Local dog and owner make it to Disc Dog Nationals

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.