during play. It doesnt take long for a dog to become so excited during play that he ends up nipping at the kids when theyre running around or jumping up on them, all the while barking his love of the game hes playing. Unfortunately, thats when its time to slow the play down before someone gets hurt. The dog isnt being bad; hes just gotten too hyper to continue playing. Another good lesson for kids to learn is what to do when they meet an unfamiliar dog. By playing this game, kids are able to see firsthand how stopping and standing still can make a difference.

Before starting a game of Red light, Green light, your dog should know how to sit on command. But if he still needs to work on that, you can always practice with him during the game. Put a nice supply of CANIDAE dog treats in your pocket and be ready to reward him for sitting during the “freeze frame” part of the game.

The rules of the game are simple and easy for both kids and dogs to learn, but most kids probably already know how to play. Everyone starts out walking or running around the yard. A judge, which should be you to start with, suddenly shouts out “red light.” Everyone stops and freezes in position and the dog should sit down. To help him learn what you want him to do, run or walk with him on leash. As soon as you call out red light, stop and have him sit. Reward him with a treat immediately when he complies. Dont let him move until you yell “green light.” Thats the signal to release everyone and the game continues.

If running kids proves too tempting for your dog and he isnt getting the idea, start off slow and have everyone walk. Call out “red light” in shorter intervals to keep control of the game. You can let one of the kids hold the leash and give rewards or you can do it yourself until your dog gets what you want him to do. Call out “red light” and stand still. Give your pet the sit command or wait for him to sit on his own. Dont release everyone until he sits. This is also a good way to teach him to wait. Keep him sitting until you yell “green light.” If you want him to learn how to sit and wait and want to use a better word when letting him know he can move, instead of calling out “green light” use “Go.”

This is a good game to help your dog learn how to control his excitement, especially around kids, while giving him a way to work off some energy. And it helps kids see how their behavior influences how their dog acts around them. Kids learn how to control and calm down an excited dog. Playing a game is a good way to get your kids involved in dog training and makes the process more enjoyable. Kids and dogs learn better and faster when they are having fun.

Mix up the length of time between your freeze frame and walking or running. If at any time during the game your dog starts to get too excited, nips at the kids, or isnt paying attention to you, its time to end the game. Its a good idea when playing this game with young kids to leave a leash on your dog so you can quickly get him under control if needed.

Children and dogs of any age can learn how to play Red Light, Green Light, and playing is one of the best ways to bond with a pet. You might be surprised by what your kid and your dog can learn from a simple childhood game.

Top photo by Andy Carter
Bottom photo by Sheila Sund

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Throw another dog in the data pool

Hello Julie,

My, oh my! What an exciting time it was last week, witnessing Dog Spies migration to the Scientific American Blog Network. 

Such a great day for dogs, for science and for YOU! 

Yah! for this recognition of your fabulous writing achievements, communicating the field of canine science to a broader audience. WELL DONE!

As for your question about writing and how I do it, I have to admit Im between systems currently. By this, I mean that I sometimes map out ideas and plan my writing on paper before hitting the laptop; other times I just let rip straight onto the keyboard. 

I dont know if Ill ever migrate to a completely paperless system, but I feel that Im moving in that direction. I still take most of my notes in meetings on paper, which is ridiculous as my handwriting is barely legible, even to me!
Thanks also for the link to that piece by Clive Wynne about academic writing - I really enjoyed reading it.

META-ANALYSIS

You said it. Im neck-deep in meta-analysis goodness right now and Id love to tell you more about it. 

The meta-analysis data set Im currently involved in compiling is about canine salivary cortisol (that just means cortisol found in dog spit). Cortisol is a hormone (more detail here) regularly used in research concerning animal stress and welfare. Ive been interested in canine salivary cortisol  for a while now. 

Thats partly because I collected a lot of it (dog spit, that is) from dogs living in home environments and working dog kennels as part of my PhD research; and partly because its really interesting! But my data alone is just one piece of a bigger puzzle. While its really valuable information (of course its valuable, its part of my PhD!), it only offers insight into around 75 dogs from one population of purpose-bred dogs in one geographic area during one two-year period. How do the results of these dogs in my study compare to normal dogs?

