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Monday, June 9, 2008 11:06 AM EDT
Argus-Press Photo by Anthony Cepak Merlin, owned by Jason Stevens of Saginaw, jumps to catch a disc during the distance accuracy competition of the K-9 Disc Championships Saturday.
0WOSSO - Despite the heat, a large number of competitors came out with their dogs to compete in the 23rd annual Curwood K-9 Disc Championship to see who would emerge as the top dog.
And after two and a half hours of competing under the hot sun at the Owosso Middle School athletic field, Scott Jones of North Branch and his 5-year-old black Lab Bolareo took home the trophy for Best Overall and first prize for distance and accuracy.
“I started coming to this competition in 1999 and I've only missed one year,” Jones said. “They have always run a nice event here. There are some competitions where you enjoying attending and some you go to just for the fun of competing. But I really enjoy coming here.”
Jones has traveled all over the country competing in disc competitions. Bolareo has competed in the Skyhoundz World Championship four times.
“We even got second place last year,” Jones said.
Jones said he first got into disc-throwing competitions after reading about it online.
“My other Lab is a good retriever and likes it,” Jones said. “So I went and showed up at a competition to figure it out and I got sucked in. I was hooked.”
Even though the disc competition is considered a local event, contest chairman Michael Espich said people often travel long distances to compete.
“These people travel all over the United States doing this,” Espich said. “You might find people from Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio here.”
Twenty-nine teams registered for the competition, which was sponsored by the Elite Pet Styling in Owosso so teams didn't have to pay an entry fee. Last year about 44 teams entered.
Espich said he believes the lower turnout was because of a schedule change. In previous years, the event is usually on Sunday.
The event was divided into two parts. The first was distance and accuracy and the second was freestyle.
In the distance and accuracy competition, the owners throw a disc for the dog to catch across a 50-foot field that is divided into five different scoring zones. The dog is awarded an extra half-point if it catches the disc with all four legs off the ground. Each team had two rounds to accumulate the most points possible in 60 seconds.
If an owner's pet decides to take what they call a “nature break” in the middle of the competition, however, time is paused and then restarted after a quick cleanup.
This happened several times during the competition.
The freestyle competition is a little different. It involves the owner and their dog performing a 90-second routine with discs, tricks and background music of their choice. Each performance is graded on a “PAWS” scale, which factors in presentation, athleticism, “wow” factor and success.
The team that scores the most combined points wins the Best Overall trophy.
Other prizes include the Novice Award and the Crowd-Pleaser Award.
“The Crowd-Pleaser Award goes to the dog that gets the crowd into it the most,” Espich said. “It may be a dog that never catches a Frisbee or it may be the one that runs off into the river.”
- Contact Michael Peterson at 725-5136 extension 223 or mpetersonarguspress@gmail.com.