10/23/2024
What a weekend! Big shout out to Nebraska Disc Dogs for putting on a wonderful event with the earlier this month. Revl the ABCA and AKC BC Dog (HC Kennel’s HCK Mossy Oak x BlueValleybordercollies Maybelle) was amazing!!!! So proud of this girl! Despite being handicapped with a less than stellar human partner (me!) and facing challenging conditions with 20 mph sustained winds and gusts greater than 30 mph, not to mention 90-95F temps, we earned 4th team overall honors and took top 3 finishes in multiple events at the advanced level!!! It was the first ever UpDog competition for both Revl and I, and only our second disc competition at all (her previous disc debut at the Kansas City Skyhoundz regional in June garnered a 3rd place finish in novice toss & fetch, our only competition for that weekend).
So many takeaways from the weekend… Revl is incredible. Not only did her placements blow away my expectations with a fairly deep and experienced field (and we have so much room for improvement with more practice and experience), she showed true grit and excellent temperament with a remarkable level of work ethic, engagement, and stamina throughout a long, hot, busy day. I had never asked her to do several rounds of disc like that throughout the day before, so the fact that she kept up the same tenacity and drive throughout the competition, especially with it being so hot and windy outside, was beyond impressive. She met new friends and accepted pets and attention from strangers readily. (She was also told that she was pretty several times.) 👸🏼💅🏻🐶 She rested like a champ between rounds in her kennel. We consistently scored throughout the day. She successfully completed her first ever agility jump in competition (though she was distracted by the fact that I had a disc in my hand and was not throwing it - THAT part was confusing). She successfully “tunneled” with equipment she had never seen before that was much different than what she had been exposed to at home (though she did not tunnel in her competition round, she was confidently getting it with a quick practice before the competition started).
I knew that the agility elements would cause us some trouble as we hadn’t practiced those in a long time, with much different basic home use equipment compared to competition equipment, in a really controlled environment, and never in conjunction with disc, which has quickly become one of her favorite things. I was also concerned because I knew my throws do not match the quality of my dog, I struggle with consistency in longer throws and the accuracy needed in shorter throws for some of the games can still be problematic for me. (Really wish I could have gotten that UpDog practice in with Justin
and Marisa a few weeks ago with 303 Disc Dogs
that was unfortunately rained out!) My mom told me the evening before to not bother entering because why go if I was so underprepared that the result would be disappointing. However, John (Dog Sports America) encouraged me to go anyway and his pep talks the night before and morning of were so helpful in framing my mindset for going out and having fun with my dog, working on skills and experiences that would prepare us for even more success in the future. Many, many thanks to Marisa and Justin for inviting me to tag along to Nebraska Disc Dog events and other disc events previously, for introducing me to the sport (and some of its awesome people!), and for teaching me the basics and continuing to give me advice on everything from dog and human training, disc selection, and throwing technique (now if only I could effectively implement all of that great advice at one time). John also had some great tips and encouragement prior to Revl’s first competition in June and was a huge part of shaping the goal from just working on rollers to stepping up to actual throws/catches for toss & fetch - with only a week of practice!
While the 2024 disc season for Revl and I has ended, our journey in this crazy, fun sport is just beginning. 🙂 Look out for our foray into freestyle in 2025!