Well, you see - thats the thing. What is the normal range for salivary cortisol in dogs?
We dont really know. 

What is it?
Meta-analysis is a way of evaluating and interpreting the results from research about a particular topic. It adds together the data from different studies, then looks at the compiled data pool to see what patterns and relationships might emerge in the larger body of available information created by the many research projects.

Throw another dog in the (data) pool! (source)

Why use it?
The patterns and groups we might look at within a meta-analysis of salivary cortisol (often used as an indicator of stress/welfare in dog research) are things like: 

• Effects of different environments (do all the results from dogs housed in unfamiliar kennel environments or familiar home environments clump together at different or similar points within the range of values as a whole?); 
• Effects of breed/age (is the range for labradors the same as that for german shepherds? Are all the young dogs in the same place as the old dogs?); 
• Methodological aspects (such as what collection media was used: cotton swabs / synthetic rope / swabs with a saliva stimulant, etc. - does this effect where the cortisol results lie within the whole range?) 

All this information (and much more!) can be investigated and the information will help to provide further context for the existing studies, while also informing the design and interpretation of future studies.

Nancy Dreschel

Can you really do that?

Yep, you really can! Meta-analysis is a method used frequently in human health research and there are plenty of resources to refer to (check out further reading section below). Of course, there are a few fancy statistical things you need to take into account and be aware of, to avoid tricksy sources of bias and subjectivity. 

Fortunately, my collaborator extraordinaire, Dr Nancy Dreschel, from The Pennsylvania State University, has set us up to work closely with an extensively experienced biostatistician, so we should be safe from any meta-analytic traps for young players.  

Nancy and I decided to undertake this project together after meeting at last years Canine Science Forum. It really is the best conference ever.

You meet the greatest people there, no?!  

As Im sure you already know, Nancy has done some very important research in the area of canine salivary cortisol, which Ill definitely write about in another post, another time (because cortisol in dog spit is SO worthy of being its own topic for discussion). She was recently chosen to receive the 2012 Excellence in Academic Advising Award from Penn State, and Im so pleased to be working with her on this project. 

This dog could probably provide 5L of spit without trying (source)

So far weve had great support from our fellow researchers, who have shared the raw data from over 30 studies with us. This has allowed us to enter data that represents over 5,000 separate cortisol sample results. As Nancy pointed out to me in a recent conversation, that represents around 5L (or 1.3 US gallons) of canine saliva. Juicy! 

Want to see one?

Well lucky for you - here are three meta-analysis papers I prepared* earlier:

• Breed differences in dogs sensitivity to human points: A Meta-Analysis
  These authors experienced a reluctance from other researchers to share data, which they handled with refreshingly direct honesty in their publication.
  
  

  

  Excerpt from Dorey, et al. (2009)

• Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis
  I mentioned this in my last post, but its worth mentioning again and a great example for anyone to look at, as its readily available through open access journal, PloS-One.

• Animal-Assisted Therapy: A Meta-Analysis
  Im not sure its compulsory to title your paper This Thing We Looked At: A Meta-Analysis, but its seems kinda catchy. Well probably follow suit.

*These are not my research. By prepared, I meant hyperlinked.

So there you have it. Im excited about dogs and Im excited about throwing their data into the compiled data pool. I imagine it will look something like this when were finished compiling:

Data "pooled". Snorrrt. Get it? Pooled? Ha!

When I posted on Facebook about being excited about dogs and pools, you might have expected Id talk about gene pools. Which is funny, because I wasnt intending to. Except that this week a study opened to collect data and the researchers involved in it ARE interested in gene pools, amongst other things - specifically the breeding, health, training and performance success of working farm dogs in Australia. 

The Farm Dog Project has launched (source)

Researchers at the University of Sydney, including Dr Joanathan Early, are seeking information via an online survey from working farm dog handlers about their dogs. Jono explained to me that "the information from this initial online survey will be used to focus the next stages of the Farm Dog Projects research into the specific areas that farmers identify as central to realizing the potential in farm dogs." 

