Summer Down Under 2023 Season Patch

Description

Summer Down Under 2023

Dog: Dodger (2018 – )
of Phoenix Club Captain Carol Conti

Season Champ: Phoenix, Arizona

Complete Season Results

 

UNDER CONTI’S LEADERSHIP, PHOENIX RISES AND ARIZONA BURNS WITH K9 FRISBEE PASSION!

DODGER FLIES ON 2023 SDU COMMEMORATIVE PATCH.

When she wasn’t in the classroom teaching and molding young minds, Carol Conti, the Phoenix Club Captain, taught, trained and played with her dogs.

“All of our dogs are our pets,” Conti said in an interview years ago. “They sleep in our houses and are our pets first and competitors second,” Conti said.

An accomplished agility competitor, trick-dog trainer and all-around K9-sport mom to many mostly rescued pups, Carol discovered K9 Frisbee, aka “disc dogging,” 17 years ago when she started taking her then eight-year-old border collie/Australian shepherd to the Phoenix Area Disc Dogs (PHADD) group’s meetups at Paradise Valley Park. Back then it was just another way to spend more time with and socialize her pet.

It took just that one meet-up and Carol and her dog were hooked on disc. So much so that it didn’t take long for Carol to become an officer and, within a couple years, eventually President of PHADD, one of the oldest disc-dog clubs in the country and the only Arizona-based Club at that time, a position she still holds today.

Under Carol’s leadership, PHADD hosted annual Skyhoundz and other major disc dog competitions and qualifiers every year, as well as meet-up play dates every Saturday which kept the Club alive, but its growth was slow and somewhat stagnant.

Skyhoundz competitions and the other “majors,” i.e’, USDDN, AWI and UFO with their focus on Freestyle, can be a bit intimidating to new members. With PHADD being one of the only disc dog Clubs in the southwest, members would have to travel long-distance to play in regional qualifiers and especially in World Championships.

Carol was thrilled when she discovered the K9 Frisbee Toss & Fetch League five years ago. “The League looks like a perfect way to grow our Club by attracting people who would prefer to stay local and just have fun with their dogs,” said Carol five years ago when she enrolled PHADD as a rookie Club in the 2018 Summer Down Under Season.

Over the course of the last 5 years, with 24 K9 Frisbee Seasons under their belt, two of which were season Championships, Carol mentored and trained newbies, grew the Club, and captained PHADD to become one of the premier Clubs in the worldwide League.

Even more impressive is how PHADD’s success under Carol helped expose the sport to other far-flung Arizonans, who with Carol’s support and encouragement began forming new League Clubs throughout the desert state. Today, 10 K9 Frisbee League Clubs pepper the state giving hundreds of Arizonans a regular opportunity to become part of our worldwide K9 Frisbee Family.

As a way to honor Carol’s commitment to disc dogging and her success in growing our sport, the 2023 Summer Down Under Season patch features Dodger, Carol’s 6-year-old Border Collie/McNab sport mix. With 18 League seasons under his collar, Dodger is consistently the top scoring K9 Frisbee dog in her pack.

Dodger was very lucky to have found Carol. In 2018 Carol announced Dodger’s adoption on Facebook: “I admit it. I failed – Foster failed, that is! Welcome to our pack, “Dodger,” a yearling Border Collie x McNab(?) mix adopted through Arizona Border Collie Rescue during their annual Rescue RoundUp on Saturday. I am hoping he will become our next frisbee and trick dog. He also shows good aptitude for agility. This little guy is going to be so much fun!”

Good boy Dodger! You became the Frisbee dog Carol dreamed of. And thank you Carol for your dedication to League and disc dogging throughout Arizona.