If Red Rocket Rider, a six-time Colorado state champion disc dog, could talk between pants, these would be his first words:
Frisbee. Frisbee. Frisbee.
“If we leave a bag of Frisbees in the house, they’ll open it,” says Evergreen resident Chris Sexton. He and his fiancée, Christi Goodman, own four disc dogs.
“Zippers, snaps – it doesn’t matter. They absolutely love it.”
While these Colorado Disc Dogs Club members are so enthusiastic about the sport of Frisbee dog that it consumes the majority of their weekends, it is the fervor of their dogs – Wally, Laika, Rider and Banzai – that is irrepressible.
Rider’s persistent barking for a turn one recent afternoon pays off when Goodman finally grabs him in a bear hug and unties him for a workout.
“You should be the only dog in the world, the only dog in the world,” says Goodman. “Do you want to do some vaults?”
Of course Rider wants to do vaults.
And, like dozens of other dogs willing to run flat out for yards or jump over someone’s leg to catch a Frisbee, Rider will compete at the Colorado Canine Challenge next month in Littleton.
As excited as Rider is to perform, at age 9 he has a hard time keeping up with the energy level of Sexton’s 2-year-old border collie, Banzai. “My younger dog is a ball of fire,” Sexton says.
In fact, Banzai is more like a black-and-white, short-haired bouncing ball, catapulting off the ground.
Banzai’s vertical leaps of several feet are impressive. Her back end wiggles wildly when she goes airborne, showing off her spunk.
What is Banzai’s prize for rocketing off the ground for a Frisbee?
“The reward for doing something right is to get to do it again,” Sexton says. “Just a little praise, and it’s on to the next thing.”
Staff writer Joan Gandy can be reached at 303-820-1689 or jgandy@denverpost.com.
