Hounds Away

*This post wast deleted by accident (my bad), so I decided to re-publish it.*

I'm noticing my puppy has a little bit of what you might call 'cabin fever'. He's stuck inside dan in and day out, mainly because he only weighs four pounds and wouldn't last two minutes out in the cold. Or it could be that he is a pomeranian and annoying by nature...

Nonetheless, my dog problems have gotten me thinking about what to write about next: dog sports! I'm not talking dog fights (Sorry Vick). Some people have the ability to train their dogs to compete with them. I have a lot of admiration for these people because I'm having the hardest time training Rex to do anything (as he's chewing on a pair of my socks).

Frisbee dog, or Disc dog, is one of many competitive sports that dog owners choose to enjoy with their furry friends. Owners toss frisbees to their dogs and are scored based on the height of the dog's jump, accuracy, and of course whether or not the dog catches the disc, among other categories.

Ron Watson, creator of k9athlete.com, has been competing in Disc with his dogs for over ten years. "I got serious about the game because Kimo was a natural, we had to play. That's how most discdoggers are introduced to the game," Watson wrote in his blog on the site.

But the sport became so much more for Watson. After Kimo, one of Watson's dogs, turned four-years-old, Watson noticed that Kimo was starting to 'shut down' due to performance related pressure. "I started to see the value of dog training," Watson said.

From that point on, Watson noticed small alterations in training that could make Kimo a better and healthier performer. "I realized it was a technical marvel. It was amazing," he writes. 

On k9athlete.com, Watson writes that he aims to teach others the importance of training. "I've spent the last 5 years working to educate the discdog community...so they can play better, have more fun, avoid the mistakes that I've made and have happy and healthy relationships with their dogs," Watson said in his blog.

To get an idea of what it takes to compete and how seriously some people take this sport, check out this YouTube video of Ron Watson and his dog Kimo. Truly amazing!

Now, if only I could find a frisbee small enough for Rex...

Links:

Disc Dog Blog

k9athlete

In the news:

On January 24, Disc dog, or Frisbee dog, competitors and their canine friends attended the 2009 Hyperflite Skyhoundz competition in Melbourne, FL. Many of the dogs that competed were rescued from animal shelters, according to Central Florida News 13.