NORWICH – Starz, a local three-year-old Australian Shepherd, has qualified to compete in the United States Disc Dog National Competition and is headed to Cartersville, Ga. this fall. While Starz has gotten very good at her sport, she still loves to play Frisbee in the park.
Starz, who began to catch rolling discs when she was six weeks old, is owned by Glenn and Jana Zeman of Norwich. “We always wanted a Frisbee dog, just to have fun,” said Glenn Zeman, Starz’s disc thrower.
Starz and Glenn have traveled up and down the eastern seaboard to compete together. They have been to places such as: Washington D.C., Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont and will be competing this weekend in Whitney Point. While Starz has won several first and second place awards for individual events, Glenn explained it isn’t about the competition.
“[The competitors] aren’t out there to beat each other, we are just playing with our dogs,” he said.
Starz began her disc training at six weeks but couldn’t enter a competition until she was one. The Zemans slowly got interested in disc competitions when they saw a demonstration at Norwich’s Pet Palooza in 2005. In 2006, Starz entered her first competition at the same event and won second place.
Ever since, Starz and Glenn have been competing in four different events within each tournament. Their favorite event is the bull’s-eye.
The bull’s-eye consists of the thrower standing within a circle with two Frisbees. One disc is thrown and while the dog goes to catch the first the second disc is thrown in the opposite direction for the dog to catch. Starz currently holds a point record for the event of 40 points. This means Starz caught a disc with four paws off the ground, every six seconds.
In order to become a record holder, both Glenn and Starz needed a lot of practice.
They practice their disc-throwing three to four times a week for two reasons. First is to get better for competitions, the second is to work out some of Starz’ abundant energy. “Australian Shepherds need a job or they get restless,” said Glenn. But the job is just fun for Starz he explained.
Starz gets the most excitement from playing with children, which isn’t natural for her breed. “We knew the breed tended to be very shy, that is why we took her everywhere when she was a puppy,” said Jana Zeman.
Now Starz is in love with children and has won a first place prize with Glenn and Jana’s four year old granddaughter, Aurora.
Glenn also brings Starz to demonstrations where he allows children to throw the disc. “If there was a Miss Congeniality competition, Starz would win every time. She is a crowd favorite,” he said.
While Glenn is very proud of Starz for her performances, he knows they will be up against some talented competitors at the national event in the fall. “If she made it in the top five I would be very happy, but if she had a better thrower, she would be in the top three,” he said.
Competitions are not only tough for Starz, but also Glenn. In order for Starz to perform well, Glenn needs to be able to throw the discs in places where she can catch them. But Starz makes up for where Glenn thinks he lacks in accuracy.
“Her catch ratio is very high, no matter how bad dad throws it,” he joked.
Glenn and Starz are members of the Yankee Flyers Dog and Disc Club. This club organizes many events on the East Coast including qualifying events for national competitions. On Aug. 25, Starz and Glenn will be competing for their club at Whitney Point against five other clubs. Glenn encourages people to go and see the event to get a feel for what an owner can do with their dog for fun.
“It would be great if we could get a group in this area interested in doing this with their dogs,” he said. “There is nothing like the satisfaction of playing Frisbee with your dog. You know when you do something right if your dog sleeps in the back seat all the way home.”
If interested or have questions about how to train your dog, e-mail Glenn Zeman at glennzeman@roadrunner.com