EVERETT – Ray Calhoun loves his dogs, but he does have certain standards.
Either they perform or they find new work.
“I’ve fired a couple of dogs,” he said the other day, sounding a little like a cranky Donald Trump.
Those animals that make the cut join Calhoun in a sport that does not have a proper name per se, so for now “Dogs and Frisbees” will do. It is wholly entertaining, surely for the dogs and their handlers, although spectators always get a big kick out of the show, too.
Maybe you’ve seen this at halftime of football games, where the guy tosses Frisbees far down the field and sprinting dogs make leaping grabs with their teeth. As entertainment, it ranks right up there with a good marching band.
But this sport is not just about occasional demonstrations. There are also competitions, and Calhoun will be in Atlanta this weekend for the Skyhoundz World Championships, an event that brings together top dogs and their handlers from six U.S. regions along with a half-dozen other countries. ESPN is expected to tape the competition for later broadcast, but an airing date has yet to be announced.
The competition begins Friday and continues through Sunday, and although no prize money is at stake – Calhoun figures the trip will cost him about $2,000 – there is plenty of prestige. There are competitions in distance/accuracy and freestyle, and scoring is done by a panel of judges.
“This will be our own little Olympics,” said the 46-year-old Calhoun, who lives in Everett and is the Northwest Region champion.
Accompanying him to Atlanta will be two male dogs, each part Border Collie and part Australian Shepherd. Seven-year-old Cowboy is white and brown, and 3-year-old Cordell is white and black, and both are competitive veterans.
As any pet lover will understand, every dog has its own particular personality and gifts. Cordell, the youngster, is peppy and athletic, a real leaper. By contrast, the older Cowboy is wise and perceptive, “and you won’t find a dog with a bigger heart.” Speaking through body language, Calhoun added, “Cowboy teaches me sometimes that ‘I can do this.’ Or, ‘Let’s take it to the next level.’ “
Awhile back, Calhoun explained, he was working through a routine with his animals, and he sensed that Cowboy had a different idea for a stunt. Initially unconvinced, Calhoun came to see that his dog “was right.”
Border Collies and Australian Shepherds are “incredibly smart, and the herding instinct translates directly to Frisbee,” he said. “It’s the same instinct of running it down and getting it.”
Though the dogs do most of the work – or at least most of the running – Calhoun has to orchestrate a series of stunts. He also has to throw a good Frisbee, which obviously requires practice. In a typical workout, Calhoun will go to a soccer field and try to fling five Frisbees in a row into a soccer net from a distance of 50 yards.
His furthest Frisbee toss? He once let one fly 78 yards, which was 8 yards shy of the world record. “I had the wind with me,” he admitted with a smile.
And, yes, Cowboy ran it down.
To borrow a figure skating analogy, the distance/accuracy competition is like a compulsory routine, while freestyle “is where the magic is,” Calhoun said. “It’s not where you win the tournament, but that’s what everybody wants to see. … I have signature tricks. What I want to do is wow you in the beginning, then wait a minute and do some other amazing stuff, and then all of sudden we’ll do something that nobody else in the world does and everybody will go ‘Wow’ again.”
Being successful in this sport obviously requires getting good dogs, and Calhoun is thorough in his search and his analysis. He prefers mixed breeds because purebreds are sometimes too high strung.
“I want a dog that’s easy going and good around the house,” he said. “So when I’m looking at a litter of pups and I need to pick one out, I’ll talk to the breeder and find out which ones are the laid-back ones. Then I want the dog that is paying attention because eye contact is really, really important.”
Lastly, he goes for good markings since appearance also counts with judges.
For now, this is largely a hobby for Calhoun. The next step, he said, is to find ways to make money, and for that reason he is seeking an agent to help line up gigs. While he might earn $300 for a school assembly or a high school game, the big money comes at a major-college or professional sporting event. The check might be $6,000 for an NFL halftime show, which is not a bad wage “for a few minutes of work,” he said.
Eventually, Calhoun said, “I want to be so good at this that I do nothing but get in the motor home and go.”
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