Nerve Endings Firing Away

One of the biggest highlights of the Dogwood festival is the Annual Regional Dog “Frisbee-catching” competition. The competition basically has two categories, Run-n-Fetch and Freestyle. The Run-n-Fetch tests the dog’s speed and long-distance focus in catching the Frisbee. The trainer throws the Frisbee, sometimes flat along the ground or gives it some air, and the dog runs along the marked boundary and catches the Frisbee in its mouth.

The freestyle event test agility and the trainers position themself in the center of the ground with a bunch of Frisbees. The trainer rapidly tosses them into the air and the dog makes rapid movements to grab the Frisbee in mid-flight. This category is an amazing sight to watch.

The dogs make some impossible catches and when you expect them to miss it; they make one last lunge and catch the Frisbee. They could put Ajay Jadeja to shame any day. The accompanying music makes it almost like a well orchestrated swing dance piece between man and canine. The dogs come in all shapes and sizes but the best ones are the scrawny, ragged-looking little ones. You might almost mistake them for mongrels until they move astonishingly fast as soon as they see the flying disc.

The pictures aren’t that great. I didn’t have a tripod and just have a limited zoom capability on the digital camera I used. Someone please gift me one of these babies; I’ll get the tripod.