But Melody wasn’t terribly harmonious with her domestic surroundings at first. She was excitable, always wanting attention and always dashing around the house. Too help burn off her energy, Jeff took her out in the back yard and started throwing her a Frisbee.

She quickly mastered the art of grabbing it out of the air, and then he taught her how to bring it back to him. His method was simple. If she didn’t bring it back to him, he wouldn’t throw it to her until she did. Every day, she got better. Melody was a natural.

In spring of 2006, the couple had a fateful chance meeting with some members of the Appalachian Air Canines, a club for East Coast disc dog competition enthusiasts.

“We’d played Frisbee with her at home for two years, but we never realized this was an organized sport. We entered her in a competition and brought home a (second place) ribbon, and we were hooked,” Love related.

They started taking Melody to regular competitions, and she was regularly winning — beating dogs that had been bred for such competition and trained for years to catch and fetch discs. The Loves were having a ball.

“Meeting the people was really an enjoyable experience. Even if you didn’t come home with a ribbon, you still had fun with your dog. And it wasn’t cutthroat competition,” Love said. He or Tracy generally practice with Melody from a half hour to an hour daily. And she always knows when it’s time for her workout.

“As soon as I come home from work, she’s ready. She won’t leave me alone until I go out and play with her,” Jeff said.

Last September, they decided to go up against the big guys — or the big dogs — when they drove to Middlebury, Conn., to compete in the a U.S. Disc Dog National tournament qualifier.

The top five point finishers qualified for the group’s national competitions at Louisville.

Melody finished fifth at the Connecticut qualifier — not bad for a dog that had been competing for only about a year and a half.

But in Louisville, they had to compete in an old stadium that was slated for demolition. The field was covered in rough Astroturf that was so uneven it cut the bottom of several dogs’ paws. Melody wasn’t accustomed to anything like that, and the sharp turns were hurting her feet — she quit partway through the competition.

Love, though, was thrilled that his dog gotten that far.

“We were disappointed, yes; but we were amazed that she could do as well as she did. And it was really great meeting people from all over the world,” he said.

He explained that his 4-year-old figures to be a top competitor until she’s about 10, and her owners’ goal is for her to bring home a first place in a national tourney someday.

“We’ll keep doing this as long as she loves doing it. When she says she doesn’t want to do this any more, we’ll stop,” Love said.

But then he added, with a laugh, “I don’t know if that will happen. She’s still all motion.”