His story begins in 2008 ... Start with competitions in Obedience and Rally-O and then falls in love with DISCDOG a discipline that attracts he so much to become one of the organizers of the DOG (Dog Olympic Games).
He Is one of those who seek as sharpening this sport in Italy, following many seminars with PROs like Mark Mouir and managed to study the errors that people are frequently jammed in He grabs very important advices that led him to grow this sprot in Italy .
An interview that there couldn't be missed :)
First of all some warm up questions
Have you ever done hitchhiking along with your dog ?
Hitchi-what? Is this a kinda Bunga Bunga variations?
Well, unfortunat’ly I never found a driver with a car big enough to house me, a border collie, a golden retriever and a San Bernardo
Pure coffee or cappuccino?
C’mon, in italian. Pure coffee espresso. Always
Classic PC or laptop?
Laptop. MacBook Pro. OS X make my life easy when working on a computer.
Let's pass to the real interview
Could you tell our readers a little about yourself
My name is Diego, but friends just call me Diego Marchetti. I’m 36 years old and I live in Brescia, an italian city 40km close to Milan. I live with my girlfriend and we have 3 beautiful dogs, Sammie-boy, the little one, a 3 years old border collie, Chobin-boy a 4 years old Golden Retriever and Cesar-boy, 11 years “young” San Bernardo.
What has fascinated you in discdog at the biginning?
Well, I was fascinated to see how disc-dogging was making my border collie so happy. In the past I tried other k9 activities, from Agility to Rally-O, but at the end I’ve chosen the one my dogs like most.
Do you play other sports besides discdog , even without dog?
When I was young a was a swimmer for the italian swimming team. With 3 dogs now, I always choose activities that I can do with them. Even a good free walk outside is a good “sports” for all of us.
Do you remember your first competition?
Well, first competition is like the first love, you cannot forget it.
It was 2 years ago a Disc Dog contest with Sammie-boy. It was so funny… at that time I didn’t have neither a routine. I just went on the field and improvised.
Who are your favorite discdoggers. Which are the “strongest“ for you (top 5) ?
Well, my favourite one is Mark Muir, a good friend of mine. He’s on the top 5 becasue he’s not only a several time world champion, but is always a champion in life. Than I do like Ron Watson because he has the biggest knowledge on teaching & training k9 athletes. 3rd place goes to Julia Zimmermann, the first one who taught me what Disc Dog was. But I want to add also Preston Dean and Kirby McNab, two talented young american discdoggers.
Explain to as your typical training day.
Well, I usually train for Disc Dog twice a week. When I do, I start with some warm-up exercises for my dog without any disc, like a walk, a light run, some dog dance figures. Than I start to toss some rollers and prepare for the training section. Normally in this days I work on new throws, explore new figures and try different freestyle segments. Training sections are not longer than 5/10 mins. The days I’m not training for freestyle I always do activities with my dog, like teaching new tricks, do some obedience, and try some distance throws. The key is to keep it funny. I do not have a training field for my dog. For us it’s more like a playgorund.
Do you have any advice for who begins with discdog?
Keep it safe and have fun. Like all dog sports, the game is as safe as the handler makes it. Responsable handling is the key to safety in all k9 sports, and responsable handling in Disc Dog is not much different from responsable handling in Agility. We must all be aware of our dog’s abilities and limitations, as well as of our own, and should do our best to structure play with these factors in mind. Before start trowing discs to our dogs, it’s always better to follow a clinic for beginners and listen advices from expert players.
You was an important part of the organizers of the Dog Olympic Games. How did you feel before the start and how did you feel after it all ended
Well, before the start I just rememeber how excited we all were. Even if Disc Dog didn’t have the numbers of competitors Agility had, we were part of a 1500 competitors event. Most prob’ly one of the biggest k9 contest in Europe.
When everything ended, we were so tired, but proud to be part of something so big. The success that Disc Dog had during the sunday finals was sometime awesome. Discdoggers like Amadea Colja, Tomaz Subic, Nicola Ratti, Manuel Fisichella, Roman Zitnik, Salvio Annunziato and Monika Palacz really rocked the place and let the crowd going crazy.
As you can see the dog olympic games in a few years ?
2012!
Well, last year was the first “edition”. It was a huge event and for some point of view we didn’t expect so many competitors, nor we were even completely organized for that. For the 2nd edition in the 2012 we are improving some services and stuff. There will be also some great news but I can’t talk about it right now. My dream is to have other Countries hosting the next editions, to make the DOG more global.
How you can see the discdog in Italy today. It's growing? There are some differences between north and south?
Disc Dog is growing so fast in Italy. Me and some other friends, like Matteo Gaddoni, Nicola Ratti or Chiara Tomiazzo just to write few of them, even if in different ways, we are doing our best to spread the Disc Dog in our Country. I think it really doesn't matter who is promoting our sport… the important thing is to keep it safe and let the people have fun with their dogs. Make the people happy while playing with their 4-paws friends is the best reward we can have. There are a lot of clubs that are starting now to propose Disc Dog to their members. Not only Agility or Obedience.
You are the founder of disconnected dogs (an excellent portal for Italian discdoggers).When this project was born? As you see it in 5 years?
DISConnected DOG, a (mentally) disconnected dog, or a dog connected to the disc, is a project born 2 years ago. In Italy we have three main organizations/associations that are promoting Disc Dog their ways. DISConnected DOG wants to be a reference portal for the italian discdoggers, no matter what kind of association or club you are in.
In 5 years? I’ll have so much money from banners, ads and sponsors I’ll shut the website down, I’ll move to an exotic beach and I’ll read Memo Dog Blog on my laptop while drinking a good Mojito.
I see people who want to give the best with his dogs and often overwork their dogs, training too hard and too long with them, causing stress, discomfort, and potential injury. What do you think?As you can see this situation .
It’s all about ego. Someone who really loves dogs do not care about pushing them so hard to win a competition. It’s only the handler that enjoy the victory, not the dog. Dog just enjoy to do something and have fun with its 2 legs friend. As you said, they overwork, overtrain their dogs becasue they want to win. You see, it’s ego. But you see these scenarios also in beginners. When I teach people some Disc Dog basics, I always say, keep it easy with your dog. It’s easy when you toss a disc to your dog and he catch it in the air, your next thorw will be longer, the next one will be higher… the dog keep catching them. You are so happy you don’t see your dog is really tired. You keep on tossing discs untill the dog, or will refuse to catch it anymore, or will get injuried. As for human athletes, when you are tired, your movement are not well in sync. A tired dog can jump and land bad on his paws. And at this point is not a fun activity anymore.
How the Internet has changed the world of dog sports ?
The same way Viagra changed the life to mid-aged men! Just joshing.
I do think internet improved a lot all the dog sports. Now with a single click you can follow in real time Silvia Trkman at the Agility World Champ, or look at the result of the Disc Dog competition in Chattanooga. You can watch video on Youtube, or you can even follow clinics online in virtual room.
Do you have some plans for the future?
Well, I don’t like plans because I live day by day. I’d like to keep on playing Disc Dog for years, but this depends on my dogs. Whenever they will decide to have fun with another activity, I’ll follow them. Maybe on day I’ll give away all my frisbee and I’ll go hitchhiking with my dogs.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Do you have anything else you would like to add?
Yes, I’d like to thank you Luca and congratulate with you for the great work you are doing to keep Memo Dog Blog the reference website for every k9 activities in Europe
visit the site:
www.disconnecteddog.com
video
Skyhoundz EC 2010 Diego & Sam
by dimarchegmail
all the photos are a courtesy of Diego Marchetti
Agility with Philipp Müller Schnick
by 
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