| Puget Sound, WashingtonAfter the many excursions and sights, we arrived at my friend Swanee's place in Gig Harbor ... and watched him take the gold at the Pacific North-West Regional Disk Dog competition! 
  
    |  Air Katie!
 |  | Swanee and Katie have been a team for three years now, and the dedication they have to the sport shows.  Here we see Katie getting some great air-time as she vaults over Swanee in a training session the day before the competition. |  
 
  
    | Alpo hosts many of the Disk-dog events, and here we are at their Pacific North-West Regionals event, held in the shadow of the Seattle Space Needle.  Competitors from all over the Pacific North-West -- as far away as Colorado -- come together to compete for the laurels (or at least, disks!)  Some are dedicated participants, some plainly do it for the fun.  (Katie and Swanee fit into both categories!) |  |  The Field of Competition
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    |  The Right Stuff!
 |  | Competition consists of two events: mini-distance (where points are scored by distance, style, and quantity of throws/catches) and free-style (where the dog-and-human team can really show off their stuff.)  Here we have another shot of Katie vaulting over Swanee, in the second round of the free-style competition.  This was the routine that clinched their first place position, assuring them a trip to Washington DC to compete in the Nationals. |  
 Note: Alpo, the sponsors of these events, retains rights to commercial use of all photographs taken there; the photo above is copyright Thomas M. Tuerke, and may only be used on this web page, or for other personal use. 
  
    | This about sums it up, wouldn't you say?  Bring out the laurels... and Knock 'em out of the air in DC! |  |  They do it for Love!
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