# Axl catches epic 100 yd BOMB



## alphadude




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## Wendy427

Totally awesome!


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## coaraujo

Unbelievably awesome. My boys can't even catch a frisbee if it's thrown directly into their mouths... lol


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## Medster

Fantastic catch. Thanks for the great video.


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## Artnlibsmom

Great video, handsome boy!

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## CAROLINA MOM

Great job-handsome boy you've got.


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## Melfice

Wow what a great catch and video! How long did it take to train him to catch like that?


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## alphadude

Thanks for all the Kudos guys and gals! Axl is a rock star when it comes to extreme distance disc of any kind. That's why I want to enter us in the quadruped nationals this summer. He's the only 75 lb dog I have ever seen that can hang with the Whippets who win every year.

I can't even take credit for teaching him. Wish I could but he's just a natural. He must have been a disc dog in a former life or something. One day when he was a 6 month old puppy, I was cleaning out my shed. He was of course outside hanging with me. I found an old Frisbee and I off handedly tossed it over his head. Boy was I surprised when he whirled around, chased it, jumped up and caught it in mid air. I was stunned. All my life, I had wanted a dog that could do that. The next day, I took him to a local park and he was running 50' and catching the discs in mid air at a rate of like 70%. Since then, he and I rarely miss a day at the park practicing. When he was 3, it got boring because he would only miss when I screwed up throwing it. With regular Frisbees my max was "only" about 60-65 yards and it was too easy. Then I discovered those Aerobie Pro Rings that basically fly as far as you want to throw them. He took to them immediately and we've been pushing the envelope ever since. I was just thinking the other day that perhaps this will be the year we make an assault on the Guinness Book record of a thrown object to a canine that currently stands at 134 yards - held by a Whippet of course. Under the proper weather conditions, I personally wouldn't bet against him doing it or at least coming pretty dam close. He is an AMAZING athlete with not an ounce of quit in him.


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## Melfice

Wow that's awesome that he was a pro WITHOUT training haha.


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## OnMyWay2MyDreams

That was cool..my dog would lose sight of it, let alone actually catch it!


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## GoldenMum

Wow, what an awesome boy you are Axl! Amazing!


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## lhowemt

Wow, he is amazing! How fun to have a life with him.

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## alphadude

Melfice said:


> Wow that's awesome that he was a pro WITHOUT training haha.


He absolutely had the raw talent. He just knew instinctively that he was supposed to chase the disc and catch it in the air. Right from day one he had fabulous eye mouth coordination, and the ability to judge the approximate area where the disc was going to land. I don't think you can teach that. A dog either has it or it doesn't. His little brother Angus, *DEFINITELY doesn't*, DESPITE my best efforts. LOL 

What I do take credit for is helping him hone it to a razors edge. I have personally thrown him 10's of thousands of discs over the last 5+ years in the bitter cold, rain, snow, and blazing sun. We don't let weather interfere with his daily training which truth be told, is actually great fun and bonding time for both of us as well as really good exercise. Additionally, it made him a much better dog because a tired golden, especially an ultra high energy one like Ax, is a well behaved golden so it's a win-win. He literally goes insane when I say 'Ax, want to go to the park'. Typically by the time I'm halfway through saying the word "want" he is practically doing back flips and that whole body wag that Goldens are known for.


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## alphadude

lhowemt said:


> Wow, he is amazing! How fun to have a life with him.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


It absolutely is! 

It's a double edged sword though because I can't even conceive of what life would be like without him around.


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## lhowemt

My Hazel was a gazelle, a natural athlete like none I have known. It is miserable when they go, but after 4.5 months I am grateful to have been blessed by being her mom and having her in my life for 8 short years and a month. It is never enough, but all a blessing. Don't think about what if tomorrow, that only clouds today. Throw that disk!

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## alphadude

So sorry to hear about Hazel's passing at a relatively young age. She looks like a natural athlete from the pics. Lean and muscled. Beautiful girl. I can only imagine how you must miss her. 

Your advice is very sound and appreciated. It's just that you hear so many sad stories of beautiful and talented Goldens dying suddenly and before their time when seemingly in perfect health.


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## Claudia M

coaraujo said:


> Unbelievably awesome. My boys can't even catch a frisbee if it's thrown directly into their mouths... lol


keep at it, they will catch on. I have started using the frisbee as both directional and whistle training.
My problem is I throw like a girl and I cannot get the distance for them as alphadude does.


