Vamoose, a mixed-breed adopted dog in the K9s in Flight act, uses Autumn Trainor as a springboard to leap after a flying disc. (Escanaba Daily Press photo)

ESCANABA — Mutts chase Frisbees and dive into a long pool as music plays and their owner/trainers introduce the dogs and discuss the rewards of adopting rescued animals. The crowd applauds and laughs whether the dogs catch the flying discs or miss, and again when volunteers are splashed near the dock-diving area.

This is K9s in Flight, a “homeless to high-flying” act that’s at the Upper Peninsula State Fair this week with two or three shows each day, free with fair admission. K9s in Flight, founded by John Misita II in the 1990s, has made a name for itself around the nation and appeared on ESPN, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic for Kids and more.

Misita, self-proclaimed “CEO and pooper scooper,” spoke to the Press from Tennessee while preparing the other unit of K9s in Flight for another fair. He said that his journey onto this path began when over 30 years ago when a puppy that had been on his way to the pound in a box was scooped up and given to Misita by a friend.

“We started playing ball … and one day I bought him a Frisbee, and he was a natural,” said Misita, saying that the pup, whom he named C.J., was his best friend. “We played frisbee every day, and then we saw there was a local frisbee dog tournament in South Florida. So we went down there, and he and I competed for many years. … He made it to three World Championships.”

Misita had begun to see that he could make a living playing with his dogs and began organizing some shows. From the Frisbee Dog World Championships, he was scouted by Purina, and for a couple years toured the country with their elite team. He left before long to continue own his own route, which also carried a moral.

Though the performances themselves show off the athleticism of an assortment of mixed-breed dogs, a message is also conveyed to the audience: most of these talented animals, now beloved in their families, were previously strays and rescues, exemplifying the problem of pet overpopulation.

Between shows at the fair, times of the day’s performances are posted on a board in their arena, which is set up right near the entrance to the grandstand. Almost half an hour before a scheduled show, human rear ends start landing on the bleachers. Gradually, the seats fill. Children crowd around the edge of the ring and need to be reminded not to lean on the short boundary made of PVC pipe.

“Grab a seat and get ready for a doggone flying good time!” emits an unseen voice ten minutes before the show, and spirited music starts to play.

When the Press attended a midweek performance, Autumn Trainor, who led the event, began by introducing the first and newest dog to the show — a one-and-a-half-year-old Border Collie and cattle dog mix named Toro — and the other trainer, Christina Curtis. Curtis and Toro quickly displayed some frisbee skills while Trainor talked.

“Our dogs are all our pets, our partners, but mostly they are our family,” she said. “They do all the same naughty things that your dogs do at home, they get on counters, they get in trash. We have one little guy that you’ll see in the show today that has to be on a long line, because after touring the streets, he is on the eternal search for the best turkey leg at a fair that he can find. So we like to say that our dogs are well trained, not always well behaved.”

After the laughter, she continued to explain that most of the dogs participating in K9s in Flight had been “rescued from shelters, streets or homes that were just not the right fit, and through this show, we hope you take the message that you can adopt a pet and save a life.”

In recent years, as fewer people purchase from breeders and adopt from shelters, the number of animals euthanized in shelters has decreased, but still, thousands are put down each year because of overcrowding, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

But without dwelling on that somber thought, the show featured jumps and tricks from several lively pups. Trainor and Curtis encouraged the excited onlookers to cheer on the dogs as they dove, leapt, and weaved.

There was Zipper, a little, long-haired, black-and-white, four-year-old poodle-Yorkie-beagle mix — “He was a stray running the streets of Dayton, Ohio, before Christina brought him into into her house,” Trainor said.

Competing to see who could jump the farthest in the pool, measured by two young volunteers from the audience, were Mystique — a seven-year-old Border Collie-cattle dog mix from Maryland — and Flying Butterscotch Cupcake, a three-year-old yellow Labrador.

Concluding the show was five-and-a-half-year-old Vamoose, a mix of Australian shepherd, Australian cattle dog and Border Collie — “or whatever was at the party that night,” Trainor quipped.

After the show, Trainor and Curtis brought two of the dogs up front so people could pet and photograph them. While collecting donations and giving toys to children, the women chatted with fairgoers.

While Misita and the other branch of K9s in Flight participates in the Wilson County Fair – Tennessee State Fair, Trainor said that the U.P. State Fair has been the second stop of the season for this particular team, who was first in West Virginia and will soon go to Ohio and then Pennsylvania.