Incredible Dog Challenge: Freestyle Flying Disc Western Regional | NBC Sports

beautiful blue skies along the southern California coastline as we welcome you back to the fur Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge we have a huge crowd here to see the top dogs from the West compete in the western regionals trying to secure a spot to the national championship finals in St Louis and Up Next freestyle flying disc well earlier rounds of competition took place and first up it was young Tuesday madavi and Rockets setting the pace and putting on an incredible show for the judges coming up with a score of 77 points W then Brian Smith and his 8-year-old female border colleague EV executing every move and raising the bar but not by much with a score of 77.3 then it was P the three-year-old male Australian Shephard and Eve Ceres representing Rancho Palos veres California putting up a huge score of 79.7 so some big scores posted so far three competitors remaining we'll kick it off with Paul sad and his dog Kaa seven-year-old Australian Cattle Dog and we'll check out Kirby mine followed by AJ junman but right now it's all about Paul sad and kayenne as a reminder shellene Handler skills and dog skills so important in this competition that's what the judges want to see and of course performing in front of the great crap absolutely the judges are looking at five different areas to judge the dogs for dog skill and five areas for the Handler now various grips and throws are part of that and you can see that Paul here is using a whole set of different air brush techniques in his throws where he's tapping the disc either with another disc off his foot that is a tough skill right there a skip off of the grass that's risky actually Trace because you never quite know if it's going to land right for the dog to catch so Paul and Kaa post a score of 80.1 they actually got started in the sport by going to classes taught by Kirby mine who we're checking out now so Kirby a big influence in the sport of freestyle flying disc always love watching her shelene especially here in Huntington Beach California right the hometown girl and we saw her first compete as a teenager years and years ago and she has just become the consumate professional at this event she always adds different difficulty to all of her different moves that's what you can watch here she'll take something that's just normally done and add a little something extra to it to get those higher difficulty points because remember the Handler and the dog are both being judged In freestyle flying disc and the catches also matter because in the event of a tie the catch percentage is what breaks the tie but right there like you saw a back catch with a Twist she always adds that extra element in a foot stall with a larger dog that's very difficult as well and always a proud pleaser 84.5 so Kirby melan finds herself once again in the lead in freestyle flying disc Kirby really knows how to highlight and showcase her dog strengths she did a lot of nice inside work with Sora and you can see a lot of distance work and great catches out on the field as well all right next up it's AJ Jud and wo Nelly the 2023 Western Regional Champions who are looking forward to mixing it up a little bit this year and hoping to take another shot at the finals in St Louis so we took our routine that we did last year threw it completely out made a new routine um in terms of stuff that we thought the crowd was going to be engaged in there's one of my favorite parts of our routine is I'm laying on the ground and I Air Balance a disc from maybe like an inch above the ground it's one of my favorite Parts but just those more engaging those fun tricks that I love to show off with Nelly that aren't necessarily like technically difficult but very cool to watch and Nelly and I are very excited to be back and defend our Championship I mean she's raring to go and I'm raring to go Pro Plan sport fed dog great routine going by AJ junman and wo Nelly the six-year-old female Australian shepherd having a great time out there entertaining this wonderful crowd in Huntington Beach that Showmanship matters entertainment value judged both for the dog and and the Handler in freestyle flying disc so those moves that get the crowd going they matter so AJ junan wraps it up with W nelli coming with 84 points not enough to overtake Sora and Kirby mlin 84.5 some difficult throws and impressive vaults for w nelli and AJ but Kirby and Sora Edge out the competition for the win and they're heading to the National Championship Finals once again if very entertaining and fun competition let's send it over to Sean Smitty oh that's right Trace what a fantastic competition Kirby getting the win again second win with Sora but you have six wins with this total of course Tor your other dog getting four competition was so tight what did it take to win here today man it was a steep field of competitors today it was really really tough with competitors from California Arizona and Colorado we definitely had a western region Showdown today now you're sort of a local favorite you're used to throwing in this wind but that has to be difficult yes it definitely makes our job much more difficult but you know as as I used to be a former local to Huntington Beach uh I definitely know a little bit about what the winds have to bring here you also know how to play it to the crowd they were super excited they got into it we all did congratulations we'll see you at Nationals nice job Kirby coming up incredible diving dogs but first shelene made her way pool side with a few Legends in the sport catching up with two of the best right here we have our former and current world record holders in incredible diving Dogan you and your Belgian well- in-law Indie held the record for five years yes we had a great run and our best jump was 3310 and we passed the torch to Laurel and Sounders and I went to Sounders the whiet he's not jumping here today but you're here helping to bring up maybe some other competitors yeah my daughter brought her uh dog Bowser and that is Sounders half brother so we are super excited to be here together as a family we're having a great time well both the dogs are here Indie is in the back she's uh retired Sounders resting up because he will be defending his title at Nationals in St Louis if you like dogs too subscribe to NBC Sports YouTube channel for more