Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Team Vader's Galt Strawberry Festival Report & Our Next Appearance


Team Vader headed out to Galt, CA, for their annual Strawberry Festival last weekend. It was fun for all where we were a part of two shows, with perfect weather and a great setup. We had a blast.

The fun of it was that this time around, Lark participated in her first full blown freestyle routine, while Rue had an opportunity to showcase her "skills," so to speak.


Before you ask, Lark has participated in previous demos, but she's the go-to dog for showing spectators how to get their dog started in the world of disc dog play, whether it be for fun or the sport. She's really good at showing off the basics of how to get started.

But this time around, with her own FS moment she got her own theme song music going (Flo Rida, Wild Ones) and had a minute of show-off time!


Of course Vader did his usual thing, but with a little bit more pizazz. He had the zoomies while doing the routine!

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Rue's Kingdom, the Director's Chair

But for us, the star of the show was Rue! It was her first time out and being a part of a demo and she was going to be part of the disc dog races.


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Skyhoundz New Dog Disc Rule Restrictions And What You Need To Know


In case you have not heard the news yet and are preparing to or contemplating the idea of competing in a Skyhoundz event, you might want to know that as of July 1st, 2016, Skyhoundz (SH) events will now only allow you to compete with Hyperflite (HF) discs in their events.

The bottom line is that it is what it is and you can either get on board or not. It's your call. If you live in a SH zone where that's the only kind of competitions you can get to, you probably need to just deal with it and move on. Disc restrictions are nothing new. But they are new from SH.

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This new rule has sparked quite the conversation out there among the disc dog enthusiasts of the world. The reactions have ranged from hostile, to disgruntled, to resignation, while others are irked by the timing of this change, being that it comes in mid-season.  Some have called this extortion, while others are accepting of the change.

As I see it, it is what it is. If my disc dog Vader finds himself facing a potential competition hosted by SH, we'll have to dig a bit deeper in our pockets to buy discs we don't normally use.

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If you are looking to compete but don't use HF discs, here's a quick list (The images are Amazon links):

Their Competition Standard Disc comes in Orange, Pink, White or Yellow and costs $4.35 a piece on their website. It has an 8.75" diameter and weighs around 105 grams

They also sell the classic Fastback Frisbee Disc with the HyperFlite Skyhoundz logo on it. It measures out at 9 5/16" and weighs around 104 grams.

There's also their brand new Hyperflite Zdisc, which comes in red, purple, blue and white. It too costs $4.35 a piece. it measures out at a 9.25" diameter and weighs in at 114 grams.

COMPARE THESE HF disks to the popular Hero Disc USA "Hero Xtra 235s"

The Hero Xtra 235 comes in white, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red and pink. Orange is the hugely popular color. I know because if I don't time it right, I find myself being told they are out of stock on that color after the season starts.

These disks weight 105 grams, +/- 2 grams and the diameter of the discs are 235mm*.  They cost $4.99.

Unless you buy the blems, but that's for another story.

*Oh, 235mm equates to 9.25197 inches. This is the same size as HF's new Zdisc.

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Many competitions I attend allow use the 235s.


Vader prefers the Hero Disc USA Super Aero K9 Candy that weigh 111 to 116 grams and have the same dimensions as the 235 discs, 2135mm.

I use Hero Xtra 235s to practice out on the field without my dog. The K9 Candy discs have withstood his hard bite for over a year's worth of constant use while other discs come apart within a week of use. The blems cost half as much.

I went through a lot of discs and money trying to find one my disc dog likes and when I put different discs down on the ground, he'll always choose the Super Aero K9 Candy discs and literally throws the others to the side of the pile.

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Who this new rule from Skyhoundz impacts can vary, depending on your perspective.

Each manufacturer has their own spin, rules and restrictions on the sport and players need to adapt from one to the other. There is no universal consistency. There is no one board of directors, so to speak.

HF says they've been restricted from events as other hosts have disc requirements.

The other folks this change could impact are the sponsored players. Will Hero Disk players continue to participate in HF events, but just wear their sponsor's shirts while using HF discs? In my experience a sponsored athlete has unique restrictions on what they can do, use and even wear.

Another category of player this will impact is the budget restricted player. There are those that love this sport and have spent what they can on what they have and this new required expenditure could limit their participation.

Or it can impact the player who just days before this change was announced, ordered a few hundred discs of another brand. Now what? For both club or player?

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Be it as it may, the official rules from Skyhoundz states,

"Competition Discs (effective from July 1, 2016)

Skyhoundz has selected Hyperflite flying discs as the official flying discs of Skyhoundz World Canine Disc Championship Series. As such, at all Skyhoundz competitions (including, but not limited to, Local Championships, State Championships, DiscDogathon Qualifiers, Skyhoundz Classic Qualifiers, Xtreme Distance Qualifiers, DiscDogathon World Championship, Skyhoundz Classic World Championship, and Xtreme Distance World Championship), competitors are required to use Hyperflite discs. "


Monday, May 16, 2016

Team Vader At DDoGG "Tournament Day in May" Event

You  ready Vader? I am ready Bruce!

Disc Dog Vader and the rest of Team Vader showed up in San Ramon, CA, for Disc Dogs of the Golden Gate tournament called "Tournament Day in May." It was wonderful weather and there was a great turnout at this event!

Run Lark, run like the wind!!!

Lark and Vader were competing, but my throwing wasn't too great when Lark and I were up. In one round I had a photographer in the way and Lark didn't like him in her way and she let the disc land.  That was my bad because I threw that disc about 40 or 50 feet beyond the end of the 120-foot long field. Oops. Poor Lark!