For Memorial Day Dad took Aunt Lynn, Cousin Byron and I to Freedom Weekend Aloft. Normally dogs are not allowed at the festival with the exception of disc-catching dogs like myself.
On Saturday the professional dogs had the field showing off their best moves in the freestyle competition. Here is Mark Muir and his border collie Irish. Look how high Irish can leap off of Mark's back!
On Sunday it was time for us novice dogs to compete. Dad set up a nice tailgating tent so I would have a cool shady place to rest until it was my turn.
I competed in the toss and fetch competition. The rules say you are allowed 90 seconds to make as many catches as possible with a single disc. The thrower (that's Dad) has to stay behind the line while throwing but can enter the field if needed to bring back the disc (that's supposed to be my job). You receive 1 pt for every 10 yards down the field where the catch is made. You receive and extra 1/2 pt if you catch it in the air. The five best catches are added together for your score. Check out the video below to see me in action.
Just when we started our round the rain began to fall. Dad got a little flustered and overthrew me on the first throw and I forgot to return the disc to him. Who knew Dad could move so fast? My second throw and catch was worth 2 1/2 points but again I forgot to return the disc, by the time I remembered to return it to Dad, time was just about to expire, so I decided to give him a big hug and kiss instead. Although it was not our best performance, we really did have fun at our first disc dog tournament.
The end of the day came in an exciting fashion as the sky opened up and it rained hard (2 inches!) in strong billowing waves for over 30 minutes. Even though we had a tent for cover, everything got soaked including me! Many thanks to Aunt Lynn and Cousin Byron for taking the video and pictures and for helping to carry all of the supplies to and from the car. It really was a freedom weekend awash.
