Getting A Dog To Leap For A Disc

From: Hyperflite Disc Dog Forums

I've had some success using this technique with my students whose dogs are ground bound .....

You can try using an agility jump or other hurdle to encourage the dog to leap for the disc. First though, your dog must know how to jump a hurdle. The height of the hurdle should be the wither height of the dog. (if the dog is new to jumping hurdles start with a low height and work up to the wither height > this is for athletic breeds not for super tall dogs > for the latter type of dog use a jump height placement of about 18 - 24") Place your dog about 2 strides away from the hurdle so that when you cue her to go 'over'' she can take 2 comfortable strides into the jump so as to have a proper jumping style. You don't want her going straight up > you want her jumping forward and up. Once she understands how to go over the jump hold the disc over the jump > cue her to 'over' > and as soon as she advances towards the jump (remember she has already been given the 'over' cue) cue her to 'take it' so that she grabs the disc from your hand as she goes over the jump. As soon as she understands the exercise is to go 'over' and 'take it', you will no longer have to give the 'over' cue. You want to practice this until leaping for the disc is a habit. As you go along switch from a 'take' to a 'floater' throw.

In conjunction with this we teach the dog that 'hup' means to jump up. We do this by encouraging the dog to jump up to touch a target.

Next we get rid of the jump. Place the dog on a wait a couple of strides away from you, hold up the disc and cue her to 'take it' > hold it high enough so that she cannot get it without jumping. By now though, she should leap out of habit and should do so even though the hurdle has been removed. This though, is where you can use your 'hup' cue if necessary. As the dog comes in tell her 'take it/hup' to help her along.
Gradually change that floater throw to a short toss always being sure to place that disc just high enough to encourage her to leap up for it. When she is reliably jumping up for the short toss, extend the toss a little longer, and when she is good at leaping up to catch at the new distance, extend your throw a little longer and so on.