Hello
Wow I was found myself being truly blessed to be asked to come to France to teach others about the great sport of disc dogging in July of 2011. Also I found out I would be judging the first ever Skyhoundz World Championships Qualifier also.
Well I was met at the Airport by my two incredible hosts Patricia ReRolle and Kimberly Johnson, they were great to Gipper and I the entire trip. Well I arrived in Paris and we headed towards the Castle which had been in Patricia’s family for many many centurys. I remember thinking WOW as we drove the trip in Country of France, how beautiful the land was. We talked and we laughed and we got to know each other better on the drive.
We arrived at the Castle and yes it was nice, It was not one of the type of castles with a mote and drawbridge around it, it was just a huge and I mean HUGE Castle/House.
A few of the people were allready there and so I got to just talk. The field for the seminar was allready prepared for the for the four days of teaching.
So after a great nights sleep in my own private upstairs room in the castle it was time to start teaching. One crazy thing was it did not get dark outside until like 1030 pm which was different compared to here in the states.
So I have to mention the food was great and Patricia was also always preparing each meal for me and many more of the participants of the seminar and oh my she was a GREAT COOK. You were never going to go away hungry from the table. And I am not a huge Wine Drinker but France has the best wine I have ever drank.
So the seminar started and I was like wow how am I going to teach for four days. It was two days longer then any other day I had taught. But you know I feel like it went really well and we were able to spend a lot of time with everyone.
On Friday more people started to arrive to set up for their stay for the competition on Sunday. Some of them also came to the seminar portion on Saturday. The Seminar ended mid day on Saturday and we started to prepare the field for the competition and also may great from Sven showed up Friday with his wonderful wife and beautiful new Son. So we actually improvised and played some disc golf also which was fun.
So Sunday Morning the field was set up and there we go off and running with the first Skyhoundz World Championship Qualifier ever in France. And it went really really smooth and I saw some great routines over and over from teams all around Europe that came to compete. Once again Patricia Rerolle and Kimberly prepared us a great meal on site when they cooked from a grill. It was awesome.
The Competition finished and the awards were handed out and off we were back to Paris to prepare for my departure back to the states. Oh my Paris is oh so pretty, and Patricia’s house in Paris is right under the world famous Eifel tower and Pat and Kimberly took me all around Paris and it was beautiful! and they took me out to a super nice resturant. They also took me to their canine store in Paris called Animal Dressage which was beautiful and super super nice I was like WOW.
Then a short nap and off to the airport. It was such a quick trip I could not believe it went by so quickly.
I wanted to thank Patricia and Kimberly once again for such a wonderful time and you all were so wonderful in helping take care of Gipper. I felt like I had made many more friends for life.

Hey All

 So what kind of happened to me in my seven years in the great sport of disc dogging is I have really have nobody around me to train with and usually the moments I get to ask people questions are brief and I do not like to bother people too much. I remember when I first started in the sport I introduced myself to a top disc dogger and asked him how to do a throw and he looked me in the eyes and said “I Charge 65 dollars a hour to answer your questions” and oh yes he was serious.

 So it was at this point I told myself if I ever got a little more experienced and I could share what I have learned with others whether it be just talking to people or doing seminars or teaching videos aka Youtube that I would give back to the sport since the sport of disc dogging and my dogs have gave so much back to me.

 So at competitions I watch everyone and if I see someone make a cool throw and I see it work and that it can work and hopefully it was caught by someone on video then I am going to go home and try to learn it.

Hey all

I get asked from time to time  how did I teach my dog to do that certain trick.

 Well to me there is no super secret.

Now my buddy Preston Dean for example he has taught his dogs lots of neat tricks but the key thing he has that I do not have as much of but I am working on it is patience.

 Preston has told me in the past how he will take one of his dogs into a location in his house far away from the other dogs and hopefully where they cannot even hear them. Then he will focus on that one on one training. He will break the tricks down into smaller sections and reward smaller sections of the treat then add to them and then add them together.

 My problem is many times once I see a trick I want my dogs to do I quickly want to teach it to them and I try to move forward to fast trying to get to the final wanted results.  But over the last year or so I have started to learn to take one dog at a time to my Barn and break the tricks down into smaller sections.

Well

 Hmm the magic answer is I dont really know but I will share with you what I have learned from my own experiences with my own dogs.

 We currently have four dogs that love to play disc and the amount of training each of them gets is similar but still a little different.

 First off I have four border collies and for the most part they would always play and practice if I would allow it to happen.

 Each one of my dogs have a little bit different bodies also so I also have to watch their physical body weight also. Rocket can put on extra pounds in no time. Gipper can get too skinny with not enough food and exercise.  Irish I have to watch her weight a little bit also as she seems to smartest as to how much she wants to and does not want to exercise. Thunder is like Rocket he does not have a off switch so I have to be careful with him but his weight to me seems good.