If you have a working farm dog in Australia, you can take part in the online survey.

This will aid the Farm Dog Projects later endeavours, helping to focus and design objective behavioural measurements for traits that are highly valuable and/or difficult to train (remember when we talked about drive?), so efforts can then be turned to identifying the gene behaviour associations which can assist future breeding programs. Dr Early expects that "this information can then be used over the longer term of the Farm Dog Projects scope to develop Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) or Genetic breeding Values (geBVs) so that working farm dogs can benefit from the same access to science and breeding technology as the livestock they herd". Interestingly, some Guide Dog organisations have been using EBVs to genetically improve their dogs for guiding people with a visual impariment for close to a decade now.

This exciting body of research offers huge potential to the future of Australias working farm dogs and has been supported by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC); Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and the Working Kelpie Council.

I think I should stop now, this has turned into a long post, but its tough with all this exciting canine science going around me! Whats going on around you? Is it exciting too?

I truly hope so!

Mia

Further reading:

Liberati A., Altman D.G., Tetzlaff J., Mulrow C., Gøtzsche P.C., Ioannidis J.P.A., Clarke M., Devereaux P.J., Kleijnen J. & Moher D. & (2009). The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62 (10) e1-e34. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.006

Dorey N.R., Udell M.A.R. & Wynne C.D.L. (2009). Breed differences in dogs sensitivity to human points: A meta-analysis, Behavioural Processes, 81 (3) 409-415. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2009.03.011

Fratkin J.L., Sinn D.L., Patall E.A. & Gosling S.D. (2013). Personality consistency in dogs: a meta-analysis., PloS one, PMID: 23372787

Nimer J. & Lundahl B. (2007). Animal-Assisted Therapy: A Meta-Analysis, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 20 (3) 225-238. DOI: 10.2752/089279307X224773

© 2013 Mia Cobb

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Play with your dog for science

Project: Play With Your Dog (our latest study)

Hi Mia,

Wow. Very heavy stuff. I’m really happy you put this all out there. Its a great resource, especially when people tend to think, "That wont happen to me." An uncomfortable and upsetting situation hopefully becomes more real and understandable. Hopefully, an eye of caution will be extended to those circumstances more often associated with bites. 

Show us how you play
You’re right, my mind has been 100% on things not related to dog bites. At the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab, we just launched our next project. It’s called, Project: Play with Your Dog. 

We are cataloguing all the ways—traditional, original, or creative—people play with their dogs. To do this, we are using the Citizen Science platform and asking dog owners to submit short videos of themselves playing with their dog. Its really just a happy study.

Our Project on Scientific American Citizen Science

This week, we launched with a guest blog post on Scientific American, How do you play with your dog? and the project is now on their Citizen Science page.

Now we need hundreds of videos of people playing with their dogs!  


How people can participate: 
Find or make a 30-60 second video of you and your dog playing in whatever way you like to play together, and then upload the video to our website and complete a short survey. 

REALLY IMPORTANT: Both dog and person should be visible for all or most of the video. As cute as it is to see your dog running back and forth, we need to see you in the video playing with your dog. SUGGESTIONS: Attach the video camera to a tripod to capture the play area, or have another person hold the video camera.

Then, everyone is invited to add a picture to our Wall of Contributors (which is growing and the pictures are really awesome!)

Project: Play with Your Dog is open to anyone, in any country. If you live with a dog, we want to see you play.

Source: Business Insider Science

Additional details:
Subjects: Participants must be at least 8 years old 
Time Commitment: 20 to 30 minutes
Project Duration: Ongoing through Spring 2013
Project Website: www.DogHumanPlay.com 
Contact: DogCognitionStudy@gmail.com

Thats whats going on in my world. Look forward to seeing a video of Elke in the river and you with stick in hand ;)

Happy holidays on the horizon!!!

Julie  

© Julie Hecht 2012  

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