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## alphadude

Claudia M said:


> keep at it, they will catch on. I have started using the frisbee as both directional and whistle training.
> My problem is I throw like a girl and I cannot get the distance for them as alphadude does.


Claudia, the beauty of the Aerobie Pro Rings is that a simple flick of the wrist and they go 40 yards. They are much easier to throw than a conventional Frisbee and require very little effort. You don't need to use a hyzer angle when releasing them like you normally do to make a Frisbee fly level. Just release it perfectly parallel to the ground and prepare to be amazed. They sell them in Dick's sporting goods and lots of places online. They're $9.99. Very soft and gentle on the dogs teeth as well.


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## ScottyUSN

Awesome! We talked before my first boy (Bonzi) had the same knack, speed, and the ability to go up and get the tall throws. Can't say he was fetching 100 yard bombs but we didn't have the disks for that then (185 gram Wham Os). He also had lightning fast reflex to catch a ball and loved to play short stop at softball practice. I quit taking him to practice after I noticed a bunch of puncture holes in his tongue from grabbing line shots. My two boys since love to play but don't have the same drive your Axl and my Bonzi have for being receivers. I love them all the same, but miss that aspect.

Bonzi also lived to almost see 17, hope your Axl has that trait in common as well! 
Thanks for the share.


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## alphadude

ScottyUSN said:


> Awesome! We talked before my first boy (Bonzi) had the same knack, speed, and the ability to go up and get the tall throws. Can't say he was fetching 100 yard bombs but we didn't have the disks for that then (185 gram Wham Os). He also had lightning fast reflex to catch a ball and loved to play short stop at softball practice. I quit taking him to practice after I noticed a bunch of puncture holes in his tongue from grabbing line shots. My two boys since love to play but don't have the same drive your Axl and my Bonzi have for being receivers. I love them all the same, but miss that aspect.
> 
> Bonzi also lived to almost see 17, hope your Axl has that trait in common as well!
> Thanks for the share.


Scotty, Disc technology has come a LONG way in the last 20 years or so.

They really sound a lot alike (Bonzi & Axl) especially with the puntctures in the tongue. That happened to Ax earlier this week playing "shortstop" with the disc. I was using conventional discs because we are training for the quadruped nats this summer and I threw him a liner when he was already like 75 feet away and he caught it. Then he kind of refused to come back to me like he always does. I figured he was getting gassed so I threw him a several more long ones with him starting 75 feet or so out. Finally, I decided he was done and when I went out to get him and collect the discs, he had a mouthful of blood and it was all over his chest! Needless to say I was freaking out. I poured water in his mouth and when the blood was momentarily washed away, I saw that he had a small puncture in the side of his tongue - no doubt from the liner trapping it against his teeth. The little bugger KNEW I would end the session if I saw he was bleeding and he wanted to keep playing so he PURPOSELY stayed far enough away that I couldn't see that he was injured. It took me almost 2 hours to finally get the bleeding stopped. I love the fact that he's tough as nails but it worries me as well. Once a few years back I decided [stupidly] that it was a good idea to let him practice in a paved school yard. After about 20 catches, I noticed he was limping. I looked at his paws and he had ripped quarter sized holes in the middle pad of both his front paws from the rough cement! He wanted to keep right on playing! That took more than a week to heal. 

I really hope that he lives to almost 17 just like Bonzi and when he finally goes, he does so with a disc in his mouth.


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## pb2b

He didn't even look to see where the frisbee was! Amazing.


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## Tennyson

What a natural! That was incredible.
Ya know the Jets are in desperate need for a wide receiver!


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## Winniesmom

That is so amazing. Seeing a golden do what they should do is great. Winnie has a problem catching a tennis ball from 5 feet..well maybe the new one will have some ability. The amount of dedication you put into it is amazing. Axl is one special dog.


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## Pudden

Axel rules - this is cool.
My Pudden was like that too. She caught every frisbee, every time, by leaping up 6 feet into the air, regardless of how far you threw it. She could have caught this bomb too, effortless. Like Axel, she was a natural, I never trained her to do it. She trained me, in fact, to be the best thrower.


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## Caesar's Buddy

My Golden's were never really very good at catching a Frisbee... But I had a Collie that was magnificent at it.


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## alphadude

pb2b said:


> He didn't even look to see where the frisbee was! Amazing.


