The foot stall is a disc dog trick where the dog is in perfect balance on your feet while you throw frisbees to them.
Very spectacular to watch but also very difficult to build.
Let’s go through the various steps.
The first step concerns the dog’s physical preparation. Through targeted balance exercises, you teach the dog to climb onto various objects such as tables, small chairs, regular chairs, or stools that must necessarily be stable to avoid scaring the dog.
At the same time, you sensitize the dog to climb onto your body. The first exercise is sitting on the ground with your legs extended, allowing the dog to first step and then climb onto your legs. Subsequently, you do the same thing on your abdomen and then on your back with the help of someone else.
Once the dog has confidence in these exercises, you need to create a support structure, preferably made of wood, with a slightly rough surface so the dog won’t slip, where you’ll eventually be able to put your feet.
Initially, your support will be low, but then you’ll have to raise it to reach the height of your feet when they are stretched upward with your back on the ground.
When you are ready and confident, you can put your feet into the support, and finally, you can get the dog to climb on top. First with your legs bent, then increasingly erect. All while rewarding the dog with small treats.
Here’s the most challenging part. The transition from the support to your shoes.
There is no gradual transition; you remove the support and try it on the soles of your shoes. Everything works if you’ve gone through all the steps at the right pace, but above all with the certainty that the dog is confident without fear at all stages.
However, some people place a small mat on the support, which will be used when making the transition to shoes, so the surface doesn’t change.
It would all be over, except that… you need to introduce the frisbees.
Before throwing the frisbees directly to the dog while they are on your feet, you need to teach the dog to take one frisbee after another, first from the ground, then on the support at various heights, and finally on the support with the frisbee thrown from below upward.
Combine all these steps, and you’ll have a well-executed foot stall 😉
Enjoy & Play Disc Dog!
