Editorial
Front Page - Friday, September 18, 2009
Disc-catching canines to invade Chattanooga for championship event
David Laprad
Chattanooga is going to the dogs! On September 26 and 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., man’s best friend will take to the skies to compete in the 2009 Hyperflight Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship, to be held at AT&T Field, home of the Chattanooga Lookouts. The event will feature top teams from around the world. The contestants and their canine teammates will earn points for tricks ranging from simple throws to spectacular
acrobatics.
“This is our second year in Chattanooga,” says Jeff Perry, co-owner of Hyperflight, a manufacturer of canine discs. “We’ll have teams from all over the world competing in four divisions and there will be plenty of room for spectators to sit on the sidelines and get close to the dogs.”
The Sports Division is a basic fetch-and-catch competition done on a closed course that gives canines not geared toward freestyle competition the chance to compete for their own title. The Micro Division is for dogs that weigh 25 pounds or less.
Perry calls the Open Division “the Cadillac division of the sport, where you have the best of the best competing not only in free style challenges but also the distance event.” The combined scores of both events will determine the world champion.
Perry promises the competition in the fourth division, Paris Freestyle, will be a real crowd-pleaser. “You’ll see two people and one dog teaming up. It’s amazing. The choreography and tricks you can do with an extra person are unbelievable.”
While the event is free for spectators, Hyperflight does ask people to leave their pets at home to minimize distractions for the competitors.
Hyperflight is staging this year’s Skyhoundz World Championship to benefit McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center. “We’ll be encouraging folks to empty their pocket change and donate a dollar or two. McKamey does a lot to get dogs off the streets,” says Perry, who won a 1989 world championship canine disc event with a rescue dog named Gilbert.
The Skyhoundz World Championship will include top teams from eight U.S. regions as well as teams from participating countries, including Canada, Japan, Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands. Many of the canine athletes expected to compete were rescued from animal shelters.
Hyperflight sparked a canine disc revolution when it released the Jawz disc, which was designed for “tough biters,” Perry says. At the time, competitors used only one disc that had been designed for human play and didn’t perform well under the duress of canine competition.
Since appearing on the canine disc scene 10 years ago, Hyperflight has expanded its product line to include several additional discs, including the FrostBite, which remains soft and flexible in cold temperatures; the Midnight Sun, which glows in the dark; and the SofFlight, which is made for canines whose “teeth aren’t glued in as well as they used to be,” says Perry.
Hyperflight also publishes training tools for novices. “Disc Dogs! The Complete Guide,” a 350-page book with 500 color photos, and “Disc Dog Training DVD,” an hour-long instructional guide, have introduced thousands to the health and exercise benefits of canine disc play.
“Maybe all you can do at first is get your dog to chase a disc you roll on the ground,” Perry says. “But once he has that down, you can teach him more complex tricks.”
Hyperflight has also released a free 40-page digital book that introduces people to canine disc play via www.hyperflight.com. Check the site for more on the company and its Skyhoundz products and competitions.
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