His technique is to spot it when it flies over him and adjust his path accordingly. He just seems to instinctively know approximately where it's headed. I had one spectator accuse me of of always throwing it to the same spot - as if that were even possible. I tossed him the disc and said throw it anywhere you want and see what happens. He threw it off at like a 45 degree angle. Ax happily went and shagged it. LOL His eyesight is extraordinarily keen because I have seen him unerringly catch discs or rings in near darkness. This time of the year, when I was working, I would rush home from an hour away to get some time in with him and the sun would be mostly down with just some ambient light left in the sky. Didn't seem to bother him at all. I couldn't see the disk after it got 20 feet away but he sure did.


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## alphadude

Caesar's Buddy said:


> My Golden's were never really very good at catching a Frisbee... But I had a Collie that was magnificent at it.


I have seen some collies that were excellent and border collies are AMAZING disc dogs. They usually excel at the freestyle routines where the human bends at the waist and the dog jumps on their back and springs like 8 or 9 feet in the air to catch the disc.


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## alphadude

Pudden said:


> Axel rules - this is cool.
> My Pudden was like that too. She caught every frisbee, every time, by leaping up 6 feet into the air, regardless of how far you threw it. She could have caught this bomb too, effortless. Like Axel, she was a natural, I never trained her to do it. She trained me, in fact, to be the best thrower.


Some dogs are just born with an innate ability I guess...naturals.

I could ALWAYS really "grip n rip" a Frisbee. I spent a LOT of summer nights as a teen drinking beer and playing Ultimate. Now I am in training myself to increase my distance. Ax has the skills, mine need improvement. In order to be competitive in the quad I need to get my average up to 90+ yards with a conventional disc since they don't allow the rings. Currently I am averaging 75-80 yards and that "ain't gonna cut it". So that means 2 a days at the park. Once with Ax and once with just a bag of discs. I swear people must think I'm a mental patient or something. LOL


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## alphadude

Winniesmom said:


> That is so amazing. Seeing a golden do what they should do is great. Winnie has a problem catching a tennis ball from 5 feet..well maybe the new one will have some ability. The amount of dedication you put into it is amazing. Axl is one special dog.


Thanks Winnie, he really is special and I cherish him. Truth be told there's really no place I'd rather be than hanging in the park with my *best* friend. It's become a huge part of my life over the last 5 years.

I hope your new one is a diamond in the rough like Ax.


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## alphadude

Tennyson said:


> What a natural! That was incredible.
> Ya know the Jets are in desperate need for a wide receiver!


This is Giants country LOL


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## Tennyson

alphadude said:


> This is Giants country LOL


So sorry.........Giants country here too!
Well since we have Cruz and Nicks maybe Axl can run back kicks.


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## GoldenCamper

That is one great retrieve  Fiona would look at me and say you go get it, LOL.


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## alphadude

GoldenCamper said:


> That is one great retrieve  Fiona would look at me and say you go get it, LOL.


LOL I hear that but Ax to the Max lives for that stuff. 

He insisted I take him out earlier with a 15 degree wind chill here in NY. He started barking furiously when I started packing up shop after only 15 mins. He lost that argument however, I could no longer feel my fingers.


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## Sam Hill

The Giants could have used Axl this year


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## tine434

That is truly amazing.... my boy is 3 only months but isn't athletic at all.... His dad was a bulky boy and his mom was a super athletic field golden, he took after dad lol. Keep us updated with videos  

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## alphadude

Sam Hill said:


> The Giants could have used Axl this year


Yes, they sure could have.


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## alphadude

tine434 said:


> That is truly amazing.... my boy is 3 only months but isn't athletic at all.... His dad was a bulky boy and his mom was a super athletic field golden, he took after dad lol. Keep us updated with videos


Thank you. I agree, he does something amazing almost every single day. Earlier today at the park, he was flawless, he caught 16 conventional discs *in a row*, each thrown at least 70 yards. He would jog back, drop the disc and take off at top speed after the next one. Ungodly stamina for a 6 year old golden. There was a young couple and their approximately 5 year old son next to us on the field, playing with what I assume were new Christmas toys (some sort of spring loaded rocket) that stopped what they were doing absolutely slack jawed in amazement watching the display he put on. Too bad my daughter passed on videoing us today.

Your boy sounds like my 19 month old Angus. Took after his dad. Massively boned but short and *completely* nonathletic. lol But 3 months might be a bit too early to tell. Could be his motor skills are still developing.


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