Pro disc thrower to teach dogs of all ages new tricks

If old dogs really can learn new tricks, Ashley Whippet Hall of Fame dog-disc thrower Tom Wehrli can change the name of an old program.

Wehrli and members of the Windy City K-9 Disc Club will be at the Naperville Riverwalk Grand Pavilion from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday demonstrating how to train your dog to catch a flying disc.

"I've been doing this for 15 years now and I really think this program should be called 'How to teach your human to throw a disc correctly,'" Wehrli said. "Dogs instinctively know how to catch the disc if it's thrown correctly."

Wehrli joined his first championship competition in 1980 with his dog Nuggets and, within the past year, turned part of his home into a disc-dog museum to preserve the history of the sport.

"Disc-throwing is a lifestyle for us but, really, it's a great and easy way for people to come home from work and play with a dog that has a day's worth of pent-up energy," he said. "We'll get about 20 people out there and they'll learn some throwing techniques and they'll go home and have a ball with their dogs and build a bond that is unbreakable."

The session costs $15 for Naperville residents and $23 for others and is for dog owners 16 and older and their dogs.

And who knows? One of today's competing dogs may just be good enough to compete in the UFO Windy City K-9 Classic and Ashley Whippet Invitational World Championship when it returns to this fall to during Naperville's Last Fling celebration.