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Writer's pictureYoonjoo Choi

A Labrador Retriever Raises Park Funds

A Labrador finds frisbees to help raise frisbee park funds by accident

Daisy with 155 frisbees she found during daily walks to Grand Vue Park. Image provided by Washington Post

How did a normal, yellow Labrador find 155 frisbees at a park? Meet Daisy, a patient and gentle dog who gets along with three cats at home. She is training to be a therapy dog at nursing homes, public schools and libraries.


Four years ago, Daisy went on a walk with her owner, Kelly Mason, at Grand Vue Park, West Virginia. Suddenly, she ran into the bushes with her extended leash and came out with a brightly colored frisbee in her mouth.


"She looked so proud of herself—it was a Frisbee golf disc," Mason said.


Sure, one frisbee is good enough, but it didn’t end there. Every single time Daisy and Mason went back to the park, Daisy continued to find frisbees in the trees. By the end of June, she found 154 more frisbees.


Daisy went on to find more frisbees in Grand Vue Park. As more and more frisbees piled up, Mason got an idea from a friend to start a fundraiser. However, they did not want to sell frisbees for people to play catch with their dogs but rather for frisbee golf players.


When Mason and Daisy went to Grand Vue Park, the Assistant General Manager Ben Bolock said that frisbee golf players use their own frisbees. If the frisbees go into the bushes or woods, no one gets them unless they are easily retrievable. To get these frisbees back, Bolock and Mason put Daisy to work. This time, they created a deal: every time she found frisbees with the owner’s name, they would give the frisbees back to the owner, who also gets an option to donate to the Marshall County Animal Rescue League — a safe haven for dogs and cats; however, when Daisy finds frisbees without the owner’s name, they would sell the frisbees from September to help the park buy new equipment, such as baskets. To get people’s attention, Bolock posted on Facebook with a text, "Looking for your disc!? Daisy may have found it!"


"We’ll sell them to the public for $5 or $10 out of our retail store at the park, then put all of the funding back into the disc golf course," Bolock stated.


According to Mason, Daisy was born to be a retriever. “In the past week, Daisy has found three discs, a pair of gloves, and a pair of sunglasses,” Mason said. “When she brings something to me, I quickly take it from her before she can chew on it. Whenever I see that nose get busy, I know that Daisy will be on the move. She’s a retriever—it’s what she was born to do."


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