Dog frisbee — disc dog — is a team sport played by one handler and one dog. The handler throws, the dog catches, and the pair is scored together: how far the disc travelled, how cleanly it was taken out of the air, and how well the two of them read each other. A round lasts a minute or two, and the dog is the one who decides whether it works.
Competition splits into two families. Distance events reward the longest catch — one throw, one dog running flat out. Freestyle is the choreographed side: a routine set to music, built from multi-disc sequences, vaults and flips, judged on difficulty, execution and teamwork. Any breed can play. Puppies start with a disc rolled along the grass — no jumps or vaults while they're growing — and can't compete until 12 months old in Toss & Fetch or 18 months in freestyle.
A choreographed routine to music — throws, vaults and catches judged on execution, difficulty and teamwork.
One disc, one round — 60 seconds under UFO rules, 90 under USDDN. Points scale with the distance of each catch.
Long distance. Three throws in qualification, three in the final — the longest catch wins.
Long distance played as heats — direct elimination, one pair advances at a time.
- USDDN
- US Disc Dog Nationals — a worldwide qualifier series in freestyle and Toss & Fetch, with national finals and a world final.
- UFO
- The UFO World Cup circuit: European and world rounds, its own scoring and a 60-second Toss & Fetch round.
- AWI
- Ashley Whippet Invitational — the oldest competition in the sport, named after the dog that started it in 1974.
- Skyhoundz
- The DiscDogathon, Skyhoundz Classic and Xtreme Distance championship series.
- UpDog
- Disc-only games such as Time Warp and Far Out, and disc-and-agility games such as Frizgility.
