2022 Summer Season Patch

Description

2022 Summer Season

Dog: Ripp (2012 – )
Border Collie of Ball Ground Co-Captain Rick Nielsen

Champ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Complete Season Results

2022 Summer Season Toss & Fetch League Commemorative Patch

RIPP COMMANDS COMMERATIVE PATCH
To those who know Rick Nielsen, it’s obvious he loves three things: his family, the Navy, and his border collie frisbee dogs.

Rick, who’s played in the League since 2016 and Co-Captains throughout Georgia with the Dahlonega, Ball Ground, and Dacula Clubs, is an anchor of the GADDC, the Greater Atlanta Dog & Disc Club – one of the oldest disc dog clubs in the USA.

A retired Navy Commander, Rick and his wife Debbie built their own agility and Frisbee fields at their home in Georgia where they train their border collies, Jessie, Tucker, Buck and Ripp, to compete at the highest level of K9 Frisbee freestyle and toss & fetch competitions

Those who have competed against Rick and his dogs also now him to be a fierce and gracious competitor who always exhibits the epitome of good sportsmanship making him one of our sport’s best ambassadors.

As a salute to Rick’s dedication to K9 Frisbee, the Summer 2022 Season patch pays tribute to Rick’s border collie Ripp, an 11-season League veteran who turned 10-years-old in May this year.

Here’s Ripp’s story in Rick’s own words: “We got Ripp when he was 7 weeks old. He was a very small boy, but full of energy and curiosity. He was our second border collie, and he joined four-year old Tucker.

Ripp has a mind of his own, and that trait showed itself as he grew. He did not have a strong recall; in fact he would often run when we called him — a frustrating and dangerous situation. Several times we found ourselves walking down the road calling Ripp. Our place was not yet fenced — Tucker had such a strong recall and sense of boundary, we never felt it important to have a fence. We quickly installed one to contain our adventurous Ripp. (Ripp’s recall is just fine now.)

Ripp quickly took to disc training, and as he matured, he developed the ability to execute many tricks. He started dock diving when he was old enough.

Ripp has always loved running and, although he is slowed somewhat with arthritis in his hips, he can still get downfield fast. His eyesight has weakened, and he is not as nimble as he once was, so he misses a lot of discs thrown to him. But he still loves the thrill of the game and expects his turn at the start line.

Ripp has gotten better and better at agility and is a great “distance dog.” He is good at flatwork and tricks. He loves work.

It is hard watching this boy age, but his job is far from over. Ripp is always ready to go on jeep rides, walks, hikes. He leads out the pack when we hit the trail for our evening walks. I often take Ripp and Buck together to Home Depot. They are the same size and have very similar coloration. People will come up to pet them, and I like to ask them which one they think is oldest. They invariably choose Buck, who is eight years younger. It is Ripp’s enthusiasm that fools them.”