Whamo and Mike Hughes entertaining a crowd
Wham-o, Wham-o, he’s our dog
Hero of our nation.
Spin and catch is what he does and he’ll do it all day long.
360 and roller catch, body roll, and long bomb throw.
He would catch them all and more,
Wham-o stole the show.
Wham-o, Wham-o, Frisbee dog
Hero of our nation,
Run so far and jump so high they call it domination.
Wisconsin's Best-Known Frisbee Dog[]
Wham-o, a Border Collie, no longer jumps higher than his Master Mike Hughes can throw. Wham-o passed away in March 2013.
Wham-o was a dog that learned to play Flying Disc catch as a puppy with mini disc’s. Trained to complete many tricks, Wham-o became as good at catching Frisbee’s as most Border Collies are at flocking sheep.
He caught 360° twists in the air, rollers on the ground, long bomb throws, rapid succession catches, body rolls from Mike, and other very cool set-up tricks. He would even take a running jump off of Mike’s back, followed by a catch in the air, before landing. Mike took some nasty scratches at times from that trick.
Wham-o joined his master Mike and I (Brad Wendt) as a partner in the disc sports show team of Sportacular Flying Disc. This team traveled around Wisconsin for almost 15 years, visiting libraries, parks, and festivals. We performed over 100 Frisbee shows for kids, teens, and adults. Wham-o was even featured at the Badger State Games Opening Ceremony at a full Verona High School Stadium. While Mike and I competed in Freestyle tournaments, successfully winning many state championships and a World Master Title doing crazy human tricks with a disc that defied gravity, Wham-o was always the star of the show.
Wham-o was an exceptional disc golf dog as he was only concerned with where Mike’s disc landed. He would find it and stay until Mike told him it was ok to go or bring. He did not care about, or even acknowledge, any other dogs on the course; his focus was the disc!
Wham-o had such an appetite for playing disc that when golfing with him, if he did not get his own disc thrown to him at timely intervals, he would steal a putter out of a bag. After I lost one putter that way, I caught him a few times trying again, but I did not let him get away with it. He was relentless. He would chase and catch until he fell over if you would let him. Mike, being the great master, never let him. He did, however, show his focus by once knocking himself out cold running into a park bench while chasing a throw.
This dog did have one very odd habit. While travelling, he would bite in the air at every vehicle we passed. It did not matter if Wham-o was sitting standing or laying down, when a car went by, the dog bit at it. Good thing he never caught a car. If it is moving, Wham-o wanted to catch it.
Wham-o had two passions, playing Frisbee and loving his family. I am honored he included me as family. We were partners and traveled quite a bit together.
I remember about six out of a million throws of mine that he did not catch. It wasn’t his fault--as the throws were questionable. All kids gravitated to Wham-o. Wham-o was all fine with that as long as they threw him a disc while petting him. Wham-o left the gift of play to his human sister Natalie.
Wham-o was a Hall of Fame Frisbee dog.
More pictures are coming...[]
For now see Sportacular Flying Disc to learn about our performance team.
