AKRON, Ohio — Ruger certainly lived up to his name.
A newbie to the fast-growing league sport of Disc Dog — which can trace its origins to the Akron area — the young border collie from Bath Township took off like he was shot out of a gun to hunt down the plastic flying disc.
“We named him Ruger because he was a real pistol when we got him,” said owner Megan Crum with a laugh.
Ruger was up to the challenge of catching the flying disc, but needed work on the art of returning it to Crum so she could throw it again for him to fetch within the time limit.
“He’s used to our yard,” she said. “There are no rules there. It is a free-for-all.”
When the competitors for the Ohio Disc Dogs club meet weekly in a large field behind the Silver Lake Police Department, the goal is to score as many points as possible as they are competing against pooches from all over the world.
Stow resident Mark Vitullo said things started humbly enough with just a couple of dogs meeting weekly to play fetch with flying discx a few years back.
Soon a trapezoid-shaped field was established where the owner stands at one end and throws a disc for the dog to catch within the boundaries.
The rules are fairly simple.
The dog must catch the disc before it hits the ground and scores range from one point if caught between 10 and 20 yards, up to five points for those caught between 40 and 50 yards. An extra half point is awarded if the dog has all four feet off the ground when it snatches the disc.
The owner has a minute to throw the disc as many times as possible, or as many times as the dog will return it.
Vitullo said the club started with weekly matches against Davidson, Mich. — playing off the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry — with scores from the top dogs recorded and added up to determine a winner.
But as word spread and more and more canine competitors started showing up, new teams were added in Youngstown and Cleveland, and the league was officially formed last year with five cities, including Akron, Chicago and St. Louis.
This summer, it has grown to include 32 cities in the U.S., Canada, Switzerland and Croatia.
“It’s huge,” he said. “It has just exploded. Spain and Greece are about to come on board. This is turning into a global league.”
Going on the road
Vitullo is among the top disc-throwing competitors in the country and travels all over for competitions.
The league is a fun way for him and his dogs, like Lulu, a 2013 world champ, to hone their skills for bigger contests and encourage others to take up the sport.
And it is a fairly cheap diversion. It costs just $10 to join the K9 Frisbee Worldwide Toss & Fetch League sessions that pretty much match up with the various seasons.
