If a movie is ever made about Tess the border collie from Corvallis and her rise as a Frisbee-catching champion, it will have to include a training montage complete with inspirational music and shots of roasted chicken soaring through the air.

The first-place competitor at the da Vinci Days Canine Frisbee Contest on Saturday, 4-year-old Tess has come a long way since Mike Harvey brought her home two years ago from the humane society in Prineville.

“She didn’t know anything about Frisbee when we first got her,” said Harvey. “I would throw food at her and it would hit her in the face and fall. I was just trying to get her to catch something in her mouth.”

After months of practice — first with chicken and eventually with flying discs — Tess’ skills improved to make her the champion she is today.

After her big win, Tess was ready to rest on her laurels.

“I imagine she’s just going to chill out and take a big nap,” Harvey said.

Distance and accuracy

The competition focused on distance and accuracy in the performance of each dog and handler — with points given for dogs catching the discs within the boundaries of a 20-by-40 yard field, bringing the discs back to the handler within a 60-second time limit and for catching the discs in the air.

The winners went home with big bags of dog food, dog food containers, treats and toys.

The event is planned again for da Vinci Days next summer, said Michelle Portera, who ran the Canine Frisbee Contest. It is open to all comers.

Seven of the 17 dogs in Saturday’s event were first time competitors, and the top three winning dogs all hail from humane societies or other animal shelters.

“A lot of dogs get into shelters because they’re too active and too much to handle,” said Lynne Ouchida, who works at the Humane Society of Central Oregon in Bend.

Ouchida attended the event with canine pals Mesa, 4, and three-legged Maty, 7; and human companion Troy Kerstetter, also from the Bend Humane Society.

Maty, an Australian shepherd/golden retriever mix, was brought as a puppy to the Humane Society in Bend after she and her siblings were found abandoned in a motel. She lost her left hind leg to a staph infection when she was just a couple of months old.

She placed third in the da Vinci Days Canine Frisbee Contest and is a seasoned veteran of the sport. “She was the first three-legged dog to get invited to a world championship for Frisbee,” Kerstetter said. Maty placed seventh out of 33 top dogs from all over the country at the Skyhoundz World Championship distance and accuracy category in Atlanta last fall.

“Shelter dogs are great,” Harvey said.

More pictures of the contest and information on the winners will be posted at the Google group site: http://groups.google.com/group/dogs-on-discs, the information source for Dogs on Discs, the Oregon-Willamette Valley Frisbee dog club.

Today at da Vinci days ...

Geocaching Contest: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Begin at geocaching booth at OSU Lower Campus. Bring your own GPS unit or use a festival loaner.

Kinetic Sculpture Mud Bog and River Races: Mud bog n 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., river entry n 12:15 to 12:45 p. m., at the Crystal Lake Sports Complex at the end of S.E. Crystal Lake Drive. Kinetic Challenge Awards: 5 to 6 p.m., Shady Stage.

Leaf Hoppers: 1 p.m., Central Park. Celtic, bluegrass and acoustic reggae.

Leonardo 500: 2 to 4 p.m. Small battery-powered sculptures compete on on a 500-centimeter course with sand and water obstacles, OSU Lower Campus.